December 2, 2022

Creating a Fantastic Video Step by Step

0  comments

Last month I created what I consider to be an incredibly cool video, and I used several video and content creation tools to bring it to life. Here’s the breakdown.

The Cool Video

My goal was to create a fun promo to prompt planners to think of me as they plan for events next year. The final product was just over a minute long, and it took about 4 hours and about 9 different tools from the original idea to the distribution.

Step 1: Use AI to Write the Script

I wanted a catchy poem or the like to make people smile. My first thought was to write a parody of “Jingle Bells” and sing, but I want people to hire me, not to block me.

So I switched to a parody of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.” I knew it was going to take too much time and mental energy for me to write the poem myself, so I turned to my favorite AI writing assistant, Jasper.

Oh. My. Gosh. I was blown away by the results. S.e.r.i.o.u.s.l.y.

Step 2: Create the Background for the Video with Depositphotos, Envato Elements and Ecamm

So now I had an amazing poem, and I needed to record. Ecamm Live is a (Mac-only) tool that lets you create cool scenes and backgrounds for your videos. I wanted something winter-y and holiday-y, so I searched for backgrounds in Depositphotos, which has hundreds of thousands of some of the best stock images around (and is still having a Black Friday sale for a few more days!).

I chose an image with good copy space because I knew I wanted to include the lyrics, and it was easy for me to use Ecamm to layer my video into the computer monitor. I also used a green screen so I could float myself over another holiday image, which I found on Envato Elements, a subscription service with hundreds of thousands of images, videos, graphics, sounds and so much more.

So this was the setup:

Beth Z recording video

Step 3: Use Teleprompter Mirror to Record the Video

To make sure I got the poem right, I loaded my script into Teleprompter Mirror. I love this site! It’s free and fast and totally awesome. Here’s a super-fast demo:

Step 4: Use Zoom to Record

Ok, this was a vanity thing. Ecamm has great recording tools, but Zoom lets you touch up your appearance. So I chose to record through Zoom so I could smooth out my rough edges. Here’s a comparison of the two:

Comparison of Zoom and Ecamm videos with and without touchup filters.

Step 5: Clean Up the Audio with Descript

For whatever reason, the original audio was very tinny…

I dropped the video into a phenomenal tool called Descript, where I clicked one button to clean up the audio, then I trimmed the front and back. I exported the video again to add some special effects, and I also exported the closed captions to use later.

Step 6: Use iMovie to Add Open and Close Plus a Music Track from Envato Elements

I could have done these steps in Descript, but I’m more comfortable with iMovie for basic video editing. I found a jingle-y bell-y music track on Envato Elements and threw on a very simple intro slide.

Step 7: Add Lyrics with Wave.Video

As I mentioned above, I wanted to add the lyrics of the poem, so I popped over to Wave.Video. This phenomenal tool will transcribe your videos for you, but I chose to upload the captions from Descript since I cleaned up the text when I fixed the audio.

Wave.Video lets me move the captions anywhere on the screen and does the cool karaoke effects.

Step Eight: Distribute with Dubb

I sent this video out to hundreds of planners in my database (past and future clients), and I wanted to see if people were actually watching it. So I used Dubb, a video email tool that helps you create a little preview GIF to paste into emails. The stats showed that the video was a success… I ended up with a couple hundred views and even a couple of leads! Dubb gives me a great landing page and lots of stats to obsess over. It also analyzes the content to give me tips for better videos.

If I wanted to, I could track individual people to see the names of the people who watched, but I didn’t do that for this one.

It Doesn’t Have to Take This Long

As you can tell, I am a bit of a perfectionist who specializes in overkill. I could have probably finished the whole thing (idea to distribution) in less than an hour with maybe 3 tools if I wasn’t so picky.

And if I didn’t record the video 10 times to get it p.e.r.f.e.c.t.

And if I hadn’t changed outfits and hats and backgrounds and images about forty-eleven times.

So I’m not the best role model for video production speed. But I sure do like the result!


Tags


You may also like

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}

SUBSCRIBE TO GET YOUR FREE DOWNLOAD

The Little Book of Apps

If you’re looking for technology to make your life easier, start here! Subscribe to our NerdWords newsletter and get instant access to The Little Book of Apps today.

Like everyone else, we have to put the small print at the bottom! But in all seriousness, we respect your privacy and won't spam you. Pinky Promise.

>