Office Hours - Record, Edit, and Publish a Video - Issue #328
This week, let’s talk about making some videos! It’s time to go from a theoretical discussion to actually recording, editing, and publishing something.
You may decide that video isn’t your “thing.” That’s ok. But, I’d encourage you to try it for a few weeks, share them with your followers, and see what the reaction is. You might be surprised.
A few people have told me that they enjoy my videos, which I didn’t expect (it was just an experiment). So, I will keep sharing them.
You may also decide that you enjoy producing videos, but you don’t want to share them publicly on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. You might prefer to create videos and only share them with your subscribers. That can certainly be a good side hustle! There are lots of folks making some extra income on Vimeo, Twitch, Patreon, etc.
It’s totally up to you. But, again, I encourage you to at least experiment with making and sharing videos. You never know how much you might enjoy it and how much people enjoy watching them!
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Record your video
You can record video using your smartphone or your computer/laptop. Both iOS and Android have free camera/video apps that let you record basic video. The same is true for Mac OS X, Windows, etc., on your computer. But, I recently switched to a new app on my iPhone because it provides audio recording support for Bluetooth headsets (e.g., my AirPods).
Some helpful info and apps:
QuickTime Player on Mac OS X.
Photo Booth on Mac OS X.
ScreenFlow on Mac OS X.
Camera app on Windows.
Recording videos on your iPhone.
I use an app called FiLMiC Pro on my iPhone for my videos.
Camera MX is a good video app for Android phones.
Portrait mode looks fine when you record videos using your phone for Instagram stories, TikTok, Snapchat, etc. If that’s the only place you ever intend to share your videos, then portrait could be ok.
However, if you want to upload your videos to other services like YouTube and Vimeo, make sure to use the landscape orientation. Portrait videos look pretty terrible when viewed in players intended for landscape mode (i.e., small with black vertical bars on the sides).
I made that mistake a few times. Here’s a video I recorded in portrait mode when I forgot to rotate the phone. Doesn’t look great on YouTube. 😟