Creating a video can be a tricky process that requires careful planning and execution. Luckily, you do not need any formal training to create a beautiful movie! In this article, we will go over all of the steps for creating your first video using free software and YouTube as examples.
There are five main stages to making a video: scripting, filming, editing, publishing, and marketing. Depending on what kind of videos you want to make, some stages may be irrelevant or even unnecessary. This is totally up to you!
This article will focus more on the filming stage since it is the most complicated but also the least expensive. I will assume you have done your research and determined that you know how to use your camera already (if not, check out our beginner’s guide to taking better pictures with your smartphone!).
We will talk about different settings, recording modes, and film stock so that you are able to choose the best one for your footage. Then, we will discuss lighting and gaffing before moving onto kino rolling and other cinematic tricks.
After filming, it is time to edit! There are many free and paid softwares you can use to begin your journey in film making. We will talk about some of them here.
Next comes the editing room
After filming your video, the next step is to edit it down! There are several ways to do this, but most professional film makers use software that has advanced features such as time-lapse functionality, voice over tracks, and even in-depth color correction settings.
Most of these tools have free trial versions you can test out to see if they work for you before buying a premium plan. Many people use both paid and free ones simultaneously to achieve the best results!
There are also some basic editing programs that may be enough for you to try first (although very few look like they were designed for creating videos!). These cost less than $10 usually, so why not give them a shot?
Making a movie isn’t a task for novices easily, but there are lots of resources available online and through school or community centers.
The final product is often times post-produced
After filming your video, the next step is to edit it down into something more manageable. This process is called prepping or editing before you put it in place!
During this stage of production, the filmmaker will take what he or she has filmed and break it up into scenes or breaks. These pieces are then reassembled to create an overall story that people can follow.
This process is very similar to putting together a book except instead of typing on a computer, these parts are organized using software programs. Some examples of software used for videos include Adobe Premiere Pro and YouTube.
There are also some who prefer to do this job themselves by learning how to use these software programs. By doing so, they get a sense of control over their media project which makes them feel better about it.
Lighting is important
When it comes to lighting for videos, there are two main lights you will need to have. These are a backlight light and an external source light. The internal light usually used as a backlight is either a studio light or an array of bulbs that combine together to make a good enough light.
The second external light is typically referred to as an ambient light source. This is any type of natural light that can be adjusted to be brighter or darker depending on what effect you want the video to have. Using both types of lights in your filming situation can help create more interesting shadows and textures than using only one!
Another very popular way to add light into a video is by using neutral gels. Gels are thin sheets of plastic with embedded liquid that act as filters to control how much light gets through them. You can use many different colors to achieve various effects such as adding overall brightness, changing contrast, and creating dark areas.
You should always test gels out before putting them in your final product so that you know they work properly.
The background is important
A video’s frame-by-frame animation depends heavily upon its background. Effectively, the background acts as an extra layer of glass that covers whatever you want to put in front of it.
By covering those components up, the background takes over and masks out any decorations or features you have included. For example, if there are no lines coming off of the edge of the box that the product goes into, then your background will cover that face!
This effect can be used to create some cool designs – just make sure to research proper technique before experimenting. You do not need professional grade software to enjoy this process! Some free ones like Photoshop or Gimp exist and work fine.
Another way to use backgrounds in videos is adding another level to the story. For instance, if the movie was set in a house, then a new scene could go from outside the house through the door to inside the house.
A great way to add depth to your videos is by using a neutral color for the background. This makes it seem farther away because none of the colors stand out too much. It also allows people watching the film to place more focus on what else is happening instead of looking at the background.
They’ll use a green screen or a studio background
Green screens are an interesting tool to include in your filming process. A green screen is a large surface that can be used for various purposes. You can put objects onto it, pull back parts of the screen, add backgrounds, etc.
The most common way to use this equipment is as a camera backdrop. By adding things like greenery or another background element, the effect looks like you’re shooting with a normal camera but with more room.
This helps create some very cool aesthetic effects.
They’ll also use CGI
For those who are not familiar with CGI, computer generated imagery (or more commonly known as CGI) is when someone designs an element of a movie or video using software. Then that design gets re-imaged onto another scene or film to be incorporated into the final product!
For example, in your current movie there may be some scenes where people are walking down a street. These shots were designed before cameras so they already had this effect. Now all you have to do is add in some music, edit it together, and upload it onto your own YouTube channel!
Videos such as “The Grand Tour” and “My Dinner With Herovans” used a great deal of CGI to achieve their effects. The special make up for these videos was done by professional artists and then adapted to fit the program being used.
There are many free web tools you can use to test out some basic CGI.
They’ll also use animation
Many people make their first videos as introductions or to promote a product or service. By filming yourself talking about something you are promoting, it is called an introduction video.
Other videos can be made by filming someone else doing something (this is called a documentary style video) or by animating something (creating pictures of things moving around or changing shape).
Making a movie using these three techniques is what they call a narrative video. A narrative means a story that has events happening within time, like a film!
With media production technology now available to most anyone, creating your own narratives and stories is easy. Starting with a topic then editing together pieces from other sources is one way to create a new piece of content.
There’s the voiceover
A voice over (or narrator) is usually in control of some situation or event, and they tell you what’s happening during the video. This can be to describe something, talk about an idea, or even to give instructions or warnings!
There are two main types of narrators: real people and digital characters. With real people, someone hired the speaker to speak for this amount of time at this length for this purpose. For example, how Disney makes its movies seems very polished and professional because they pay professionals to do that.
With fictional characters, software creates the person automatically using text and image files as sources. These programs use algorithms to determine things like tone, expression, etc. Although there are no humans editing these videos, there are now ways to make it clear who is speaking by paying attention to the lyrics and the context of the scene.
Interactive videos require more complicated software to produce. People have made videos where different objects or areas of the video invite other users to perform an action. Some examples are putting together toys, having kids try out products, or asking your audience to take part in the movie.
