How to Improve the Production Value of Your YouTube Videos

How to Improve the Production Value of Your YouTube Videos

Video content is the future. While articles are still very popular and easy to consume, more people now view videos than ever before. Businesses and personal bloggers alike are making the switch to video content, especially with sharing platforms like YouTube offering access to millions of viewers.

Producing good video content is noticeably more difficult than writing a blog post. You have to invest more time and energy into producing a video that appeals to the audience. To further improve your YouTube video production value, here are some of the tips to utilize.

Check Your Sound

Audio is 50% of your YouTube videos. Most viewers will watch a low-quality video with superb audio, but the same can’t be said for high-quality videos with bad sound. Yes, sound is that important.

Fortunately, improving the sound of your YouTube videos isn’t as difficult as you think. You can use the standard phone headset mounted on your collar or shirt as a makeshift lavalier microphone; record to your phone and sync the audio in post-production to get that clear and crisp sound.

You can also use a shotgun microphone such as the Rode Video Micro or Rode Video Mic Pro if you need a camera-mounted microphone. As long as the microphone is close enough to the source of the sound (i.e. you), it is easy to get great audio with minimum noise.

Alternatively, there are wireless lavalier microphones that are both affordable and capable of producing great sounds; look into the Saramonic Uwmic9 or the Rode Filmmaker Kit if this is the route you want to take.

Get a Prime Lens

If you’ve been using the kit lens that came with your camera to produce YouTube videos, now is the perfect time to invest in a good prime lens. A prime lens is a lens that has a fixed focal length, such as 50mm or 35mm. Prime lenses tend to be sharper than zoom lenses. The bigger and fixed aperture size – f/1.8 as opposed to f/3.5-5.6 of most kit lenses – is a huge plus too.

Some prime lenses offer notoriously great image quality for incredible prices. The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 recommended by Sigma-Rumors.com is one of the best lenses to get if you’re a Sony APS-C or Micro 4/3 camera user. The lens is not only sharp but also capable of rendering beautiful images.

Invest in Lighting

Another great way to boost the production value of your YouTube videos is through the use of proper lighting. You don’t have to spend thousands on a lighting kit to get great videos. You just have to know how to use light to your advantage.

When relying on natural light, for instance, use white foam boards as reflectors to help shape the light and create depth. With artificial LED lights, it is even easier to add a rim light and a fill-in to get that professional look. YouTube’s own Creators Academy even has a section on lighting with a lot of great tips to follow.

As you can see, boosting the production value of your YouTube videos is not as difficult as you think. The tips we covered in this article will help you produce great-quality videos that attract more viewers than ever before.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *