With the growth of computer processing power, and the falling prices of hardware and software, the good news is that the ability to do video production is available to the masses. The bad news is that the ability to do video production is available to the masses. With such great video editing tools in our hands, why are so many of the video presentations we see in our churches so...well... cheesy?
Here are some of the most common mistakes that I see in ministry videos. Let’s band together and vanquish the cheese from the realm of our videos.
1. Too Many Random Transitions Are Cheesy
Use restraint in choosing transitions. Most video editing programs come with enough video transitions options to choke a horse, and a novice video editor will feel the need to experiment with all of them in his video production. This, however, does not make for a high quality video. If there is anything that screams “cheesy” when watching a video, it is the random use of weird and off-the-wall transitions between shots.
For 99% of video editing, the only transitions that you need are straight “cuts” for faster moving, higher energy videos, or dissolves for slower moving, more emotional videos.
2. Wrong Music Is Cheesy
Music is one of the most powerful elements of a video. It gives emotion to the video and tells the audience how to feel about what they are seeing. In ministry videos, I have noticed a tendency to pick overly-dramatic music. Choose something that is appropriate for the emotion that you are trying to create.
3. Poor Audio Is Cheesy
Good audio is always important to a video—especially in interview pieces. The microphone that is built into your camera is almost never the right choice for recording good audio. That leaves you with two basic choices: a separate microphone that plugs into your camera, or a completely separate recording device. We use the Zoom H2 Handy Recorder for most of our productions and it works great, but you do have to sync the audio and video together in editing.
4. Poor Lighting Is Cheesy
When you shoot an interview or other video, take time to set up lighting. If you can afford to get a nice light kit you should, but your lighting does not have to be expensive studio lighting. Most of the time you can use shop lights from a hardware store. If you do that, you should diffuse the light by bouncing it off of a wall or a white poster board. I have also tried covering them with parchment paper—but that ended in a small fire.
You should also learn about three-point lighting. You can watch a video about it here.
5. Shoulder-Mounted Shooting Is Cheesy
For the vast majority of video shooting, you should use a tripod. You might also consider using a jib or a track and dolly.
There are several more cheesy video habits, but these five are the most common. What cheesy habits have you seen? Let me know in the comments.
