Tips for making videos of your artwork
Estimated time to read - 4 minutes
These days it feels like that if you want to succeed on social media you need to be making videos. Our attention spans seem to be getting shorter and video is a great way to make people stop and look at what you are doing.
As a small business owner I’ve been making videos of my work for a few years now. So today I thought I’d share some hints and tips for creating videos of your work.
But before we get into that, let's first remind ourselves why we should bother making videos in the first place.
In one word: Marketing. I am a self-employed artist - the success of my small business is dependent on me being able to sell my products, be that artwork, courses or kits. In order to sell, I need to have an audience, and video is one of the best ways to attract someone’s attention, particularly on social media.
And it works. While I love to share photos of my work, I always reach more people when I share videos. Of course there are downsides - videos require more time to make - both in terms of setting up equipment, as well as the editing process.
Recording videos can also be intrusive - it can make you more self conscious of what you are doing and can interrupt the creative flow. Over time I've adapted my practice so that I can work creatively and still have a few videos to share.
Firstly I don’t record everything. Sometimes I just want to focus on what I’m making and I'm ok with that - there is no obligation to share everything I do with the rest of the world!
Other times I intend to record what I’m doing but I get caught up in the process and forget. I’m ok with that too - see the previous sentence about no obligation to share everything.
But sometimes I'm in the right mood and I remember to press record and those are the videos that end up on social media.
So without further ado, here’s a few top tips for making videos…
Use good lighting: This is important so you can see things clearly. To be honest, I need good light when I’m working anyway, so this is a fairly easy one to sort out. Where possible I prefer natural light, although the shorter winter days here in Scotland are making that difficult at the moment! I have a good, bright lamp at my desk to use when there is no natural light.
Clear some space: I am not a tidy worker. When I am in the middle of making something there is usually mess everywhere. However, when videoing I clear the detritus to the side (off camera), so the focus is on what I am making. Either that or I zoom in so you can’t see the mess. I’d like to clarify that there is absolutely nothing wrong with showing mess on camera - it can be reassuring for the viewer that making art requires making mess. The reason I suggest clearing space is to allow the focus to be just on the art.
You don’t need a fancy camera: I do all my filming on either my iPad or my iPhone.
Use a tripod or improvise. If I’m filming something from above I use a tripod.
If I’m filming close up I use a roll of tape! It’s just the right size to rest my phone in and you can easily move it around to get different angles. In the photo here you can see my setup. I'm making mini mosaics, which I plan out first. You can see some of the mess from the preparation stage swept into the bottom left corner!
You don’t need to film everything: If you are making something to post on social media you only need a short amount of footage. People tend to only watch for a short time anyway. For example, when making a mosaic, if it takes 3-5 seconds to put a piece in place, you only need to film putting in 6-10 pieces to have enough for 30 seconds of video. I record a bit of footage every so often so you can see the different stages (beginning, middle and end) The rest of the time you can just carry on working!
Use editing software/apps: I use iMovie to edit my videos - I can easily trim the clips and add a transition between each one. I usually remove any audio as well (no-one needs to hear my audiobooks/music/podcasts in the background!). There are plenty of other apps available but I started with iMovie and now I know what I'm doing I'm sticking to it for the time being!
The first 2 seconds are the most important. Remember how I mentioned the need to grab someone’s attention? Well you need to do that quickly. Use something interesting to grab the attention at the start of your video to make sure people keep watching to see the rest!
There is always a learning curve: The first videos I made took me ages to edit - deciding which bits to include and then what music to add to it afterwards. These days I make much quicker edits. I also record less footage, meaning there are less decisions to make! So if you make one video and it takes you ages, don’t let it put you off - you will get faster the more you do!
What I’ve shared here are mainly practical tips for making videos. I hope you find them useful. When it comes to discussing the type of content to use in your videos, well, that’s a topic for a whole separate blog post! If that’s something you’d like me to write more about though, let me know in the comments below.
Finally, if you want to see some examples of the videos I make, check out my Instagram page. There are also some videos on my YouTube channel channel and Pinterest account.
This blog post was adapted from one of my weekly emails. If you have enjoyed reading it and would like to receive similar posts direct to your inbox, you can subscribe to my mailing list using the form at the bottom of the page.