1. Before you shoot your video, prepare a script and practice your delivery.
2. Use a tripod and an external microphone instead of the camera microphone.
3. Adjust your audio level before you begin. Your levels should be strong but not consistently in the red of the meters or occupy the majority of the sound profile. Trust your sound meter, not your speakers.
4. Test the recording equipment by rolling 10 or 20 seconds of video and viewing it on playback mode.
5. Unless the point of your video is to document these aspects, find a quiet place to record and use a location largely devoid of background movement.
6. Avoid backlit situations. A video is backlit when the subject is dark and the background is bright.
7. If you are filming indoors, try not to sit near the wall. Lights normally cast shadows on the wall.
8. Adjust the white balance on your video camera, if available. Different light sources produce different colors of emitted light. Almost all camcorders are equipped with a white balance adjustment to allow you to account for the lighting conditions under which you are filming.
9. Wear solid colors. Video has a difficult time reproducing narrow stripes or checks, as these patterns appear to “crawl.” Additionally, wear clothing that sets you apart from the background.
10. Once you begin recording, wait a couple seconds before you begin to talk. If you talk too soon, the camera may miss your first few words.
11. Keep movement to a minimum.
12. Avoid zooming and panning the camera.
13. Before you stop recording, pause and be silent for a second. This will ensure that your final word(s) are also captured.
14. If you have a lot of material to present, consider presenting it in smaller chunks. Listening to/watching long lectures tends to become tedious. Chunking material into smaller segments helps students retain information. Best practice for audio files uploaded online should be no more than 3-6 minutes in length.