If one were to learn something back in the old days, read a book, most would say.
Today, they can do the same by watching instructional videos. The purpose is the same, but the medium is different and far more efficient.
For me, instructional videos have been a godsend whenever I try to accomplish a task but have no knowledge of how it should be done.
VIDEO AS LEARNING MEDIUM
Before I wrote articles for a living, I was a software engineer by training. I was taught how to code in Java, Python, PHP, C and C++.
I remember being given a book to learn one programming language that was three inches thick.
When I had trouble finishing up a code for an application, guess what I turned to – it was not the three-inch encyclopaedia, but rather a simplified five-minute video on YouTube of a foreign programming instructor explaining the proper workflow and the correct codes.
I also remember videos such as those as being rather niche and did not have as large of a following compared to other mainstream interests, but it was a lifesaver nonetheless.
It was the difference between passing the course and dropping out. That is how important it was to me and others who studied programming.
I am not saying that books are irrelevant – there is a time and place for it as with everything, but what I am saying is that the people who put their time in to produce videos that are helpful and informational should also be recognised for their efforts.
Today I work in the media industry and part of my job is to produce such videos to inform, educate and entertain and let me start by saying that it is not for the faint of heart.
Long hours are expected and it is physically and mentally exhausting. But the satisfaction of having completed a video that is of quality, both in terms of content and production value is definitely unbeatable.
Yes, one can be rather direct in their approach but in today’s saturated content creation market, quality matters over quantity. That is the difference between you and your competitor. That will make your product stand out from others.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
A few months ago, moving from novice video editor to one who is producing videos full time, I took the time to learn Adobe Premiere Pro, video editing software that is used by even big-budget Hollywood movies.
I think almost everyone at one point used Windows Movie Maker being one of the more mainstream home video production software, being bundled together with their Windows operating system. I used it too.
Then I moved on to Sony Vegas about ten years ago, being the first professional video editing software that I used. Today, with TikTok and social media videos being in trend, I find Capcut as an acceptable alternative to video editing software.
Being familiar with the Adobe Creative Suite, particularly Photoshop and Lightroom, which are part of my photography workflow, I chose Premiere Pro as my go-to for editing as it is quite powerful in the sense that it can do everything that I need.
These tools, mind you, are not cheap. But it gets the job done and is efficient.
Last week, my team and I released our first podcast which was well-received by our friends and followers.
It was the best episode production-wise as we faced several technical difficulties – both our audio and video that were fed into the studio recorder were unusable.
PUTTING THE WORK IN
That only meant one thing – doing it the hard way. I had to painstakingly pull backup footage and audio from the cameras and stitch it up manually.
Thankfully we had the sense to have redundancies in our recording – it is now etched in our workflow.
“How long would it take you to edit a video?”
That is a common question. It depends. How good do you want your product to be? It can take minutes, hours, days and weeks.
One of my current projects falls into the latter. It had taken me and my colleagues’ weeks to produce a video for an upcoming special occasion.
The end product which is a video is only one component out of many other deliverables. For a video to be able to capture the attention of viewers, it must have a hook.
A hook in writing terms is the first sentence that ensures readers would stick to read the rest of the article.
In video terms, it is the first 15 seconds and if we are discussing about a short one-minute ‘reels’ – a term for vertical social media videos, the number goes down to a few seconds.
This is how it is commonly done now but then again methods would change with moving trends.
So, the question is how to keep up with the changes?
I guess the only way is to continue consuming content and observe what others are doing.
GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Despite only being born in the 90s, sometimes I find difficulties in adjusting to today’s challenges.
I and others of my generation are used to movie-styled production. This means having multiple cameras to capture various angles as tools for storytelling.
However, this is no longer a common practice in the social media landscape. Last time, ‘jump cuts’ are a big no-no.
Jump cut refers to a single shot broken with a cut that makes the subject appear to jump instantly forward in time.
To those in my generation, this is viewed as being untidy and lacking polish. It means there was an error in production and no effort was made to hide it. But today, jump cuts are not only acceptable; it is even preferred on social media.
Last time, if we were tasked to produce a composite of images, one would turn to tools such as Photoshop where slicing, dodging and burning are common techniques.
Today, online-based solutions make short work of these tasks, giving users plug-and-play templates for their products.
Of course, these two are meant for different audiences and serve different objectives.
One is meant to produce art while the other is meeting social media posting schedules.
EXISTENTIAL CRISIS
This poses a problem however, that is high expectations of quality with inadequate resources.
It also means little to no appreciation to artists and producers knowing that a five-minute rush job would produce similar outcomes with a high-quality product – at least to the untrained eye.
With artificial intelligence (AI) – a word that has grown to be increasingly polarising, it means those who ply their trade in the creative industry particularly video content production had the rug pulled under their feet.
I hope that those who are working hard to deliver information in this medium will continue to persevere and know their worth.
Quality counts for something and so does authenticity. Keep fighting the good fight.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
