Your company has produced the perfect marketing video, complete with awesome special effects and compelling animation. But your next step is to upload it to YouTube or Vimeo or other sharing sites, where millions of viewers can see it.
Before you hit ‘upload’, however, take a moment to consider how each video will play on various devices before uploading. What works for your computer doesn’t always look great on mobile phones or tablets. So here are 10 things that should go through your mind as you prepare to upload your video…
1) Keep Videos Short
No one wants to watch a long boring corporate video. If possible keep them short – between 1-2 minutes at most! Think of it this way: Would sit still for an 8 minute video? No? Why would anyone else when they can watch a shorter video in the same amount of time.
2) Slow Down Action Scenes
Some action scenes, like explosions and other fast moving objects, need to be slowed down. The slower it plays back, the more realistic it looks. If you speed up action scenes it may look sped up or even cartoony.
3) Don’t Make Videos Too Dark
Many people upload videos that are simply too dark to see anything! Make sure you aren’t one of them by turning up your monitor’s brightness so others can see your video clearly when they play it.
4) Make It Loud and Clear
It sounds simple, but turning up your computer’s volume, as well as the volume on your video player is essential. If you upload a video where someone can’t hear what’s going on – it simply won’t be watched! So make sure audio levels are balanced in your videos.
5) Pay Attention to Blood Splatter
You want to show blood splatter or wound effects in your special effect/animated marketing videos? That’s great! Just remember that when people watch them they need to be able to see it clearly. So make sure the lighting is right for the scene before you press ‘record’. Otherwise, viewers may not even know what happened or miss it all together due to a bad angle.
6) Think About Shadow Quality
You want the shadows in your video to look realistic, right? So when you’re filming/shooting, make sure to remember that the higher the quality of the shadow, the better it will look when played back on a computer or other device. It may be worth an extra trip out to get a different lighting set up for a specific scene in your animation video.
7) Don’t Make Videos Too Bright
This is just opposite from tip #4 above. Just as important but many people overlook it! Even though you’ve got great light and shadows, don’t go too bright or viewers’ eyes may hurt when they watch yours. Keep them natural looking instead by turning down your monitor’s brightness and adjusting your video player’s volume.
8) Work With a Prominent Viewing Window
Many people work with the ‘Full Screen’ view on their editing software to see what they’re doing as they put together an animation or edit a special effect. It looks great but it also makes the other windows on your computer hard to see! That won’t work if you want viewers to clearly see the entire video, so make sure you work with one, prominent window open at all times that can be maximized.
9) Make Sure You Don’t Lose Any Frames
If you edit anything in your animation marketing videos – remove every single frame from the final cut! They will drag down playback speed and make it look like your video has frozen even though it’s really playing back.
10) What to Do if the Video Doesn’t Fit on Your Page
Many special effect videos are longer than YouTube’s 10 minute limit for uploaded videos. You can split them up into two or more parts, but that may not be the best option depending on your video content. Instead you’ll want to look into hosting your video files somewhere else like Vimeo which allows unlimited uploads of any length. The other alternative is using something like Video Animation Company to make a custom online slideshow. People love custom slideshows these days! You can use their image library to pick photos and music from Video Animation Company stock selections or upload your own images and music if you prefer.
Conclusion
Video animation is a powerful marketing tool that can help you get your message across to an audience in a way that they will remember. However, it isn’t as simple as just uploading your video and expecting people to watch. If you want the most out of your animated video marketing campaigns. Make sure you keep the above tips in mind when it comes time to make your next special effect or animated marketing video!
