This lesson is about retention dropoff when filming - Basically how you can film in a way that encourages viewer engagement.
How you are, and how you come across, matters. I don’t want to freak you out, but every single thing you do, and every expression or pause, it gets noticed. Your energy, your character, your confidence, it’s all there for everyone to see.
And I’ve tried many times to film when I’m tired or have low energy, and it’s very very hard to hide. I always end up in the edit, and just scrap the footage because it looks terrible. You might feel like up here, but it looks like in the edit you’re down here. That’s what I find anyway.
I think when there’s a camera rolling, people are always a slightly different version of themselves. Maybe ‘different’ is the wrong word, how about certain parts of you are ‘a little more exaggerated’, or ‘heightened’. I am not like this 100% of the time, I am to a certain extent performing right now. Don’t get me wrong, I am excited about this stuff I’m saying, but this might be my second take doing this, and I need to look like it’s my first time saying it.
I’ve thought a lot about what I want to do with my life, and my content. What is the message, and inspiration, that I want to give people. I don’t want to get too deep, but life is where you put your energy, (hey that matches with the film I’m making) - we all only have so much to give, so it’s good to be aware where you’re putting yours.
For me, I want to inspire people to bring unique aspects of their personality into their content. And hopefully inspire them to create content in their own style.
So in this lesson, I want you to think about the below questions.
Those are some BIG questions. And you might still be figuring them out, and that’s ok. But they are important questions to think about as you create content.
As an example, I feel like I want to portray a side of me that is energetic, excited about video content, real, like real human relatable content. And with that energy, hopefully inspire people to create from their unique perspective.
Ok so, here are 3 key things you should consider when filming to keep good viewer retention.
1. Confidence
If you don’t believe what you’re saying, your viewers definitely won’t. I think it’s harder for something to be cringey when someones expressing themselves confidently, and truthfully as it relates to their character. I think it can get cringey when a creator has seen something they like online, and is trying to be that thing in their own content. Humans have an unbelievable ability to sense un-authenticity in other humans, so be careful of that!
What you see in my videos, my mannerisms and dumb jokes, that is who I am in real life. I’m just also performing a little too when I’m recording, because I want to try and engage viewers.
On a more extreme scale, you could look at any of the top creators, they’re very different in their content vs their long form interviews. Which just shows exactly how much they’re thinking about their performance in the video, to better engage their viewers in the story. We're producing our own unique creation with confidence, and energy. And if you’re not confident about your videos, then how do you expect anyone watching to be?! For this to be sustainable, your videos have to start with YOU. So yeah, be yourself, and bring confidence to your videos. You’re doing you, and that’s cool. Own it!
2. Distractions
Human beings like to drift their focus. And your video is not going to be 100% engaging, 100% of the time.
So anything you can provide to the viewer to keep them engaged when their attention drops slightly from what you’re saying, I think, you should do.
It’s part of the reason I like a busy studio backdrop in my videos. if the viewer loses a tiny bit of interest (ofcourse the goal is that they’re not, but IF they do), their eyes can wonder, and they can think “oo look how organised the hoover is there” or checking out the equipment shelf I’ve got. Not only are these things adding personality and context, they’re also actually keeping the viewer engaged in the video.
Now for this course, I’ve gone for a clean background, is there a reason? Ofcourse there’s a reason, the reason is that I’m not too worried about retention for this course, you are already here because you’ve committed to this learning experience - so we don’t need distractions. And on top of that, I think I want to use this space for animated visuals.
Another ‘distraction example’ could be a simple scratch of the arm, readjustment in your chair, a camera wobble, or even a new camera angle. Anything that will distract the viewer from what you’re saying, I think is actually a good thing for engagement. As crazy as that sounds - brains need stimulating with new information, no matter how pointless this information may seem to the story. That’s a bold take right there.. And probably not one everyone would agree with. So much of this stuff, is about finding a good balance. Like if you want so far with providing distractions that the core value of the content was forgotten, then that’s a problem. I’m talking about very small distractions that help engagement in the video.
Another example of this, could be subtitles that flash up one or two words at a time. Having subtitles be so animated adds NOTHING to the story, but it does keep the viewer's brain engaged. It’s sad, but true.
Lets also keep the story at the forefront of your mind, try not to just use a close up shot for the sake of it, there should be a reason behind it. Use a close up shot if you’d like to get intimate with the viewer, like the point you’re making is serious, and all you want them to focus on is you. Do it for 3 minutes straight though, and it won’t be as effective.
3. Sugar
I’m not joking. I have a stash of sugary sweets in the studio, that I eat before filming. It gives me a boost, and it hypes me up. You might need coffee or something, I don’t drink coffee, so for me it’s a sugary sweet right before I film.
Because I’ve thought about those questions from earlier, I know that it’s important for me to be a certain way on camera during my content. Like I’m not like this all the time. In fact, most the time, I’m resting, and being calm, I’m saving my energy for when I need to be like this. I don’t have the energy I did when I was in my early 20’s, so yeah I use sugar to help give me a little kick before I film.
So that should have summarised some of the specific physical things I think about when I’m filming to help keep viewers attention.
In the next lesson, we're going to discuss other things to consider when talking to camera. The two lessons are actually closely linked, I maybe should have had them as one lesson, but hey they’re not. So on to the next lesson, Talking to camera in a locked off scenario (as in ‘the camera’s not moving’)..
