According to research, 50 million hours’ worth of YouTube videos are now consumed every day, while Facebook video viewing is heading towards a figure of 100 million+ hours daily. What’s more, it is predicted that 80% of all content consumed by users worldwide will be online videos in 2021.
Produce your own unique video content
In this milieu saturated by paid-for advertising, it is highly recommended that creators begin to produce their own unique video content reflecting a true and original point of view.
This is now particularly relevant in the light of recent headlines dominating social media news that a former Facebook employee has revealed that Facebook and Instagram are aware of the harm caused by their platforms to teenage girls. In a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing, Whistleblower Frances Haugen compared these social media services to addictive substances like tobacco and opioids.
“The company’s leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer but won’t make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people. Congressional action is needed,” Haugen told the subcommittee, according to a Reuters report.
So, if you are considering creating your own video content, here are a few essential tips to get you started—it is not as difficult as you might think!
Start with the right software
The competitors in the audio and video editing software market are many, the array of choices intimidating. Between Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Avid, Corel, Microsoft, Sony, etc., where to begin? Consider a simple, online, template-based solution such as Mojo App.
Mojo is an app to create social stories with a professional look and offers hundreds of animated templates to create eye-catching stories. You can add photos and videos to any template, share directly from the app to any social platform, or save a video to your phone.
Story is everything
Mojo is free to install, no account is needed, and if you need further convincing, was featured in the “Best of 2019” by Apple—a company which knows a thing or two about storytelling: Apple TV+ became the first streaming service in history to land top program award in its second year of eligibility with “Ted Lasso”, which was honored with seven awards while Apple TV+ earned 11 Emmy Awards across five programs this year.
Mojo pushes storytelling boundaries and unlocks a new range of creative possibilities powered by high quality animated designs and can push your social stories to the next level by making them look remarkable and differentiated.
The stories templates were designed and animated by top creatives and are meant to perform on social media. The first frames instantly catch the attention of people and the animations help viewers stay engaged until the end.
Want to know the best way to learn about visual storytelling? Watch as many movies as you can, as often as possible. If you have something to say with your videos, you’re a storyteller, not far from being a producer making movies. Watch movies critically; note the story structure, character journeys, how the director has framed the shots, and melded the sequences together in service of the story.
The “Hero’s Journey” is a great place to start in constructing your narrative. The hero’s journey, or the monomyth, is a common template of stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed.
“Movies are about watching people become something, not be something,” says Tim Albaugh, a consultant for Pixar, which was founded by Apple and later sold to Disney.
Great storytelling doesn’t apply only to feature films, whether it’s marketing, sharing your own “personal brand”, making a political argument, or selling a product, all videos tell a story. Customize your story to your liking by adding photos, stock video clips, music, stickers, text effects, animated backgrounds, logos, or edit colors, format, timing, etc.—all possible with Mojo App.
Keep effects and transitions minimal
Share your story directly from the app to Instagram Stories or to any other social platform, or even save a video to your phone. BUT keep it simple! Don’t add effects just because you think it looks eye-catching and “alternative”—every creative choice you make in the editing process should advance the story.
When deciding what shot to use or where to cut, always ask how your choice will impact the story. Be brutal in the editing process—if a line of dialogue or a shot doesn’t add something special, take it out and see if your video is better without it.
Consider too that social media platforms now include live broadcasting, and it’s not for nothing that TikTok has surged in popularity as a video-sharing platform. Here brevity is the key: keep it short and simple.
Briefly, in closing, pay attention to a few more production essentials: color correction, color grading, audio recording, and music. All these aspects can be treated by carefully choosing a template and making the most of your editing software and the many sources of royalty-free music available online.
