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Make great films

If a picture speaks 1000 words, imagine what a video is worth.

Video is a fantastic tool to hook your audience. Unlike a long winded paragraph, it is extremely easy to consume. Video is concise and capture viewers interest in the first few seconds.

It's important to condense information down into easily digestible snippets of content that is long enough to maintain viewers attention but short enough to leave them wanting more.

Videos are also a great way to let visitors see the people that make up your church community. They could be talking about what they love about your church, how they clean or conserve something or just give a short tour. You cut cut together some 'talking heads' of everyone saying hello or welcome. Behind the scenes videos could reveal things not normally accessible.

Creating brilliant videos doesn't have to be difficult, though. You probably have the tools to hand and with our advice your page, website and social media can be brighter and more engaging in a snap!

This training module was developed by Push Creativity as part of our Great Interpretation project, funded by the National Lottery. Presented by Angela it is a brilliant guide to taking videos of churches using your smartphone or digital camera.

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Practical tips

Importance of video, landscape is king, power, hold steady, sound, straighten up, lighting, focus, exposure, background, takes, copyright, model release.

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Inform, entertain, enthuse

Audience, aims, storyboard, script, varying the shot, rule of thirds, cutaways, using text, subtitles, timelapse, slow motion, narration.

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Technicalities

Transferring files, video editing, iMovie, YouTube, Facebook, Facebook live, Instagram, optimising for search, #explorechurches, sharing, QR codes, play in church.

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Inspiration

Exploring YouTube, SmartHistory, Bald Explorer, VagaBrothers, York Museums Trust, V&A, English Heritage, National Trust, get teenagers & children involved, recreations.

Gadgets and technology to enhance your films

When searching for products to, it’s often good to start with a top ten list or reviews of the leading products. Search using your exact phone or camera (device) name to get the best results.

For example: 'Top ten Android Pixel 3 microphones for video' or 'Beginners tripod reviews for iPhone 10'.

Try searching for review articles, YouTube for review videos. Adding 'beginners' or 'budget' to your search can help steer results to the entry level equipment. Don’t forget to filter the results to only include the past 12 months, so your research is up to date.

You can then move on to the shopping websites (or go the high street) to compare prices for the equipment that your research highlighted.

Tripod

Keeps your device steady in a fixed position. Search for your make and model of device and ‘tripod’. Gorilla Tripods are a relatively new addition to the tripod range, these have very flexible legs that can even be wrapped around things! Again, search for your make and model of device and 'gorilla tripod'.

Microphone

A variety of microphones are available to enhance your video’s sound recording. Search for your specific make and model of device and 'microphone for video'.

Gimbal

This helps keeps your device steady when taking moving footage and is often used when people film as they walk along. Search for your specific make and model of device and 'gimbal'.

Voice recorder

If you want to record narration for your video to be edited over the top of the footage, we recommend you download a voice recording app for your phone. Search for your specific make and model of phone and 'voice recording app'. If your computer has a microphone, you can also record a voice that way. Search for 'how to record audio using' and your model of computer.