4 articles tagged ‘Tip’

Neutral backgrounds: Focus attention on you September 16th 2009

A busy background invites viewers to investigate that rather than paying attention to you and your message. Go neutral whenever possible.

TV and the web are very different mediums. While TV viewers lean-back and passively entertained or informed, the web is interactive; we lean-forward, actively looking for new information, searching for the next button to click.

One way TV productions set the tone for a scene or interview is by consciously adding objects into the background. While the work of set dressers is important on TV, you face different challenges.

Video length: Half are gone in 60 seconds September 14th 2009

The longer your video, the less viewers make it to your final call to action. Around 2 minutes is a good balance of content and attention.

Unlike text, we can’t (yet?) scan video; we must decide whether to invest our time and attention to watch a video.

Length is key to this decision. However, we are not creating appointment TV, so if visitors don’t watch right now, the chances are they never will.

We need visitors to click the play button now and watch to the end, but how much of a typical online video are people actually ready to sit and watch?

See yourself: Turn webcam mirroring off September 13th 2009

Cameras see the real you, not your familiar mirror image. Turn your webcam’s mirror mode off to get used to seeing yourself like this.

In yesterday’s post I suggested you work with your webcam on. But what, exactly, do you see? Well, we have a lifetime’s experience of seeing ourselves in a mirror, which is very different from how others see us.

Normally we don’t care; it is only when we see ourselves on screen that we wonder why we look so strange?

See yourself: Turn your webcam on September 12th 2009

Most people are not used to seeing themselves on screen, so work with your webcam on to get used to seeing yourself as others see you.

I won screen-time by having my face on the screen while working. I became more relaxed on camera and used to seeing myself on screen.

To try this trick you will need to find the option that forces your webcam’s video window to stay on top. If your webcam window keeps disappearing behind the active application window (or you work full screen a lot, as I do), then the de-sensitizing effect is lost.

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