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How you Look Video Blogging

Video blogging also requires a completely different skill set that what most of us learn in school. I don’t know about you, but they didn’t teach me proper lighting, sound capture, film makeup, and video editing in school to the amount they taught me how to write.

I see this as another failure of the education system to support social media. Don’t they know we have crappy video clips to make with our cats?

Still, what drives me most is how people look on camera when video blogging. It’s like they never even watch their own video of themselves after they spout off  into their web cam.

This is how you think you look on your video blog:

What you think you look like video blogging - The Anti-Social Media

This is how you actually look video blogging:

What You Actually Look Like Video blogging - The Anti-Social Media

See the difference?

Please, for the love of all that’s holy, look at yourself objectively on camera. If you look like a hobo in poorly lit room, I don’t care how good your content is. At that point, I’m worried that you have a body hidden somewhere in the shadows where you’re filming. You need to look presentable (not good, presentable), if you want people to pay attention.

Otherwise, you’ll start building a personal brand as an ax murderer.

15 Responses to How you Look Video Blogging

  1. David Guest August 18, 2011 at 8:24 am #

    Really effective post on how the little things matter regarding video blogging. As the whole process isn’t ‘live’ there is no excuse for really bad execution.

    Even if you haven’t had any training, to some degree a simple ‘does that look right’ will answer a lot of questions.

    Also ensuring that you check for feedback with others, eve if it is only family and friends allows for an objective viewpoint.

    • Jay August 18, 2011 at 11:38 am #

      Exactly. It looks like half the internet never stopped and took the time to ask if it looked halfway normal.There’s no excuse for posting anything half-assed online. We can edit as much as we want.

      But the little things matter and I’m going to judge you if you look terrible.

  2. Janet Kennedy August 18, 2011 at 8:40 am #

    There’s a reason for the expression “A face made for radio”.

    • Jay August 18, 2011 at 11:32 am #

      Or in this case, podcasting.

  3. Lori Randall Stradtman August 18, 2011 at 1:34 pm #

    Bwa ha ha! Excellent post!!

    I vividly recall one certain social media god, er, notable who did a series of videos I saw involving his nostrils in the most unflattering way possible. He’d angled the camera so that it was pointed up to his face, almost a la Blair Witch Project. I saw copious amounts of nose hair. Nobody wants to see nose hair. Ever. Seriously. Period.

    And he (of course) did an entire course, maybe even for money, on how to be a videoblogging rock star.

    I kid you not!

    Refreshing, necessary post!

    • Jay August 18, 2011 at 2:33 pm #

      There are social media gods? And I’ve been worshiping the wrong pagan deities this whole time.

      And that just sounds disgusting. Nose hairs. Ew.

      • Lori Randall Stradtman August 18, 2011 at 3:02 pm #

        Maybe the fact that you haven’t been ingratiating yourself at the sacrifices is precisely why you had the guts to post this. 😉

        And yes, the nostrils appeared cavernous and frightening. In person, he doesn’t look like that.

  4. Chris Ferdinandi August 19, 2011 at 10:54 am #

    Jay, sorry buddy, but I gotta call bullshit on this one.

    “If you look like a hobo in poorly lit room, I don’t care how good your content is.”

    The “good enough” principle says that good content trumps quality… always. It’s the internet. It’s free. If I can get the information I want quickly and effectively, I don’t care how poorly lit the video is.

    • Jay August 19, 2011 at 11:50 am #

      I’ve never been a fan of video blogging. I think most people are terrible on camera (myself included). I also know I have ridiculously high standards. I’m a failed singer and actor, so I see things with a different eye.

      But what kills me, and I mean absolutely kills me, are the video bloggers and social media “experts” who do this for a living, but make videos that look terrible. I’ve seen 5 videos this week for professional purposes that look like they were made in caves by trolls where there is no natural light. It’s not flattering, it distracts me as an audience, and I think it takes away from the value of what they are saying.

      I’m not asking that video bloggers go out and spent hundreds of dollars on cameras and lighting equipment, just that they take the time to make their hair look good, make sure their entire face is lit.

      Than again, maybe that’s just me being crazy. It’s certainly not the first time.

  5. Camilo Olea August 19, 2011 at 12:27 pm #

    I totally agree.

    This is the face I make when I look at one of the previously mentioned videos:

    http://regretsaremundane.tumblr.com/post/8854055296/when-a-couple-starts-making-out-in-front-of-you

    (The cat’s face, not the couple)

    • Jay August 20, 2011 at 7:04 pm #

      I worry that one day, my cat will see all the videos I made and judge me with a face like that.

  6. Brian McDonald August 24, 2011 at 4:14 pm #

    Jay, had you gone to NC State vs. UNC you could have taken videography as part of your PR degree. In that class I learned about lighting, white balance, roll back/forward and other vital parts of shooting video. All of these I’ve used for my own video blogging as well as photo shoots and corporate video I’ve done over the years.

    • Jay August 24, 2011 at 4:41 pm #

      Alas! I learned theatre lighting, not film lighting. Damn degree in opera!

    • Ashley Sue Bullers @AshleySue October 20, 2011 at 12:32 am #

      Um… sad to say, N.C. State no longer has videography class as part of the PR degree. Class of ‘2007, and not a single class in that. And my niece is currently starting her senior year at State, in PR, and not a single class in videography. :/ Though it would have been VERY useful.

      • Jay October 20, 2011 at 7:59 am #

        None? Have they never heard of this thing called YouTube?!