It’s never been easier to shoot your own good-looking, persuasive or creative video! Practically every phone has a camera, and an increasing number of social media sites offer video hosting. It’s not just YouTube or TikTok anymore – video is EVERYWHERE!
If you’re making a video for a course assignment, you’re going to need some hardware and some software – but the odds are that if you have a smart phone and a computer, you already have everything you need, and anything you DON’T have is a quick download away.
This tutorial will help you create a video essay with title cards and a music bed. This tutorial uses Clipchamp, which comes with computers running Windows 11 or later (the most common computer setup). Clipchamp also has a free online version at clipchamp.com.
To make a video the quick-start way, all you have to do is prepare your tech, write your script, record your video and audio, edit your shots (including adding a “music bed”), and publish!
What’s So Great About Video?
Based on the popularity of websites like TikTok and YouTube (mentioned above), you probably already know what’s so great about video. It seems that even when we’re not posting something that we hope goes viral, we still like to connect face-to-face with our audience through apps like Facetime. Video lets us emote more clearly – we can use our facial expressions to convey more meaning than we can with just our voice – and we can use all sorts of visual aids, like screen captures, animations, and even clips from other videos.
Starting Your Video – Step-By-Step
For this quick-start guide, we’re assuming that you’re producing a video essay – In its most basic form, this is an essay that you read in front of a camera which you then edit into something more visually stimulating by including music, screen captures or similar images, video clips, and other elements to create something worth watching.
This sort of video essay is heavily scripted – your contribution, as the author-reader, should be planned carefully as should your various cuts, inserts, and edits.
To create a video, you’ll need to prepare your tech, write a script, record your read, edit your shots, and publish your video
Step 1: Prepare your Tech
Visit the Digital Writing Studio to access video equipment.
Create a quiet and well-lit space – Prepare your computer – Establish Hosting (if necessary)
Before you start, you should make sure you have a quiet and well-lit space. Light is key to shooting good video – you can make a shot look dimmer or darker “in post,” but you cannot add light that isn’t there to begin with. Brighter is better. To reduce background noise and echo, make sure no unnecessary electronics or devices (like fans) are running – this is especially important if the noisy device is visible (like, again, a fan).
It is best to shoot against a clear backdrop (a plain wall is fine). Shoot a test video to make sure you don’t have anything distracting behind you. You don’t want to shoot an hour of video only to find out it looks like a potted plant is growing out of your head because of how you’re situated.
You will need a recording device. We’re assuming that you will use either your phone OR your computer’s web cam. There are many higher-end video cameras available, but for this quick-start, we’re sticking to basics. Make sure you have enough storage (hard disk space) to store your video files, and make sure you know how to transfer video files from your device to your computer if you’re using your phone or an external video recorder.
You will need a computer to edit your video. This tutorial assumes that you are using the video editing feature of the Microsoft Photos app installed on every Windows 10 computer.
Finally, you’ll need hosting – often, if an instructor requests that a new –media assignment be completed as a video, you won’t need hosting: you’ll simply upload your .MPEG file just as you’d turn in any other assignment. If you do need to have your video online, talk to your instructor – they may want something as simple as uploading your video file to YouTube or some other video hosting site. For this tutorial, we’ll show you how to upload your file to your own personal FIU MyWeb WordPress page.
Step 2: Write Your Script
Again, this tutorial assumes that you are performing a video essay – an essay written and read by you on-camera with title cards announcing significant section changes. More advanced usage of Windows movie maker (and other, more advanced apps) will allow you to make more sophisticated video edits – but for your first video essay, we’re keeping it simple.
We assume here that you have something to write about – either you have a topic which interests you, or your instructor has assigned you a topic. If you’re having a hard time thinking of something to write about, we recommend scheduling an appointment with the FIU Writing Center, or collaborating with your instructor or classmates to come up with ideas.
Once you have a topic, writing a script for a video essay is a lot like writing the essays your used to, but with some exceptions.
- We expect video essays to be less formal and more intimate. You, the author, will be on-screen, and many video essays feel intimate and personal – we want to see your connection to the topic. You might consider even re-writing your existing essay to something more approachable, like an I-search style paper.
- Note where your video will break for title cards – places where you can announce a change in subject by naming a new section (e.g. introduction, literature review, thesis, conclusion).
- Write your script in small sections – a paragraph or two at a time. This allows you to quickly and easily re-shoot anything that goes wrong.
Step 3: Record Your Read
In your quiet room with your script in-hand, it’s time to record!
Before recording yourself, read through your script a few times until your reading sounds natural and convincing. Listen to yourself and notice where you have a hard time. If you need to make any changes, do it now – and then read through again to further refine your script.
Think about what you are saying AND how you are saying it: are you reading a question? A declarative statement? An exciting fact? How should you sound? Happy? Sad? Eager?
Once you have a good sense of your script, record yourself reciting it, while frequently looking up from the script! Make eye contact with your camera so that your viewer will feel engaged and spoken-to.
If you make a mistake, it’s usually best to re-read that section. That’s why we script our videos in small chunks – if we mess up, we can just read that section over without having to go back and re-do a whole page.
Once you are finished, play back what you have recorded. Remember that if you like some of what you’ve recorded, but not all of it, you can keep the good parts and re-record the bad parts in the editing stage, below.
Once you have a good read-through (or once you have enough good bits to put together from multiple read-throughs), transfer your video files to your computer. Put them in an easy-to-find place – a folder on your desktop or somewhere you know you’ll be able to locate them as-needed.
Step 4: Edit Your Shots
We recommend backing up your video files now – some of what you’ll do can’t be un-done easily. If you have to start over, or if you lose a video or audio file, you’ll need a backup to recover your work.
Open Clipchamp and select Create a new video.
You will be prompted to name your project – call it whatever you like, just so long as you will be able to find this project later.
Find the video you recorded for this project and import it to the media library.
Drag your video into the project Storyboard at the bottom of your window – this is where you will edit your video.
Splits and Title Cards
Add a title card by clicking the “text” button on the left side and drop it inro your timeline. You’ll be able to edit the text on the right frame. If you like, choose a style for this title card from the list provided – just remember to use the same style for all of your title cards!
You can split the video to make a new section. Click the split button and then find the first spot in the video that correlates to the scripted title card breaks – for example, if you wanted to have a break after your introduction, but before you got to the body of your essay, use the slider to find that spot in the video you recorded, and click “done.” You will be returned to the main video editing window.
Click “text” again to repeat the process for creating a title card, but this time, instead of the video title, provide the title of the upcoming section (“Literature Review” or “Examples” – whatever you picked).
Repeat this process of splitting your video and adding a title card until the video is broken up into titled sections, as you planned.
Add a Music Bed / Soundtrack
Click on your first title card and then click on Music & SFX in the left frame. You will be presented with a list of provided tracks that you can use for a “music bed” – that’s music that will play along with the video that you’ve made.
To listen to any single track out of the dozens provided, click the triangular “play” button to the left of the track.
To select a track, click on its title. That track will play throughout the entire video.
Adjust the volume of your background music – most music, at full volume, will drown out your recitation. Although the optimal level varies from track to track, a music bed at about 30% volume is usually right. Play around until you’ve got a good balance of music and speech.
Use the in-editor video player to review your video. When you are satisfied with your work, click Finish Video in the upper right, choose your export resolution, select a location to save your video, and click OK.
That’s it – you’ve recorded a video essay with a music bed. You’ve made a video!
Step 5: Publish!
Ask your instructor how they’d like to receive the file. Video files can be ENORMOUS – earlier, you selected your video resolution, and you may need to edit your video and save it again at a lower resolution if your instructor wants you to submit the video by email or through Canvas.
If your instructor only wants a link, and not the video itself, you will need to find hosting for your video. YouTube is a popular choice, but you can also upload your video to your FIU-provided WordPress page and share it from there. Once you log in at MyWeb.fiu.edu, you will see a link to “Media” on the left-hand navigation. Highlight that link and choose “Library” when it pops up.
In your Media library, click the “Add New” button. Browse to your newly created video file and select it.
Your video will upload to your FIU MyWeb media library. By clicking the icon for that video, you will be taken to an in-browser player, and you will see to the right a text box labeled “File URL.” Copy that address, and you now have a link you can send your instructor.
Congratulations – you now have posted a video to YOUR FIU Website!
What’s Next?
This has been a very brief overview on how to create a particular type of video. Video editing is a rich medium that affords you a lot of expressive opportunity – but the tools can be overwhelming at first, and they take time to master. We’ve covered some bare-bones basics here, but hopefully this gives you a little taste of what you can accomplish.
If you liked shooting and editing your video – don’t stop! Videos can be a great way to entertain and communicate with people who care about the same things you do. You have the power to add exciting visuals and enjoyable audio to your content to create something that’s greater than the sum of its parts.
And if you ever want to get more out of your video, or if you’re just looking for tutorials, published student work, or anything else related to digital writing, come back to the FIU Digital Writing Studio any time.
Lights, camera – ACTION!