Useful things to keep in mind when editing a dash cam video
Jan 19, 2014 12:07:11 GMT -5
C_H EdmontonDrivers and Connecticut Dashcam like this
Post by DontDentMyCar on Jan 19, 2014 12:07:11 GMT -5
There's so much to consider but here are some general things to help you make better videos.
1) CROP: You should crop your clips so you don't bore your audience to death.
2) MINIMUM CLIP LENGTH: You should try to keep your video's as short as possible without cropping clips so short that they are missed… an average clip should be a minimum of 3 seconds long, enough for the observer to get the context and identify the problem and then witness the infraction. A good length is 5 to 8 seconds… just be sure to crop out the bits that seem boring to you.
3) Length of Video: Your videos should try to keep within 5 minutes in length, and for a special presentation 10 minutes. This will help a potential viewer whether they will spend the time watching your video or not.
4) TITLES, THANK YOU: You should create a short (5 seconds or less is ideal for an intro) introduction and a 'Thank you for watching, please comment, subscribe, thumbs-up and share' for the end of all your videos. Once you have the beginning and end clips you can easily copy them into every new project. Intro's can be slightly longer, but I'm finding that my 15 second intro is in fact too long. Because it is so long I will do something to the intro to keep it interesting or, cut it for short videos to just a couple of seconds.
Here's an example of adding something within an intro:
5) THEME: If you can create a theme for your clips, so much the better. For instance you can make a video of 'one road, one day, with lots of infractions', or a variety of clips from different days. What's helps make video's better is figuring out a theme for what you want to show. Here's some themes to consider:
6) REVIEW YOUR VIDEO: When you think you're done, play the video and ask yourself is there anything that could be cropped further to make the video shorter, or a transition that can help carry the story of your video allowing viewers to enjoy your production more? The lesson here is don't be in such a rush to upload unless you feel good about the video. It's exciting to get a new video uploaded and there's a lot of anticipation in waiting for feedback and comments. So give it a little extra time to refine what you are producing. This will result in people waiting for your next video upload and thus their enthusiasm will be reflected in a lot of comments and thumbs-up, maybe even a share or two.
7) TAGS: Tags can get your video's noticed. We should start a thread just for people's favorite tags. Don't forget to include them, and remember that you can copy/paste tags from an earlier video you uploaded to a new video, so it's a good ideas to get a good set of tags. Good tags for dash cam videos would include: bad drivers, road fail, impatient drivers, etc.
8) DELETE BORING CLIPS: You might have 20 examples of people not using their turn signal, but unless this is a video with the theme of people not using turn signals it might be a good idea not to include every clip you have recorded, unless this infraction almost or did result in a collision.
9) TEXT: It's a great idea to give people a heads up on what they should look out for. The infraction you think is obvious might not be so obvious to someone viewing your video, and thus you can loose a viewer if they become confused. Certainly there are clips which no explanation will be required, but a little text always helps. Also, try to keep the text to just a few quick specific words. There might be occasion to provide a paragraph but for most circumstances a couple of words does the trick and is easy to read and then continue watching the video.
10) POINTERS: Instead or in addition to text would be to use a pointer or arrow to literally point to the focus of your clip. This is a great way to get people to notice an infraction. There are a variety of ways to make pointers so maybe we should start a separate thread on the subject.
11) WATERMARK YOUR VIDEOS: One dashcammer, mydashcam6, just started watermarking his videos when he found out that someone was stealing his videos and claiming them as their own. It's good practice and why shouldn't you get more subscribers for your clips?
If you're doing the following you probably aren't getting the views, comments and subscriptions you should… see if you're guilty of any of these and consider making changes to your vids:
1) No Intro. Let people know your channel name and the general theme (bad drivers, etc) of your channel and the upcoming video.
2) 14 to 20 minute videos…. if your video is more than 12 minutes it better be very entertaining. Think about it, a TV show is 30 minutes and is produced by 10's or hundreds of people. You probably can't keep up with the writing, effects, content, etc. so it's better to crop out the boring stuff and keep your video's shorter. For me personally, if I have a choice of viewing 10 two minute videos or one 20 minute video I'm going with the two minute vids every time.
3) REALLY LONG VIDEO: If you're producing a video that's over 20 minutes it better be in conjunction with the History Channel.
4) Extremely short clips and upload a lot in one blast: There's nothing wrong with uploading a 20 second video, but if you upload 10, 12, 14 or more in one shot I might just unsubscribe from your channel. That's because when I look at my Subscription List I will scroll down to see what's showing. If your channel is taking up a huge chunk of space every night there's a good chance I'll just leave rather than be bothered. So if you do upload lots of clips, perhaps it's time to group them into a 2 minute single video.
Please add more ideas on the do's and don't's of making videos….
Note: I can see auto-spell-correct has messed up some words. Please let me know if you see anything that's spelled wrong, thanks.
1) CROP: You should crop your clips so you don't bore your audience to death.
2) MINIMUM CLIP LENGTH: You should try to keep your video's as short as possible without cropping clips so short that they are missed… an average clip should be a minimum of 3 seconds long, enough for the observer to get the context and identify the problem and then witness the infraction. A good length is 5 to 8 seconds… just be sure to crop out the bits that seem boring to you.
3) Length of Video: Your videos should try to keep within 5 minutes in length, and for a special presentation 10 minutes. This will help a potential viewer whether they will spend the time watching your video or not.
4) TITLES, THANK YOU: You should create a short (5 seconds or less is ideal for an intro) introduction and a 'Thank you for watching, please comment, subscribe, thumbs-up and share' for the end of all your videos. Once you have the beginning and end clips you can easily copy them into every new project. Intro's can be slightly longer, but I'm finding that my 15 second intro is in fact too long. Because it is so long I will do something to the intro to keep it interesting or, cut it for short videos to just a couple of seconds.
Here's an example of adding something within an intro:
5) THEME: If you can create a theme for your clips, so much the better. For instance you can make a video of 'one road, one day, with lots of infractions', or a variety of clips from different days. What's helps make video's better is figuring out a theme for what you want to show. Here's some themes to consider:
- Here is the good of my city… and the bad.
- Bad Lane Changes and other road infractions.
- Pedestrian and/or Bicycle related.
- Speeders and wild reckless/agressive behavior
- A mix of all types, but organized in some way.
- Music video which is typically sped up video that is sequenced with the beat of the music.
6) REVIEW YOUR VIDEO: When you think you're done, play the video and ask yourself is there anything that could be cropped further to make the video shorter, or a transition that can help carry the story of your video allowing viewers to enjoy your production more? The lesson here is don't be in such a rush to upload unless you feel good about the video. It's exciting to get a new video uploaded and there's a lot of anticipation in waiting for feedback and comments. So give it a little extra time to refine what you are producing. This will result in people waiting for your next video upload and thus their enthusiasm will be reflected in a lot of comments and thumbs-up, maybe even a share or two.
7) TAGS: Tags can get your video's noticed. We should start a thread just for people's favorite tags. Don't forget to include them, and remember that you can copy/paste tags from an earlier video you uploaded to a new video, so it's a good ideas to get a good set of tags. Good tags for dash cam videos would include: bad drivers, road fail, impatient drivers, etc.
8) DELETE BORING CLIPS: You might have 20 examples of people not using their turn signal, but unless this is a video with the theme of people not using turn signals it might be a good idea not to include every clip you have recorded, unless this infraction almost or did result in a collision.
9) TEXT: It's a great idea to give people a heads up on what they should look out for. The infraction you think is obvious might not be so obvious to someone viewing your video, and thus you can loose a viewer if they become confused. Certainly there are clips which no explanation will be required, but a little text always helps. Also, try to keep the text to just a few quick specific words. There might be occasion to provide a paragraph but for most circumstances a couple of words does the trick and is easy to read and then continue watching the video.
10) POINTERS: Instead or in addition to text would be to use a pointer or arrow to literally point to the focus of your clip. This is a great way to get people to notice an infraction. There are a variety of ways to make pointers so maybe we should start a separate thread on the subject.
11) WATERMARK YOUR VIDEOS: One dashcammer, mydashcam6, just started watermarking his videos when he found out that someone was stealing his videos and claiming them as their own. It's good practice and why shouldn't you get more subscribers for your clips?
If you're doing the following you probably aren't getting the views, comments and subscriptions you should… see if you're guilty of any of these and consider making changes to your vids:
1) No Intro. Let people know your channel name and the general theme (bad drivers, etc) of your channel and the upcoming video.
2) 14 to 20 minute videos…. if your video is more than 12 minutes it better be very entertaining. Think about it, a TV show is 30 minutes and is produced by 10's or hundreds of people. You probably can't keep up with the writing, effects, content, etc. so it's better to crop out the boring stuff and keep your video's shorter. For me personally, if I have a choice of viewing 10 two minute videos or one 20 minute video I'm going with the two minute vids every time.
3) REALLY LONG VIDEO: If you're producing a video that's over 20 minutes it better be in conjunction with the History Channel.
4) Extremely short clips and upload a lot in one blast: There's nothing wrong with uploading a 20 second video, but if you upload 10, 12, 14 or more in one shot I might just unsubscribe from your channel. That's because when I look at my Subscription List I will scroll down to see what's showing. If your channel is taking up a huge chunk of space every night there's a good chance I'll just leave rather than be bothered. So if you do upload lots of clips, perhaps it's time to group them into a 2 minute single video.
Please add more ideas on the do's and don't's of making videos….
Note: I can see auto-spell-correct has messed up some words. Please let me know if you see anything that's spelled wrong, thanks.
I've be dash camming for a year now and wish I had this kind of information before I got started. I'm trying to get a bit more serious about my dash cam channel on you tube, and want to make it the best it can be. That's why I changed my user name from Tbonius Monk to DashCamExtraordinaire DCE. Wanted my name to correspond with my videos. Anyways, thank you for posting this thread 
