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Set Up Your Home Studio in 2 Minutes for Free

The thing that always stops people at this point, we're talking about how great videos are how videos are going to help them with their goals, and they're like no. But I don't have the money to spend on a big home studio. And I don't have the time, and I don't have the technology. Like I don't have camera guys and editors making me look good. Yeah, so me neither. And it's really easy to set up your home studio. You can do it in five minutes for $0. So that excuse of like you don't have the right technology. No. Because you already have the camera you need. Are you ready to see the camera you already have? It's your phone. Bonus points if you have a succulent. But you're-- Thank you for laughing. You're phone-- All of you have a smartphone. You're phone is a perfectly, perfectly good camera, you can use to shoot videos. I'm actually going to show you how. Well, we're going to do it during the lunch break, and I'm going to show you how to upload videos to YouTube right from your phone. S...

o you don't even have to connect it to your computer and then upload it. You can do it directly from your phone. So when I'm traveling that's how I like to do videos and we'll talk in a bit about being consistent. So knowing that you always have a camera with you. Now, it's not like going to be super ultra professional grade, but remember, your audience wants to get to know you as a real person. So you can use your phone, especially if you're doing that format we talked about. The log format. Where you're showing your point of view. Your camera is a great way to do it. Also, you can use a camera in your laptop. So this is my laptop siting on a big stack of books, because this is my best pro tip. If you put your laptop up higher, the camera angle is going to be more flattering. That's as professional as I get in my videos. It's just stack up. So like if I was shooting on this. I would have a stack of books under it, so that the camera isn't looking like up my nose. Also you'll have fewer chins and you'll look younger. So put that laptop up on a stack of books. This is a bunch of knitting books on top of like a side table. And heres is my microphone which I'll show in a minute. This is how I shoot videos. I shot this just the other day. So, the camera in your laptop is perfectly fine for a straight to camera kind of video. So those are the two cameras you can use. Also, you can use the internal microphone. For one thing you can use your headphones that come like I showed you in the earlier slide, attached to my phone. Just use those headphones. Put them in. They've got the little speaker right there. That's going to be better, than if you're phone is just out. Because it's going to be closer to your mouth. It's going to pick up less ambient noise. You can also buy for $5 to $10 a lavaliere mic, which is one of these. I'm sure this is much higher quality then the one I have at home. It's not very expensive on Amazon and the resource guide that she mentioned, you get when you buy the class, that comes with a link to that lavaliere mic that I have. And then this is the snowball mic. So it was not that expensive and I've also linked to where you can get that on Amazon. I also, this thing that's black that's coming out from it that you can actually see in the last slide. Go back. Right here. This is a pop filter because apparently I pop my p's. So that just makes it sound slightly better. It's just a couple of bucks to add on to your microphone. But you don't need any of those. You can just use the headphones you already have if you're using your phone. And I have used just the internal mic in my laptop before. I have dogs that like to breathe loudly, when I'm recording videos. So that's why we got the microphone. It's just mainly so you don't hear them heaving in the background. The other part of your home studio is going to be lighting. But guess what? I don't have any professional lights at home, and neither do all of my clients and students who are using videos for their business. I have a big open. It's like a glass french door in the room. So I open the curtains all the way. I have moved in the past, especially in the winter, all the lamps from my house in a circle around me. When it's winter. The best thing you can do is record in daylight but out of harsh light. So you don't want to be in direct light where it's making harsh shadows on your face. But on a sunny day. And that might be harder in San Francisco than it is in East Tennessee. But when the weather is nice and bright and sunny get near a window. Make sure the light is indirect and shoot right then. And of course, if you're doing the-- Like you're just showing your perspective as you move through your day, the lighting is going to be less important. But the number one way you can make your videos just seem more professional is to have brighter lighting and just better softer not harsh lighting. But again, you don't even have to buy anything. Yeah. If you're interested in learning more skills in terms of filming or audio of course, at Creative Live we have tons of courses, where you can enhance your knowledge on any of those topics. So I recommend taking a look through our catalog of previous classes and upcoming lessons because you could definitely learn some extra skill set if that was your interest. Absolutely. You can learn. Even just learning a little bit about filmography will make your, the scenes you're shooting better, right? And learning framing and learning lighting, all of that will improve it. So to get started, start with where you are. And then I've linked up in the resource guide, the whole catalog of filmography classes on Creative Live. So that's all you need to make your video. If you wanted to edit your video. These are what I recommend. I've linked these up in the resource guide. But I wanted to talk you through them really quick, so that you know. Because it's always people's question. Do I have to edit? The first thing I'm going to tell you is that you don't have to edit your video. You can. Turn it on. Talk to it. Or if you're doing-- We're going to talk about the different formats in the next segment. But if you're doing an interview show. Record the show and post it. Tons of people do their videos like this. They get plenty of views. So you don't have to edit it. If you want to, because you say something stupid or your dog walks in and makes a lot of noise. You absolutely can. I like FilmoraGo on my phone. It makes it really easy to edit right on your phone. You can cut clips out. You can join clips up together. So when I travel, I'll often shoot a bunch of little video clips. And then put them all together. It adds music, if you want to add music. It also adds filters. I wouldn't recommend messing around with any of that. Just cut out your weird, really big weird loud things that happen. But leave in your imperfections and don't-- It's really hard to edit out every single um when you're just learning. Again Creative Live has awesome video editing courses that go into the details of exactly how to do it. But then Windows Media Maker or Movie Maker? Is free if you have a PC, it comes on your PC. And if you have a MacBook, iMovie is just on your MacBook. Or if you have an old version and they're not there you can absolutely download them and buy them. These are what everybody that I talk to. This is what they use. One of these three. So all of my students and clients that are doing this in their business. This is what they all came back to me with. That this is the software they're using to edit their videos. But you really don't have to. That's what I want you to keep in mind. Because that keeps so many people from posting videos. So what we're going to do in a little bit. Is shoot a video and post a video, no editing. Okay? You guys look slightly horrified. Are there any questions about anything we've talked about so far? Your goals. Why you might want to do videos? The software, the technology? Yeah. I have a question. I'm doing a-- I'm interested in two different types of videos. One is very much sort of a crafting orientation. Something I'm doing with my sister. And that seems like this is great, kind of fun. Get on the video together. Make it funny. Make it silly. But the other work that I'm doing is for an app. And it would be to me, it feels like I should be much more professional than some of the things that you're saying. So can you talk about kind of the differences? So, tell me what your-- Can you tell me what your business is? Like what do you do? Tell me more about the app. Tell me more about the other video. I'm in sales and marketing and the app is-- It hasn't been launched. So I'm helping a client to develop the marketing plan for it. So I can't say a lot about it, but it's going to be marketed to hopefully a wide range of customers and it just feels like it needs-- And this is, you're doing it for a client? Yes. So in that case, yes. Because when you're working for someone else and it's their business. Obviously you don't-- And often those are short term relationships. Like, you're not going to be the face of the company forever. So I would recommend actually as you're working with them, get them to do the videos or somebody who works in their company. If this is just freelance work, or they're just a short term client. Is that the kind of-- Uhum. Yeah. So I would get them to do the videos as opposed to you doing the videos. Okay. And then you-- Depending on who their market is that's going to determine how professional and fancy the videos are. But, many companies do awesome things with videos that go viral because they're so imperfect. You know what I mean? Like a lot of startups do videos that are just like behind the scenes. Like this is what we're doing. This is what we're building. This is what it's like here. People love to see that and they love to get the app because uh-- I know those people and that company. One way to think about it in a company like that is like the show The Office. You guys know the show The Office with Michael Scott? Okay, so. You could shoot videos like that around the office and people will get to know the characters before it launches. Or if the app does something, you talk about that problem that the customer has, and make videos around that. Without knowing more it's had to give you specifics. I know. But that for sure, since it's a client, it's going to be a different relationship. And a different set up. I wouldn't make you the face of it unless you plan on staying for a long time, because you want the customers to connect with that-- The people at that company. Does that make sense? Yes. Okay, and then did you have a question about the channel you're starting with your sister? No, but what I'll do is I'll think about that one for this class. Yes. For sure. And then I'm sure lots of what you learn and practice with that channel will apply. Because the more videos you do, the more you get ideas of like-- We could do this with you. And we could do this with you. We've got questions online. Awesome. Just regarding the equipment. If you kind of had a little budget to play with, and you wanted to invest in something, whether it was the microphone or maybe an update of a mobile phone to record on or whatever, it might be. What would you recommend for you? What do you personally find that you get the most out of in terms of equipment? Is it software or is it like the microphone that you use. What would you pin it on? Because I'm not a detail oriented person. I don't like to do-- The editing is like awww. That's what kept me from doing videos for long time. So I wouldn't invest in that-- I would probably do the snowball mic, which I think is under $ because that improved my sound quality so much. And I've even been on a conference call with friends and I'll say, oh my mic isn't plugged in let me plug it in. And they're like wow. You sound so much better. Just more clear. There is not all the ambient noise of like the birds outside and the dog. So I would do that, or lighting. Depending on what you're room set up is. If it's a dark room where you're going to record a lot or it's-- You live in a really foggy city. There are sets on Amazon. There is one called the three light cowboy set up and it's got three lights and umbrellas. It makes it super professional. And then you just look beautiful in all your videos. That would be the other thing. That's if you're going to be sitting in one place and recording. The mic and the lights. If you're going to be out, then I would get one of these lavaliere mics, or a phone upgrade. If you're phone is before like a iPhone 6, or a really old Android, the camera is not going to be as great as it could be. It's a really good question though. We also had-- I'm going to read the question about how this particular person online was hoping that they could not feature in the video. That they wanted to be able to kind of do a video, but not feature themselves personally. We've had a few examples in from people watching, so thanks for those. An example of video format that does not show a person's face. I know a French knitting spinning YouTuber. who films the hands in different projects that she speaks. It's fun-- a little bit less personal, but still works to help show the craft and also to potentially sell your product. Yes. And Scavenger Annie, as well has been in touch. I love to share my passion for vintage sowing and patterns, illustration and machine embroidery. Asked, should I-- Is it best that I just concentrate on one thing for my videos? That's a really good question. And we're going to talk more about topics and content in a little bit. But my quick answer-- to be kind of pondering as we go through the day is who is your customer? I'm going to ask you this actually a lot. So who is your customer? And what does she want to see, so that she can buy your product? Because it is easy to do videos about things you love, bu if you're doing this for your business where you sell something. You want to focus in on what's going to make that happen. Now if you just want to do a YouTube video because you want to sell ads and grow a big audience and that's your goal, then absolutely talk about all of your passions. But look at what you sell, and who buys it. And focus in on what she most wants to know, which might be totally different than what you would most want to talk about. But we're going to talk a little bit later about how you can mesh those things together, to make it-- Something both you like to do, and she wants to hear about.