Video

Overview

Video Design Tips and Tricks

When shooting effective videos, there are 6 key design elements to consider. These elements are orientation, focus, shot scale, composition, lighting, and white balance. In this section, we will provide tips for shooting more professional-looking videos.

6 design elements (orientation, focus, shot scale, composition, lighting, and white balance) with thumbnail photos of larger images that will be described below.
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 Shoot your videos with the right orientation for the platform. Making sure you orient your frame properly ensures that the elements in your frame during your shoot are the same elements in your final output, without the need for cropping or filling space on the edges of your video.

  • Landscape/Horizontal Orientation: If your video will be viewed on a computer screen or TV (such as YouTube or Vimeo), you should shoot horizontally. This is most common for professional videos. Notice that in the example shot below, we cannot see the subject’s hands, and we get a better view of the table behind her.
  • Square Orientation: If your video will be posted as a story on social media (Instagram, Facebook, etc.), it should be square-oriented. Here we start to see a bit of what’s on the table in front of the subject, and there is less focus on the background table.
  • Portrait/Vertical Orientation: If your video will be viewed as a reel on social media (TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube Shorts, etc.), it may need to be oriented vertically. In this vertical example below, the table and objects on it become a really important part of the visual. We can also see the windows behind her.
Three examples of video orientations of the same person. They are labelled from left to right: Landscape/Horizontal, Square, and Portrait/Vertical.

Your video should be clear and crisp.

  • Your subject should not be blurry. Use your camera’s built-in capabilities to focus on the subject when filming. When working with a person as your subject, aim your camera at the subject’s eyes. You cannot sharpen a blurry video after the fact, but you can always make it blurry later when editing. Nowadays, most cameras have an auto-focus feature. If you’re struggling to get your camera to auto-focus, consider moving the object you are filming closer to or farther from the camera. You may also need to turn off auto-focus and manually adjust your camera settings.
  • Avoid unnecessary and distracting visual information. You can guide your viewer’s attention to the elements you want to emphasize in your video by focusing solely on the subject and blurring the excess information. As you can see below, the left shot focuses on the rose, while the right shot focuses on the woman holding the rose.
Two frames of the same subjects (a woman in a black suit jacket with a red shirt holding a red rose in front of a red backdrop). The left shot has the focus on the rose and the rest of the shot is out of focus, while the right shot has a focus on the woman and the rose is blurry.

Your subject should not be too close or too far from the camera. Here are some example shot scales using the same subjects. The left is horizontally oriented; the right is vertically oriented.

  • Long Shot – Full shot of the subject (head to toe). Good for b-roll and full-body movement, but not ideal for most footage. A long shot allows for a lot more background information around the subject(s).
Two examples of long shot scale, one is horizontally oriented, the other is vertically oriented.
  • Medium Shot – This is the standard shot scale, in which the subject or subjects are seen from the waist up. Commonly seen in television interviews and on newscasts. This shot puts the subject as the largest part of the frame and eliminates excess background information.
Two examples of medium shot scale using the same subjects, one is horizontally oriented, the other is vertically oriented.
  • Close Up Shot – This shot frames a person’s head. A close-up is very intimate; it lets us feel emotionally closer to the subject. It is more focused on the subject because we can hardly see the surroundings.
Two examples of close up shot scale, one is horizontally oriented, the other is vertically oriented.

Use the rule of thirds to orient your subject in the frame. The rule of thirds is an imaginary 3 x 3 grid in your frame (see image below for grid lines). When you have a subject interacting with an environment, you can use the rule of thirds to help you place the subject and balance the space.

  • Top to Bottom – The subject’s eyes are best located near the top line 1/3 of the frame, near or just above the line (as demonstrated below).
  • Left to Right – If the subject is looking directly at the camera and the background is not important to the shot, it is best to center them in the frame. However, if you want to capture some of the background, you can place the subject in the left or right 1/3 of the frame, centered along one of the grid lines. When not centered, it is best to place the subject at a slight angle, facing away from the edge of the frame (as shown below).
Video Frame demonstrating the rule of thirds with two horizontal and two vertical white grid lines dissecting the frame. Behind the gridlines is the frame of a man in front of a blurred-out candy store. The man is wearing a blue sweater over a white collared shirt and tie.
Two examples of square-oriented shots with gridlines. Both shots are of cats.
Two examples of vertically-oriented shots with gridlines running through them. One is of objects, the other is of people and dogs.

Make sure your subject has enough headroom. By using the rule of thirds, you can avoid a common mistake, which is giving your subject too much headroom or too little headroom. Notice that the eyes in the first image are above the third line; in the middle image, her eyes are nicely aligned; and she’s comically low in the frame of the third image. With the prevalence of video calls and meetings, we have become accustomed to poor camera placement and headroom, so be sure to keep an eye out for it.

Three images of the same woman, each with differing amounts of headroom. The middle image, which is also following the rule of thirds, has a star above it for the best composition.

Also, make sure your subject has enough lead room. Sometimes also called “nose room,” lead room is needed when the subject is not looking directly at the camera. Often in interviews, the subject is looking slightly to the side of the camera at the interviewer. In these cases, you want to make sure there is space in front of the subject; otherwise, it can feel awkward or like wasted space behind the subject.

Three examples of the same person to demonstrate lead/nose room. The left most image has the person facing too close to the edge of the frame, the middle has the subject centered, and the right has the correct amount of lead room, which is illustrated with a comic speech bubble that says "Hello!"

Make sure your subject is well-lit. Since your subject’s face is the most important communication tool, you want to ensure it is well lit. Filming the subject in front of a bright window, for example, will cast the subject in shadow and prevent the viewer from seeing them properly. Don’t have professional lights? Use house lamps or desk lights! Even a cellphone flashlight can work in a pinch!

When you shoot indoors, try to establish a 3-point lighting setup:

  • Key Light – The major and strongest lighting. Positioned to one side of the subject.
  • Fill Light – The secondary lighting on the other side of the subject that is softer than the key light. This light source is meant to cancel out all shadows created by the key light.
  • Back Light – This light is located opposite the fill light behind the subject. Backlighting gives the subject definition and a three-dimensional feel, keeping it from blending into the background.
A visual diagram of the locations of the lights for 3-point lighting.

Below are three examples demonstrating the importance of each light on a subject:

Example of a subject with only the key light.
Example of a subject with both key light and back light.
3-Point Lighting Example: Subject with key light, back light, and fill light.

You want your footage to look natural, with colors that come across as true as possible. White balance removes artificial color casts in your image so that it looks natural and accurate to the setting. It’s best to aim for a neutral color temperature (as in the center picture below) where whites are “true white.” That is, the image matches the color that you perceive with your eyes in the specific location where you are shooting. You can use a white piece of paper to test your white balance before you’re shooting. If you want to go cooler or warmer color temperature, you’re better off doing this in the editing process, in case you change your mind later on.

Top of image is a labeled scale of light from left to right: cool, neutral, warm. Below the scale is the same image of a woman with shoulder-length dark hair. The left image is labeled

Whenever possible, be sure to use some way to stabilize your camera. This might mean using a traditional tripod or a small portable tripod with a smartphone attachment. You can also use various DIY methods, such as stacked books, tables/chairs, or even small items like Legos or hair clips, to help stabilize your camera or phone. Or you can use your body by resting your elbows on a table to keep your recording device still.

Three photos demonstrating stabilization techniques. From left to right: elbows, tripod, and books.
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