I’ve had this e-Book swimming around in my head for a while. I wanted to provide a useful, no-nonsense guide to creating better videos. I’m not going to tell you about the latest flashy tools here. I am going to tell you about some simple tips and techniques that you can use for little or no cost that will help you become a better video storyteller.

I would love to hear what you think. Please leave a comment, or better yet, send me links to your finished videos! And, you are welcome to share this e-Book with whoever you think could benefit from it.

Enjoy!

Creating Video for the Web: Tips, tricks and tools for telling amazing stories

The story of what I “do” has changed over the years. I used to just say “I work for [insert company name here].” Then after a while, I started to identify more with the actual work I was doing. “I’m a TV producer.” “I’m a web designer.” “I’m a technical writer.” “I’m a professor.”

When we started the company, my description started to become more complex. “I’m a partner in a production company.” Which always prompted the response, “Oh? What kind of production?”, to which I’d have to go into a long-winded explanation that well, we do tv production, but also web video, corporate video, and oh – yah, we develop web sites too, and do marketing…..

The problem I was having is that I could no longer easily sum up what I actually “do”. I was “doing” too many different things. Then the other day, it hit me. What I do is irrelevant. It’s a task list. It’s what I am that matters.

So what AM I? Simple. I’m a storyteller.

All day, every day, I’m telling stories. I’m telling them here, on my blog. I’m telling them in 140 character increments, on Twitter. I’m telling them when I meet my friends for drinks or coffee or dinner. And I’m helping my clients figure out how to tell their stories too, whether it’s through a new web site, a video, a TV show, a marketing campaign, or all of the above.

It’s all storytelling.

So how does this tie in to the notion that it’s not about the tools? Well, the fact that it’s really all about storytelling rather proves it, I think.

If what we’re all doing out here is telling stories (our own, our clients’, others’ -it doesn’t matter), then really, the tools become irrelevant. Sure, it’s important to know how to use the right tools, and use them the right way to ensure the story is told well. But the tools themselves are secondary. It’s the story that really matters.

When all’s said and done, it’s the story that people will remember – not what you used to tell it. I’m wondering if it’s time to reconsider how much effort we are spending talking about the tools themselves, and if perhaps we should be spending more effort figuring out what our story is and how we’re going to tell it.

Thoughts?

His latest production is a video that he put together for my parents’ Square Dancing Troupe, The Village Squares.

We’ve decided to post it not only on YouTube, but on blip.tv and Viddler as well. It’s a great little promotional piece about Square Dancing in general, which is a great social and physical activity. The Village Squares attract mostly the senior set, but I’ve noticed since working on this project and checking out other square dance groups that it’s definitely catching on in the younger set too. However, you will not catch me dosado-ing any time soon, I am WAY too uncoordinated. I’ll stick to videography, thanks.

The Village Squares approached Mike about doing a little promotional video for them, and he enlisted my help to do some of the videography. It was a fancy, two camcorder shoot! But my bro gets all the credit for the editing and directing. I think he’s done a terrific job of it! So here is the debut of the Village Squares on the Internet, done by First Kick At the Cat Productions.

Ok I can’t get the video embed to work, if anyone has any suggestions let me know, but you can see the actual video here on Viddler.

Just a note about my folks. In addition to the square dancing, they are definitely web-savvy seniors. A few years ago I taught my Dad HTML and Dreamweaver and he picked it up quick! He is now the webmaster for the Village Squares web site. My Dad is a webmaster, digital photographer and a madman in Paint Shop Pro (he knows more about how to use it than I do, for sure). My Mom is an expert Facebooker and Instant Messager. They are a great example of seniors making the most of the Internet.