Getting Started: Audience Appreciation: Be Kind to Your Viewers

Four questions you should ask yourself before you hit that red record button.

Some of the wisest words I've ever heard as a videographer came from the Master of Ceremonies at a friend's farewell party. As a few guests prepared to step up to the microphone to give good-bye speeches, the MC spoke the following words of advice that I will now pass on to you as fellow crafters of video. "Keep in mind the five Bs of public sharing," he said. "Be brief, baby, be brief." Simple words really, almost comical, but so profound.
Keep it short. Make your point. Don't take more time than you need to tell the story. The principle is to be kind to your audience. Audience appreciation is a skill we must all learn if we hope to please those who watch our tapes.
For the sake of your future audiences, ask yourself a few questions the next time you get ready to press that red record button on your camcorder. Answering these questions will help insure that your videos won't leave your viewers confused, bored or worse yet, snoozing until the credits roll.

Who's Your Audience?
To make videos that hold the interest of your audience you need to understand who is watching them. As camcorder users we tend to assume that because we enjoy making videos, others will enjoy watching them. It's easy to focus so much on the process of making a video that we forget someone else has to look at it. The reality is that something we view as a thing of beauty, our masterpiece, can go completely unappreciated by our audience. The problem here is ours not theirs. Why? Because if our goal is to communicate something to an audience, it's our responsibility to do it appropriately. Knowing who will watch your finished video directly affects the way you will approach a project.
Consider the seemingly straightforward topic of fire safety. While any fire safety video will contain similar facts and techniques for escaping a blaze, a video made for junior high students will look and sound much different than one made for residents of a retirement community. When you realize that you make video for your audience, not yourself, you are on the road to being kind to your audience.

Where will It Be Watched?
It helps to know the forum in which your video will be shown. Are you making something purely for display on the TV in your family room or will it be seen somewhere else? Maybe a group of students will watch the tape on a small monitor in a classroom or a crowd of several hundred will see it on a big screen at your club meeting. Does it really make a difference? You bet.
A video created for a large group setting requires special shooting. Most of your viewers will be sitting at a greater distance from the screen than if they were watching the tape from the couch in your den. Huge screens allow you to use wider shots. Because images will be gigantic on the screen, you don't have to shoot them so large in the first place. An interview shot in extreme closeup, for example, will translate into an immense head on a 15-foot screen. A piece created for small-screen display to a group of people, however, will cry out for closeups. Viewers forced to look at the monitor from a distance will have to strain to see facial expressions and details if you don't shoot the video with these viewing conditions in mind.

What's Your Point?
Open any TV 101 textbook and you'll find that there are three distinct purposes for 99% of all TV and video: they are to inform, to instruct or to entertain. The goal of the Action News Team is to inform the viewer about news and weather. The Bouncing Gourmet seeks to instruct his audience as he teaches the viewer, step by step, how to create each delicious dish. Sitcoms and game shows are designed purely to entertain the viewer.
Other programs don't fall easily into just one category. While the rule isn't set in stone, the fact is that anything you videotape will fall into one, or a combination of these categories. And while it is relatively easy to determine the purpose of a professionally produced, nationally broadcast television program, it isn't always easy to understand the purpose of a hobbyist's home videos. Why? Because most of the time we run our camcorders without stopping to think about why we record the things that we do.
Let's say I whip out my camcorder to shoot some footage of my dog, Mocha, zipping around the backyard chasing her ball. Hold it! First I need to ask myself why. The way I answer will dictate the way I shoot my dog. (Oops, that didn't sound too good. Let me finish this quickly before the ASPCA shows up to take me away.) Maybe my goal is to preserve the moment for my parents so they can see how big our pup has grown and how playful she has become. My purpose? Well, while I certainly hope they find the tape entertaining, my real goal is to inform them about Mocha's growth and her playfulness. To communicate this on tape, I might start with a shot of my wife, Cris saying hello and explaining that we are making this video so they can see Mocha retrieve her ball (which she holds up) on this extraordinarily playful afternoon. Next I cut to a shot of Mocha playfully awaiting the throw, followed by a shot of Cris tossing the ball and Mocha giving chase. Finally, a closeup of the pooch racing happily back with the ball in her mouth. Had I not included my wife's explanation at the head of my sequence, my parents might wonder why I was sending them this crazy ball-chasing scene. Notice that while it only took a few seconds to explain the "why" of my tape, my viewers are now prepared for what follows. They know exactly what I want them to look for.

How Long is too Long?
Length is always an issue for videographers. For some reason camcorder users seem to believe that longer equals better. They couldn't be more wrong.

You'll find that the attention span of most video audiences is 10 to 15 minutes maximum, and that some of the best videos are even shorter than that. TV commercials are fantastic models for camcorder users to follow. They move quickly. They grab your attention. They deliver a clear message to a defined audience. And more often then not, they entertain. With only 30 to 60 seconds of time, each shot must be carefully selected; each edit made with purpose. Does this stifle creativity? No chance; in fact, the most creative work on TV often appears during the station breaks when many of us are making a run to the fridge.

So why do so many Getting Starters make videos that are 20, 30, 50 and 60 minutes long? This tendency, I believe, is the result of a few realities. To start with, the typical videotape costs around two bucks and holds as much as two hours of footage. The result is excessive shooting. I guess the logic is, "Why not? I need to use up all this tape."
Another misconception is that it's necessary to shoot absolutely everything that happens at an event. The truth is that TV and film producers don't even try to do this. The key is to look for highlights that capture the essence of the occasion. Rather than include the entire three-hour wedding reception in a video for a friend, include only the important events: the cutting of the cake, the couple's first dance, the toast, throwing the bouquet and the happy pair waving as they drive away. A three-hour time span summarized in five minutes of highlights is very appealing to the viewer. Add some romantic music and you've got a moving remembrance of the event.
Lastly, we are conditioned by the length of the things we are accustomed to watching on our boob tubes and at the theatre. While these lengths are appropriate for television and film (remember what we've already said about our audience, forum and purpose), two hours of home video can be maddening for even an interested viewer.

So What?
Be kind to your audience. Keep it short. Make your point. Shoot highlights. Know who will be watching, and treat them appropriately. Next time you shoot your dog give yourself a 60-second time limit to tell the story. It's much more fun to have people ask you to rewind the tape for an encore than it is to wake them up when it's over. By the way, "WAKE UP!" I'm done.