I’m starting a new series called “Steal this video” where I…encourage you to take a video idea and use it as your own. My gift to you.
Hello! I made a 5 second video last August. That is a low bar to clear. The video is not groundbreaking at all, but it is a simple idea to copy and use for your own.
How do you do this?
For starters, I used to have a rattan room divider behind my desk, and the longer I stared at it, I thought, “that would make an interesting background.”
I stuck a bunch of Post-it notes to it, and in a matter of 8 minutes, I recorded a few clips of the notes appearing and disappearing into frame.
Why does this work?
English is read left to right. As long as you start your shot to the left of your note and swing your phone to the right to view the post-it, you can edit the clip down to a second or less. It helps if the post-it has big, bold text on it, and very few words.
Think of it more like a billboard on the highway. The more text, the harder it is to read in a short amount of time. My usual formula is time on screen x 2 = number of words. That means that if a clip is going to be on screen for 1-2 seconds, then it shouldn’t be more than 2-4 words. There is plenty of room for deviation here depending on size of text, but I aim for that rule.
Also, the colors should be contrasting: light colors on a dark background, or dark colors on a light background. This helps the text stand out, and speeds up the reading time.
The OTHER trick is to cut the clip while the phone is moving. If you get the motion blur right and hide the edit at the right spot, it creates the illusion that it’s one continous shot. This means cutting in the middle of the blur at the end of Clip #1 and then cutting after the start of the blur of Clip #2.
I did a good job of this in between “Sticky notes are” and “Colorful enough to”. But I didn’t do a great job in between “Colorful enough to” and “Hold your attention for”. The lighting change between the two clips also makes it obvious where the cut is.
What’s next?
After this point, I exported it, stuck it on Instagram and added music.
Feel free to steal this idea and let me know how it goes!
By the way, Post-it notes make excellent video subjects 👇
Quick programming note: Starting in November, I’ll be posting a monthly mailbag video. Have any video questions you’d like answered? Email hellosimplevideo@substack.com or leave a comment below and it could show up in the next mailbag.