Creating a How To Tutorial Video and Teaser
The Guidelines
For this assignment, we were required to create an instrcutional video demostrating how to do a task of our choice. The video would need to be between two and five minutes in length and not exceed that time. For this video, were were to choose a subject matter expert – someone with mastery of the skill – to record. After deciding on a topic, we were asked to over through the process of pre production, production, and post production. We created a sequence cut of our video which allowed us to test out predetermined shots. After receiving feedback form peers, we would reshoot and edit together a mostly finished draft of our How To video. Once again, this would be shown to our peers for critique. With more feedback, we would complete a finalized instructional video.
In addition to creating an instructional How to Video, we were also asked to animate a thirty second opening sequence to be shown at the beginning of our video. My case study on that process can be seen here (This will be a link once the Case Study is up).
Using the footage from our 2-5 minute How To video, we were also asked to create a 30 second Instagram reel -a short form vertical video – which would be used to advertise our full video.
Choosing a Concept
Th first step was choosing a topic. We were asked to provide three potential topic ideas and a subject matter expert (SME) for each. We would then choose one of them to work off of.
My three ideas consisted of:
How to Play a Game of Magic the Gathering. My SME would be one of my fellow Resident Assistants.
How to Bake a Cake. My SME would be Kevin, the Graduate Assistant at my college’s residence hall.
How to create a 3D Gash using Tissue Paper. My SME would be myself.
Pre-Production
I ultimately decided on creating a How To video demonstrating how to create a 3D fake gash using tissue paper.
Who, What, Where
- I would act as my Subject Matter Expert
- I would also need a model to do the makeup on. One of my friends, Alex agreed to be said model.
- My on site shooting location would be in my college’s photography lab.
Materials List
- Spirit Gum (a skin safe glue used in special effects makeup)
- Tissue Paper
- Foundation or a skin safe paint
- Fake Blood
Production
- With everything planned, I moved onto production. I began with the required sequence cut. From there, I moved onto filming for my final video. I ultimately ended up reshooting my entire video due to technical issues regarding the camera as well as being unsatisfied with the results.
The first round of shooting was my Sequence Cut. This was required for the project. We were to record fully though our process using a Wide Shot, Side View, and either a Close Up or Over the Shoulder View. We were expected to film this on our phones. Because of this, I filmed each angle separately and recreated the makeup each time. This process took an extended period of time.
Next was to begin shooting for my video. I recorded in my college’s photography lab so I had better control over the environment. Due to scheduling conflicts between myself and my model, we had a limited amount of time to complete filming on the day we had agreed upon. Although the footage from this session was not unusable, I knew I could get better video. Additionally, due to the camera’s date not being accurate I was initially unable to recover a bulk of my footage from one of my SD cards.
We returned to the photography lab later that week with several hours set aside for filming. At this point I was familiar with what I wanted shot wise and what did not work well. Additionally, I decided to use the Canon Connect App for a bulk of my shots in order to guarantee that my framing and focus did not change. I had also bought new and better materials for the final shoot. Overall, the reshoot went incredibly smoothly.
Finally, I recorded my audio for my How To video. I decided to do exclusively voice over in order to ensure I could edit the audio separately from the video without ruining any sinking with the footage. The audio recording process went relatively smoothly as I used my headset microphone to capture my audio and chose a quiet location.
Post-Production
When filming I used multiple cameras for multiple angles. Because of this, I had over forty minutes of footage. The most difficult aspect of editing was absolutely cutting down all of the footage into less than five minutes. Ultimately, I was able t choose the best shots and properly time it well with my music.
Once I had mostly finished editing down my footage, I brought in my voice over. I made sure to consistently adjust the levels so everything was consistent. I significantly cut down my own voice recording in order to remove any mess ups, silences, or breaths. I also brought the music up during moments when I was not talking in order to avoid unwanted silence.
Creating an Instagram Reel
Inspiration
The Instagram reel needed to cut down to an even shorter length than my How To video. Because of this, I knew I wanted to have a fast paced video that would cut to the music. While on Instagram, I saw a reel posted by a musician I listen to where he and another content creator were cooking. The cooking process was cut in time with his song, It Boy. I really enjoyed the idea of the video and decided to try it for myself.
(Click Image to right to open the reel)
Finding Audio
Even though Instagram itself has the ability to add in music before posting, I was going to be editing in Premiere Pro first. Because of this, I needed to obtain the audio track. I converted the official music video into an mp3 file.
Cut to the Music
After listening to the song and finding other examples online, I chose which section of the song I wanted to use and cut it down to the required 30 seconds. I then listened to the audio and used the waveform to help guide my cuts. I decided to time most of my major jump cuts with the words of the song.
Finishing Touches
Once I had finished editing, I added captions to the video. I used Premiere Pro’s transcript took and manually adjusted the words as needed. I followed current trends regarding subtitles on Instagram and adjusted the settings so only one to four words appeared on screen at once.
Final Products
Final Conclusion
Ultimately, I enjoyed having the opportunity to record and edit more videos. I appreciated the freedom of choosing our topic and that I was able to experiment a bit when it came to my Instagram Reel. Despite the difficulties this project provided, I am very happy with the finished results.