Producing photos and videos as a completely solo creator can be a much more challenging and daunting task than one might expect. Choosing the right placement for all of the lights, perfectly angling the camera and tripod, ensuring only the set is in the shot—all of these factors combined and more can cause filming alone to be incredibly difficult.
Have you ever had an amazing video idea only to become increasingly frustrated throughout the filming process and ultimately unsatisfied with the end result? While there is no fool proof way to create a flawless clip every time there are many details you can pay attention to that will vastly improve the quality of your videos and elevate your media. Several common filming mistakes can be easily avoided by taking extra time to pay attention to small details.
The Mistakes
A majority of frequently made mistakes are simple things that anyone could miss. Training your eyes and brain to watch out for these common errors to ensure that they don’t show up in your videos regularly will have a big impact on the quality of your content. One significant mistake noticed often is videos being labeled and/or titled “POV” or “point of view” when this descriptor is completely incorrect.
Point of View
If a viewer can see you holding the dildo with your hand visibly in the shot, this is not POV. Holding up the entire dildo with suction cup in view is not a POV angle. Using a dildo in doggy style where you are seen toying yourself with the dildo in hand is not a POV angle.
The definition of POV is, “the position from which something or someone is observed.” It gives the illusion of the viewer having these sexual acts performed on them not in front of them. Having a hand slip into view here and there is not an issue, of course. The problem here is blatantly mistitling and incorrectly tagging videos.
While it may not seem like a big deal, using the wrong category and tags stops potential buyers from being able to find your video as well as frustrates those searching for legitimate point of view style clips. Using incorrect tagging can bring into question your credibility when it comes to producing content.
Toy Position
Another recurrent mistake, almost as prevalent as the one previously mentioned, is holding toys the wrong way. What does this mean, exactly? This mistake centers around male anatomy and the—err—balls being positioned incorrectly. Many customers have noted this as a pet peeve across multiple polls ran by different performers.
When positioning a silicone phallus, be sure to point the balls downward. They should be on the underside of the toy, not on top facing the camera. Misplacement of this body part takes away from the realism of the video for your viewers.
Eye Contact
Following toy positioning is yet another frequently made mistake; staring at yourself in the viewfinder. Try very hard not to do this. Even looking back and forth from the camera to yourself can be distracting for your viewers. When watching a video it is very apparent that someone is looking at themselves rather than directly into the camera.
Maintaining eye contact will allow viewers to focus their attention on the video more deeply. Avoiding any potential distractions for viewers increases the quality and production value of content.
Portrait Mode
One of the most beneficial things that can be done when filming with a smartphone is turning the phone sideways into landscape mode. This allows more to fit into the shot and optimizes the video for full screen viewing on phones, laptops and even TVs. Consider movies and TV shows; how would they look if they were filmed on a vertically positioned cell phone? Quality would most definitely be compromised by squeezing everything into such a small shot, so why do that to your own videos?
Filming in landscape mode also makes it easier for uploading video previews as most sites require files to be rendered in 16:9 ratio, which is the default format for videos recorded in landscape mode. However, that is not to say that there isn’t a time and place for portrait mode. Generally, landscape mode will be the ideal choice for quality and customers’ viewing pleasure, but portrait view works fantastically for subscription site videos. Membership sites are usually browsed on a mobile device so portrait style videos are perfect for optimizing vertical phone screen viewing.
Why does any of this matter?
Although many of the details mentioned above may sound insignificant, all of them distract the viewer from the main focus—YOU! Attention is taken away from the carefully chosen and planned scenario or plot along with your performance itself. What this does, in turn, is lowers the content quality as a whole. Being as detail oriented as possible not only heightens your users’ viewing experience but also increases quality and thus increases the value of your content.
How can you fix it?
Several different actions can be taken to avoid these mistakes and frustrations when filming videos. Taking a small amount of time to improve content can facilitate positive results like increased sales and repeat buyers. Familiarize yourself with point of view content by checking out the POV category on adult tube sites and watching videos from production companies and independent creators alike. Take notes to reinforce ideas you find particularly helpful and practice the angles you see.
Performing test takes or even test shoots to try out potential angles and positions is also a useful practice. Imagine that the toy is a real person when experimenting with positions. Re-watch and review test takes to help note ways the idea or scenario attempting to be portrayed could be made clearer. Focus on looking into the camera, maintaining “eye contact” with the viewer.
Don’t Stress
All of these mistakes are very common. Don’t feel bad if you’re guilty of more than one, we’ve all been there. Taking this information into account and utilizing these tips will elevate the quality of your content and users’ interaction with it. Training your brain to be detail oriented throughout the video production process will result in lasting benefits for your business.
Easily be reminded of all the things mentioned above before you begin filming with this free cheat sheet download!