These 4 tips are illustrated below by the report from the “Cité des Sciences” (City of Science).
Aim for a 2-4 minute video
It is a reporting format short enough to grab the attention of readers and long enough to effectively address its topic.
Choose fixed plans
The “market” shots (travelling) should only be used to follow a movement of your subject. A panoramic can also present the extent of a landscape.
Plan exhibition plans
An exhibition plan is a plan that you will insert between 2 sequences to present a place / an activity. It should neither be too short (otherwise, the viewer does not have time to understand the shot he is watching), nor too long (otherwise the viewer may get bored).
Aim between 5 and 10 seconds! Of course, by choosing a different duration, you can have an intention that justifies this choice. For example, if you use very short shots, it can accentuate a “rush” or “urgency” effect. Conversely, if you opt for a long shot, you can do it to emphasize the slowness of an action.
Vary the plans
Rather than making the camera travel across a courtyard for 30 seconds, we can record 3 still shots from different points of view (1 at ground level, 1 at child height, 1 at adult height), 10 seconds each, which will last 5 seconds each when editing.
This method makes it possible to energize the video by editing, which is very important to captivate your audience!
If you go for a “market” shot, try to keep your subject in the same place in your frame.
Here, a shot shot in one go, without a cut:
And there, the same scene but cut into 2 shots.
We cut the movement of the camera which is useless: our brain understands that the 2nd shot is the continuation of the 1st shot thanks to the sets and makes sense.
This allows us to save time while boosting the video
