COVID19 has turned everyone’s everyday life upside down. If you’re looking for a new product that you recently found out about, you’re in luck. There is probably a video. Most companies have a lot of information about their services when you visit their website.
Still, one of the most popular ways to get that information out to potential customers is through an explanatory video.
What is an explainer video?
An explainer video is a short, typically used for marketing or sales purposes, that highlights a company’s product, service, or business idea compellingly and efficiently. Most companies host explainer videos on their landing pages or feature them on the homepage of their website.
Some even use these videos to promote their product or service on Facebook or other social networking sites.
So, here are a few tips for working from home in an explainer video company industry:
Set a Schedule
It doesn’t have to be your “normal” schedule, but it can help your focus and productivity if you start work, break for lunch, and end your career at roughly the same time every day.
A routine can help us feel calmer and encourage healthy habits even during this intense time.
Set Boundaries
Respect the schedule you set for yourself – when you log off of work, really log off. Resist the urge to hop on “just to check one thing.” Give yourself peace of mind and time to recharge.
If you can, work someplace, that’s just for work. Even if it’s a closet with a desk in it, having someplace separate from the rest of your home (where you can’t see the dirty dishes or the TV calling to you) helps you focus on working and enables you to leave work behind at the end of the day.
Redefine “Productivity”
Have you made incremental progress on a project while keeping the kids alive and walking a dog? Congratulations, you had a productive day! You may not get as much done as you would in the office because, let’s face it, these are extraordinary times, and many of us can’t focus solely on work. And that’s okay!
Here are some productivity hacks to help your overworked brain get things done:
- Work on one task in a focused burst of energy and see how much you can get done before someone needs a snack, a diaper change, or help to build a block tower.
- Make a list; this helps in two ways:
- It gets all the random information from your brain onto a piece of paper, so you have to stop thinking about it, and
- It helps you structure your day. Listen to music or podcasts to stay in the zone and disconnect from the rest of the world.
- Reward your hard work! Some of us like to grab a snack when we’re done with a task or make a cup of tea. And we all benefit from taking a little time to get outside during the workday.
Communicate
We email and chat digitally instead of yelling across the room or talking in the hallway. Remember to check these emails and add emojis or GIFs if you think appropriate.
It can be difficult to read someone’s tone in writing, especially when they’re in a hurry, and proofreading (and adding emojis) can help. Building trust looks different. Make sure you have time to ask someone about the weekend, follow up on that anecdote your colleague told you yesterday, and share fun links or videos with your team like you.
They would if they were all in the exact physical location.
Be human!
Pets, children, and road construction can show up at your meetings. Guess what, that’s life. Let’s stop pretending to live in pristine, childless, quiet nature reserves. We all deal differently with our new circumstances; be patient with yourself and others.
Real-life creeps into our working day and feels vulnerable and alien. Let’s remember to make space for them if necessary.
Types of Explainer Videos
First, it’s essential to determine which type of explainer video would suit your business or your skill level at creating a video. Many options include live-action, whiteboard, screencast, and motion graphics animation.
For businesses selling a physical product, it’s nice to be able to show how it works. Live-action would be the best option, but showing the product in animation or whiteboard can also work well.
If your business is software-based, you have the option of showing the software with a screencast. Animation and whiteboard can also work well.
Screencast
The screencast is probably one of the easiest ways to create an explainer video of your software. Essentially, you’re running software that records your computer screen as you use it, so you can show off your existing software and how it works.
Most screen recording programs also allow you to record your voice along with the screen recording.
You can also place text on the screen. Camtasia is a very popular screen recorder with many advanced features. There are also free alternatives like CamStudio. You have a screen recorder built into QuickTime Player if you have a Mac.
Live-Action
For companies promoting a physical product or service, it often makes sense to showcase it with videos of real people. Most phones now record in high definition, enough to capture a live-action explanation.
I recommend that you buy a cheap mobile phone tripod adapter. Static tripod shots are usually all you need. Make sure you record your video horizontally. Natural light is often sufficient for lighting.
When you sit down and talk to the camera, stand by a window. You can use a foam board to direct the light to the other half of your face. If you’re shooting indoors, try to stay away from overhead fluorescent lights, but if that’s all you’ve got, you can try directing the light onto a foam board from below.
Find a quiet room to record a voiceover. Place your phone on a flat surface and cover your head and phone with a thick blanket. This will muffle any noise around you while holding back your voice without echo, giving you a semi-professional-sounding voiceover.
After you’ve shot your video and recorded your voiceover, it’s time to put it all together. If you’re using Windows, chances are you already have built-in editing software called Windows Movie Maker.
Windows 10 requires you to download it, but it’s completely free. You can use iMovie if you have a Mac, which is pretty cheap. There is also an iPhone/iPad version that is extremely easy to use.
Whiteboard
If you are great at drawing or know someone who can consider whiteboard animation. You can schedule all of your recordings and remove them one at a time while you record them with the time-lapse feature on your phone. Excellent whiteboard video examples.
Animation
Animation can be a little tricky to create if you’ve never done this before. But it’s one of the most popular types of explainer videos.
Fortunately, there are sites like GoAnimate where you can drag and drop premade scenes and characters to create your video. Prices vary, but it is generally a cheap alternative when compared. A few others are Biteable and Raw Shorts.
Another type of animation uses simple silhouettes, like the Common Craft videos. Something like this could quickly be done with a few sheets of construction paper and an iPhone. These videos explain an idea in an effortless way that works very well.
Wrapping up
I hope you will use these tips to work more productively from home and achieve the desired goal.