How To Make Awful Videos

So you want to add video content to your website. Maybe a video to show users how to use your product, testimonials, or perhaps a commercial showing your products and services? That’s a great idea!

But it’s not so simple. You can’t just “make a video” if you’ve never done it before.

I believe one of the best ways to learn how to do something well is to learn how to do something poorly. You may be familiar with a quote that is frequently attributed to Thomas Edison, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”. He probably never said it, but it’s a good thought.

Obviously I’m not endorsing actually doing something poorly, rather I’m encouraging you to learn from others mistakes so you’ll have no embarrassing mistakes for others to learn from.

So let’s get on with it and watch a video that has put me off chili cheese nachos for the foreseeable future.

9 tips for the aspiring unprofessional

1. Don’t rehearse, it just wastes time
2. Makeup is for women
3. Don’t spend money on clothes that fit, let everyone dress themselves
4. Don’t use music, let people hear every non-verbal moment in crystal clear clarity
5. Scripts are for movies
6. Let the audience experience what it’s like to watch a microwave spin for 4 and a half minutes
7. Don’t let the host know which camera to talk to, it’ll be more real that way
8. Look as sad as possible
9. It doesn’t matter if the product looks unappealing, zoom in on it!

Now go out there and make some crap!