Producing lackluster slideshows and videos is a great way to fail in a very public way. It’s frustrating. I should know. The key to getting better, I’ve found, is to produce a large volume of work. Lots of small multimedia projects. Not a few BIG ones, but many small ones. Because failure is more palatable in small doses.
Two inspirational quotes to get us started on our journey of pain:
Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.– Denis Waitley
Men succeed when they realize that their failures are the preparation for their victories. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
So we want to produce better audio slideshows, and better videos. We could fail in every possible way and incrementally and painfully improve over time, or we could follow the simple advice from these two outstanding links:
Ten Ways To Improve Your Multimedia Production Right Now - A post from the experts at MediaStorm.
“Often, as multimedia producers, we are given work to edit that others have created. Some things simply cannot be changed, like an out-of-focus photograph. But there are some things we can do right now to improve the work no matter how challenging the original assets may be.”
Mastering Multimedia: How to make your audio slideshows better
“I have probably produced 75 or so audio slideshows. I understand the challenge of making a compelling narrative resonate with viewers. Here are some of the lessons I’ve learned over time…”
Those two links contain a treasure trove of tips and pointers. Four of my favs:
- It’s best to open your show with a bit of natural sound rather than with a subject talking. The ramp up into your story is important. If you don’t pull the viewer in fast they will bolt. Natural sound eases the viewer into your story without jolting them with dialogue.
- Like video, try to match up photos to what the narrator is talking about. The same goes for the natural sound. When you do this, your story will really start to crackle.
- Use room tone between gaps in dialogue, even when using a musical bed. Without room tone, your audio will sound like someone dipping in and out of a cave.
- Watch your production on speakers with someone who has not yet seen the piece. There’s something about reviewing your work with an audience that makes one more self-conscious and thus open to seeing new things.
