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Our tips for a professional appearance in front of the camera

Thank you very much for participating in a video production relating to our events. We have compiled some recommendations to help you with your video recordings. If you have any questions or difficulties in creating the videos, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Your personal recording preparation

Before the recording: Please check the following points regarding outfit, facial expressions, gestures, posture and content with the help of our checklist to create good starting conditions for a professional and relaxed recording.

Sophia-im-Studio-2024 Video Production

Outfit

  • Discreet clothing:
    • When choosing your clothes, make sure you choose a relaxed business outfit in which you feel comfortable.
    • Small patterned tops, large white areas (e.g. white shirts) and virulent colors should be avoided, as they can lead to reflections and flickering in the camera. We recommend choosing a top with a continuous color tone, e.g. in light blue or pastel shades.
  • Make-Up:
    • If you wear make-up in your everyday life, please note that the camera displays make-up in a reduced form. Please feel free to do a camera test to check the intensity and the result you want.
    • Powder shiny areas of skin: If you tend to have shiny skin, you can use a transparent powder to cover particularly shiny areas. If the shooting takes place in our company, we will of course provide this.

Facial expressions and gestures

  • Eye contact with the camera: Please direct your gaze as directly and continuously as possible into the camera to address your audience. In doing so, it can help to turn off the self-view so that you do not focus on yourself. Try to look at your notes a little and speak freely so that you do not turn away from the camera.
  • Smile distinctly: The camera reduces your facial expressions. A facial expression that you would find rather exaggeratedly friendly in everyday life is therefore just right.
  • Calm gestures: Consider the film clip. Sweeping gestures can exceed the frame and disturb the overall picture. Try to use calm gestures that support the content, close to your body.
  • Clear articulation: Please speak clearly to reduce transmission losses due to miking and the sound equipment of the participants*. In this way you will be understood as good as possible.
  • Articulation tip: Warm-up before speaking by putting a cork between your teeth when establishing your setup and practicing your greeting. This trains your mouth muscles and you will automatically speak more clearly.

Body posture

  • Sit upright: Assume an upright sitting position. Sitting on a stool can support your posture. If the recording setup is set up in front of a table, be careful not to lean on it when recording. If the setup is established in a sitting position, make sure that the camera is set high enough so that you are filmed from the front and not from below. When using the laptop camera, it may be advisable to raise the laptop depending on your height.
  • Stand still: Try to stand firmly and vary your standing position only partially in order to maintain the preselected image section and to transmit a calm image. The sitting position is recommended for first video recordings, as it gives you fixed points for the recording.

Lecture contents

  • Adjust content to screen size: If you use presentation slides, the participants' attention is divided between you and your slides. It is therefore especially important to adjust your presentation slides accordingly. Reduce your visible content to the minimum and increase the font sizes. A good guideline here is 6 lines of text per slide and one core statement per slide. If possible, also use graphics and drawings with a clear, concise statement.
  • Work with the image layer and reduce the text layer: Reading participants are less able to listen, encourage them to listen by using pictures, illustrations and clear, concise statements instead of continuous text.
  • Address the target group: Will the video be broadcast at a seminar on your expert topic or should it be used to promote an event? When preparing your presentation, consider whether your target group has a homogeneous level of knowledge or whether a block of topics may require a more detailed introduction.
  • Temporal references in the lecture: In what context will the recordings be used afterwards? Avoid oral and written references to the time of the presentation in case of contributions that can be recorded and viewed again at a later date. For example, avoid formulations such as "today" or "during this time".
  • Keep to the recording time: The participants have integrated their contribution for a certain time slot into their daily schedule and, if necessary, follow-up appointments or their video is part of a daily program. Please adhere strictly to the given time frame and, if necessary, schedule a few minutes of discussion time. For orientation, place a clock in your field of vision so that you do not exceed this time.
  • Keep the company presentation short: Please limit the presentation of your company to a maximum of one slide.

Now you can almost start with the recording

We have put together further tips for good and professional recordings, which are divided into different shooting situations.

Click on our tips for remote recording if you want to record a video from home or your workplace. Click on our tips for studio recording if you plan to do a studio recording with us.

How to set up your technical environment: The preparation of your remote studio
The following is a checklist for setting up your own small remote studio with standard equipment and a series of tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your exceptional situation.

Camera

  • Use laptop camera: Use your laptop camera for simple remote recordings.
  • Camera at eye level: Position the camera at eye level or slightly higher.
  • Avoid eyeglasses reflection: Try to reduce possible reflections by positioning the camera slightly higher and tilting the screen more.

Light

  • Facing the window: If possible, position your setup so that you look through a bright window when you present, in order to illuminate you sufficiently.
  • Set up additional light sources: Create additional light sources to avoid shadows. Exposure from above is preferable to exposure from the side.

Sound

  • Use a headset: Use a separate microphone for your recording. Even a standard cell phone headset is usually a better choice than the laptop microphone.
  • Create a quiet environment: Please try to create a quiet recording environment (closed windows and doors, cell phone in flight mode).

Choice of background

  • Search quiet background: Try to create a clear, empty background for your recording so that the background does not distract from your content.

Are you planning a recording in our video studio or with our camera team? We look forward to welcoming you on site. At this point, we differentiate the content creation process between tips we give you for live recordings and tips we give you for pre-recordings. an die Hand geben. Please choose your recording situation and read on.

A live web seminar is a very typical form of near real-time playback of the recorded video. There is therefore no possibility to intervene in the content by post-processing. At this point we differentiate between our expert web seminars and moderated expert web seminars. A pure expert web seminar is a web seminar on a smaller scale. Here, the experts can answer the questions of the participants in a self-determined way and moderate the discussion.
If you are part of a larger series of web seminars, a moderator will also sit in the room. In this case the moderation will take this over.

Experts Web Seminar

  • Allow 30-minute lead time: Please plan to be in the studio approximately 30 minutes before the start of your live webinar in order to get technically set up and clarify final questions.
  • Welcome the participants: Your time in the web seminar is usually limited, but please take the time to greet the participants. Above all, shed light on the topic:
    • Introduce yourself: Who are you, what is your professional background and why are you holding this web seminar? Please let the participants know.
    • Welcome the participants: Welcome the participants and thank them for their participation.
    • Explain the tool and the modus operandi: Not all participants are familiar with the seminar tool. Explain the main points of interaction in the program. Also explain how you want to proceed regarding:
      • Mute the participants: If you have many participants, it is a good idea to mute the mass of participants, but point out in a friendly manner what alternative forms of interaction are available (see hand signals below).
      • Ask the participants for a camera view: If you have only a few participants, it is legitimate to ask them to turn on their camera.
      • Present hand signals as a form of interaction: Inviting the participants to interact via reaction function or by hand signals into the webcam is a simple and proven means.
      • Set question times: Would you like a final question and answer session or should the participants use the chat in the meantime?
  • Forcing interaction according to the modus operandi: A web seminar should not be an audio book. Build in specific interaction possibilities, e.g. in the form of hand signals or surveys. The rule of thumb is that interaction possibilities should be scheduled after 7 slides or 12 minutes at the latest.
  • Plan feedback time: Give the participants significantly more time to react to your interaction requests and keep the silence.
  • Keep an eye on the chat: If the participants are to use the chat functions, take a look at the developments there at regular intervals to respond to the participants.

Moderated Expert Web Seminar

  • Allow 30-minute lead time: Please plan to be in the studio approximately 30 minutes before the start of your live webinar in order to get technically set up and clarify any final questions.
  • Eye contact via the screen: Even if the moderator and the expert are seated next to each other, it is much better for the participants to maintain eye contact between the moderator and the expert via the screen than to watch each other in physical space. The participants do not see the entire recording room.
  • Welcome the participants: Your time in a web seminar is usually limited, but take the time to greet them. Above all, illuminate:
    • Introduce yourself: Who are you and why are you holding this web seminar? Please let the participants know.
    • Welcome the participants: Welcome the participants and thank them for their participation.
    • Explain the tool and the modus operandi: Not all participants familiar with the tool. Explain the main points of interaction in the program. Also explain how you want to proceed regarding:
      • Mute participants: If you have a large number of participants, it may be a good idea to mute the mass of participants but be kind enough to point out what alternative forms of interaction are available.
      • Ask the participants for a camera view: If you have only a few participants, it is legitimate to ask them to turn on their camera so that they do not talk to an empty wall of boxes - if that makes you feel more comfortable.
      • Present hand signals as a form of interaction: Inviting the participants to interact via the reaction function or hand signals into the webcam is a simple and proven means.
      • Set question times: Would you like a final question and answer session or should the participants use the chat in the meantime?
  • Forcing interaction according to the modus operandi: A web seminar should not be an audio book. Build in specific interaction possibilities, e.g. in the form of hand signals or surveys.
  • Schedule feedback time: Give participants significantly more time to respond to your interaction requests and maintain silence.
  • Keep an eye on the chat: The moderator's job is to keep an eye on the chat, forward help requests for technical support and pre-sort questions. He also serves as a mouthpiece for the participants and as a conversation list leader.

Whether it's a short teaser video, a pre-recorded lecture or a crisp campus story: compared to the other recordings, this is the easiest form of implementation for you. But it is also one of the most time-consuming in terms of recording and post-production. You should therefore plan considerably more time for each recording, and we will schedule the necessary time together with you. Here are a few tips on how to create a good video:

Teaser Videos

  • 1. set topic / problematization, 2. set of w-questions: Our teaser videos want to arouse curiosity about the content to be offered and need the absolute focus on the w-questions: What takes place? When and where? How do I get the product? After a thematic anchor in the first sentence, this is the most important information or the value proposition in the second sentence.

Campus Stories

  • Focus on the research/presentation question: The presentation format is designed for 15 minutes and must be oriented towards a specific research question or a concrete problem that must be kept in mind as the dominant feature. The lecture should be objective and argue pars pro toto. Example: Do not introduce a new model you have developed in an abstract way but use a concrete use case in which the model was helpful and explain why.
  • Describe your personal approach: Campus stories are about giving the best possible impression of the research entities operating on the RWTH Aachen University campus. It is helpful to personalize the scientific content and to report about your own experiences in the research context. This is a good example of a particularly successful campus story.
  • Language usage: Complex content requires complex language? Of course, technical terms and the like cannot always be avoided. But make sure that your presentation is as simple as possible and only as complex as necessary.

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