Some do’s and don’ts…

• Hair: Soft and simple hairstyles are most flattering. Keep your hair out of your eyes.
• Clothing: Don’t wear white or very light-coloured dresses, suits or blouses. Blues, tans and shades of grey work best. Avoid small patterns and stripes, they appear too busy on the screen. Be careful wearing something new. You don’t know how it moves with your body and where it may pull.
• Jewellery: Avoid large and extremely bright pieces, they tend to flare and distort the picture. Large bracelets, rings and watchbands can hit the microphone or the desk, and create unwanted noise. If you usually do not wear jewellery, don’t wear it on television.
• Shoes: Generally, we shouldn’t see them but wear darker colours. White or light-coloured shoes can make your feet look larger on screen.
• Make-Up: Everyday street make-up is adequate for TV. If you normally don’t wear make-up, use a light powder to reduce shine from the lights. Carry some light face powder and blush with you in the event that no one is available on-set to help you. If you do your own make-up, keep it simple and natural. Don’t wear vivid red lipstick or lip gloss. Stick to softer tones.

Finally, recognize that most of what video and TV captures is from the waist up. So, focus on those areas.

Some do’s and don’ts:

• Suits: Avoid suits with stripes, checks or small patterns. Medium-tone grey, blue, brown or mixed colours are best. If you wear a black or dark blue suit avoid light-coloured accessories. Don’t wear anything you wouldn’t wear at the office, no matter what the interviewer is wearing. If you feel silly, you’ll look silly and the audience will not take you or your message seriously.
• Shirts: Grey or light blue shirts work best. Off-white or pastel colours are also good. Pure white shirts may cause technical problems with the light balance of older cameras, so they should be avoided.
• Haircuts: Don’t get one right before your television appearance. Haircuts take a few days to settle in. If you trust your barber will not get carried away, get a light trim or razor cut.
• Neckties: Muted colours are preferable. Avoid checks or very small patterns (the patterns drive some video cams crazy). Bow ties have a tendency to move when you speak so, unless it makes you feel ill at ease or it’s your “brand,” wear a regular tie. Also, make sure your tie is snug up to your collar and not loosened.
  
• Microphone: Attach the lavalier microphone to your lapel, not to your tie.
• Socks: Wear longer over-the-calf length socks so that when you cross your legs there will be an unbroken line of colour from your pants to your socks. Nothing looks worse than bare legs except perhaps with white socks. Match the colour of your socks to your suits or pants.
• Shoes: We shouldn’t see them. Keep your feet on the floor and don’t fold your legs such that so your shoe bottoms show.
• Handkerchiefs: If you must wear a pocket-handkerchief, make sure it is fresh and unwrinkled. Avoid pure white breast pocket handkerchiefs. Muted colours or off-white are recommended. Fold neatly.
• Jewellery: Avoid large, flashy tie clasps, cuff links, chains, etc. because they flare and distort the picture.
• Make-Up: The best make-up for men is having a deep tan; if you don’t have one follow the advice of the make-up person. If one is not available to help you, just dust your face lightly with powder to reduce shine from the lights. A shiny face indicates a nervous speaker and will detract from your credibility.
• Glasses: Avoid heavy, dark frames. Your frames should not interfere with the audience’s view of your face. Never wear dark glasses for a speaking engagement; the audience will wonder what you are hiding or what’s wrong with your eyes. They’ll be so busy trying to figure out the problem that they’ll forget to listen to what you’re saying.
• Pockets: Empty your pockets of loose change to avoid the temptation of putting your hands in your pockets and jangling the change.
• BlackBerry and Phones: Leave your BB and other devices somewhere off to the side. The BB will make a buzzing sound that electronically interferes with audio equipment and other phones will make a distracting noise even if set to vibrate.

And, finally, a nice little tip from the 1987 comedic movie Broadcast News… sit gently on the back of your suit jacket and it will help pull your suit shoulder tight across the top, giving you a nice crisp straight line.

Typical Video/Streaming Duration

This is perhaps the most hotly debated and frequently asked question for online video producers. How long should the video be?

Most people, based on their personal experiences with varying video quality on the Web, think it should be as short as possible. I’ve heard opinions ranging from “under one minute” to “5-6 minutes” to “absolutely no more than 10 minutes.”

Surprisingly perhaps, some research (see the chart here from a recent Aberdeen study) suggests the typical viewer is actually quite tolerant, with the largest group (30%) comfortable viewing in the 5 to 15 minutes range.

This doesn’t mean, however, your videos should be that long. As always, the correct duration or length will be determined by the strength of your content and the viewers’ interest in it.

In many respects, this is like the age-old debate over whether advertising copy should be short or long. Direct marketing guru Bob Stone and others proved a long time ago that, paradoxically, lengthy ad copy could hold a reader’s interest as well or better than short copy if it was well written. Tom Reid, a mentor of mine in days’ past, used to tell folks who argued for short copy that he could write a 300-page book they wouldn’t be able to put down… their own life story, he would add.

All that said, tell your story in as little time as possible. Be brutal in editing it down and keep the messaging simple (remember the old reporter’s adage: “I would have written a shorter story if I had more time.”). For most videos, in my view, 5 to 10 minutes sounds about right.

The teleprompter (originated by the TelePrompTer company in the 1950s) is an indispensable component in modern-day television and video production, providing onscreen talent with a scrolling screen of words to speak. It saves many a babbler and stumbler from professional embarrassment. The question we often run across when doing Q&A-style interviews or video clips is, “do we need one”?

Yes, you do. Even when an interview-subject knows the topic cold or has handwritten notes in his or her lap, it can never come across as smooth and professional as it does with the teleprompter. First-timers, with a little bit of practice, get the hang of it easily and it’s fun to use. Now, there are a very rare few who can speak contemporaneously or off-the-cuff, and make it sound authoritative. Then, there is the other 99.9% of the population. So, use ’em if you’ve got ’em.

Another related issue is where to place the teleprompter… to the side of the camera or in front (using a “two-way” mirror)? In my opinion, particularly for Q&A video clips and most corporate-style videos, you want the teleprompter to the side. Watch any news program and you’ll see the interview-subject speaking to the reporter off-side. It’s more pleasing for the audience and easier for the interviewee.

But “no,” you say, “I want to look at my audience and give them the straight-goods. Look ’em in the eye just like a real conversation.” Forget it. Most interview-subjects have a tough time looking natural when staring into a camera. Their eyes dart side-to-side as they read the teleprompter. Or, they can’t bring themselves to blink. Very scary for viewers and often looks unnatural.

The one possible exception is when you are doing the equivalent of a reporter’s or presenter’s monologue (a “stand-up” as it’s called). Those occasions, however, are rare in most corporate videos.

So relax, enjoy the benefits of the teleprompter and enhance your reputation as an all-knowing and confident expert.

Quite often, subject-matter experts (clients) interested in doing one or a series of audio or video clips think to themselves: “Why do I need a script? I know this topic inside-out.”

OK, ummm…. you need a script. Sure, if you only want to blurt out a few ad libbed lines of little consequence, you can go without a script. The vast majority of us, though, need to think about what we want to say, and how to best get it across quickly and effectively. During those times when there has been no script or only a few lines of scrawled notes, I have sat through some unbearable periods of silence and muted apologies as the interviewee ponders what to say. Sure, we can fix most of it in “post” (editing), but it never looks or sounds as good as a polished presentation (i.e., written and re-written).

That’s why I typically offer to help work on the script with clients well before we record. It saves everyone a lot of time and headache.

And, while we are on the topic… As a viewer of others’ work, I have sat through some unbearable videos that clearly had little or no scripting. Sadly, the interviewer is often seen searching mentally for his or her next question, the interviewee struggles to say something clever quickly, and the interview usually goes on too long. Ugh.

So, always try to create some form of script.