Every school has access to powerful camera equipment, specifically made for making great school video content very quickly. That might be through bought in iPads but it could be that many of your staff have smartphones. Before we dive in, remember how powerful vide can be as part of your highly effective parental engagement strategy.

By following these 3 key pieces of advice you'll be able to make a big step up in the quality of video that you are producing for your school website.

Shoot Effectively

You're trying to avoid having lots and lots of editing to do to create a video that anybody might want to watch! So, if you shoot your video effectively you will have great content. And, it will be much easier to prepare for adding to your site.

Make sure you get plenty of footage but not so much that it takes the rest of your life to sort through. Taking a few, longer, nice and steady shots from a few different angles is much better than a series of short snappy shots, which will take longer to put together.

Try to capture action shots from a few different angles; if you're shooting sports day or an exciting assembly, take a shot from one angle and then move to another spot so you can capture the action from another location. This will help the action feel like it's moving along more and increase the production value.

Mix it up with a few close up shots so you have the option to quickly add in a cut-away in between other, longer range shots.

TOP TIP: remember to hold the shot for a few seconds either side of the action, you'll be able to trim it in edit if you need to but better held longer than you think you need to.

Frame Smartly

We've already mentioned using a variety of shots (close-ups and mid-long range shots). But, think about how you can effectively use your framing of the picture effectively to make it more interesting.

This is especially true if you have a piece-to-camera, a section where someone it being interviewed.

TOP TIPS:

1. Hold the camera at the subjects eye level
2. Hold your camera in your right hand (or on a tripod on your right), stand on the left and have your subject stand to the right of the picture, talking across the camera, looking directly at you. This adds depth.
3. Position the subject so you have action taking place in the background, if appropriate. This will make your video look much more professional.

Ask open questions when you're interviewing someone so that they don't give yes/no answers and open up a bit. Simply chat with them as much as possible, make them feel at ease and keep their focus on you. Don't check your phone while they're talking to you!

Edit Quickly

Use iMovie or Windows Movie Maker but make it possible for yourself to quickly turn around video content. The reason is that if you don't you'll be sat on video content. The moment will have passed and there will be no point in uploading it anymore.

Do most of the work while you're shooting your video so most of the editing work is stitching together content that already looks fab.

Practice this and see how you get on. The brilliant thing is that whatever you produce it is content that your audience, parents and prospective parents, will be delighted to see.

As parents we get regular videos from pre-school for our youngest and technically they're rubbish. We don't mind at all because we're getting to see the little man in his setting. But for the content that you'd like to be a little step up, just a bit more professional, following these tips will help you make an enormous difference.

Send us your videos when you're done! We'd love to see them!