Our newest Featured Racer KJ Blair is a World Race video rock star. No, but really.
Over the last year as H Squad made their way around Europe, Africa, and Asia, KJ was always ready with his camera to document the little moments that make the Race special. At the end of each month he put together a short video telling the story of his team’s month, the ministry they did, and the fun activities that filled their days.
When you watch his videos, you want to be in them – that’s what makes a great video.
This is KJ’s video from the end of his World Race – 11 months in three minutes. We love it! Below the video we’ve compiled a few tips, inspired by KJ’s videos, of things every Racer can do to tell amazing stories through their lenses.
Tip #1: Keep it short and sweet.
Video has the power to engage more of the senses to tell a story than writing or photography alone. A well edited video doesn’t need to be 10 minutes long to communicate a great story. We love videos that are as close to three minutes as possible – decide what story you’re telling, and stick to it.
Tip #2: Begin with the end in mind
As we’ve learned from “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Videos People,” know where you’re aiming before you start shooting. KJ did a great job with this – he chose a story, a theme, or specific song to illustrate, and shot the footage with a vision of the final product in mind. Video editing is much easier, and your results are more effective when you know what you want to make.
Tip #3: Shoot interesting footage
Move around as you’re shooting and look for different perspectives to capture. Get high, get low, zoom in, zoom out. Shoot more than you need, but shoot intentionally. Quality B-roll is just as important as the primary footage in a video.
Tip #4: Don’t go crazy with effects
Unless Ken Burns is one of your teammates, he probably doesn’t need to be in your video. A photo montage is one way to tell a story, but when you interrupt video footage with still photos it slows the pace of your narrative and distracts the viewer. The same goes for using too many visual effects and scrolling text over your footage – less is more. In general, video is about conveying a story without written words, but if you want to use text it’s best to choose one font and stick with it.
Tip #5: Choose audio intentionally
Pick one song to tell your story, and shape the action to fit the music. Pay attention to the tempo, rhythm, and crescendo of the music, and choose clips that make sense with it. The right song choice is one of the main ways to move a viewer’s emotions as they watch your video. You can also adjust the levels of other audio clips in the video to make sure they’re heard over the music.
Tip #6 Be consistent
We love when Racers commit to making a video a month for all 11 months. Shoot your footage all month and then show people back home what it was like to live in a remote Maasai village or a tree house in Cambodia. If you make one of these each month, you’ll have a collection of beautiful vignettes of your Race. Another great example of this is Johnfrank Dieguez’s 1:11 series.
Tip #7: Involve your friends in the creative process
The best World Race videographers are the ones who get their teammates and squad mates excited about making videos together. When your team works together to tell a story, it’s more fun and more effective. You can help your contacts promote their ministries, advocate for a person you meet on the field, fund raise for each other, inspire future Racers to want to live the life you’re leading, and tell the stories of what God is doing around the world.
And just because we love it so much, here is one more amazing video from KJ. You current and future Racers out there reading this – get inspired and start telling your own stories!
