Video Strategies

Updated: 01 October 2018

2012-2024

Providing a Good Experience (346-47)

Keep it short: As Figure 12.1 documents, people don't watch long videos.
Get to the point: "Fast-start" introductions are vital. Do not waste time with cinema-style opening credits, and remember the inverted pyramid structure.
Provide important details: This is metainformation—the information that surrounds the video—and it is so important that we will devote a separate assignment to it.
Do not autoplay: Even if Facebook can get away with this (and that's debatable), we cannot.

All quotes and citations in these slides are from Patrick Horton and Sarah Lynch, The Web Style Guide 4th ed. (Yale University P, 2016).

Good Example 2 (Live Action): Dollar Shave Club

Good Example 3 (Live Action): Stitch

Good Example 4 (Animation): Tech Insider

Good Example 5 (Animation): Mint

Choosing a Distribution Channel (348-50)

Providing Alternatives for Audio and Video (347-48)

A text version of the audio track makes your video content more search-friendly, accessible, and discoverable.

This is a case where doing the right thing for people with disabilities ends up helping everyone.

This will only happen if you plan for it. As the authors state, "Like good lighting, talent, and equipment, providing video alternatives should be just another facet of producing quality video" (347).