Your video should explore a subject in the same ways a written essay does. The same amount of research and analysis is required to create a video essay as it is to write a traditional essay, however, it forces you to think about how imagery can be used to advance your argument.
Interested in examples of different video essays?
If you plan on including a video of yourself speaking, Zoom will probably work just fine for you. To learn some basic tips on how to improve the quality of your computer webcam recordings, watch this video.
If you have a smartphone, chances are it’s more than powerful enough to record quality video. Make sure that your phone is fully-charged and that you have enough free space to record. To learn about best practices when recording your video with a smartphone, watch this video.
Podcasts, voiceovers, bears, oh my! Take stock of your background noise: fans, A/Cs, dogs barking, kids playing. Do what you can to minimize those sounds — turn off the fan, close doors to muffle loud noises in other rooms. But remember: it's not the end of the world if you can't control the noise around you.
When recording only audio, there are two options:
Computer: Record in Zoom, and Zoom will provide an “audio_only” file!
Smartphone: Smartphones should have built-in recording apps!
iPhone: Voice Memos
Android: Voice Recorder
The EarPods that come with most Apple products have built-in mics, which capture your voice just as well as some external microphones do!
If you'd like to distribute your media beyond the classroom, you should search for content in the public domain or under Creative Commons.
The Media Libguide is a great summary of resources.
What is Creative Commons? Check out this guide or this infographic
Depending on your computer, you may or may not be able to access video or audio editing programs. Watch the video entitled “Intro to Video Essays” to see an example of a video created with no editing software at all — only Zoom.
No matter what editing workflow you use, remember to collect all the media files you’re using for a video in ONE FOLDER.
| Mac |
iMovie, DaVinci Resolve, Openshot |
| Windows 10 |
Photos app, DaVinci Resolve, Openshot |
| Browser-based |
Adobe Spark |
| iPhone/iPad | iMovie, Adobe Premiere Rush |
| Android |
When using the Photos app to edit videos, it’s likely you might need to convert some files before Photos can edit them. We recommend you download Handbrake, which is free and reliable. Follow these instructions for converting .mov to .mp4 files. File conversion may take a few minutes to many hours depending on the length of the video, your computer hardware, and the Handbrake settings.