Week 3: Examples of Kickstarter-Style Videos: Pros and Cons

Today we’ve been discussing 5 videos and coming up with a few suggestions on what improvements could be made in each video. The discussions helped me understand what things should be used and what points should be avoided while making a really good video. I think this information will be helpful when I work on creating my own video.

While watching those videos, we were asked to pay attention to some aspects:

• -        Was our first impression regarding the video positive or negative?
• -        Was the main concept of the video clear?
• -        What questions does the video raise?
• -        What can be improved to make the video better?
• -        What was done well in the video?
• -        Were there any things in the video that could have been shown in a better way?
• -        What was the quality of the video and/or audio?
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Now let’s look at the results we’ve got.

Video 1: Brisbane Park Finder (a 48-hour governmental hackathon)

We agreed that overall the video wasn’t the example to follow. Why?

 Well, there were several things that could be done in a better way.

1) It wasn’t a good idea to read the text. The video will definitely be perceived better if the speaker just tells the story without reading or looking at his notes.

2) The main concept wasn’t clear. The video can be improved by removing all the technical stuff, jargon words and acronyms and making the message more appealing to the audience with a diverse technical background.

3) The story wasn’t actually told. We didn’t get an idea of the key aspects of the program. The video will be more convincing and understandable if to show the program itself and support the visuals with audio explanation of how it works.

4) The audio and the video were of a poor quality. Any background noise can be easily eliminated if to record the video in a quiet place – this will raise the overall quality of the video.

5) The video had no scenario and led to nowhere. Since it’s unclear what the video leads to, it’ll be useful to create a scenario showing the program and explaining how it can solve people’s problem.

Summing everything up, we’ve come up with the following recommendations:

• ·       Communicate the product idea first;
• ·       Clearly explain the problem;
• ·       Tell the views why the program is interesting;
• ·       Always speak the language the audience does;
• ·       Make sure the demo supports the prototype in context;
• ·       Show the context of the program use.

Video 2: Google Docs in Plain English

The video gave a positive impression. In fact, there were many good things in it:

1) It clearly explained what Google Docs was and what it was for.

2) The selected animations (paper images and a dental floss) were pretty simple which helped people feel Google Docs was simple, easy and user-friendly.

3) Video and audio were of a good quality, the text fully coincided with what was displayed on the screen.

But certainly there very suggestions on how to improve the video:

• ·       Tell the story first;
• ·       Clearly communicate the idea (name Google Docs);
• ·       Mention a pain point (a security issue) that was omitted in the original video;
• ·       Demonstrate some more applications of Google Docs (by students, friends, etc.) instead of showing just one story line – this will help reaching a wider audience.

Great idea: the fact the prototype is of a low fidelity makes it easy to understand the concept, and it appears easy and simple to use.

Video 3: Pegasus: The Next Generation n Abstract Strategy Games

It was a bit strange. After watching this video it was absolutely unclear what the product was about. The only thing I’ve understood is that Pegasus is a game. That’s all!!! Well, I got no idea what it was about, how it worked, what the rules of the game were, who and why needed to invest in its development.

Of course it’s clear that to make the video better, it’s advisable to tell people why the game is needed, what its distinctive features are, how to play the game, and why people need to spend money on its development.

After watching this video, I got the following lesson that should be kept in mind while making videos: when you create a video, you must be careful with using the music as in some cases it can be more distracting than useful, and it can easily disconnect the audience.

Video 4: FORM 1: An Affordable, Professional 3D Printer

I was pleased to watch this video (especially if to compare it with the first one). It was a great example of how a top quality video should look like:

1) Only 30 seconds are needed to mention the problem, explain the concept of 3D printer, specify its value for users, show why it’s better than alternatives, and tell the audience how it works on simple and visual examples.

2) It’s clear that the video addresses designers who use 3D printers for their work.

Video 5: Gauss Glasses

This was one more great video shown to us during the class. The strongest points of the video were as follows:

1) It was professional and convincing.

2) It communicated the idea well - it explained the value of glasses and provided some interesting data that supported the arguments (this information made the video more interesting to viewers).

3) It showed the process of glasses production – a great idea helping people to understand how glasses are built and engage the audience who’re engineers and innovators interested in new technologies.

4) After watching this video you have a strong desire to either buy it or at least try it.

Conclusion

Thanks to these videos, now all of us definitely have a clear idea of how to make a really good video and what aspects to pay attention to.  Of course, there are a lot of things to keep in mind but the most important thing is to be able to clearly explain the value of your product in simple terms.