Using simple video

I did some work with communitycare.co.uk recently, aided by RBI web guru Adam Tinworth, looking at how to get the best out of simple video .

Here's a few conclusions we came up with about video:

• Is it visual? There's no point in shooting video if there's nothing to look at.
• It's not TV. Don't try to be the BBC News, it won't work
• Keep it brief. Community Care users are interested in seeing and hearing the interviewee speaking in the video at the top of this post, but not the whole video.
• What's in the background?  'Talking head' videos aren't ideal but if you do use them, interview your subject in front of an interesting background - as long as it's not distracting.
• Don't get hung-up on technology. You can get decent HD from fairly simple kit these days. But don't try to shoot Panorama on a flip camera
• Chunk it up.  It's better to play a short chunk of video - or a series of chunks. 
• Show it off. Don’t bury videos at the bottom of the article page.
• What if the video goes wrong? Maybe you can just the audio track instead.
• Get feedback. Look at your metrics to see what’s working.