Ultimate Content Creator Course

Do you want to increase your sales and customers online but don’t have the budget to create brand videos? Or maybe you just don’t have a proven strategy for how to stand out, rise above the noise online and get real attention for your brand. Well if that’s the case, or you’re just insecure about how you come across on camera with your brand, there is a solution.

I started off in Advertising and we would shoot one 30 second ad for $300K and above. That’s an enormous amount of money, painful to produce, took months to create and in this modern world, just not needed. Because everyone has a smart phone.

Truly understanding what your phone is capable of along with certain key phone accessories and my hard won expert video knowledge is all you need to create the endless social media content necessary in this world to engage your clients, maximize your results and gain more customers.

I’ve spent over 20 years as a Content Creator helping top brands such as Adidas, Smashbox Cosmetics, Chase Bank, UPS, Atlantic Records as well as celebrities like Oscar nominee, Mark Ruffalo, Bella Hadid, Coldplay and more with their videos and I want to help empower you to increase your sales, customers and positive brand reputation.

Stop struggling and putting up videos that get too little views, don’t look professional, have poor quality, hurt your PR and don’t stand out. I’ve taught for Art Center College of Design and Canon USA and know how to make learning fun. Remember, all you need is a smart phone to start.

BRANDING EXERCISE

1. Given that "Branding is the Art of Differentiation", write down 3-7 elements that make your brand unique and standing out from any other brand.

(For Dream Team Directors it's that our content is inspiring, that we work with celebrities, we are 50 x award winning, that we are a husband and wife team)

Alternate Exercise:

2. Isolate: 2-3 things you do better than any other brand in your space.

3. Come up with a short list of aspects you would like to improve visually to communicate your brand online (could be more consistency in brand look, better styling in brand photos, better and unique graphic look, cooler videos...)

Branding Exercise #2

Using the data you outlined or discovered in the Branding Exercise combined with the free Branding gift, work out how to tell your story and communicate what you do best as a brand in your content series.

Study Grant Cardone, Rebecca Minkoff and Trinny Woodall on IG for successful brand storytelling.

EQUIPMENT FAMILIARIZATION

1. Spend some time in the Settings of Your Mobile phone to get to know the video capabilities. Shooting in Pro Settings as below will give you far better more professional results however you can shoot in all Automatic (simply select "VIDEO") if you like as well.

A. If you have a Samsung phone, go to the "CAMERA" then "MORE" then select "PRO VIDEO"

Get familiar with the ISO setting which is the camera's sensitivity to light. You generally want to keep the ISO low because otherwise the image will get noisy and grainy, however adjust the ISO for the light available in your scene. Below 600 ISO is ideal in terms of image quality but lower (100-200) is better if you have a lot of available light.

Adjust the "SHUTTER" which is to the right of the "ISO" setting. This is a great way to lighten or darken your image and is the first thing to raise to brighten the image rather than going to a high level of ISO (high level of ISO is 600 or above generally).

You can either have the camera in "AF=AUTO FOCUS" or "MF=MANUAL FOCUS" in Pro Settings. In MANUAL FOCUS, you have to focus the camera yourself using the focusing scale which takes some practice but can also give more precise results. (You can select between Manual and Automatic Focus by selecting on the word "MANUAL" in the bottom right and selecting to the left of the spectrum of lines if you want to be in "AUTO" mode.

In the "WB=WHITEBALANCE" setting, you can decide if you want your image to be warmer or cooler depending on the available light you are shooting in.

HOMEWORK ON COVERING YOUR STORY

1. Previsualize how you want your content to look. Is it a simple unchanging shot, fully symmetrical (even visually on both sides), mostly close ups, vertically oriented for stories, black and white, shaky energetic camera, flowy and graceful, what is your style?

2. Write out a short list of the shots you will need. Make sure to get establishing shots (wide shots of your character in their environment), medium shots, close ups and extreme close ups of any activity you are filming so that your editing can be dynamic and exciting or if you won't be editing, do this all in one continuous take.

3. To be efficient for straight to camera content (CEO or Influencer talking directly to camera), you can shoot with two phones simultaneously, one horizontal (for Facebook, YouTube) and one vertical for IG Stories.

BE A STAR ON CAMERA HOMEWORK

1. Practice your script until you feel fully confident you can deliver it easily.

2. Make sure to be well fed and well rested before filming.

3. Handle any work issues or problems needed so you can be 100 percent focused on filming and your performance. Also make sure your filming environment is fully comfortable for you.

4. Ideally work on the content with a partner or assistant who can give you positive direction and positive validation on your performance.

5. Organize snacks and drinks on set with you for any needed additional energy.

***Remember to have a firm desire and decision to communicate your message impactfully to your audience.

COLOR EXERCISE

1. CEOs/Influencers/Brand Owners: determine what colors you have been told you look best in and get a wardrobe together that reflects that color. Ideally these colors relate to your brand color or brand spirit. Also, females, use these colors in your make up as well such as eye shadow.

2. What fashion styles, wardrobe and accessory (jewelry, nails etc) choices have you been told you look best in in photos, videos, social media? Prepare those outfits and elements for filming in and make sure they also relate to your brand color or the color you want to communicate emotionally.

3. Determine what hair and make up style you have been told you look best in as a brand owner. Preparing for filming in that style will get you great results.

Make sure to study @trinnywoodall on Instagram, for everything related to your brand fashion style, fashion color, make up etc.

4. If you are setting up a "Branded Space" for filming consistently in as in Lesson 1, make sure it incorporates your brand color or as an alternative, you can go with a simple background such as white, black or grey which will allow your brand colors to pop out.

5. Confirm your social media, website, etc is reflecting your brand color. For example, the Urban Decay brand color is consistently purple.

CAMERA MOVEMENT/PLACEMENT HOMEWORK

1. Determine if you would like your content to be static, handheld or flowing and graceful.

2. For static or relatively static, use a tripod or the Lume Cube rig in this link.

"Mobile Creator Lighting & Audio Kit" which will be your best bet.

This kit is designed to give you the three essentials to achieve professional mobile content: A Versatile Stand or Mounting Device that allows you to film in Portrait or Landscape mode. Customizable lighting for properly lit content. Amplified audio for sharp & professional sound quality.

3. If you want handheld, reality-style simply handhold the phone or have an assistant do this.

4. If you want a very flowing, gliding movement, we recommend you purchase, practice and use the accessory in the link below. It's beautiful camera movement is perfect for capturing dance, sports, skateboarding etc.

We recommend buying the "Smove Mobile Stabilizer".

LIGHTING HOMEWORK

Ideally if you are setting up a "branded space" as described in Lesson 1, we highly recommend the soft box lighting set from Neewer or the Mobile Ring light from Lume Cube (shown below). These are additional investments but they will serve you to create consistent, professional looking content especially when combined with your branded space.

As an absolute must, we highly recommend purchasing the Lume Cube mobile lighting product for on the go filming, casual filming at the desk etc.

We suggest: 

1. Neewer Lighting Kit.

2. Lume Cube Ring Light for Mobile.

Backgrounds are very helpful such as this one if you do not have an environment that is visually to your liking.

LIGHTING PATTERN HOMEWORK

1. Determine which lighting pattern best fits you and your brand.

2. Using the "4 types of Lighting" module as your reference, practice creating that lighting pattern with your Lume Cube portable light or your Neewer lighting set. Remember, The Ring Light will only give you one option which is beauty light (directly frontal flattering lighting).

* All of these recommendations can work perfectly for Founder interviews, customer testimonials, founder tip series, sales videos etc.

NATURAL LIGHT HOMEWORK

1. Determine what parts of your home, office or studio have the best natural light and at what times of day the light looks most flattering. Remember to avoid direct light from the sun but instead go for softer, indirect more reflected light.

2. We highly recommend getting this Gold, Silver, Silk reflector kit from Neewer.

A reflector will require working with a partner or assistant but what it accomplishes is well worth it.

This will allow you to use the silver reflector to beautifully reflect sunlight to get that stunning pop on skin. Use the gold reflector for African American skin tones or darker skin tones to warm them up.

As in the "Natural Light Magic" module, use the silk outside to remove the harsh qualities of the sun, eliminating dark circles under the eyes and instead giving soft, flattering, beautiful light.

TYPES OF CONTENT HOMEWORK

Determine what brand events, activities, meetings, workshops etc you have coming up and how best to turn them into a content series.

For example, if you are speaking at an event coming up, you can talk with excitement to camera about the event and why it's important to you. At the event, you can also shoot exciting behind the scenes of the event, create fun videos with other brand owners and influencers, grab some testimonials with your customer, film your talk and break it into short clips or Facebook and IG live your talk. You can also create still photos, timelapse imagery etc.

2. Also brainstorm how you can turn every day activities such as going to get coffee into content such as a creative tip series.