Elevate Your Visual Storytelling With Limited Resources

Visual storytelling is highly effective and achievable with limited resources, including a camera phone, internet connection, and some planning.

No matter what type of media (photo, video, audio, etc.) you use to tell your story, breaking the production process into five stages may be helpful. They are:

1. Proposal
2. Pre-production
3. Production
4. Post-production
5. Delivery

Review these tips and utilize tools such as LinkedIn Learning (basic composition tutorials, lighting, and technical instruction) and Adobe CC/Express (stock photo and video assets and editing software) to create compelling belonging stories.

Proposal

Create a proposal to clarify your objectives, including:

  • Focus: What is the story? There should be a clear idea of the story you want to tell.
  • Format: Will this be a documentary-style video, an image carousel, an Instagram Story, or a single video clip with a caption? Different styles pair more appropriately with different channels and should be considered thoughtfully.
  • Scope: How ambitious will your project be?
  • Logistics: What is needed to produce your content?

Refer to the proposal throughout your project to ensure you work toward your objectives.

Pre-Production

With your proposal completed, begin to outline your project in more detail, including:

  • Script: Has your script been written and approved?
  • Budget: Have any necessary funds been secured?
  • Crew: How many crew members will be needed?
  • Talent: Have any subjects involved been secured and prepped?
  • Scheduling: Are schedules in place for shooting, editing, talent, and crew?
  • Deadline: When must your content be wrapped, delivered, and published?

Diligent production scheduling will offer the most straightforward path to quality, goal-oriented content creation.

Production

Now, you are ready to capture your content. Consider the following before and during your video/photo session:

Orientation

Consider your needs before selecting a vertical (can be cropped to square, useful for social media) or horizontal (can be cropped to vertical or square, offering more versatility) orientation.

Shot type

Leverage camera shots to convey specific information to the viewer, including subjects and their relationship to their environment. Shot types can be thought of sequentially, moving from widest to narrowest to “zoom in” on your storytelling, including:

  • Wide - establishes the where
  • Medium - establishes the who/what
  • Tight - provides important detail

Lighting

  • Use soft natural light on your subject’s face (no hard shadows)
  • Ensure your light source is in front of the subject, not behind it
  • Use a continuous light for a video or a strobe light for a photo, which will provide more consistent lighting

Sound

  • Avoid talking so your voice is not in the background
  • Try to find a quiet place free of traffic, music, and other noises to capture sound bites
  • Use a Lavalier microphone, if available, to improve the sound quality of your subject

Additional helpful tips:

  • Fully charge equipment batteries (phone/camera)
  • Confirm you have enough storage available
  • Zoom with your feet (get closer to your subject if necessary)
  • Hold your camera close to your body will ensure the steadiness of the video
  • Use a tripod to provide stability to your videos/photos if one is readily available
  • Look at your entire frame and examine for distractions in the frame (undesired objects interfering with the subject/environment)

Post-production

Transform your raw footage into a cohesive and polished final product by editing the footage or photos and incorporating any required visual enhancements.

  • Remove photo backgrounds using an editing software
  • Edit video(s) on your desktop or mobile phone
  • Add music
  • Consider creating AI-generated images using text prompts

Utilize Adobe content editing programs, including Lightroom (photo editing), Photoshop (photo editing), Premiere Rush (video editing on mobile or desktop), Adobe Stock (music), and Adobe Express and Premiere Pro (video editing).

Add an Adobe Creative Cloud License*

  1. Visit https://yale.onthehub.com/
  2. Click “Sign In” in the upper right corner and log in via CAS
  3. In the Product Search bar at the top, type “Creative Cloud”
  4. Under Adobe® Creative Cloud™ ETLA, click “Add to Cart” (Free)
  5. Complete the cart checkout process

*This process must be repeated yearly to renew your Creative Cloud access.

Log Into Adobe Express

  1. Visit: https://new.express.adobe.com/
  2. On the login prompt, type your Yale email address associated with your NetID (ex. first.last@yale.edu) and click Continue
  3. You will be redirected to CAS to complete your login
  4. You will now have access to the Adobe Express Beta!

Delivery

Share your edited and finalized content in various channels, including newsletters and social media. Final content formats include (but are not limited to):

  • JPEG images
  • PNG images
  • MP3 audio
  • MP4 video

Your content resolution/quality should be appropriate for the channel. For instance, a 4k video may be suitable for broadcast but unnecessary for a social media clip. High PPI graphics are desirable for printed materials but unnecessary for web-based images.

Video production is a multifaceted process that involves careful planning and thoughtful execution. Each stage, from proposal to delivery, is crucial in bringing a project to life. To maximize your visual storytelling, contemplate each stage of the production process to create visually engaging and impactful storytelling. With a mobile phone and a few online resources available to staff, anyone can create compelling content to tell their belonging stories.