When it comes to showing and telling stories, video is a powerful and popular medium. Anything from a smartphone to more sophisticated equipment available on campus can create engaging video. Here are some quick tips.

Keep it short and simple. Even videos less than a minute long can effectively put your point across, whether promoting a major, a residence hall, an event or anything else that lends itself to a visual treatment. Be concise and compelling. The web isn't live TV in that viewers don't want to sit through a long intro or credits; they want you to get to the point quickly, or they'll just surf on. This is why platforms offering short video like Instagram (which started with just photos) and Vine have been popular.

Quality is important ....: At minimum, what's happening in the video should be clear (not blurry, not too dark) and any dialogue or explanations should be understandable.

... but it doesn't need to be slick: Our most popular recurring feature, Alyssa Explains It All, mainly consists of student Alyssa Levenberg talking into a camera about making the transition to college. No fancy special effects, no rapid-fire edits, nothing slick ... just content that viewers are intereseted in told in an engaging manner.

Audio: When shooting a subject, make sure the location is quiet in order to capture quality audio, especially if you do not have a wireless lavalier or boom microphone and have to depend on your camera's built in microphone for audio. 

Think in terms of stories: Storytelling is the core of effective web video. A video featuring a student performing research is more effective than a video talking about research students can do. 

Avoid copyrighted music: YouTube sometimes frowns upon us of copyrighted music, which means that videos including this will be blocked in some formats (at the very least). However, YouTube offers options to add copyright-free music to videos you've uploaded.

Share it: SUNY Oswego's YouTube channel -- which receives well over 20,000 visits most months -- welcomes video submissions from the campus that meet basic quality and content standards. Email us if you're interested in submitting. You can embed YouTube videos on a web page and/or share via social media to increase your audience. 

Communication Toolkit