“To forget one’s purpose is the commonest form of stupidity.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
Editing systems nowadays come with a variety of gadgets, gizmos, and other random tools that can keep one busy for hours playing around. There is hardly any limit to what can be accomplished in post-production. With patience, ingenuity, and determination one can create works of mesmerizing complexity and depth.
However, with all these tools at our disposal, we can easily lose track of the function for which this work was originally intended. A MindBite is meant to teach others valuable information. To weigh it down with excess material that neither informs nor enlightens is to rob the viewer of the education they paid for. It’s best to keep it short, simple, and on track.
Below are some suggestions from the MindBites crew on ideas to consider when editing your lesson.
We can’t stress enough the importance of short, well thought out intros. While it provides little to the actual lesson itself, this is the portion the prospective buyer will view to decide on whether or not to invest his/her time and money into your MindBite. Intros that combine professionalism with brevity will give the viewer the impression that the rest of the lesson follows suit (and hopefully it does!), and he/she’ll be more likely to cough up the dough.
Remember that the MindBites viewer generates the 60 second preview from the beginning of your lesson, so make sure you’ve included all the pertinent information in this time. Go ahead and begin by introducing yourself in a confident and amiable manner. Include your credentials to indicate why you are qualified to teach the particular subject, and give a brief rundown of the information to be demonstrated in the lesson. What are you assuming the viewer already knows? What should they be able to do after watching the video? Be clear and concise, but above all, make sure you convey to others that you really care about what it is you’re teaching. That’s what will stand out and ultimately lead to the coveted purchase.
If your lesson involves making or assembling an object, think about including footage of the final product. If it’s a how-to demonstration, think about quickly going over the steps that will be discussed in depth in the lesson, but make sure not to give away too much. You don’t want to hand out the meat then try to sell the bone.
Presumably, you thought out your lesson’s structure long before shooting began. An unstructured lesson is, more often than not, hard to follow and tiring on the viewer, rendering the whole MindBite practically useless in regard to teaching. So please spend a good bit of time designing your lesson before you go into production with the material.
When editing your MindBite, plot out the key points of your instruction and use these as chapters to guide you through the structure. Ideally, there should be between 5 and 10 points made during the lesson, which allots for 1-2 minutes of explanation for each point, assuming your lesson falls in the typical MindBite length of 10 minutes. Title cards and chapter markers will help to guide the viewer through your lesson, giving them a road map of knowledge. When the direction is clear, information is better retained, and the viewer sees the overall picture clearer.
The lure of special effects is both great and potentially disastrous (if said effects are used in overabundance). The plug-ins that come standard with almost any editing program can be very beneficial to your lesson when used in proper form. We would shy away from anything that is overtly noticeable (like glowing effects or sepia tone) or overly decadent (like star-wipes and composite lighting bolts).
However, on screen text is very useful to spell out uncommon terms, website links, names, subtitles, etc. Without the visual verification, viewers may miss important information simply because the terminology is unfamiliar to them. Also, dissolves and fades are old, faithful transitions that, when used sparingly, will give your lesson a more professional look than one without.
Additionally, think about adding title cards to separate sections and topic points. This separation not only gives your lesson a since of cohesiveness and order, but also gives the viewer a moment to pause and meditate over the information just consumed. These breathing moments are crucial to allow the material to sink in, otherwise it might all just run together in the viewers mind, making it hard to retain specifics.
You don’t need to spend a lot of time on the conclusion, but we would certainly include one in your lesson to further enforce the sense of cohesiveness throughout your piece. Briefly run through the material once more, emphasizing the crucial points and the harder-to-grasp topics. With text or on camera, include your name again so that the viewer remembers who you are in case he/she wishes to return to MindBites for more of your lessons.
When you’ve already designed your lesson and structured it thoroughly, the editing should go smoothly and without difficulty. The main things you’ll want to focus on will be smooth transitions, interesting (yet non-distracting) titles, and proper pacing. The lesson should go quickly, so it’s not boring, but not too fast, so it’s incomprehensible. Cut out any fluff and leave only the meat. The viewer will appreciate your conciseness, as it will make for a more pleasant, structured learning experience.
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