6 Ways to Record Talking Videos
So, you’ve decided you need to make more videos for your visibility and marketing. Nice.
There’s just one small problem. You now have to be in them.
And if your idea of being “good on camera” is someone who can press record, stare straight down the lens and effortlessly deliver three-minutes of perfectly paced, articulate, engaging brilliance in a single take, video can suddenly feel like a mystical talent you were born without.
Fortunately, that’s not how it works.
Being knowledgeable about something and being able to spontaneously explain it to a camera are two very different skills.
As a Founder, you can spend years accumulating experience, stories, opinions and expertise, then somehow lose access to half of it the moment you hit record. Sometimes, you can barely make it passed hello.
The mistake is assuming that’s an unfixable problem.
And don’t worry, my magic solution isn’t just “practice makes perfect.”
Over many years of training myself to be better on camera, and working with a variety of different founders and business owners, I’ve discovered there are six methods for recording talking videos, and at least one of those everybody is naturally good at.
But before we get into those, let’s first talk about the three recording styles you’ll already be familiar with, but might not have thought about.
The 3 Recording Styles
There are three different Recording Styles for talking videos:
Conversation, Improvisation and Scripted.
With Conversation, what you say develops through interaction with another person.
With Improvisation, you know what you want to say but form the wording while you’re recording.
With Scripted, you decide the wording before you record.
Now for each of these three recording styles, they are two different methods of delivery, giving us six total options for communicating on camera.
The 6 Delivery Methods
Here are the six delivery methods that already exist, but that we don’t have the common vocabulary – so I created it!
| Recording style | Method 1 | Method 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Conversation | Natural | Guided |
| Improvisation | Build | Flow |
| Scripted | Read | Rehearsed |
Conversation
With Conversation, what you say develops through interaction with another person.
You’ll see this style in podcasts, panel interviews and live video.
When you’re watching a video, you’ll often be able to see two or more people, other times, you’ll just see the person speaking.
This works for Founders who find it easier to explain their thinking to another person, even when they’re on the spot.
The downside is that you need the participation another person, and the quality of the content depends on the quality of the conversation.
There are two methods for conversational video.
1. Natural
This is when you have a genuine back-and-forth conversation that happens to be recorded.
There might be a subject or broad direction, but the content emerges spontaneously through the conversation itself.
2. Guided
This is when there is more of a interview set-up with pre-determined topics to cover.
The “interviewer” uses questions and follow-up questions to draw particular information from the “interviewee,” and there’s a rough idea of want the output will communicate.
Improvisation
With Improvisation, you know what you want to say, but you create the wording in the moment while you’re recording.
You’ll see this style used in a lot of social media videos, as it’s tends to deliver something that feels close to an in-person conversation, which makes the viewer feel more connected to the subject.
There might be a structure or a few bullet points prepared beforehand, but not the exact words.
This works for Founders who find they naturally structure their words well when speaking outloud, as opposed to when they’ve planned them.
The downside is that it tends to produce longer videos through rambling and repetition and may require heavier editing depending on the context.
There are two ways to recorded improvised video:
3. Build
This is when you build your way to a final video recording piece by piece.
Essentially, you think or rehearse your first sentence, press record, deliver it, then press pause, while you think or rehearse your next sentence, and repeat til you’ve said everything you want to say. Those pieces are sequenced in the edit to create the finished video.
This is sometimes referred to as multi-clip video. There are in-app recording features* you can use to create a continous recording, rather than seperate files, and allow you to remove unwanted takes as they occur.
*Some apps that include these features are TikTok, Instagram and Capcut.
4. Flow
This is when you record a full take without stopping.
Essentially, you press record and don’t stop til you’ve said everything you want to say. Any unwanted or superflous content can then be removed in the edit.
Scripted
With Scripted, you write exactly what you’re going to say before you record.
You’ll see this method most commonly in sales videos, explainer videos, but also a lot of social media content (probably more than you’re aware of) due to the fact you have full control over the wording, structure and timing.
This works for Founders that enjoy writing and find their words come out better once they’ve organised them properly.
The downside is that the planning moves it further away from your natural speaking voice.
There are two ways to record scripted video:
5. Read
This is when the words are in front of you while you record (a bit like a newsreader)
You put your script on an autocue or teleprompter device or app, allowing you to read and speak the words during recording while continuing to look towards the camera.
Techniques like pacing and ad-libbing help to make your delivery sound more natural.
6. Rehearsed
This is when you say the words from memory (a bit like an actor)
You learn your script, then practice it to a point of being able to deliver it on camera without reading.
Memorisation may help but you can internalise the structure and language while allowing the precise wording to change (this is what I tend to do!)
Which Recording Method should you use?
When you’ve got your head around these Recording Styles and Methods, you’re able to do two things:
- Find a starting point for developing your on-camera skills
- Understand which method might work best for a specific video you’re creating
If you’re new to video, start by experimenting with methods that play to your natural strengths. You might be great in Conversation, prefer the control of Scripted, or feel comfortable thinking out loud through Improvisation.
But you don’t have to stay there.
As you make more videos, you can develop the methods that don’t come as naturally. The most visible Founders will eventually have several, if not all, of these methods available to them.