One of the golden rules of creating filmed content centres around Subject Matter. Essentially a film is generally only as interesting as its subject matter!

The rule can be broken for sure, however in general the fundamental principle of this rule is that you can’t make something look as exciting and amazing as the next Apple Watch launch if you’re subject matter is around a relatively dry subject such as stamp collecting in the 1940s or decoding Pythagorus. It’s fairly obvious yet something which is perhaps overlooked more than you may think.

Whilst it’s true that there will always be an audience waiting for deep diving into the finer nuances of a topic, sub-topic or niche, invariably the truth is that if you’re wanting to make a film about something specialist you either need to accept that it won’t be suitable for a mass audience, or start to get creatively credible. We’ll explain this more!

Creatively Credible is a term coined by founder of Thinktank Video in Manchester UK, Stuart Murphy, who explains the concept by saying, “There’s a world of difference between being creative and being creative for the sake of being different. The skill to being creative is about ensuring that your intended audience believes what they are seeing.

They also should find what you’re showing or describing as authoritative. The point where optimal interest meets the highest point of credibility is known as the Creatively Credible point. This is the point where you get maximum engagement from any audience viewing your video.”

Okay, so we’ve taken a very brief look at how you can improve your video-making skills to make your Education Video, but how can you do this yourself, without the need for employing the services of a professional video production company?

Here’s a quick checklist to help you:

• What are the key messages you want to convey?
• Who is your intended target audience?
• How long do you think you can retain their attention for?
• What do you want them to remember at the end? How much money or time do you have to make your video production?
• What equipment will you have to make or edit your film?
• Have you thought about sound?

Once you’ve sat and written down your thoughts, you’re on to the most difficult stage, pre-production planning.

Okay, you’ve got everything you need to make your Education Video, equipment, your messages and what you want to film. What’s next?

• Where are you going to film?
• Who will be involved in making your film?
• Who is operating the camera and sound?
• Where do you want to make your film?
• Have you considered where you are able to film?
• Do you know who to ask for permission to film at your locations?
• Who is going to help you make the film once you’ve started filming?

Having the answers to these questions will go a long way to ensure that your production will be made effectively and have some solid structure around the processes used. Creativity is often the one thing that doesn’t come naturally.

Try your best to be Creatively Credible when making your film and if you are looking to reach out to anyone for help, try getting in touch with Thinktank Video Productions, the leading Video Education company in Manchester, making films throughout the world!

This article was originally written on request by Thinktank for edublogs