Step-by-Step instructions with practical advice on how to easily create recipe videos! Fantastic, comprehensive guide to equipment, set-up, editing & more!
Almost 2 years ago, after attending a conference and being convinced that I was the only blogger left on the planet NOT actually creating videos, I came home determined to figure it out. As a mom of 5 I knew that if I was going to be successful with video, I’d have to figure out a way to make it as easy as possible. I had no desire to invest thousands of dollars transforming a room of my house into a studio. I mean, let’s be serious, my 3-year-old and heavy photography equipment are not a good combination! If I was going to do video, I wanted to incorporate it into my current processes and not have to overhaul my life to accommodate this new method of blogging. It had to be as simple and practical aspossible.
The first video I ever shot was for“Homemade” Maple Bars. I shot it on an afternoon in June and my daughter took a cell phone video of me cooking. I used no special lights or even a tripod. The video is shaky but simple and to the point. I uploaded it to Facebook and hoped my readers wouldn’t hate it. Little did I know, that would also be my first viral video. It quickly shot to 1 million views, then 2 million, 3 million and beyond. My website was flooded with traffic and my Facebook page, which was at about 13k fans, doubled, then doubled again. In a nutshell, it was insane and I knew at that point that video would be a complete game changer.
That first ultralow-tech viral video made me think I could actually do this! Someone pointed out to me that although my video was simple, what I’d done was invited my readers into my kitchen and told a story. I used refrigerated biscuits to make my kids a simple donut recipe and despite the low lighting and various other video flaws, it resonated with people and still does to this day.
Inspired, I began cranking out videos as quickly as possible, just to get them out there on the web. After a few months I decided this wasn’t the best approach and so I pulled back a bit and really focused on improving my videos themselves. I learned various techniques of editing and really focused on making my videos better. Over the last year my Facebook page has increased to over 260k likes and traffic to my website has doubled. I continue to release new videos and love seeing simple ideas come to life in the process. I still use low cost equipment and follow simple procedures when I shoot video and edit. I am no expert, but I hope I can inspire you to create videos as well.
It is an incredibly useful skill to learn the process of making videos. Some people opt to hire it out instead of learning the process themselves. It costs around $200 to get a recipe video made. Just about every social media network is placing a huge emphasis on video, so you’ll want to begin amassing a library as soon as possible. They not only earn you followers, but they are a great source of income as you can monetize them. At $200 per video, if you opt to pay to have someone else create them, not only are you at their liberty, creatively speaking, but if you release 1 new video a week, that would cost over $10,000 over the course of a year. I’m to the point where I often release 2, even 3 new videos in a week. The time I’ve spent learning this skill has paid off tremendously. Additionally, everyone seems to have their own style when it comes to video, so if you outsource it to a company who also makes videos for others as well, all of your videos will look very similar. This makes a difference when you’re attempting to stand out amongst all the hundreds of thousands of recipe videos out there!
Throughout this ebook my desire is to pass along the information I’ve learned from creating 50+ videos for my website. I am not a professional, nor do I claim to be an expert on the subject! However, I’ve learned a ton and thinking back, I would have loved a resource like this where I could easily read and understand how one person has tackled video successfully.
GET THE EBOOK, HOW TO CREATE
EASY RECIPE VIDEOS HERE
Step-by-Step instructions with practical advice on how to easily create recipe videos! Fantastic, comprehensive guide to equipment, planning, set-up (complete with several options for set-up based on how much light you have!) editing and finally, what to do after you’ve created your recipe video.
(AFFILIATE) LINKS TO EQUIPMENT I USE:
Here are the tripods I prefer and a brief explanation of how I use them:
B- iEazy 3-in-1 Portable Octopus Style Adjustable Tripod Selfie Stick Stand & Holder – Black
C- Benks 360 degree rotating Cell Phone Mount–
D- Dolica GX600B200 Proline GX Series 60-Inch Aluminum Tripod and Ball Head Combo for DSLR
E- Acuvar 50″ Inch Aluminum Camera Tripod and Universal Smartphone Mount
Lighting- Here are 2 sets of lights we use, depending on how much natural light we have that day:
Photography Photo Portrait Studio 600W Day Light Umbrella Continuous Lighting Kit by LimoStudio
Simple Designs LD1003-WHT Basic Metal Desk Lamp
I’ve used this several times and it’s quite handy!
Editing Programs
Mac- iMovie, free with iOS
Whether you’re using a Mac or an iOS device, it’s never been easier to make it in the movies. Just choose your clips, then add titles, music, and effects. iMovie even supports 4K video for stunning cinema-quality films. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a wrap.
Final Cut Pro 10.3 debuts a powerful collection of new features for professional editors. A strikingly low-profile interface maximizes work space on any display. The new Magnetic Timeline 2 advances even further beyond traditional, track-based editing with automatic color coding and flexible layouts based on roles. The latest Final Cut Pro release also takes full advantage of the new MacBook Pro with support for the Touch Bar and wide color workflows.
PC & Mac:
Adobe Premier Pro ($20/mo)
- Adobe Premiere Pro CC is powerful, customizable, and high-performance nonlinearediting software for video professionals.
- Membership includes the full version of Adobe Premiere Pro CC to download, install, and run on your computer.
- Immediate access to all the latest updates and new features as soon as they’re released.
- Easy syncing of your Adobe Premiere Pro settings to any computer in any edit bay in the world
- A growing library of expert video tutorials to help you get up to speed quickly and master new skills
- Its easier than ever to find videos by the places they were taken, the events they depict, albums, favorites, and more.
- Edit Turn rough clips into real movies you’ll watch over and over. Easily remove unwanted footage, fix color and lighting, and drag and drop to quickly create your movies.
- Share Share with friends and family the way that works for youvia disc, HDTV, YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and more.
- System Requirement Note: Only compatible with 64-bit processors
Wondershare Filmora $39 Get Wondershare for Mac here, $49
- Weave amazing movies with any format video, audio & photos.
- Edit video/audio/photos with classic features like trim, cut, split, merge, rotate, etc.
- Create your Hollywood-like masterpiece with special effects like picture-in-picture, split screen, green screen, tilt shift, filter and transition.
- Fantastic Toolbar and Filter Effects: Over 70 innovation and gorgeous special effects and 50 unique transitions for you to change the style, enhance and highlight your movies.
- Share your masterpiece anywhere: YouTube, Vimeo ,Facebook, TV, iPhone iPhone, iPad, apple TV, Samsung etc.
MUSIC
After extensive research, I opted to purchase a year-long membership to AudioBlocks for $99 so that I could get unlimited free downloads. I love the royalty-free music they offer and it’s fun browsing new song clips! Membership comes with a downloadable license agreement should you need it too.
Read more about AudioBlocks here!
