How to Make Low-Cost Videos with No Experience

Most of us don’t aspire to be professional video editors or photographers – that’s a fact. We do, however, want to be able to make great, professional-looking videos with pictures and music with minimum effort and without spending too much.

This is where this blog post comes in: we’ve prepared a small guide on how to make low cost videos with no experience for those of you who are ready to start shocking their friends with the quality videos you’ve suddenly begun creating.

We’ll go over the most important things you need to consider when wondering how to make your own video, which are the camera, lighting, audio and video editing software.

Since everyone has a different budget in mind, we’ll discuss both your low budget and medium budget options, but we’ll try to keep your video production costs quite low. Let the learning begin – enjoy!

Our tips on how to make low cost videos with no experience

  • Camera

For low cost video production you can use your phone – don’t be too surprised, there are plenty of people in Hollywood who recommend this as a viable option.

To maximize the effect of your smart phone camera you should stay zoomed out to the widest setting and make sure you have a well-lit environment. Another add-on that would really help you is a tripod – it makes videos stand out and look more professional.

Your medium budget option is definitely a DSLR camera. Nowadays you can find DSLR cameras at pretty affordable prices – something between $400 and $700 should do just fine and would also be easy to use.

Some great options are Canon VIXIA HF R400 HD and Canon VIXIA HF R300 Full HD, which also come with a mic input, so you can attach a wireless mic.

A tip from us: always use 2 cameras  – multiple angles make your video more compelling, not to mention you’d have a backup.

  • Lighting

As we already mentioned, your filming location needs to be very well-lit. The reason is that video always comes out darker than it looks in real life. A good tip is to never shoot with a window in the background, because there could be reflections on the glass or the subject could be backlit.

For a cheap video production, just use light bulbs and follow the three-point lighting. This means you should use two lights to illuminate both sides of your subject and a third one pointed at the back of it to create a separation between the subject and the background.

For a medium budget, invest in a basic lighting kit – the CowboyStudio Photography 3 Point Lighting Kit comes highly recommended and is easy to use, assemble and store. It includes everything you need – 3 light tripods/stands, two umbrellas, three light bulbs and a case.

  • Audio

This is an often overlooked element of amateur video production, but remember – our guide on how to make low cost videos with no experience has the last word here and it is: if you want to invest in something – invest in audio.

Built-in camera mics are known to reduce your audio quality, so even though microphones can get pricey, a quality audio recording can really make you stand out. Trust us: don’t ever use your built-in microphone.

If you’re on a low budget, a great affordable choice is the Wired Lavalier microphone which clips to the subject’s lapel. For a medium budget, consider investing in a wireless microphone system such as the Polsen ULW-16. It allows you to record your audio directly into the camera or recording device.

  • Video editing

Your starting point should be to first organize your footage and create a rough cut – something a lot of editors neglect and try to directly go to the final cut. When it comes to editing, you need to first decide whether you’re going to use PC or Mac – and then go from there. Also – don’t underestimate online video production.

Your low budget options are completely free, because computers come with their own video editing software – iMovie for Mac and Movie Maker for PC and they are not complex at all.

If you’re on a medium budget, I’d say you still have some pretty good free online movie editor options in the online world, such as VideoToolBox and Eyespot. The best thing is that if you’re going to use a website, it doesn’t even matter what kind of computer you have – everything is stored on their servers.

Conclusion

As you can see, even low cost video production needs some effort in order for you to end up with a nice looking video. If you’ve already shot a great video using our guide on how to make low cost videos with no experience but are having some trouble with the editing, don’t worry – you’ll learn eventually.

In the mean time, try outsourcing the video editing part to professional video editors like the great ones we have on Valoso. Just upload your videos and they’ll take care of them in no time.