How to Make an Instructional Video

"Apollo 15 Television Camera" by NASA/James B. Irwin - Cropped version of http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a15/AS15-85-11471HR.jpg. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo_15_Television_Camera.JPG#mediaviewer/File:Apollo_15_Television_Camera.JPG

Fame, fortune, and fettuccine Alfredo await the man who makes the successful instructional video. However, actually producing a world-class instructional video is not easy. As Stephanie Williams once said, “producing an instructional video is a more difficult and demanding art form than classical ballet, ceramics, or surfing.
At The Flying News, we’ve always found such challenges irresistible, and have made this instructional video to help you make your own superb, award-winning-and-awe-inducing instructional video.1
There are three main rules for making an instructional video:

  1. Have a British accent.2 Independent Reviewers International reports that an exhaustive review of all instructional videos shows that instructional videos where the speaker has a British accent have an average of 18.435% more views than any other type.3
  2. If you use slides, don’t draw them on a piece of paper and slide them in front of the camera. This was really high tech in 1899, but it isn’t good enough any more. If you really have to draw on a piece of paper, at least don’t use a piece of lined notebook paper (like the authors of this video about alligators did).
  3. Don’t talk with your mouth full. You’d be amazed at how many people make instructional videos with food in their mouths. It’s true that making a video always makes you hungry, but it isn’t a good idea to eat while talking. At the very least, don’t eat something really disgusting like Kopi Luwak, Tiết canh, or Casu Marzu.

“Apollo 15 Television Camera” by NASA/James B. Irwin – Cropped version of http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a15/AS15-85-11471HR.jpg. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo_15_Television_Camera.JPG#mediaviewer/File:Apollo_15_Television_Camera.JPG

  1. Note that this video carries no guarantee of success.
  2. This is absolutely crucial if you are demonstrating a butlerine (see P. G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters, “The Smile That Wins,” Mulliner Nights) task such as caring for silver, formal table service, or drinking port.
  3. This applies even to videos in languages other than English, including Farsi and Tagalog.

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