Tips for Creating Professional Looking Videos for Instagram

Professional looking videos for Instagram.  Where do you get them produced?

  Just because you are recording the video on your phone doesn’t meant your Instagram videos have to look unprofessional. In fact, when done correctly, your business can benefit hugely by creating and sharing professional-looking videos on Instagram. Here are five secrets to creating and sharing business and marketing videos on Instagram using an app called Hyperlapse to help you get the most of your social media campaign.

1. Keep in mind, Instagram videos must be 15 seconds or less.

Instagram will not allow you to upload videos longer than 15 seconds. This is where Hyperlapse comes into play. Hyperlapse allows you to increase your video speed by up to 12x, which means you can record up to three minutes of video and still condense it to get a 15-second video. If you end up recording more than 3 minutes, Hyperlapse will allow you to trim the video clip before you put the video on Instagram. Keep in mind though, just because you can speed up your video up to 12x doesn’t mean you should. If you are doing a product unboxing or other videos where the viewer will want to see details, you might want to speed it up only 2x or 3x as opposed to the full 12x.

2. Record audio tracks for your videos separately.

Another limitation of the Hyperlapse app is that it doesn’t record audio. You can fix this by recording a soundtrack for each video separately or using music files for your film’s background.

3. Adjust the exposure level.

When filming Hyperlapse videos, the lightning conditions may change over the course of the recording. The Hyperlapse app cannot handle the over- or underexposure problem caused by too much or too little light. An easy fix for this issue is to tap softly on the spot that you want the camera to focus on before you start recording. This will tell the app to adjust the exposure level while filming.

4. Keep your camera stable while filming.

You don’t have to use a tripod to keep your camera stable while recording. The great thing about the Hyperlapse app is that it comes with an image stabilization feature. That means if you do your best to keep your phone as stable as possible, the app will record decent videos.  But if you can use a tripod to help you keep your camera stable it will only help you get a better video recording.

5. Remember the 1:1 aspect ratio.

The aspect ratio of videos recorded with Hyperlapse app is 1:1, but there is a catch. Because your mobile camera records in a rectangle but Instagram videos are square, the sides of your videos will be cut off once you upload the clips to Instagram. In order to make sure your video looks professional and you don’t accidentally cut your product or video subject out of the frame, keep the object you want to film in the center while recording with the app. Things on the right and left sides while recording won’t be visible once the video is live on Instagram. See more examples here.