Writing articles or conference papers are popular ways to communicate your research but one way which is really useful in reaching a large (or niche) audience is to create a video. In this month’s focus, we’re looking at how and why you should consider presenting your research or a particular research question in a video.

But first, why use video to communicate your research? We think there are some compelling reasons and they include:

Easily shared
Interact with audiences via comments and social media
Can monitor the ‘reach’ – analytics can give some useful feedback and insight
Can be low-cost
Can be niche
By 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic — 15 times higher than it was in 2017. (Cisco)
6 out of 10 people would rather watch online videos than television (Google Insights)
92% of users watching video on mobile will share it with others. (Wordstream)

Reach a wider audience – could be geography, age, education level, etc
Invites different perspectives and ways of learning
Forces conciseness, coherence and plain language
Long-term – can reach audiences long after you make it
More accessible – don’t need to be in the same physical location and captions can be added or play paused.
Can use the visual aspect to aid explanation
It can serve as a type of CV
Showcase diversity of researchers
Show things not normally accessible to the public – ‘behind the scenes’

Here’s a nice example of a research question that has been made into a video:

Some suggested Vlogs

Labournet TV
”An internet platform for films on labour movement struggles’ — effectively an aggregative vlog that hosts videos from various groups. It is run by collective of two women in Germany.”
Suggested by Rahul Prasad, PhD student, Media, Communications and Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths University of London

Kit Ashton Musicology
YouTube Channel from CHASE funded student Kit Ashton

Where do I start? Here are some tips to get you started. CHASE offers training in essential video productions skills with Learning on Screen – keep a look out for future dates.

Plan thoroughly and write a script – this will ensure you get the shots you want and you don’t video more than you need, thus making editing much easier
- Try and think of something unique that your research represents and relates to an audience -this will help your video be shared
- Think about how you might be able to engage with peoples emotions on some level (ideally positive rather than negative emotions)
Turn your script into a “story board” – small diagrams that set out the framing of your shot
Sound is really important! Where you can, use an external microphone and watch out for background noise (an air conditioning unit can go relatively unnoticed until you play the video back!
Use a tripod and avoid handheld shots, where possible
Use the right editing software – suggestions: Adobe Premier Pro (subscription required) or DaVinci Resolve (the free version has all you’d need to edit a decent video)
Get the relevant permissions – for filming for images, any music used, permission from participants. There’s some good information here
Make videos available in as many formats as you have time to create in order to improve accessibility (e.g. You Tube, Vimeo, podcast, embedded in your project website, links to download files in .mp4 and .wmv formats)
Videos under two minutes long get the most engagement. (Wistia). 33% of viewers will stop watching a video after 30 seconds, 45% by one minute, and 60% by two minutes. (Ad Age)
Keep viewer interest by making videos entertaining where possible, and using a variety of styles, e.g. expert interviews, site visits/tours, documentary, biographical, cut-away, profiles etc.
Attempt to make videos look as professional as possible, eg. by adding introductory and end titles/credits,
Background music can help to cover over a sharp edit – lots of royalty-free music here
Promote your video – just putting a video online won’t necessarily get you any views. You need to integrate your video into your project’s pathway to impact and think of ways to drive traffic to it. Just embedding it in your project website won’t help if you’re not getting much traffic to your website. It can be particularly useful to invest in social media to drive traffic to online videos
Have a go! Learn by doing it and get constructive feedback from your friends and colleagues.

If you are interested in taking part in some video production training, please email training@chase.ac.uk