Talking to Camera

Taught by Paul Heiney, Writer and Broadcaster, this course is intended to help people face a video camera with confidence, and communicate through the fast-growing video media. It aims to help you understand the basic rules of a better video performance.

With sites such as YouTube becoming increasingly influential, and with the growth of video phones, Skype, and video content within websites, the ability to talk to camera is becoming as important a communication skill as writing a letter once was. To be able to speak fluently and convincingly into the lens of a camera is no longer a skill needed only by professional broadcasters.

The aim of this one-day course is to give you experience of talking to camera, help you understand how best to get your message across, and give you confidence that your message will not be obscured by lack of simple technique.

Programme Details

On arrival, you will be asked to sit in front of a camera, tell us who you are, and why you are there. Give it a little thought before you arrive, but not too much.

We look at the situations in which you might have to confront a camera. How is video being used now in the business and academic worlds? Is it influential?

Video examples of different ‘straight to camera’ presentations. Videos that work, and ones that don’t - a brief analysis, including a short history of presentation from the dawn of television to the latest on YouTube.

We examine how video communication differs from the spoken or written word, and look at the practical aspects of it.

We examine how best to compress a lengthy message into a few memorable words in a scripting session, from which you will later be asked to deliver a short video presentation on a subject of your choosing. We consider how to condense a large chunk of thought into a few precious minutes. Remember, the video is the ultimate precis - if you can’t tell your story within a minute, then you’re going to struggle in this medium. We look at techniques for getting quickly to the heart of the story.

We discuss relaxation in front of a camera, and how to avoid the distractions that can obscure your message.

The assignment will be the most important part of the day. You will be asked to think of a subject on which to ‘talk to camera’. It can be about your work, life, family, hobby, anything you choose. Its intention must be to convey your enthusiasm for a subject to the rest of us. You will be asked to prepare a script, following the guidance you have been given, and then perform it to camera remembering what you have been taught.

In a playback session we all learn from the triumphs (and the mistakes) of others.