How does your audience easily find your content?

The fastest way to engage your audience is by pointing them to your website. On every social media site you use, there is a space in your bio or profile for a website link. The trouble is, there’s only room for one! How do you point people to the specific content they’re seeking, instead of just your homepage? Use a link tree!

Connect to your audience using a link tree.

A link tree is simple. It’s a web page with a short list of links that point viewers to specific content. Content like a blog post you wrote, a link to another social media profile, your portfolio of work, how to get in touch with you, and more.

There are a number of link tree web services out there (linktr.ee is one popular option). A basic link tree is free, and advanced options are available for a monthly fee. But what if you could easily create one that already lives on your own website? Fully customizable with your logo, video links, photos?

Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating your own link tree using WordPress and two free, simple plugins by SiteOrigin called Page Builder & Widgets Bundle.

Step 1: Download the SiteOrigin Page Builder & Widgets Bundle plugins

Login in to your site’s WordPress dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New.

Use the search function on the Add Plugins page, to find “SiteOrigin Page Builder”.

Click the Install button, wait for it to install, and then click Activate.

Do the same for “SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle.”

Step 2: Create a new page on your website

With Page Builder & the Widgets Bundle installed, navigate to Pages > Add New. Give your new page a name. We call ours Connect so that our link is https://hepburncreative.com/connect.

You should see the Page Builder buttons in the Page Editor section. Click to add a Row.

Set the Row Layout to 1 column. On the right, you have options to add Row Styles. In the Layout dropdown, we gave ours 40px of Padding Top, and set the Row Layout to Full Width. You can use the Design dropdown to change the background color, add a background image, and more.

When you’re finished customizing, click Done in the bottom right corner.

Step 3: Build Your Link List

On our link tree, we place our Hepburn Creative logo first for brand recognition. To add your logo, at the top of the Page Editor, select Add Widget to add your first widget to the Row you just created. Choose Visual Editor from the list of widgets.

Use the Add Media button on the Visual Editor to insert your logo. Then click Done.

Click Add Widget again and select SiteOrigin Button.

In the Button text section at the top, add the text for your first link. We use our first link to highlight the latest post on our Hepburn Creative blog.

Next, in the Destination URL section, you can use the Select Content button on the right to choose an existing page on your site, or simply type in a URL to link to.

In the Design and layout section, choose how you want your buttons to look. We use the blue from the Hepburn Creative logo and set the Padding to High. You can also use this section to customize fonts, hover behavior, padding, and more. When you finish customizing, click Done. Congratulations! You’ve created your first button.

If your buttons are going to share the same look and feel, the easiest way to make more buttons is to hover over the button you just created and select Duplicate. You can also follow the Add Widget > SiteOrigin Button steps again if you prefer.

For our link tree, we only have four buttons so that when someone visits this page from one of our social media profiles, they have everything to view at a glance. Our buttons are:

1. Featured newest blog post
2. A post about how Hepburn Creative got its spark
3. A link to our video portfolio
4. A link to our contact page

The last section of our link tree is another Visual Editor widget with a featured video about the work we do. This is our favorite part of our link tree because it allows an interested viewer to watch our work right from the link tree, without having to click through to our website.

Publish your page.

Add to your social media bio & celebrate!

That’s it! Congratulations, you’ve just created your own link tree, fully customizable whenever you want. Now your audience can find your content that matters to them faster.

Read more tips like this, or learn about how we create videos to provide businesses and organizations with powerful videos to connect with viewers and ignite action.

At Hepburn Creative, hope is our heartbeat. Watch this short 41 second video to see how you can connect with your audience more strategically than ever.

“Agile: able to move quickly and easily.”

I never truly understood the meaning of “drop everything and go” until the day we booked a flight to Haiti just hours before the flight was scheduled to depart. 

It started as a regular work day… I was in the middle of editing a project while David was on a phone call with a team in Haiti discussing their future video needs. Suddenly, I heard David say, “Well, I know there’s a red eye we could hop on tonight.” My eyes went wide as I thought, “No way. There’s no way we’re doing that.” He hung up the phone and said, “We might be going to Haiti tonight!”

It turned out the team in Haiti needed a video for a fundraising event back in the US in just 10 days, already a huge rush. But on top of that, because of the upcoming presidential election in Haiti, there would be a travel stop for anyone coming into the country with this organization because of the expectation of violence surrounding the election. We had three days before the travel ban. If they wanted this video for the fundraiser, we had to act fast.

Half an hour later, we got the call confirming the trip, so we leapt into action. Only three hours between booking the flight and its scheduled departure time. David had to get on the phone with the airline to expedite the issuing of our tickets. While David confirmed our tickets, I packed what I could, called our dog sitter, and tried to make sure we weren’t forgetting anything. We didn’t have time to get Malarone, our usual anti-malarial medication, but thankfully we had a full supply of the other things we take when going on an international work trip (like bug spray, Pepto-Bismol, and allergy meds).

We raced down to SAN, our home airport, trying not to freak out as we combatted early afternoon traffic. With no time to arrange offsite parking, we parked as close to the terminal doors as possible and literally ran through the airport and arrived out of breath at the gate as they were boarding.

It turned out to be one of the best trips we’ve ever had in Haiti, meeting some incredible people and capturing great work that local Haitians are doing in their own country.

Without our previous travel experience, or if we chose to say no because we weren’t flexible, we would have missed the opportunity to share the life change happening in Haiti and creating a video to help connect more people to this organization’s mission.

Why is Agility an Asset?

Not only does being agile help in traveling to countries like Haiti, but it is extremely beneficial when we are in country. The type of documentary-style shooting we love requires us to pack as much as we can into each day. It means we’re up early, packing and repacking all of our gear and clothes to stay at a new location the next night, traveling and shooting all day, and then arriving after dark to wherever we are sleeping that night.

This means being agile. Moving quickly. Being ready to capture whatever is happening and being ready to move on when asked. The two of us are experienced enough to know that being good at our job means being ready to pack up and head out at a moment’s notice, whether it be for our safety or simply because we don’t have any time to waste in order to make it to another location to shoot. This often means packing our gear in the van as we’re jostling down a dirt road filled with potholes.

On a trip to El Salvador, we traveled several hours from the capital to a rural community to film at a family’s home. Unfortunately for our gear, it was pouring rain all day. Dirt roads became HUGE lakes of muddy water. When we arrived, with rain still coming down hard, we quickly determined that we would need to rig all the gear in the van and hustle it out to our shoot location under umbrellas and rain jackets.

After a few hours filming on location, we raced the gear back to the van, leaping over the mud puddles as we went. Our driver expertly navigated our way out of the community as David surfed the bumps and repacked the equipment.

Why should you hire an agile video production company?

Our flexibility as a creative team means more than fun stories from far reaches around the world. You need to hire an agile video production company to collaborate with you at your company. Our agility in and out of country allows us to execute the best approach with your company. We set realistic expectations of the time it takes to capture the story well while also being cost effective. Your leadership, executives, employees, and customers are very busy. At Hepburn Creative, we see your time and money as treasured resources and cultivate your project with agility and flexibility.

Let’s get started today.

Years before we established Hepburn Creative, Inc., I worked as a Production Assistant on Hollywood tv shows filming in Hawaii. The film production network in Hawaii is a very tightly knit family. When I started, I had zero experience. Knowing someone who knew someone got me the interview. I will be forever grateful that they gave me the chance to learn valuable leadership principles on the job.

I had the great fortune of learning on the fly from the most amazing creatives in the world. Film sets have many departments; I worked for two. I was an Office Production Assistant, and a 2nd Unit Set Production Assistant. To oversimplify for the sake of this post, think of it as one team that keeps things running smoothly from home base, while the other is the one you see in the all the cool behind the scenes photos, working with actors out on location.

My teammates taught me how a successful film crew thrives. I’ve been able to apply these leadership principles to how our executive team manages our video production company here in San Diego today.

Everyone works long hours.

Anyone who hangs around a Hollywood film set for any amount of time realizes very quickly that whether you are a lowly production assistant, or top producer, everyone is putting in the same hours on set. For the most part, certain jobs don’t have earlier cut off times than others.

I’ll always remember my first 17 hour day as a Set PA. We were shooting the show’s season premiere episode and while the day was scheduled to be shorter, challenges appeared as the day wore on but everyone buckled down to get the shots we needed. From the dawn sunrise call time, to the director calling, “That’s a wrap!” well into the night, each crew member worked hard to carry out each setup and each scene. Just because someone was a director or producer didn’t mean they cut out early at the scheduled time.

The same is true for us at Hepburn Creative. Especially when we are shooting content internationally, long days are our normal. Companies that thrive see their executive leadership and employees working hard together. Each one has different duties of course. Often times wildly so. Unexpected challenges appear in any industry, and in our case as a video production company, on many of the projects we undertake. Successful teams have the energy, the camaraderie, and the healthy work environment to rise to the occasion and achieve the goal. When everyone hustles, it raises the morale of your team, and unlocks untold achievements and opportunities together.

Always be ready to leap into action.

One of the biggest expectations of a production assistant is to jump at a moment’s notice to accomplish any task requested. As the entry level team member, you know that you are learning on the fly. That means saying yes, every time. During my time as an office PA, my duties ranged from replacing paper in the copier (something that actually happens a LOT in a production office, since new script changes flow in daily), to delivering scripts to the cast, to making a run to any number of big box stores to replenish supplies, to sorting the new boxes of film that arrived every few days. The consistent thread in all of the jobs I was tasked was the expectation that accomplishing it should and did begin immediately.

Team members that activate quickly are valuable assets to the crew at your business. In a world where time is of the essence, your coworkers are counting on you to spring into action. As someone in leadership, encouraging this habit strengthens your team, and positions your company for success.

Surround yourself with a team ready to pivot.

It’s amazing to watch a seasoned film crew working together like a well-oiled machine. Each department has a chain of command of team members, and they all know every aspect of their job. Even when everyone knows their job and performs it flawlessly, unexpected challenges still appear. Rather than surrendering to potential roadblocks, the teams of filmmakers I worked with met these challenges with swift solutions.

In your business, are there ever times when a challenge arises unexpectedly? Of course! Practice flexibility, and encourage your team to do so too. Your team will respond positively when you demonstrate, as a leader, that you can be flexible. When this becomes a habit, issues that would otherwise be road blocking problems are easily overcome by a team that has no trouble pivoting.

Volunteer to solve problems.

Speaking of pivoting, one of the quickest ways to becoming an asset on a film crew is your ability to volunteer to solve problems. On my first job as a production assistant, we were forced to build an entire film studio from scratch. Literally from the ground up. At the time, Hawaii only had one film studio lot, and it was already in use by another show. Our production company had to rent an old warehouse that once belonged to a local stationery company, and convert it into a working studio lot.

As an office production assistant who had grown up on Oahu, I jumped at the opportunity to assist with the build out. This monumental task required multiple daily trips to stores all over the island to retrieve everything from office supplies to computer parts, to furniture. We needed everything, and I was someone who knew were to go to find what we needed. This job required anticipating needs and spotting problems I could solve.

At our video production company, this is invaluable to me now. I’m able to see problems, recognize solutions, and implement new processes that help us move forward successfully.

People are people. Seize opportunities to connect.

One of the highlights of working on a film set is sometimes working with well known actors. Even though it’s easy to get starstruck, at the end of the day, everyone’s just a person making their way through life. One of the most fun parts of my job was treating every conversation I had with an actor as just a conversation with a friend. It’s amazing what you learn from others when you treat each other as equals.

Who at your company or organization would you like to connect with? What’s stopping you? Overcome those perceived barriers and reach out to connect. Capitalize on those every day conversations you have. Connect organically, seize opportunities to learn new things, and grow connections and relationships.

Wrapping up

I’m thankful today that co-founding a video production company wasn’t the first part of my professional journey. Long days on set all those years ago gave me opportunities to learn and grow, providing an incubator for skills I use in leadership today. Situations are different. Problems are unique. Thanks to my time on set, I approach challenges and circumstances today with tools and skills that I began honing in my early days as a production assistant.

Photo by Krists Luhaers on Unsplash.

In June 2018, we had the incredible opportunity to travel to Rwanda with Compassion International. With us were four sponsors from the United States who were meeting their sponsored children for the first time. And we got to capture those joyful moments on video!

In addition to the video we officially created for this project (included at the bottom of this post), Holly also edited each individual sponsor’s story. Tiffany, Marissa, Clint, and Frances all have different backgrounds, and reasons for sponsoring, as well as expectations of what meeting their child would be like. Check out their stories!

Becoming World Changers: Tiffany’s Journey to Meet Kelia

The Difference Compassion Makes

Changing the Life of One Person

A New Definition of Love

Unlock a Child's Potential with Compassion

What does it mean to sponsor a child?

In a world where more than a billion children live on less than $2 per day, child sponsorship, connecting one child with one sponsor, is the most strategic way to end child poverty. Through monthly financial support, prayer and letter writing, sponsors invest directly in the lives of children living in extreme poverty. We love partnering with Compassion not only because they are an amazing nonprofit, but because we are sponsors ourselves! Connecting with Compassion as sponsors in 1998, we’ve seen the life change and possibilities firsthand in countries around the world. We would count it a HUGE privilege to connect you with a child in need of a sponsor!

We are excited to share that our founders David and Holly Hepburn are featured today in SD Voyager Magazine's collection of San Diego's Most Inspiring Stories. Learn more about what we do, what are some of the challenges we face, how we define success, and most importantly, why we're passionate about telling world-changing stories.

Check out the whole feature here!

Video pre-production is like training for a marathon. You know those crazy people who wake up one day and decide to run a marathon, with no training or planning ahead? Maybe you’re even one of those lucky few! For the other 99.9% of us, deciding to complete a marathon starts with a training plan.

As a runner with lots of training for these races, I hear the stories and think, “That’s so ridiculous!” Training for a marathon takes planning and training. You have to take care of your body to run 26.2 miles without catastrophic injuries.

Pre-production is like training for a marathon

You don’t wake up on the day of the shoot and say, “Ok, let’s do this!” without taking the time to make sure that everything you need to succeed is complete. If you do, it's a recipe for chaos. We craft a successful video with an end goal in mind, planning it step by step.

What is your goal?

What is your purpose with this video? Are you telling a story? Trying to sell a product or service? Educating someone about an issue or how to do something? Like going out for a training run, you need to plan your finish line. Will you end where you started, or are you planning to have someone pick you up when you’re done.

Video production works the same way. You can’t begin without knowing where you will end up. Once you know your end goal, we can map a course on how to get there together and achieve success.

Being prepared with the right gear

When running a marathon, we need to prepare with the proper gear to do our best job. When prepping for a race, runners know the course terrain. The weather. What provisions or aid stations are on the course. Runners use these details to know what resources and gear they will need themselves to run well.

The same is true for video production. Production gear completely depends on what type of video we will be making. The type of gear we bring affects the end product. Ranging from the type of cameras and lenses we use, to lighting and audio equipment. When we understand your vision, we arrive prepared with the exact gear we need to be ensure success.

Why do we ask for your budget?

Knowing your budget from the start helps us craft the right solution for your project. When we ask for your budget, we are looking to determine the scale of video you are hoping to achieve. When we know your budget in advance, we can better define the scope of video, and set expectations. Using years of experience, we tailor each project to the scale of the desired outcome and budget.

Script writing

Watching a video on YouTube, you may not realize the time and effort that went into writing the script. You may not even notice a script at all! A script (or sometimes script outline) is the backbone of every video. It provides an outline, a map through the video.

Like running a race, you have a map of your course established ahead of time. You know your distance so that you don’t end up running 28 miles instead of 26.2. (Any runner will tell you that an extra 1.8 miles at the end of 26.2 makes a BIG difference!) The mapped course also keeps runners safe in areas protected from street traffic. It also ensures that there are volunteers and race officials to help if someone gets injured. Like running a race, a script keeps your video from falling apart.

The same type of work goes into unscripted videos like interviews. We design specific questions to ask the person interviewed. Intentionality and purpose are behind each question we ask on camera. As professionals, we know the best questions to draw out the soundbites we want for the final video.

Storyboarding

Storyboarding helps us visualize together what the shoot will look like. Do you want a darker more moody or dramatic look, or do you want a lighter and brighter look? What do we want the audience to feel when they watch your video? What types of shots do we need? Mentally visualizing the video offers a better path to success.

Scheduling the shoot

A brand new runner usually can’t tell you how long it would take them to run 26.2 miles. Yet a veteran marathoner can tell you their expected finish time down to the minute, or even seconds.

As video professionals, we operate as veteran runners. We are familiar with the ins and outs of production. We know how long it takes us to set up our gear for a scene. How long we need to capture the right content. The time needed for on-camera talent to become stress-free and comfortable. Creating an accurate schedule of the shoot day (or days) reduces stress. It maintains a successful team environment!

Run your race with a passionate support crew

At Hepburn Creative, we’re your marathon support team. Established in 2008, we have hundreds of shoot days under our belts. Partner with us to create your next video, crafted for success from the start.

Let’s cross that finish line together!

One of the most crucial stages of the video production process is client feedback. This stage also has a horrible reputation for serious communication breakdowns. Changes scrawled on a piece of paper. Emails sent to us with best guesses of where in the video the change should be. We’ve seen it all, and that's why we use Wipster for video feedback.

At Hepburn Creative, a key goal is our wholeheartedness throughout the entire video production process. That includes ensuring that you have the best experience with us, from the day you reach out to us for the first time, to the day you implement the finished video. We are passionate about eliminating all of the frustrations you may have had in the past with your video projects, whether they were with an internal team at your company, or with another video provider.

What if reviewing a video could be joyful?

It sounds hard to believe, but let us show you how we’re already successfully bringing more joy to our clients through the video production process. Our goal at Hepburn Creative is to make the video review process smooth and effortless. To do this, we partner with an online service called Wipster (WIP stands for Work-In-Progress). They rock our socks because they were born out of the same frustrations with the old ways of video review that we had! They are laser focused on developing incredible, powerful features that make our job easier, and allow you to submit video feedback in a snap! Check out this video Wipster created to show just how simple and joyful it can be.

Wow! It really is as simple as clicking on the video and typing in your feedback. The ability to be hyper-specific on not only the moment of the video, but the exact critique within the frame streamlines the entire post-production editing process!

Our clients love using Wipster, and we know you will, too. Start your next video project today with Hepburn Creative, and experience the joy of a video production project that’s actually fun!

Post title photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash.

Successful companies relentlessly pursue new, creative opportunities to showcase their business. The use of Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS), known popularly as drones, has skyrocketed in recent years, and businesses across many industries are finding a wealth of implementations for them.

At Hepburn Creative, we couldn’t wait to bring distinctive drone cinematography and photography to our clients worldwide. What a breathtaking perspective! Increase engagement with your brand and incorporate cinematic drone aerial video. Partner with Hepburn Creative, and our FAA certified and insured commercial drone pilots.

Take a quick trip with us around the world.

How we implement drones for our clients.

Hepburn Creative specializes in using drones for aerial cinematography and photography. Our strategy and approach are guided by a pursuit of excellence and a focus on safety first. As FAA certified pilots, we go above and beyond the average consumer who picked up the latest drone for fun. Following strict protocols, both federal law and community-based best practices, implemented first by the manned aviation industry, we careful monitor airspace, weather, and ground conditions before, during, and after flight to ensure 100% success with each flight we take. We also carry a multi-million dollar aviation drone-specific insurance policy to make sure you are shielded from liability.

Today, we have the privilege to capture incredible visuals across the United States and around the world. Contact us today to schedule a flight and create content that literally rises above the noise to engage your audience! For more of our drone work, follow @dhepburn on Instagram!

Soar Above Hawaii

Experience Haiti

Explore California

What drones do we use?

Whether your company needs to capture aerials for marketing materials, progress photos of new construction, or as part of telling an exciting story, we have the right drone in our fleet for the job. We utilize a number of different drones, making our selection based on your needs. We have high end multi rotor drones that can withstand the strongest winds and capture high resolution RAW video and photos with multiple operators, to smaller, travel-friendly drones perfect for carrying along on an international video expedition. We’ll work together with you to select the right drone for your project.

The fulfillment of a dream.

More than 25 years ago, little David Hepburn was transfixed with the idea of growing up to become a pilot. Ever since, I have absolutely loved to fly. I’m one of those weird people who enjoy the airport experience. I arrive early just to watch planes takeoff. I drive down to the airport just for fun to photograph incoming flights.

For 5 years, I monitored the world of drones with enthusiasm. I couldn’t wait to use them to launch new perspectives into our stories and videos at Hepburn Creative. The catch was, the FAA had yet to determine how to make that happen legally. 

In 2016, I fulfilled part of my childhood dream when I received 14 CFR Part 107 certification from the FAA as I became a commercial drone pilot. Today, it thrills me to find new locations, especially around the world, to capture from the air. Sharing the joy of new perspectives, as people catch the contagious excitement, is like no other feeling.

This post is an excerpt from a journal Holly Hepburn, our CEO kept during a video trip with World Vision Haiti in May 2016.

Today was our toughest and best day so far.

Today we were honored and blessed to be invited into the lives of Haitians here in Hinche. We walked with them to school, were welcomed into their homes, and trekked a small part of their long journey to water.

We started our day earlier than yesterday, so we could get footage of a young boy walking to his school. We met the boy, who is age 12 and interviewed him first about his life. He told us why school is important to him, what he wants to do when he grows up, and why washing hands is so important (part of the video's purpose). He was so gracious to answer our questions and talk with us about his life and dreams. His smile was warm and contagious.

All of the kids we met today in schools were intrigued by our cameras and loved getting to see themselves. Most of them also had contagious smiles and energy. The drone was the biggest hit, with a crowd of kids surrounding David as he flew it. At one point I couldn't even see David amongst the sea of kids. And you'd know when he moved the drone from one side of the playground to the next because a mob of kids yelling and laughing were right there to chase it. To say the least, fun was had by all.

We later went to a different area where World Vision has created access to clean water for the community. We were invited into the homes of two families so that they could show us how they access clean water, carry it back home, and then purify it with tablets. Talk about a humbling experience. Tiny single-room sheds with dirt floors, and a hanging curtain for a door. The second home we saw was nothing more than chicken wire fencing, tarps, and corrugated tin for the roof. It contained three mattresses posted up off the ground by piles of rocks as "beds". There wasn't much space for anything more than those mattresses.

We ended our day visiting an example of a typical water source here in Haiti, the quality of which is bad. The goal is to show the contrast to what World Vision has helped accomplish in some communities with access to clean water. We walked down a rough, muddy path weaving between fences made of cactus (a common sight in Haiti as cactus can be grown to form a natural fence/barrier), across rolling green hills, through patches of dry parched earth, stepping over animal manure, and finally down a steep ravine to the community's water source. This 20 minute minute walk gave us a small taste of the effort it takes for the people to get to a water source, their only water source, that's not even clean or drinkable by any standards. Many people walk up to 20 kilometers to get to this water source. And once we arrived, my heart sank. The water source was a muddy puddle at the base of the roots of a giant tree. It was not much bigger than a kiddie pool. This is the ONLY water these people can get to and it's not even clean. Many people in the community get sick, and a number of them have died from waterborne diseases such as cholera. We learned from the community leader that they are hopeful that one day, an organization like World Vision will be able to provide them access to clean water. They're fearful of the consequences they face every day by drinking and using the water, but this is their only option for survival.

Heading back to our guest house, we drove for miles and miles jerking along down a uneven, bumpy, dirt and gravel road. We even passed a large truck stuck in the mud from last night's rain. Thankfully we did not get stuck too. We returned home safely with a new sense of appreciation for clean, running water from the tap in our bathroom. Our cold, one-streamed trickle of a shower that night felt so refreshing as we washed the dirt and sweat of the day off, but couldn't wash off the gravity of what we had just seen and experienced. We felt guilty for getting to take a shower when we had just met people who don't even have clean water to drink. We take access to clean water at home for granted, and walking in the footsteps of the local people here in Haiti fills us with a sense of urgency and desire to see this change.

Tell your story!

It is our great privilege to travel to document these stories around the world with organizations like World Vision. Watch examples of these videos and more on our Non Profit Solutions page. We'd love to do the same for you. If your organization has stories to tell, let's talk!

There are a few lucky people in the world who naturally come alive when they are in front of a camera…the rest of us are terrified. Chances are, you’re reading this because you’ve been asked to speak on camera as an expert in your field. Rest easy knowing that you are in the good company of most of the world, feeling like a deer in the headlights when that record light comes on. Knowing how to be comfortable on camera may not come naturally to most of us, and if that’s you, we’ve got good news. At Hepburn Creative, it is our goal to make sure you look great on camera and feel comfortable throughout the process. When you’re boosted by confidence, you will start to actually enjoy the experience.

Here are our tips for how to be comfortable on camera.

Don’t over prepare.

“Pull yourself together. Don’t look like an idiot!” You wouldn’t be the first person to say that to yourself in the mirror the morning of your day on camera. The truth is, you’re on camera because you’re an expert in your subject, and your company recognizes that! It’s easy to let the pressure of the experience make you feel like an imposter, and one of the easiest ways we as humans think makes us look like an expert is to memorize everything that you have to say. As people, our gut reaction is to defend ourselves mentally so we don’t stumble through our words.

The problem with memorizing everything, is that you are not a robot. When you focus on responding from a rehearsed block of text, authenticity is lost. Your viewers stay engaged and respond far better when they trust you as an expert, comfortable in what you know. Speaking from your experience naturally, is far more powerful than memorizing a script.

Often, you’ll receive a list of questions that you will be asked. Instead of practicing your answers, it’s much better to familiarize yourself with key points of your answer, but not rehearse exactly what you’ll say. When the cameras start rolling, we’ll guide you through the experience as a conversation, not an interrogation.

Wear clothes that make you feel great.

Self confidence is a huge part of being comfortable on camera. Set yourself up for success. On the day of your shoot, plan to wear something that you know you love. That suit, or that dress, or that outfit that makes you say, “Yes. I look awesome in this.”

As you do that, here are a few quick tips that will help you look your best:

1. Solid colors are always a great choice. Except red. Red can do strange things on camera, so avoid it when possible.
2. Stay away from stripes or tight patterns. Because of how cameras capture images, stripes and patterns can cause digital artifacts like wavy lines or distracting movement. You know those optical illusions? You don’t want those all over your body.
3. Leave your jangly bracelets and other jewelry that is prone to make noise at home. It’s easy to miss it in the moment, but when viewers watch the video, it distracts from your message.

Arrive early to chat with the person interviewing you.

On many locations we shoot, there ends up being quite a lot of video gear. It’s easy for that to be intimidating. How to be comfortable on camera? Send those nerves packing by arriving a few minutes early to chat with the person interviewing you. In life, we are naturally most at ease having conversations with people we know and are familiar with. Spending a few minutes making small talk can go a long way to ease the stress you may be feeling. When you’re relaxed and comfortable from the start, your body language and smile will exude the confidence that confirms your expertise and authenticity on camera.

Hire a video production company that makes you look awesome.

There’s so much more to a great video than showing up with a bunch of fancy equipment. At Hepburn Creative, we make sure that all our clients know that we are not just there to do a job. You can participate confidently, knowing that we will always have your back. If you stumble during an answer, that’s totally ok! We’ll make sure to circle around and give it another shot. The beauty of the process is that we can edit out any mistakes or stumbles later, making you look even more polished than you already were! Before you know it, your time on camera will be done. You’ll wonder what you were so stressed about! For most of us, the pressure of being on camera never completely goes away, but you’re a video veteran now, armed with the tools for success.

We’re a team of creatives with high attention to detail. We constantly look out for considerations and improvements that all add up to a finished video that makes you proud. We love going the extra mile to make sure you feel comfortable and confident. Stop struggling with how to be comfortable on camera. Use these recommendations to prepare in advance.

Working with Hepburn Creative, you are backed by a team that wholeheartedly cares about you. It’s a big WIN for all of us when you know you look good, your company is represented with excellence, and ultimately leads to a video that engages your viewers.

Post title photo by Sam McGhee on Unsplash.