43: Make Your Online Course Look Pro with Video (without costly equipment)

In this podcast episode, I interview Noah Mittman who is the Founder & CEO of Snowman Films. In this fun episode, Noah walks us through his top tips on how to make your online course look like a pro with video without any costly equipment.

If you’ve avoided using face to camera video in creating your online course, don’t miss this one! Noah walks us through how EASY it is to create your online courses videos and make them interesting and engaging to students.

You’ll walk away from this episode with camera confidence and knowing exactly how to record your online course videos with some simple and easy to use equipment that you may already have in your home office.

Transcript:

Today I have a special guest with me here. I have Noah Mittman and Noah is the founder and CEO of Snowman Films. He's a full time, filmmaker, video coach, a family man and an entrepreneur, and he helps course creators stop waiting and start creating their video courses. Noah, thank you so much for joining me. I'm excited about our conversation here.

Thank you so much for that fantastic intro. That was awesome.

I have a lot of questions for you because we've spent quite a few minutes talking beforehand, but can you tell the audience a little bit more about yourself, what you do, how you help people and how you got to where you are today?

Yeah, no, I mean, I think starting with kind of where I came from is perfect. I've been a filmmaker for 14 years. I started in high school and really just found my passion to hit record right in, right there, which was great. So I've been able to be on that path for a long time. I have a, my company is Snowman Films and we do video production and that kind of slowed down a little bit when COVID hit. So I switched over to helping online course creators kind of look, sound and feel more confident while they're making their video courses and what an incredible community to kind of newly be in, in the last like six months or so. And I just absolutely love it and people are getting a ton of value in learning stuff. And what's amazing is that I've been kind of doing DIY filmmaking for my entire career, and I still know exactly the steps of how to start and how to help people with what they're trying to do.

So here, here's a couple of questions for you or more comments also, when I have done my online courses in the past, I have been very hesitant to try video. I've been very comfortable with doing like voiceover PowerPoint, but face to face camera video has been difficult for me. So can you comment on that and you know, some hurdles to kind of get us over, how that might make us feel one more thing in the building, our video course.

So it's kind of a nerves thing for you, right?

I just don't like the way I look on camera, honestly, if we're being completely honest here today.

So we have a perfect solution for that. So literally it's as simple as a 15 to $20 purchase. It is called a ring light and it ring lights kind of started in the makeup tutorial section of like YouTube. But what they do is they make your face lights up your face and nothing behind it, and they really make your face look like the best that it possibly can. So getting some, any, a ring light or any sort of light just right in front of your face that can kind of give kind of a, it's almost like a filter for your face while you're on video. It really can help with how you look and how the video looks and it just ups that production quality.

I think I need to go buy one of those today.

No, literally there's there is one. Yeah, I think the one that I have on my, on my website is like 15 bucks. It's really affordable. And it literally, if you're filming with your phone, it can attach to your phone around the camera. So it's like, I'm telling you look up for anybody listening, go look up on YouTube, like ring light and see like there's literally when you turn it off and turn it on, it just makes you look like a goddess. Well, thank you for that tip. Oh yeah, of course.

So let's just say that we've decided we want to do a course, a video course with face to camera. We're doing some type of video in it. Can you tell us a little bit about how we would go about filming that course?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, when I, I kind of have three like tips on how to make your course look pro again without the costly pro equipment, because it's so easy to spend thousands on this, if you're really trying to go high quality, but you can do it without really spending nearly any money. The first thing to do is, and I think we kind of covered it in a little bit in that, in that first question is getting out of your head. So this is, I'll say this, you have a camera, everybody right now has a camera in their pocket, or probably within five feet of them. And it was called your smartphone and you've spent a lot of money on it. And part of why you spend all that money on it is because it has a camera on it that is equivalent to about a thousand dollar camera. I have a $500 DSLR that I got a bunch of years ago. My phone camera is literally better than that now. And if you're thinking kind of, Oh God, it's not professional enough. Listen, just use what you have. Jimmy Fallon is currently recording a show from his house with his phone. So nobody cares about the quality of your camera. I release you from the prison of perfection. You're all good.

That is such a good tip. And to your point, though, a lot of these people on TV that have these shows are these newscasters. That's what they're doing. They're probably just using our phones, right?

And you know, how many people care? Nobody zero.

I actually like it because I think it provides a lot more authenticity, a hundred percent so

You can create. And by the way, authenticity is like key number one on creating a successful course. That's going to work for you because if you're not being yourself and you're going to have to put on this kind of ruse and you don't want that kind of success. Success is on your own terms with your personality and who you really are. So this is really helping you release that, like stop worrying about quality, be yourself, be on your phone, people like it anyway, and your course is going to benefit from it.

So what was your next tip?

Number one is use your phone. And another kind of tip beyond that of the one is to get a teleprompter app for your phone, because then you can write down a script or note bullet points. So you don't forget what you're going to say, because that is keeping you efficient with people's time and making you more effective by not kind of rambling off topic. So that's, that's tip number one,

The teleprompter app. And I'm going to ask this question, cause honestly I've never heard of one before. So where does that, where do you put that app? Is it directly on your phone

Really downloads to your phone? So do you have a iPhone or Android? I have an iPhone. Perfect. So the app that iPhone users want is called teleprompter for video. It has a little orange icon in the app store and you literally download it. And for me, my, all of the professional videos that I put out in my, in my course as well is a hundred percent scripted because otherwise I get lost and I literally load that into the app and it keeps the text on the side of the phone where the camera is. So it looks like you're looking in the camera the whole time for that personal connection and it is fantastic. And I can't recommend it enough.

That is a great tip. What was your third one?

Yeah. Yeah. So that was, so that was still part of tip number one, tip number two. I know we're getting all muddled here.

Tip number two is to plan out your background. So one thing that really separates professional looking videos from amateur ones is what the background looks like. And I have a really simple question of how to fix this is the question. Is, does your background represent you and your course in the way that you want, and if it does

Are you talking about using like a zoom type background?

I would even say it's easier than that. Go into like see in your house, like either create a wall or create a wall or choose like a wall to have behind you that you can put stuff on that like represents you. So like in, I'm going to be giving out a freebie for this episode and you'll see the video that's connected with that. In my background, I have a poster that I like, I have a father's day gift for my family. I have some film gear, I have stuff that represents me. And that is more interesting.

Like the zoom background is fine, but it like doesn't really connect you on like a personal level. Cause it's usually, like you can tell when the lighting is different and somebody who's not really in Paris. So, you know, just have, have a, some have some stuff behind you that like makes you feel confident and feel good. And again, like represent even if you can like get a printout of your logo or like a little poster and like have that behind you so that there's some reference and there's some kind of, there's just a space for you to do your course in

That sounds so simple. It really is.

All, all of this stuff that I, that I really talk about is simpler than you think, which is, I think simple is the best and it's because people actually can follow it.

Oh my goodness. And I've been so hesitant to do face to camera, video courses,

Seriously, though, your phone just choose a wall that you like and, and you can go from there. And then actually this leads us perfectly into tip number three of how to make your videos look more professional is, and this is what we talked about in the beginning, light up your face. So, I mean, how many times have you seen a video or a course for somebody and their back? They basically like blend into their background. It's like a little bit hard to see them, or maybe a little bit dark in the room. It just immediately turns people like it makes people harder, have a harder time, like focusing on you and listening to what you have to say. If they have a hard time seeing you. So there's some really easy ways to do this. If you can position yourself in front of a window or like have a window on the side and if the window is super bright, as light changes outside, just have like a white curtain or a white bed sheet that's in front of it to diffuse it, to kind of make that light a little bit more soft on you.

Or the other thing to do is you get that little ring light, or even just bring a lamp that you already have and just put it right behind your camera and directly above it. So that like where your cameras business, where your camera is positioned, so that the light just lights up your face, the lamp lights up your face and not your background as well. So you can kind of cut. You can stand out literally from your background with the light.

I love that tip just light up your face, just show you.

Yeah, exactly. And again, it makes you, you know, it makes you look better. It makes you feel more confident. And, and really the main thing with courses, I think is the, we're trying to get people to have higher finished rates, right? Like you're an effective course creator when you're finished rate is up because you're being an effective teacher, which in turn makes you a more successful course creator because people actually go through your stuff and finish it. So all of these things can make your finished rates go up or even your finished rates increase from that from the very beginning. And you get gives you that kind of edge and that professional look to everything you do.

So let me ask you that. And you actually, as you were, I'm going off a little bit of a rabbit hole here. I just thought of something when you were doing that. So what are the, some of the courses that I've really I've taken in the past that I really like had a combination of, you know, face to camera video in it, but also kind of, you know, they would sometimes go to a PowerPoint slide where they had some talking points there. How difficult is that to do?

Again, more easy than you think? I'm sure you probably, when I say the answer, you're probably gonna already know it. You just didn't think about it. Do you know canva.com?

Yes.

You already use it every day. It's fantastic. All you have to think. And so you're using it for what, like thumbnails and stuff for videos

Everything. I mean, I literally use it for everything.

So this is no different find just a title slide in, you know, in HD, no, the 1920 by 10 80, like HD aspect ratio and put, you know, find a style that you like. And then what I, this is a big thing actually for, for courses specifically I'll, I'll say how to do it in and I'll say why to do it. So use the canvas titles put them on screen and editing when you have a point that you really want to drive home. So you, like, as you say, go to a slide that has that title with exactly what you're saying, because it drives your point home even harder than if it's like entirely, Oh, really pay attention to this. This is the point I want to make. And then have that, you know, when I have my three secrets, I say, secret number one, blah, blah, blah.

And I have it on Canva in a canvas slide on my, on my webinar. That the reason why, and then like the reason for this is called, I call it the ten second rule. So for your course, and this is definitely is more work and, you know, maybe for all your video content that goes with it, try and cut away from your face. So like show something other than your face, like a title or B roll, which is like, you know, if you're talking about a sunset show, a sunset onscreen try and cut away every 10 seconds or so it's a lot more work, but it makes your course a lot more watchable, which again, makes the finish rate go up. How many times I know you're going to, you're going to connect with this. How many times have you been in this, like a whiteboard webinar, whereas just a white wall, nothing happening and you're bored out of your mind, except for like what the content is.

Well, I hate those. Like I hate those talking head videos. I'm also a college professor and a lot of the college professors, they do talking head type videos all the time. I never do that.

No, no. So you understand it's you got to keep it interesting.

Yeah. I just, I, so I'm hearing what you're say, use Canva to do that. That's the part I don't understand. And maybe we're getting to it. Maybe that's part of editing your course. How do you do that?

Yeah, so you can basically, the general rule with editing is especially for video and this is kind of technical. So if I understand, so actually let's make a decision before that. So with editing if it's super overwhelming for you, I totally get that editing comes down to one simple decision. The decision is, do you either a or you do one, once you hire somebody to edit your course for you, which potentially using an outsourcing site, like Fiverr can cost you less than a hundred dollars or B, do you want to have the tools and learn editing yourself? And that's it

Let's go with B for the sake of our conversation here.

Perfect. so yeah, in the editing program, whenever you're using the general rule with editing there's video kind of levels. So there's like video one video, two video three I use Adobe premier rush for beginner editors, a really awesome program. The rule is whatever layer. So say like your talking head is layer one, and then you want to put in a Canva title to be on top of that. Whatever's on top is what seen on screen. So if you're talking head is layer one layer, two above that if you put the canvas, titling will show up on screen and similar, you know, I have, I've had videos with 15 layers on it before. So whatever's on top is what's shown. So just pop that Canva title on, on whatever is the above layer to where your face is usually video number, video layer two. And that is how you put it in.

Sounds easy when you're saying it there, and then you're staring down the barrel of your editing program,

Mean you're like, Oh, this is okay.

I know that you have an online course. Do you cover how to do that in your online course?

Yes. So the editing section of my course is literally meant to be a, let me hold your, like when you're done filming and ready to edit, watch, I basically introduce 10 tools for editing that you can implement as you go. So like, whatever you need at that moment, there is a tool covered in the tutorials, the course, and one of them is adding B roll, which is again how or adding titles. And it's recover exactly this with walkthroughs, screen-sharing the editing program and exactly what I do.

Very good. So let's round this up and talk about the equipment that you recommend for doing video courses. Can you walk through all of that with us?

Absolutely.

It doesn't even need to be an iPhone, right? Just any smartphone, iPhone, Android, whatever it is. There, you know, as that the cameras let's say in the last, you know, five years any camera on a smartphone is good enough to film on, especially the, like the newest ones. My God, like the iPhone is now have three, like the wide angled and regular angle and the zoom angle are just incorrect. Incredible. And the front camera is what you're going to be filming with because of the teleprompter. And that is really, really good by itself. So all good. The I'll give you kind of the, the basics of how to kind of make your course better or even just a good starting place. The first one is to get a tripod because we don't want a, you know, Blair witch project style course, that's not going to do well.

The handheld look does not work for this. So, and I have, well, you know, put in the show notes here. I have a whole course creator starter kit that I can show that kind of has all these products and links to Amazon, all that stuff. So you can get a the one that I recommend for most people, I'm guessing for courses are going to be filming on like a desk or a table as they're talking. So a tabletop tripod that you can get that's really good solid companies called Joby the Joby grip tight one gorilla pod stand it's flexible. It's about six inches tall and you can Mount your phone right on top of it. And it can kind of be just right there, right. Eye level. And just put your phone right on that, because then your, then your angle is stable and you can be talking directly to that and be set up in a professional way.

If you do want to actually stand up while you're talking, I like to stand cause the energy's a little bit better. The, and again, I'll give you notes. It's the, in the show notes, the Hayden's a retractable adjustable cell phone tripod. It's actually like a, it's almost like a light stand, but it has a attachment on the top of it to where it's kind of flexible, but it can hold your phone. So it can actually be eye level with you super lightweight and hold your phone perfectly. So both of those things the Joby grip type stands is 25 bucks. And the standing tripod, the adjustable one is $32. So again, really, really affordable.

And I, I just want everybody to know who's listening here. You don't have to write these down while you listen to the podcast, the podcast episode, or anything. I will definitely make sure that all of these links, very specific links that he's talking about are in the show notes.

Yeah. And I'll even I'll even the freebie that I'll give out for this this episode, I'll, I'll include a link to this. And then the next thing to think about is your audio cause audio is something that is really, really important. It's like half the experience, but a lot of people don't think about. So there's two ways to go about it. One is to put it attach a microphone to your phone. And the other one is to have, well, they're both attaching microphone in front, but one of them is like a directional mic that like is on your phone. And one of them is attaching a lavalier mic to your shirt. So for the kind of you know, shooting the microphone at your mouth instead of being attached to you the sure, M V eight, eight portable microphone for iOS, it literally plugs into your charging port and then it connects to sound and you can, you know, it's directional.

So you pointed at your, at your face while you're filming and it picks up clearer sound that's for iPhone or iPad. And then on the Android side the road video micro compact on camera microphone is fantastic. It's the same, it's basically exactly the same thing as the other one is just for Androids. And again, it, it attaches right. That one actually attaches because Android is the one thing I annoys me about iPhone is there's no longer a headphone Jack. I think that's stupid. But Android, it goes right into the headphone Jack and gets you clear audio that way. And then if you did want to go to the lavalier mic, so like actually pinning a microphone to your shirt, which is the way that I do most of my stuff. Cause it's just literally captures up-close sound of your voice with like a lot less background noise. The rode Smartlav plus is really good. Cause again, it attaches right to your phone and you can have quality audio. So that's a really easy way to kind of get that little, extra professional edge on what you're making. Very good. I know we're gonna

Any others or did we cover them all?

So let's talk about the, the selfie ring light.

Okay. Yeah. We gotta make sure that's added to us.

So that one is even harder to say it's okay. How would you say this?

I don't know who came up with that brand name.

Right? Seriously. That's ridiculous. So the key I, a selfie ring light it literally attaches to your phone it's $18 and gives you that amazing flattering ring light look very good. So that covers pretty much all the basics. You've got your, your tripod, your lighting, your lighting is on point and your sound is sounding good. You have your starting point for really being ahead of a fair amount of people that have courses out there.

And Noah, thank you for all those tips. Any, any last minute comments that you have for the online course creators listening here today?

Yeah, I think I would just say like, you can do this. It's really, you know, I understand it's kind of overwhelming and kind of crazy to get into it, but like take it one step at a time you know, start with what you have and just again, the whole kind of stop waiting, start creating idea, like get out there and get your, do your thing. And you'd be surprised with how many people you're helping right off the bat. It really is a supportive community and I've just been so blown away by the feedback from the students of the course. I'm gonna give a freebie out for you guys listening. If you go to it, you'll have it in the show notes as well. Film your online course.com/look pro. You can get a whole download of the tips that I gave out today. As well as, you know, some I'll have a link to the course creator starter kit for the gear, and you guys can really dive into whatever you want and have this written out. Cause I understand, you know, you listen to the podcast and then you having some actionable stuff to do afterwards really helps. So given that out for free and I'm, I'm here for you, I'm with you and I'm so excited for what your course is going to teach the world.

Thank you so much, Noah. I loved everything that you share today. And I actually feel more comfortable going out there to do a face to camera type course, which I kind of stayed away from in the past.

Yeah, I know. And it really, I mean, the thing with basic camera is that it really connects you on that deeper level. Like eye contact is what makes us inherently human. It's what makes it, you know, the eyes of the window of the soul. So if you're able to, you're going to be a more effective teacher. If you can kind of have the courage to put yourself on camera and your personality comes out and you know, the reasons why people love you will just intensify when they see who you are on camera. And I just it's, I think it's a really important thing and, and no pressure, but it's a, it's a powerful thing. So I re I recommended and, and you can do this and I'm happy to be here for anybody that needs it. And I'm your cheerleader.

Thank you so much, Noah and course creators. Thank you so much for joining us today. If you have any questions about Facebook or Instagram ads or how to set up your online course funnel, reach out to me on LinkedIn or DM on Facebook or Instagram. I hope you enjoy this episode with Noah would love for you to rate and review the podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcast platform and show us some love there, have a great rest of your day. Bye for now.