Videosocials co-founder, Mark Bullock, asks you to challenge yourself next time you’re recording a video: look directly into the eye of the camera. Not slightly to the side, above or below but directly into the camera. The eye of the camera is the eyes of your audience.
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Transcript:
So, as somebody watching this video, are you more comfortable and feel more engaged, if I’m looking directly at you or I’m looking just a little bit off to my right, or off to my left, or maybe even a little bit above the camera.
Hi, I’m Mark Bullock. I’m the co -founder of Videosocials.net and phoneBlogger.net , and I just gave you a subtle example of the differences between looking directly at the camera and slightly away, perhaps at a sticky note for some bullet points that you might be referencing. Perhaps it’s a script — Heaven forbid ! We really don’t like scripts here — but the point that I want to get across is it truly is subtle the difference between looking a little bit different off camera then looking directly at the camera.
I am embarrassed to say it probably took me 50 videos to get that. And it’s, you know, I was… I was close. I was… I was right here, right. So just below… just below the camera — but there is a difference. And should this prevent you from ever publishing or posting any of the videos that you created where your eyes are slightly off? No, absolutely not. But it does give you something to set as a goal for yourself.
Try looking at the camera — not close to the camera — not near the camera — not just below or just above — but actually at the camera. Now, I temper that with the fact that when we’re having a conversation with somebody sitting across the desk from us, we’re not staring them in the eye for three minutes straight, right. So, we do look away to think. We do look away to reference our notes.
We do have times in which our eyes can be averted from their eyes but think of it in terms of their eyes. Their eyes are the camera. You want to look them in the eye when you’re talking about something important — so look them in the eye. It’s just practice. Just be aware. Learn where your camera is and and start practicing to stay focused on that point.
I hope you found that valuable. If you did, there’s lots of other tips like it at Video socials.net/Academy. And again, Mark Bullock, co -founder of Videosocials.net, phoneBlogger.net . Have a great day.