CASE STUDY
Video Podcasts
Richard Payne
Podcasts have exploded in popularity due to their unique blend of accessibility and intimacy. They offer on-demand, diverse content that listeners can consume anywhere, anytime, while fostering a personal connection.
Making your podcast available as a video as well as audio can bring a number of benefits
- Wider audience: Some people prefer watching videos to listening to audio. By offering a video version, you can reach a new audience that might not otherwise engage with your podcast.
- Increased engagement: Video can be more engaging than audio-only content. Viewers can see your facial expressions and body language, which can help them connect with you and your content on a deeper level.
- Improved discoverability: Video podcasts are more likely to be discovered on platforms like YouTube, which is the second largest search engine in the world.
- More opportunities for monetization: Video podcasts can be monetized in a number of ways, such as through advertising, sponsorships, and merchandise.
- Greater flexibility: Video podcasts can be easily repurposed into shorter clips for social media, which can help you promote your podcast and reach a wider audience.
Of course, there are also some challenges associated with creating a video podcast. It can be more time-consuming and expensive to produce than audio-only. However, the benefits outweigh the challenges for most podcasters.
Production quality
The quality of your video podcast is important. Make sure you have appropriate cameras, lighting as well as sound. Creating the perception of quality in a small space is challenging – but ultimately worth the effort. This is going to take skills in lighting and camera/lens choices which PROAV can help you with.
How do you create the perception of quality on a budget?
Everyone loves the full frame aesthetic. Large sensors create wafer thin depth of field and are fantastic in low light, but this comes at a higher cost for the cameras and the lenses. You can of course use mirrorless cameras like the Sony A7S III to save money, but these aren’t designed to run continuously for hours and can overheat. Their small batteries run out, and they have less robust connections which can pull out easily.
PTZ Cameras
PTZ cameras are good choice for small studios because one operator can control a few, but they tend to have small sensors. Spend more time and money on the lighting and they can look really good. But in smaller studios with close backgrounds shot options will be limited.
Not all PTZs are created equal and cameras from well-known manufacturers like Panasonic, Sony and Canon tend to have better performance and features than those from makers that you haven’t heard of. In general, most PTZ cameras look good when in full auto, but many situations, as most camera people know, full auto can create less than perfect pictures.
The manual settings of better manufacturers’ cameras can really make a difference in the quality of the output. For instance, when shooting a participant against a dark background, a camera on auto might try to expose an average of the bright face and dark background, giving noisy shadows and overexposed skin tones.
Our favourite low budget PTZ is the new Osbot Tail 2 which has some unique features which make it stand out for podcast use like the ability to stream vertical video and be controlled by gestures.
Studio Cameras
Blackmagic Studio cameras like the Micro Studio G2 or the bigger studio cameras like the 6K Pro have larger sensors than most PTZ cameras giving them shallower depth of field and decent low light performance, but their autofocus isn’t great. If the interviewees rock forward or backward too much in their seat they can easily go out of focus.
Shallow Depth of Field and Deep Pockets
If you have deeper pockets PTZ cameras with larger sensors like the Canon CR-N500 and 700, the Panasonic UE-150 and 160 and the Sony BRC-AM7 all have a 1’’ sensor. Smaller than the MFT sensor in the Micro Studio camera but bigger than most PTZ sensors, they are much better in low light, and it’s possible to control depth of field. The latest 1’’ PTZs from Sony, Canon and Panasonic all have phase detection for decent autofocus and decent dynamic range. They also have auto framing which will keep a subject in the middle of frame no matter how much they move.
King of the PTZs
If you want the ultimate podcast studio you should be looking at the Sony ILME-FR7. It’s a PTZ with the beating heart of a cinema camera. With its full frame sensor and interchangeable lenses, the FR-7 is basically an FX6 as a PTZ. It can even record broadcast quality 4K internally. Even with the razor thin depth of field you get with a wide aperture and full frame sensor the FR-7s autofocus keeps faces and eyes as sharp as a tungsten nanoneedle.
Light Fantastic
Photography is painting with light. A classic mistake when filming podcasts it to forget this fundamental. What is the aesthetic that you are after? Bright, clear, daylight optimism, or intimate late night phone in. Shadowy secrets or spotlight interrogation. Be nice to your subjects and light them in a soft flattering way rather than harshly top lit from ceiling fittings which create shadows in the eyes and under the nose and chin. In a small room consider using a lighting modifier like a lantern to diffuse a bright source.
If you are shooting in a room with Windows, be aware that exposure could vary hugely if the sun comes out or goes behind a cloud.
Colourful Language
Another option is coloured lighting to make a dull room seem much more interesting. RGB lights allow creative flexibility that previously required expensive gels to help you experiment with colour.
Mixing your vision
Most people choose to do a live mix of their podcast using a vision mixer because a live stream is more spontaneous, and the alternative is lots of time spent editing. We have a number of options starting with the ubiquitous Blackmagic ATEM Mini’s and ATEM Mini ISO’s which also record all the cameras as well as streaming live to YouTube et all.
The new Rodecaster Video is an alternative to the Blackmagic mixers with a little more emphasis on audio. It has a really useful feature in that it can automatically cut video based on audio levels. So, if the audio is routed properly the mixer will cut to whoever is speaking.
As well as Blackmagic and Rode we have video switches from Roland, VisRT and Yolobox all with different strengths and features.
Whatever your podcast or budget PROAV will have a solution to turn your vision into a reality.