If you’re planning on creating your lawyer videos yourself, then you undoubtedly have some questions about how to shoot a good lawyer video. What equipment do I need? Can I do it myself or do I need someone to help shoot the video? Do I need a script? The better preparations you make before hand, the more smoothly your shoot will go. Here are some tips to help you along the way.

What Equipment Do I Need?

For shooting a good lawyer video, there are some basic needs:

1. A video camera. This one is obvious, but worth stating. At the lowest end, you can simply use the video feature on an upper-end digital camera; at the upper end are large, professional style camcorders. Since you’re likely going to be shooting indoors, you’ll either want at least a decent video recorder—or at least one well-lit room.
2. A tripod. Even if you have someone help you film, you’ll want a tripod to ensure a steady, stable shot—particularly since your lawyer video is unlikely to feature a lot of movement.
3. An external microphone. You can get by with the microphone on your video camera; however, the sound quality will be far better with an external microphone. If you buy an external microphone, make sure that your video camera has an external microphone jack.
4. Lighting. At the lowest end (apart from simply using natural light or the lamps you have in the office) is getting an external light that you can hook up directly to your video camera. However, stand-alone lights will provide more diffuse light that will make your video look better.

How Many People Do I Need?

When it comes for filming a good lawyer video, you can certainly do it yourself, especially if you’re okay with a simple, video blog style clip. The more professional you want your video to look, however, the more time it will take you to do it yourself. Even at its most basic, you’ll need to set up the background, arrange the lights, set up the tripod, start and stop the video recording, and make sure that you’re “on script.” The more involved each of those elements get, the more people it’s helpful to have. Even at maximum, however, you probably won’t need more than 2 or 3 people helping you. 

Do I Need A Script?

It may seem obvious that a good lawyer video need a script; however, people who have little to no experience acting in front of a video camera are in very real danger of coming across as wooden and formal. For most people, the reality is that being able to read from a script is a difficult skill that needs to be learned. Chances are, you’ll be more comfortable if you’re just telling a story, working off of bullet points to help you stay organized. It’s far more important to come across as personable, authentic and knowledgeable than it is that you deliver specific information arranged in a specific way. However, that doesn’t mean that you don’t need to rehearse. Practice what you want to say a few times and make sure that you know what notes you want to hit, and roughly how you want to end your lawyer video. 

What Do I Need To Worry About While Actually Shooting the Video?

If you’re keeping your video to a single frame shot (and for most good lawyer videos, you won’t need much else), then you just need to make sure that the light is adequate, the tripod is secure, and that there’s nothing in the frame that shouldn’t be there—and that everything that should be there (such as the top of the speaker’s head) is there. The main source of light should be located behind the camera.