Video content can feel intimidating to create, but it's one of the most impactful ways to connect with your audience. With just a little planning and the right tools, you can make something polished, personal and powerful.

This guide covers how to plan, shoot and share short-form video content, with tips, tools and templates to make it easy.

Why Video Is Worth the Effort

The social media landscape has become dominated by short-form video content. The average user spends almost an hour watching videos every day, and might not want to consume other kinds of content outside of this. Creating video content is about meeting people where they're at, and entering their comfort zone. 

You can achieve a lot in a really short timeframe through Reels:
  • Quickly showcase what your department is about.
  • Build personal connection with students.
  • Highlight what's to come by showing previous event footage.
Tips for Reels
  • Keep it short, clear, and upbeat.
  • Show your face and speak directly to camera
  • Mention your department name and regular events.
  • Tell people what they can expect if they follow you (free food notices, first pick for event tickets, etc).
  • Let your personality shine! Don't be afraid to be silly or sincere. Social media is for creating social connections, that's what people expect on the platform.
  • If you are wanting to request a collaboration with the main @UMSUunimelb account, make sure your reel follows the UMSU collab guidelines. 

Pre-Production: Planning Your Video

Good video starts with good prep. To make the process as efficient and smooth as possible here's what you should do before you head out to start filming:

Script & Structure 
Plan the structure of your reel and what you'd like to say ahead of time. For some people this means creating a full script and storyboard, for others it might just be a sticky note with some dot-points.

Run through the script a few times before starting filming to make sure it sounds natural in the final take.

Use a hook to engage viewers within the first 3 seconds. You can plan to use a trend, a popular audio, eye contact, or a leading phrase.

Planning Your Shots
Using a variety of angles, distances, and backgrounds can increase audience engagement. Remember your reel is appearing in a scroll full of well-made content, so you need to stand out.

Use grabbing opening hooks, use beautiful shots, be creative, be engaging. 

Filming Locations
Consider the requirements of the places you plan on filming, and be prepared to adapt. Is it going to be noisy? Is it going to be dark? What equipment is going to be necessary to handle those challenges?

You may need to use lapel microphones, light reflectors, or portable lighting to navigate less-than-ideal filming locations. If you cannot use these things, have alternate locations planned. 

Production: Shooting Your Video

You can create beautiful and engaging content with any mobile phone. Here's what you can do to set yourself up to capture the best quality footage:

Lighting
Film in a well lit area, not too harsh nor too dim. Check conditions with your hand to test for smooth lighting – if it looks evenly lit, your face will too!

Framing
Keep the camera at eye level and look directly into the lens when speaking to the audience. Be sure to leave space in the frame around the head and shoulders, headroom makes all the difference and you can always crop it closer in-post if you captured too much.

Sound
Minimise background noise as much as possible when capturing dialogue. You can do this by:
  • filming indoors in small rooms with no echo
  • avoid windy or overly busy locations
  • use a lapel microphone that connects to your phone
Speaking on camera is a daunting task, so be sure to film a couple takes of any speaking shots. If you stumble over a word, restart the section rather than power through. Editing is your friend!

Background
Filming in recognisable on-campus areas instantly communicates your position within the Unimelb community. Avoid boring white walls if possible.

Tech Specs
Use the 16:9 ratio in a portrait orientation. We use 1920x1080px for most video.

Always do a test run to check lighting, sound, and framing. Watch the test footage back before doing your actual takes. 

Filming on Campus: Rules & Safety
Filming on campus is usually fine, but please keep the following in mind:
  1. Avoid blocking major walkways or fire exits
  2. Don't film students without their informed consent
  3. Some indoor areas may require booking
  4. Be respectful of our community members in this public space

Post-Production: Editing Your Video

Editing is your opportunity to sharpen your message and boost engagement. You don’t need to overdo it—just some clean cuts, captions, music, and maybe some memes or sound effects if we're feeling silly.

Free Tools to Use
  • Kapwing: a web-based timeline editor with strong auto-captioning, greenscreen, and text overlay features. Tutorial here.
  • CapCut: popular mobile editor with lots of speed, motion, and effect features. Tutorials here.
  • Canva: useful for including animations and graphics. Tutorial here.
  • Instagram: using the in-built editor can increase engagement, adding music from within the app is a great way to increase reach.
Post-Production Tips
  • Add music in-app to increase reach.
  • Keep music to a gentle volume so that dialogue is audible. Test this through different speakers/headphones to confirm before posting.
  • Use clear, consistently styled text and transitions.
  • Cut out pauses and filler words to maintain a snappy pace.
  • Speed up portions of the video that feel slow or low energy.
  • When posting, use the University campus location tag to increase visibility among the student population.
  • Collaborate with other departments to share your audiences and build community.

Captions
  • You can use tools like Kapwing or Instagram to auto-generate captions
  • Review captions for typos or mishears
  • Don't place captions too close to the bottom of the frame, as the user interface will cover a majority of the lower third.

Video Tutorials 

Prefer to learn from video? We've created some guides in another format to ensure everyone can tackle creating their own video content.