Video Round-up: A mixed bag this month

Welcome to June, although you might be forgiven for thinking it feels more like April with the weather we’ve been having recently! I hope you’ve all now recovered from the lovely long Bank Holiday weekend and you’re ready to take a trip with me around the many and varied video blogs I’ve been enjoying over the last month.

It’s now just over two weeks until the BritMums Live conference, and I can’t wait! I’ve been really enjoying reading everyone’s “Meet and Greet” posts, and I’ve been delighted to see several “Meet and Greet” vlogs as well. You can see the full lists of posts on the Stepford Wifey and A Boy With Aspergers blogs, but the one I wanted to share with you this month was the lovely Steph from I’m Counting UFOs who undertook the ultimate BritMums Live meet and greet in video form and managed to prove the first rule of video blogging in the process – preparation is everything!

Another event that will be taking place at BritMums Live will be the Brilliance in Blogging award ceremony. I will be taking a particular interest in the “Video” section as I am delighted to be a Finalist in that category, thanks to everyone who voted for me. It’s a really strong field, and I would urge you, if you haven’t already done so, to check out the blogs from the other finalists: Cheetahs in My Shoes, Chez Mummy, Juggle Mum, Really Kid Friendly, Secret Life of an Unknown Housewife, Snuggle Bubby and The Alexander Residence. I don’t envy the judges their job, I really don’t!

Just a quick reminder – if you are a finalist in the Brilliance in Blogging awards, in any category, a challenge has been laid down to you, to tell us a bit about yourself. I really hope to see loads of videos appearing from my fellow finalists over the next couple of weeks.

We may not yet know how the BritMums Live event will turn out, but looking back into May there was another blogging event that took place, and the inimitable Catherine from babygenie has produced a fantastic video summary of her day at CybHer. Watch her recreate her day with Power Rangers, Duplo Men and army commandos, gasp at the enormity of the bra fitting tent, and wonder quite how appropriate it was that she chose to depict Nickie from Typecast as the Mad Hatter. I’ll leave that one for you to decide…

I love using video to catch precious memories and milestones as my kids grow up – I think it can capture many more details than can be shown in a single photo. This was reinforced to me by Charlotte from the Crumby Mummy blog who managed to catch her gorgeous daughter Bob’s first steps and make them into a lovely keepsake video. I guarantee you’ll watch this just willing her on to make those steps.

Are you a Mum with many voices? You may see aspects of yourself in this video blog from Claire at Ministry of Mum where she demonstrates the different voices she uses as a Mum. I found myself nodding in agreement as she mentioned being aware that she sometimes sounds like her mother, and that her kids are already starting to sound like her. I’m sure this will strike chords with everyone.

I have recommended the Simple Vlogging Tips website before as a great resource for any video blogger, and last month Jendi gave us 3 ways to make better video blogs that don’t cost anything. All three tips are great, and I’d like to highlight one video from last month which I think demonstrates tip number 2 (variety) perfectly. Marianne from Mari’s World has produced a video review of a recent stay at Butlins, and although it is longer than the recommended 5 minutes for a video, I kept watching all the way to the end because there was plenty of variety in the content. Of course, there’s a lot of work involved in producing a video like that, and I dread to think how late Mari stayed up editing, but the end result was well worth it.

While we’re talking about tips for better video blogging, I’d like to add one of my own. If you’re shooting your video on a smartphone, try to remember to turn the phone into landscape orientation – it will mean you avoid getting those black bars down the sides of your video when you edit it, which will make it look much more professional when you publish it.

Finally I’d like to end on a rather more serious note. There’s been two great examples of video blogging being used to support some great charity work over the last month. At the start of the month the inexhaustible Annie from Mammasaurus undertook a week long “Blog it for Babies” campaign in aid of Save the Children, and one of the activities she undertook was an evening of extreme ironing. Video evidence of this activity is provided by “GG” over at the Actually Mummy blog (although I suspect it was actually GG’s Mummy behind the camera, as I believe this was filmed after GG’s bedtime). Be warned – this video does contain scenes that may not be suitable for those of a nervous disposition.

At the other end of the month, just a week or so ago, Sian from geek is new chic went on a trip to Niger with World Vision UK to witness first hand the food shortages out there. She brought back some stark messages about how dire things are and how we can help. Her video where she talks about how some families are surviving out there really brings home the severity of the situation. I defy you to watch this and not be moved to start thinking about what you can do to help.

And finally I’d just like to add one thing. If you’ve watched all of these videos and are thinking of trying to make one yourself but don’t know where to start, I will be running the “video blogging basics” session at BritMums Live in a couple of weeks. I’ll be aiming to give you all the tools and techniques you need to get started, and I’ll try to make it all very easy to understand. If you’re already happily producing videos but want to take things to the next level then you won’t want to miss Christine Beardsell’s “advanced video blogging” session a couple of hours later.

Have you made a video recently? I’d love to see it! Please add it to the Linky below.

About Ruth Arnold

Ruth Arnold is geeky, tech-loving wife to one and mother of two. She has been blogging and podcasting in various forms since early 2005, and started her geekmummy blog in August 2010 whilst on maternity leave after having her son. Ruth blogs about living family life surrounded by technology, and particularly enjoys sharing her love of apps with her readers. Ruth enjoys using a variety of media on her blog - she produces not only written posts, but audio and video as well, and was delighted to be awarded the MAD Blog Award for Most Innovative MAD Blog in 2011.