Creating your own video for your blog or website: how to make it look professional As technology moves us farther and farther on in terms of what we can achieve with relatively simple kit to put ourselves online in visual and audio terms as well as in pure text, we can be grateful that decent quality video has finally become affordable for nearly everyone. With video cameras being so easy to use and video material being so easy to upload, it's not surprising that many people think it's equally easy to produce good video content and performance. However, they're wrong. Whereas there are high-tech, high-quality solutions for all the practical elements of making a video, once it comes to who says what and how, no amount of technology can improve on a bad performance. The camera exaggerates even the slightest movement and makes it look maniacal. On the other hand, once you recognize this point and make yourself sit absolutely bolt still, you'll look like a ventriloquist's dummy. It takes a lot of training and practice to hit the right balance, as any TV newsreader will tell you. The answer? Unless you happen to be very good at on-camera presenting, don't do it. Instead use the off-camera interview technique. This technique is often used on TV by news reporters and documentary directors, where you see the interviewee talking to an unseen someone just beside the camera. It's brilliant for two reasons: one, the camera in this case is recording one