I need to redo my video and could use some advice

[mandyzines]

Hello, everyone!

I didn't realize that gig images were replaced by videos in search results when I created my first video: https://www.fiverr.com/share/Dd7yao . There isn't a frame in there that I think is worthy of being a thumbnail. The first part of my voice over is a bit harsh, too. I really want to highlight my experience and what buyers get a little more this time around.

Do you think that including an explanation of the differences between all three package types is necessary?

It's covered in the pricing table as well as my infographic (obviously), so I'm debating whether or not I want to devote prime real estate in my script to repeating it. Right now I'm leaning more toward having "All three of my gig packages include:" in there.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated--regarding the video or my gig in its entirety.

 

 

[uk1000]

For the video if there's nothing in there that you want to use for a thumbnail you could insert the image you want to use as a thumbnail into it in your editing software and re-render it and upload it then later select that for the thumbnail in the gig set-up. You could add on screen text in the video saying what you provide.

The gig seems okay though. Maybe change the first skill in the profile.

[mandyzines]

On 10/9/2021 at 8:25 AM, uk1000 said:

For the video if there's nothing in there that you want to use for a thumbnail you could insert the image you want to use as a thumbnail into it in your editing software and re-render it and upload it then later select that for the thumbnail in the gig set-up. You could add on screen text in the video saying what you provide.

The gig seems okay though. Maybe change the first skill in the profile.

I appreciate your help. Between the time that I posted this and your reply, I had revised the script and figured that I might as well follow through with creating a new video. While it would be best to have both visible for comparison, only the new video is posted now. It has the thumbnail photo of me showing the entire time, as well as an explanation of my experience and what is included with the gig--all of which were not on the first video.

May I get your feedback on it? I have saved both video projects and audio files.

[visualstudios]

For the video thumbnails, what I do in all my gig videos is put the thumbnail I want as the first frame of the video. 

As for the video itself... I wouldn't really call what you have a video. You have an image with audio. Technically a video, yes, but come on. 

[enunciator]

6 minutes ago, visualstudios said:

I wouldn't really call what you have a video. You have an image with audio.

For a number of categories, that's all you really need. Most voice over gigs are just that, a still headshot with audio backing. If one specifically works in a category that deals with video content, then absolutely, more effort into the production would be a virtual necessity.

[visualstudios]

37 minutes ago, enunciator said:

Most voice over gigs are just that, a still headshot with audio backing.

But wouldn't that just be an audio file with an image? It doesn't need to be a video. It's like an audio podcast, they also have a thumbnail, but they're audio, not video.

[enunciator]

4 minutes ago, visualstudios said:

But wouldn't that just be an audio file with an image?

It is. Many VO sellers do that on purpose because audio quality noticeably suffers on gig videos and less so for just audio demos with a still photo. Just semantics of what exactly constitutes a "video." 🤓

[mandyzines]

1 hour ago, visualstudios said:

For the video thumbnails, what I do in all my gig videos is put the thumbnail I want as the first frame of the video. 

As for the video itself... I wouldn't really call what you have a video. You have an image with audio. Technically a video, yes, but come on. 

I'm evaluating all of my (known) options. I do still have the project for the first video that I can slide that thumbnail into. One issue is that the tone is completely different; it's more of a sales pitch that assumes the viewer will click into the gig and actually read the description. It has a bunch of stock clips tied together that follow this script:

Quote

You’ve worked very hard to build the credibility of your business and are now at the point where you need someone to help you maintain that in your written work.

Whether you’re looking for thorough proofreading or in-depth copy editing that’s context-appropriate and fine-tuned to your target audience, I’m fully qualified for the task.

My name’s Mandy. I’m a copy editor and writer with a variety of real-world experience and a sharp eye for detail. I notice areas needing improvement in writing everywhere that I go, which can be utilized as a skill—for you.

I can help refine your articles, blog posts, descriptions, scripts, stories, web pages, and more!

Whether you want to inform, entertain, or encourage people to take action, I understand the differences.

When your gig is complete, you’re going to have content in flawless English that looks polished, credible, and professional. I promise to be communicative, timely, and friendly.

More information about me and my services is provided in this gig listing. Please don’t hesitate to ask me questions. I look forward to working with you!

I don't mind trying something completely different with the script and video, if you have any suggestions, as it helps me strengthen related skills. A hard limit is actually sitting in front of a camera and talking, however.

I suppose there's always the option of not using a video at all.

[mandyzines]

44 minutes ago, enunciator said:

Many VO sellers do that on purpose because audio quality noticeably suffers on gig videos and less so for just audio demos with a still photo.

So, are they doing exactly what I'm doing, rendering videos of a still image with an audio file? This would be good to know, if you don't mind giving up one more of your five posts for the day by replying!

Edit: I've reached my daily limit of five posts.

[enunciator]

7 minutes ago, mandyzines said:

if you don't mind giving up one more of your five posts for the day by replying!

Uhh what? Must be a post limiter in place for newish forum accounts.

 

8 minutes ago, mandyzines said:

So, they're doing exactly what I am doing, rendering a video of a still image with an audio file?

Actually, no. They upload an audio file, but Fiverr automatically transposes the gig image over the audio. Rendering and uploading a video is a separate thing.

[uk1000]

1 hour ago, mandyzines said:

May I get your feedback on it?

It's good but I think you could have something more happening on screen than the one image. eg. you could show stuff/text related to what is being said at a particular point in the video on screen around the time you say them. Sort of like an explainer video, where you're showing different things or highlighting them in some way as you go. eg. "I provide x,y,z..." and you could show text or something related to x,y,z at that point, maybe with the different things appearing one at a time until they all show (like bullet points). eg. so someone could get an idea what is being said at a particular point without even hearing the audio.

[fiveroptic1]

1 hour ago, enunciator said:

Uhh what? Must be a post limiter in place for newish forum accounts.

There is indeed - a result of anti spamming measures I think, so if you're reading this @mandyzines , you have my sympathy - I had to endure this too and I think it's for 24 hours! 

Re your original question, FWIW, I'm a newbie on here and to 5r, but putting myself in a buyer's position, I think your gig video (or whatever you want to call it) is actually quite good. 'Hearing' that you know what you're talking about is quite refreshing - as opposed to just reading it - which is what most of your competitors do. 5r itself suggests that sellers include a video, as it helps to engage with buyers more effectively, but as you're not selling video services,  again, I think what you've got is fine. An improvement, if you want to make one, is to do what @uk1000has just suggested - which would probably hit the mark. Good luck.   

[fiveroptic1]

you're welcome @mandyzines😃

..as I know you are muted at the moment! 

 

[surajkartha]

1 hour ago, mandyzines said:

Edit: I've reached my daily limit of five posts.

Since this has happened to me too.. and if it helps.. you do have the option to use your public message feed should you choose to, to keep the discussion going on there like I did a while back 😄

😌

[mandyzines]

@fiveroptic1 @uk1000 If I could post to my own feed then I would have mentioned you there. I just thought that I would follow up on this conversation in case either of you were curious, because I value your time. I'll definitely be applying what you've advised when I split my gig. I'm "rebranding" (not that my brand was ever really established) first, however, to align with my long-term goals. Thank you both, again.

 

[gajuseidi]

Hi Mandy,

I'm slowly making a gig video myself, so I find your concerns to be quite relevant 😄

Overall I I found your gig video to be quite well structured, but I would change a few things. Please take it with a grain of salt as I'm not a linguist and I work in an entirely different field. I think the part where you explain all three packages could benefit from a visual explainer quite a lot. For me, the explanation does not work too well in a promotional sense, unless it has some visuals that make the average client understand this concept easier. If I knew the difference between structural editing, line editing and proofreading, I would not need the explanation. And since I don't know the difference, a simple visual explainer would go a long way for me.

From a visual side, I would definitely polish the gig thumbnail picture, as it does not look too inviting. I would go with a colorful portrait and I would not crop the headshot so much. Your portrait (the best visual representation of yourself as a professional) should have space to breathe and compel potential buyers to order from you. Right now it's cropped, desaturated, and washed out, and it also has a big red block with the word "PROOF" on its forehead. These seemingly small details are actually very important in marketing and commerce in general. I would use a different photo, maybe even ask a friend for a photo shoot or book a photographer for this purpose. A saturated red color is also a very strong color and should be used carefully. The combination of saturated red and washed out grey tones in your picture for me associates with documentaries about court and jail and the way the white text is put on a saturated red background reminds me of words "denied" and "cancelled". I would use this color quite sparingly, if at all in this gig video. A green or an orange color would suit this gig better as green is how the text will look after your proofreding ✔️ and orange is the call to action color.

I hope this feedback is somewhat helpful. I think you're doing great and I have no doubt that you will get your first order soon 😊

[mandyzines]

On 10/21/2021 at 1:39 PM, gajuseidi said:

Hi Mandy,

I'm slowly making a gig video myself, so I find your concerns to be quite relevant 😄

Overall I I found your gig video to be quite well structured, but I would change a few things. Please take it with a grain of salt as I'm not a linguist and I work in an entirely different field. I think the part where you explain all three packages could benefit from a visual explainer quite a lot. For me, the explanation does not work too well in a promotional sense, unless it has some visuals that make the average client understand this concept easier. If I knew the difference between structural editing, line editing and proofreading, I would not need the explanation. And since I don't know the difference, a simple visual explainer would go a long way for me.

From a visual side, I would definitely polish the gig thumbnail picture, as it does not look too inviting. I would go with a colorful portrait and I would not crop the headshot so much. Your portrait (the best visual representation of yourself as a professional) should have space to breathe and compel potential buyers to order from you. Right now it's cropped, desaturated, and washed out, and it also has a big red block with the word "PROOF" on its forehead. These seemingly small details are actually very important in marketing and commerce in general. I would use a different photo, maybe even ask a friend for a photo shoot or book a photographer for this purpose. A saturated red color is also a very strong color and should be used carefully. The combination of saturated red and washed out grey tones in your picture for me associates with documentaries about court and jail and the way the white text is put on a saturated red background reminds me of words "denied" and "cancelled". I would use this color quite sparingly, if at all in this gig video. A green or an orange color would suit this gig better as green is how the text will look after your proofreding ✔️ and orange is the call to action color.

I hope this feedback is somewhat helpful. I think you're doing great and I have no doubt that you will get your first order soon 😊

Hello, Gajus!

I apologize for not seeing your very helpful reply sooner. 😲 Thank you for taking the time to type all of that out.

That gig is gone now. I wanted to separate it into two, mostly for the sake of simplicity. I just published the first one: https://www.fiverr.com/share/vyk75A  .

Something mystical must have happened because I did get your grains of nourishing salt even though I missed your reply. Initially, I used that gig image in attempt to attract attention. There was so much going on at the time that I didn't realize the sharp red color, angular font, and black and white photo of me doing two different things with my eyes might have subconsciously told people to stay as far away as possible. 😆 

I've done a lot of research over the past week or so, and I wanted to take my long-term goals into account when starting over again. I'm going for the rainbow monotone effect for my profile now, starting with red. I have no idea if I pulled it off because I am (obviously) not a graphic artist and have been staring at that project for a long time. I hope that it's at least a little more welcoming. I have a pretty flower! 😆

Interestingly, I did click on your profile before deleting the gig and pondered whether or not I should have the image that's now featured touched up a bit. It was humid, my hair was stuck to my arms, and I had way too much of a tan. I just got my body back after a bad collision, so maybe when I feel more like myself I'll ask my awesome photographer friend to help me with photos.

What do you think of the video now? @fiveroptic1 , @uk1000 , and @visualstudios gave me some valuable feedback that I tried to apply this time around.

 

[mandyzines]

On 10/11/2021 at 10:07 AM, surajkartha said:

option to use your public message feed

I think that option might have disappeared, by the way. I'll try again, since this is officially my fifth post for the day.

[gajuseidi]

On 10/28/2021 at 4:52 AM, mandyzines said:

Hello, Gajus!

I apologize for not seeing your very helpful reply sooner. 😲 Thank you for taking the time to type all of that out.

That gig is gone now. I wanted to separate it into two, mostly for the sake of simplicity. I just published the first one: https://www.fiverr.com/share/vyk75A  .

Something mystical must have happened because I did get your grains of nourishing salt even though I missed your reply. Initially, I used that gig image in attempt to attract attention. There was so much going on at the time that I didn't realize the sharp red color, angular font, and black and white photo of me doing two different things with my eyes might have subconsciously told people to stay as far away as possible. 😆 

I've done a lot of research over the past week or so, and I wanted to take my long-term goals into account when starting over again. I'm going for the rainbow monotone effect for my profile now, starting with red. I have no idea if I pulled it off because I am (obviously) not a graphic artist and have been staring at that project for a long time. I hope that it's at least a little more welcoming. I have a pretty flower! 😆

 

The world works in mysterious ways, haha 😄

Your video is looking much, much better! The stock video footage makes it a lot more lively and engaging and the visual screen recordings of the documents help as well. It's really great to see how fast you are polishing your gig and making it better.

There are a few things that caught my eye that I think could be improved:

In the video thumbnail, the words "copy" and "proofreading" as well as the spiral ornaments on the top and bottom are slightly cropped. As a standard rule in print, it's best to always leave some space (bleed) near the edges of the design and not put any important elements there. It is an entirely technical issue that could be easily solved by editing the photo itself or video dimensions.

Then, we have one stock video that I think could be changed for a better one. In that video, the actress is slouching quite uncomfortably and is out of frame.

In the screen recorded videos, where you show the documents, the red text is taking up a lot of space, is obstructing the documents and shows up very abruptly. I would make the text smaller, place it differently so it does not obstruct too much of the documents shown and introduce some sort of fade or transition so it's easier on the eyes. Or I would not use it at all, as the recordings of your documents already compliment your script quite nicely and it's not too difficult to follow.

On 10/28/2021 at 4:52 AM, mandyzines said:

 I just got my body back after a bad collision, so maybe when I feel more like myself I'll ask my awesome photographer friend to help me with photos.

I'm really sorry to hear that, I hope you're doing better! 😊 I think, the photo you chose fits the video a lot better, you have a beautiful smile, the photo is not cropped and is placed a lot better, but I'm still not entirely convinced by the red tint. I would use a photograph with vibrant original colors, it would look more confident and inviting and the background accents would still indicate your red color scheme nicely. I could help you with photo retouch and background removal, just let me know.

[mandyzines]

On 10/30/2021 at 10:26 PM, gajuseidi said:

The world works in mysterious ways, haha 😄

Your video is looking much, much better! The stock video footage makes it a lot more lively and engaging and the visual screen recordings of the documents help as well. It's really great to see how fast you are polishing your gig and making it better.

There are a few things that caught my eye that I think could be improved:

In the video thumbnail, the words "copy" and "proofreading" as well as the spiral ornaments on the top and bottom are slightly cropped. As a standard rule in print, it's best to always leave some space (bleed) near the edges of the design and not put any important elements there. It is an entirely technical issue that could be easily solved by editing the photo itself or video dimensions.

Then, we have one stock video that I think could be changed for a better one. In that video, the actress is slouching quite uncomfortably and is out of frame.

In the screen recorded videos, where you show the documents, the red text is taking up a lot of space, is obstructing the documents and shows up very abruptly. I would make the text smaller, place it differently so it does not obstruct too much of the documents shown and introduce some sort of fade or transition so it's easier on the eyes. Or I would not use it at all, as the recordings of your documents already compliment your script quite nicely and it's not too difficult to follow.

I'm really sorry to hear that, I hope you're doing better! 😊 I think, the photo you chose fits the video a lot better, you have a beautiful smile, the photo is not cropped and is placed a lot better, but I'm still not entirely convinced by the red tint. I would use a photograph with vibrant original colors, it would look more confident and inviting and the background accents would still indicate your red color scheme nicely. I could help you with photo retouch and background removal, just let me know.

Good Morning, Gajus!

The screenshots and tips are very helpful and I am very appreciative of them. May I ask what kind of device and browser you use? I do not see the same cropping  issue with the video image.

What's funny, yet not, is that I used to sit just like that actress for up to 16 hours a day. It is all fun and games until you get over 30 years of age. Actually, I threw my back out at 27 from sneezing while sitting in that position. I honestly just like the fan in that clip.

Again, thank you for the compliments and advice. I want to let this gig simmer unedited for a little bit before I make adjustments, one of them being a new gig image. I figured out how to mellow out my Italian/Indian tan!

[gajuseidi]

4 hours ago, mandyzines said:

May I ask what kind of device and browser you use? I do not see the same cropping  issue with the video image.

I opened your gig in Mozilla firefox and Google chrome browsers, both show the same result. It might be that the thumbnail is cropped when uploaded to fiverr. Fiverr gig thumbnails tend to strech and crop when uploaded, even when correct dimensions are used.

4 hours ago, mandyzines said:

What's funny, yet not, is that I used to sit just like that actress for up to 16 hours a day. It is all fun and games until you get over 30 years of age. Actually, I threw my back out at 27 from sneezing while sitting in that position. I honestly just like the fan in that clip.

Yeah, I try to do streches and fix my posture regularly when working as I do most of my work on a laptop 😌 Got to take care of ourselves 😊

4 hours ago, mandyzines said:

Again, thank you for the compliments and advice. I want to let this gig simmer unedited for a little bit before I make adjustments, one of them being a new gig image. I figured out how to mellow out my Italian/Indian tan!

You're most welcome! Will be curious to see the improvements. You're really doing great 😊

[enunciator]

Saw this thread was updated and decided to check out the gig!

The video overall is solid! Your audio levels didn't cause my ears to shrivel or make me have to crank the volume up to max (which is an all too common occurrence on gig audio). Gajuseidi already provided numerous helpful insights. I would only add by nitpicking on the color scheme of the still video portion used for the thumbnail. The white, black, dark red, and the black and white photo of yourself with a slightly pink hue immediately reminded of thumbnail images of YouTube "true crime" or "missing persons" videos.

The color scheme is distinct, but imparts a certain "menacing" or "tragic" tone, at least in my opinion.  😅

[maitasun]

8 hours ago, mandyzines said:

May I ask what kind of device and browser you use? I do not see the same cropping  issue with the video image.

I also see the cropping, Mandy. I use Chrome.

[mandyzines]

30 minutes ago, enunciator said:

Saw this thread was updated and decided to check out the gig!

The video overall is solid! Your audio levels didn't cause my ears to shrivel or make me have to crank the volume up to max (which is an all too common occurrence on gig audio). Gajuseidi already provided numerous helpful insights. I would only add by nitpicking on the color scheme of the still video portion used for the thumbnail. The white, black, dark red, and the black and white photo of yourself with a slightly pink hue immediately reminded of thumbnail images of YouTube "true crime" or "missing persons" videos.

The color scheme is distinct, but imparts a certain "menacing" or "tragic" tone, at least in my opinion.  😅

I appreciate your feedback! What's funny is that I am a very gentle creature, yet have managed to visually portray myself as a psychopath on the only gig images that I have published so far. 😆 As I mentioned to @gajuseidi, I will be editing that gig after I observe it for about a week or so, but have these attached images ready for when that happens. May I ask if I still look menacing? Also, the darker version is the original tone of my skin but I found a color correction tutorial and created the second one. May I ask which one you think is better--the overcooked or artificial skin look?

Thank you for the compliments on my audio. There is a tempo issue in there that I need to address.

[mandyzines]

32 minutes ago, maitasun said:

I also see the cropping, Mandy. I use Chrome.

 

I took advice from the wrong member in defining my dimensions, apparently! 😆