CAMERA CONFIDENCE - Camera Shine not Camera Shy

1. Camera Confidence - Camera Shine, not Camera Shy: Quickly get my notes. I'm pretty impressed with that. Amiable, sudden silence. Good morning guys. Welcome to camera shy. And not camera shy. And why are we here? Let me tell you, can anyone guess where I am? You've got a TV tower there. There's some guy looking into the distance a little thing there. Maybe you recognize that there's a really old boat with sails and stuff. And why am I telling you this? It's not really what you want to hear, but I'm deflecting. I'm distracting now. You're wondering what's going on there instead of focusing on me. Plus, it gives me a little bit of an opportunity comfortable in front of the camera. And you can use the same thing when you're doing something. Presenting something, talking about anything. Make a little comment about what's going on. The sun's out today and in this country, that's quite a big thing. Make a point of that as well. Take the shades off, speak to the camera. And a lot of people are instantly against standing in front of a camera. And that comes with a lot of baggage from our youth, the way we grew up, and our social environment. As well as a car comes past. That's another deflection of what I'm talking about. Nothing's perfect. If we're going to wait for the perfect moment, nothing will ever happen. So let's continue. 2. Social Pressures: Back. Yeah. Well, another one is social pressure men. People put a lot of pressure on you to look good, to make it perfect, to sound interesting, to be funny, to be humorous and entertaining. Yeah. If those people are the ones you are comparing yourself to or allowing yourself to be led by, maybe they're not the right person for your environment. Ignore them. So whenever you go on Instagram or Tech Talk or Youtube or Facebook, everything has been curated perfectly, it's been filtered. You name it to make it look perfect. So whenever you get in front of the camera, you put a lot of pressure on yourself to present yourself perfectly. And none of us are that. Even now the sun's in my eyes. I'm squinting a little bit, there's a lot going on in the background. A little bit of a distraction. It doesn't matter. There's the second best tag line or strap line in advertising is just do it. I'll tell you what the best one is at the end of the video. 3. What is your Self Image?: I ever opened your phone onto your camera, and it's by mistake, being in the front facing camera and you got a shock. Who is this? Is that camera true or is the mirror true? Or is your own image of yourself in each one true? You don't have to deal with that fact. That's part of the fact why you're afraid of the camera. If, how am I going to look in front of the camera? I might look awkward. I might look unsure of myself, I might look really big nose because I don't film very well. Gives me 800 pounds extra on my body. It's fine. Everybody has the same thing. It's not a big deal. Whatever you talk about, people will be interested in it. If it's about the mating culture of the turtles in South Polynesia. Somebody will watch that. If it's about the latest and brightest boat, just come out. Look at these things. Somebody will watch that too. It doesn't matter what you talk about. People will be interested. Be yourself, have your knowledge and be ready. There's the other side of this. There is no instant fix. I'll give you a few examples. 4. Different Styles - Actors and Directors, examples from Hollywood: Spoiler alert. There is no instant fix. There are many different people out there and all of us are different. I'll give a few examples from Hollywood. Probably the most professional people with cameras, dealing with cameras and how they work, how you present yourself, directors scores or Eastwood. I think they did similar videos, similar video, similar movies, Eastwood, a little bit drama oriented, a little more gritty kind of dark themish. And they came out at a similar time scale as well. So, it's nice to compare them, and if you look at Mr. Scorsesy, famously, he would reshoot his scenes dozens of times, maybe 20 times or more. Retake it, start again, reset, shoot again, until he was happy with what he thought in his head was the perfect scene. Mr. Eastwood would rock up at work, the lighting would be ready. Sign would be ready, the set was there, the actors were there. And he would do one take, and that's it. They would wrap, take what they got and move on to the next scene. He would come in under budget, under time schedule, famously. But you tell me which one is the better director of the two actors. You could say Marlon Brando, and you could say, Mr. Tom Cruise, love him, or head him. Mr. Cruise is probably one of the most professional actors out there at the moment. He's hyper prepared, knows all these lines, he expects the same from his producers, from the cast, from the extras, from everyone around him, including the director, to be on point. Then you have Mr. Brando arrives at work, probably with a little bit of hangover. He doesn't know his lines. He comes there totally unprepared, but you got to look up on IMDB and see who's the most best actor out there. Brando scores here, and Mr. Cruz is down here. Who are you? I'm a bit of a Marlin Eastwood kind of guy. I don't have my lines prepared, just go there and talk. Sometimes it works out right. Don't put yourself under too much pressure. Check notes. 5. Fight, Flight or Freeze?: Triple fight flight or freeze. And it comes from when we were hunters and we were out on the plains and we were hunting for our dinner, for our food, our sustenance, you have to survive. It's like when you're walking on the African plans and you see a leopard and a leopard spots you pun alert. What are you going to do? Are you going to fight? I don't think you have a chance. You're going to freeze. He's already seen you. You're going to run, man, and you're going to be faster than you say in bolt and you're going to take flight. Then the next day you're walking out and you see another leopard. But it's a leopard. What are you going to do then? You're not going to run. You're not going to freeze. Maybe you'll fight. I don't think so. You're going to tap it on the shell and move on. Then on day three, the third, are we going to walk around the African plane and we bump into an elephant or a hiner? What are you going to do? You're probably going to freeze. Their eyesight isn't that good and they might not spot you in the background clutter, look at you, and then might turn around and carry on eating instead of coming over and squashing you, and that would be a bad day. In a similar way, when the camera starts rolling, you have the three F's in the back of your mind as a natural, basic instinct. What happens? Are you going to fight it and just own it and just start talking? Are you going to take flight, which means exit stage left, or is it that way? Or are you going to freeze and just freeze up and then forget your lines go black. And maybe if you freeze, nobody will notice. 6. Do It All in One Take?: People expect to do this all in one take 28 minutes worth of text, in one go. And you're supposed to be on point and perfect at all times. Nobody is that. Look at this, we're going to jump cut to me looking at my note here because I've got some bullet points because I can't remember at all to try and get it all out there for you. Yeah. We're talking about triple F, fight flight or freeze. Something to think about. We've talked about your social pressure. Something to think about the fact that you might suck at everything and you fluff your lines and all of that. Something to think about. As long as you're aware of it, you can deal with it, right? And also be aware of the fact that everyone has the same issues. It's not just you. You're not the only one who's not going to make it work on video. Plenty of people have trouble in front of the camera. Let's look at some ways to deal with that. Make yourself more comfortable in front of the camera. 7. You cannot NOT be you: Back to my notes. See what we can do here is edit. And we didn't used to do that in the past because it was really difficult to edit VHS tape right now. You can just jump cut. Suddenly I'm talking here or I'm talking further closer to the camera. You don't have to do all the lines that you want to go. I can check my notes and say, you know what I forgot to mention here. Make people think. What's your passion? Share your passion. Be funny. People want to see your charisma. They want to see your personality, who you are behind in front of the screen. They're looking through it to you. You can talk directly to them. They just stand here and think, I should be saying this. I should be looking like this, I should look cool. It doesn't really matter. Just be yourself. You cannot not be yourself. That's what actors do. They got a huge amount of people around them, a huge team, making them look something they are not. You're just you and when you walk away from this camera, you're still you. You can't change that, the camera does a lie, right? Maybe in Hollywood, but not here. 8. Rehearse & Prepare - if you need to: Yeah, as I said earlier, there's no one stop fix for everything. People are different. A lot of people need to prepare themselves. They need to write a script. They need to have their lines properly rehearsed in their head before they feel confident enough to share what they have to say. Other people just wing it. I'm just winging it at the moment with my bullet points on my phone. Hopefully, I'm getting the message across properly. But it doesn't really matter. It matters what you feel comfortable with. If you need some more time to rehearse your lines, do that. If you need to, just make sure you got all the facts straight, Go and research them, know your lines. Be certain of what you're going to say. If you're certain of your information, of your educational experiences, of your entertainment value, you can share that. And people will pick up on that and they'll be happy just to see you as you are in front of the camera. You'll never get it. All right? That's one thing. You must know online, nothing you say is actually perfect. People will always come in there and correct you. And if you can't deal with that, then don't even get up in front of the camera, because it's going to happen. You will suck at some point, everybody does. 9. Face it - you will suck at some point: You're going to have to deal with the fact that you will suck. Will suck. None of it's perfect. We're all going to make mistakes. We're going to fluff our lines. Forget what we're going to say. It's part of it. You have to deal with the fact that a lot of people won't like what you have to say. They will be vocal about it, they'll tell you, and you'll see it in the comments. But don't like what you said here. This was all wrong, your facts aren't good, blah, blah, blah, you're boring. Deal with it, it's part of it. 10. How Do You Ignore the Camera?: Another way to approach it is to ignore the camera. Yeah. Right? How does that work? Have somebody next to the camera. That's a good idea. Talk to them, have a conversation with them. They can ask you questions, you can answer their questions, you can give them information, and you're ignoring the camera completely in that way. You're more natural, you're relaxed, you're coming across very spontaneous, you're humorous. You're having a conversation with somebody next to the camera. And that's a nice way to ignore where the camera is. Another way is to have a group of people and just sit and chat in a circle and the cameras on. And you've put the camera on at least 5 minutes before the time that's rolling. And in the beginning, you'll be very conscious of it. Am I sitting straight? Have I shaved? Is my hair straight? Is my makeup correct? And after 5 minutes, you won't forget forgotten all about that because you're invested in the conversation. And the camera can pick that up and you're more chilled and relax and people can relate more to that. 12. Tech takes the pressure off: When we grew up, we didn't have digital cameras. We didn't have Snapchat and TikTok and Instagram where we had these filters who makes us look more interesting, better in our own eyes. All we had was what was there, and you'd have a little camera. That said, no mobile phone, nothing. On that camera, a little roll of film, and you take a picture of the beach, of your little sand castles, of the surf, of the sun. You guys having fun, all of that stuff, and at the end of the whole go back, go to the camera shop. Wind up your little roller film and hand it in a week later, you'd go back, collect your envelope full of photos and you'd go through them with your family at the dining room table. And you'd find out half of them were blurry, half of them were black. More of them were just off your feet, of the sky, and the whole thing was out of focus. It wasn't very good subject matter, and you could only use three of them. That, my friends, is pressure. These days, you can just take as many photos videos as you like. You just crop them, throw them away, delete them, start again if you don't like it. So in that respect, there's no pressure on us to do this in write in the first go. 13. The Conversation - What It's All About: It's not a photograph. That photograph that you look at when you open your front camera on your phone by mistake, and you get a shock. That's not what a video is. Video is more about your charisma, your personality, your intellectual ideas. It's your passion. That's what you're sharing through video, and you can't do that on a photograph. So think about that when you're standing here. It's not about a snapshot of you. It's about you sharing your ideas and starting a conversation. It's all about the conversation in the end. 14. What's in it for them?: Do I look cool in these glasses? I don't know. Also, it's not about you, right? That's the one other tip you need to think about when you're doing a video or trying to express yourself visually online. It's not about you. People don't really care what you're up to. They don't care where you ate last night for dinner or where you were on holiday. If it was in the Bahamas, what can they get out of it? What's in it for them? You need to make it good for them to watch you. Being educational, you'll teach them something. Is it for entertainment value? Is it for humor? Is it relatable? That kind of stuff? If you keep that in your mind, it becomes more of a conversation. And you can say, you know what guys, I'm not really good at this. I feel a little bit awkward standing here. I'm not sure if I've got my lines straight, but Have you ever been in this position? Do you understand what it's like? Have you tried it? Has it worked for you? What has worked for you? Let me know down below. In that way you're having a conversation. It's not about you and the camera, and that's it. And also, remember not to be too swayed by your social circles. If it's your friends, your family, your colleagues, or whatever, they know who you are. You don't need to have validation from them. You are just you. If they don't like it, it's too bad if you're going to be led by that. Also rethink about what you're going to do online on a video platform. 15. Who is your audience?: Another little thing to keep in the back of your mind is who is your audience? Who are you speaking to? Who are the people that you're trying to get your message out to? It's not to everyone. Even block pus movies like The Avengers. It's not for everyone. It's a big movie, it has a big audience. But not everybody will go and see it. It's not their cup of tea. In the same way, your video, your message being you is not for everyone either. Some people will understand it instantly. Like I said before, some people will be interested in the mating rituals of the turtles in South Indonesia. Go out and tell them about that. But just be focused on your audience. That already helps narrow it down. This isn't for everyone, it's just for your audience and people who understand it. People would like to hear it because also sit in the back of your mind there are people who want to hear what you have to say. They are right there if you're speaking to them, having that conversation through the lens with them, you're already more in a more relaxed state of mind. You're sharing your knowledge. You're actually starting a conversation too. Because by going out there and saying, this is what I know about these turtles, some people come up and say, you know what, it's not correct. It was almost correct. I like what you said, but it was actually this. In that way. You're starting a group discussion which is pretty cool. It's not just you alone in front of the camera, nobody else. And you have to be perfect on point all the time. That's not the case. It's about your topic. Who's your audience? Are they interested in your topic? So once you have figured out your audience, these people who are interested in the turtles in Indonesia, you can share your passion of the subject with your audience. You can say, guys, I really enjoy this topic. I really want to know more about it. This is how much I've learned. I think it's quite a bit. What do you think? And in that case, you're talking through the lens to everybody else. It's pretty powerful. You can get a whole audience out there with one little camera lens. 16. Chasing Perfection - It will never get done: The other thing you can do as a beginning, just do it. If you don't do anything, you're not going to get anything out there. It's not going to work for you, all right? It makes sense. It's really obvious, but a lot of people don't realize that everything has to be perfect. And if they're in the perfect state of mind, they won't go on the camera, and they won't have the perfect wardrobe, and they won't go in front of the camera. The lighting is not perfect. There's a flag fluttering in the sun right now, right in my eyes, it's not perfect. So I'm not going to film it. The background is not perfect, so I'm not going to film it. All of that stuff, you need to just remove it. Just go out there and do it. By the way, the best strap line, the best tag line of any marketing of any brand. Let's not just do it. It's one life, live it. Go out there and have some fun. Because we're out there having a little bit of fun. Some people will love it, other people won't. And just be happy with that fact, Go out there, share what you are, share who you are. And don't talk to the lens. Talk through the lens. I'm talking to you where I'm in a conversation. 17. What have we learned?: Let me now low down below your part of the conversation. Give us a comment. Have you learned anything? Did you know all this before? You might have. Well, I'm just validated your knowledge, so go out there and share it with somebody else. Thanks for watching guys. Hopefully this was informative, hopefully it was a little bit educational, a little bit of humor in there, a little bit relatable and just can't do it thanks to watch it.