How to Be More Confident on Camera

1. Introduction: The first time you stand in front of a camera and you've got to talk directly into the camera lens. It can honestly be one of the most unnerving, most awkward experiences of your life. But it doesn't need to be in the world that we live in. A video is absolutely everywhere. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter. It doesn't matter where you go. People are producing videos. So it's really important that we are now on camera talking to our audience. But that doesn't mean you have to actually be on camera and talk into a camera. And this can honestly be one of the most uncomfortable experiences of your life, but it doesn't need to be. Talking on camera is a skill. It's exactly the same as learning how to play football, learning how to dance, learning how to do software development or cook. It's a skill that needs practice. So in this course, I'm going to walk you through everything that you need to know and need to consider when you're stepping in front of the camera to get you to a point where you feel comfortable enough to produce content on a regular basis. But before we get into the course, let me please just first introduce myself. My name is Chris Brooker, and I run it the Brooker films YouTube channel. And of course I'm producing this course and many other courses similar to this. And when I first steps in front of the camera in January 2018, I experienced the exact same thing you're feeling now. I felt uncomfortable. I felt awkward. I felt like I was trying to be somebody that I wasn't. It just was not a great experience, but cut to today. And being on camera is a really important part of my job. And I feel comfortable and in control when I'm in front of a camera. So with all of that cylinder now, let's get into the course and let's start becoming more confident on camera. 2. Why Talk on Camera?: Before we get into the how to be comfortable and confident on camera, let's just first take a few steps back and talk about the why. Why is it so important that we're on camera? Well, video is everywhere. If you wanted to present your information to a group of people and you gave them two options. Read a lengthy article, or watch a five-minute video. Chances are most of the people, or a large section of those people are going to choose the video and start to proving that more and more people are consuming videos rather than reading articles. So that means video is really important. And being on camera is just as equally as important because people connect with people. When you see somebody onscreen and a video, it's much easier to connect with them versus if you hit their face. So that's why being on camera is really important. Now, it doesn't matter if you want to produce YouTube videos. You're making promo videos for your company or your advertising, your services for your own business. Video and being on-camera can be very important. So being on camera, being in front of the camera, talking directly into the lens is very powerful because it allows your audience to connect with you much better than you would do if you weren't in the frame. If you plan on being in front of the camera, it's really important that you start practicing and start getting comfortable with this experience. 3. What you are feeling is Normal: Now before you get flustered and start to feel anxious and nervous and worried that you're the only person feeling this. Being in front of the camera and being awkward and nervous and shy is completely natural. There's not many people that could naturally just step in front of the camera for the first time and deliver a perfect performance. It's very rare. So rest assured that you are not the only person feeling this. I was the exact same and I know so many others that felt the exact same thing when they stepped in front of the camera for the first time. Now, like I mentioned in the introduction video to this course, being on camera is a skill. It's something that we're not used to doing. It's something we're not born to do. It's a skill that we have to practice. Unfortunately, it's one of those things that when you see somebody doing it, it looks easy. And you think, Oh, I could do that. But the second you get in front of the camera, you feel awkward, you feel the pressure, and unfortunately everything starts to break down and then you feel shy and timid, nervous, you look away from the camera, you mess up your lines. It's completely natural. So just rest assured knowing that this feeling, the feeling that you're feeling now is completely natural. Most people stepping in front of the camera for the first, second, third, fourth, fifth time, all filled this feeling that you're feeling now. 4. Practise Makes Perfect: The biggest tip that I could give you to get comfortable in front of the camera is to practice talking to the camera. And the easiest way to do this is to just grab your phone, turn it on yourself, press record and start talking about your day. Now I'm not saying you have to become a vlog or you don't have to be vlogging your entire day. But maybe when you feel that you've got a moment to practice, go into a quiet side room, go into your bedroom, go somewhere where you've got some privacy and some space. Turn the camera on and just start talking through your day this morning, I woke up at eight o'clock. At nine o'clock, I had some Breadth-first, I had brand flakes with some milk than at 930, I had a shower. Then at ten o'clock I went out and I went to work. Now just completing this exercise over multiple days is going to make you feel more comfortable. Just simply talking through the day into camera is going to make you feel a lot more comfortable. Now I feel like the reason why this works beautifully is because you know exactly everything that happened. It's your lived experience. So you can talk through this comfortably on camera and you know, every single second of the day. The reason why you might feel uncomfortable in front of a camera talking about something else is because maybe you might not have all the answers. Maybe you might get a question that you have to think about and then you'll stumble and trip over your words and you're worried about messing it up and getting it perfect. But when you stop for a second, you talk about something you feel completely comfortable and confident about. You'll find yourself warming up to the camera and feeling more confident. So I would definitely recommend completing this exercise as often as you can, maybe once a day and do that over a few weeks. And if you save the videos and watch the first video to the last video. So maybe you do this every single day over two or three weeks. If you watch that first video and then the 20th, 25th, 30th video, you'll notice you feel more natural and comfortable in the last video versus the first video. That's all this really is. It's just practice. The more you do it, the better you get. Like anything else you could imagine. Now these videos that you're filming, by the way, you don't have to save them. You don't have to watch them back. You don't have to publish them anywhere. Just go through the exercise of talking to the camera and just talking into the camera, it's going to make you feel more comfortable and more confidence. In fact, I would actually go as far to say as do not watch your videos in the very beginning, because we all get uncomfortable watching our self or hearing our own voice back on video. So completely ignore all your first videos. Just talk into the camera. And then if you want to just delete the video so you don't have temptation to look back at it. But I do find it's quite useful to keep that first video so that you can look back to see how much progress you have made. 5. Preparation: Now, in the last episode, I talked all about how you can talk through your day into camera. And the reason why you feel comfortable doing this is because it's your day. You've lived the experience and therefore, you know everything that has happened. So you are prepared. Now, that is my tip for this video. Make sure when you're stepping on camera that you are prepared. Because if you don't know what you're going to say, you're going to trip over your own words. You're going to try and figure out what you're saying on camera. And as well as all the stress and the anxiety of everything else happening. You've also got to figure out what you're saying. And then of course, whilst you're delivering these, you'll be saying, can I say this? Is this going to be taken out of context? Is this the right thing? Is this the right facts? You always going to be second guessing yourself. So if you're prepared, you're going to strip all of that away and you can just focus on giving clear lines into camera. Now the danger here is some people can over prepare. And I have seen this on a few occasions. People come prepared with a word for word script saying, this is what I'm going to say at this time, and it has to be word for word, perfect. The problem with that is you are writing that from your writers ahead and not your speaker's voice. So you're going to write that in a way that does not sound natural. Of course as well. You are putting yourself under so much pressure to get this word for word perfect. If you're filming a five to ten minute video, you're going to have to prepare 2345 pages of dialogue. And that's a lot of dialogue for one person to remember. This style of preparation is probably actually causing more harm than good. Yes, You know what you want to say. But the problem is your force yourself into a position where you have to get every single word perfect. And if you do get every word perfect, unfortunately, it's going to come across a stale and soulless because you're delivering that from a writer's point of view rather than your speaking points of view, if that makes sense. So generally what I do is I just prepare a list of bullet points. So this is not a script, this is not word for word. This is what do I want to cover in each episode or each video. So for example, in the second video, why should you be on camera? My two bullet points or video is important and people connect with people. And then I can freestyle around those topics, around those bullet points to get to a point where I feel comfortable. Now of course, you can go into more detail and talk about every single point that you want to mention. It's completely up to you. But I find having bullet points rather than a script help you to sound like you. It makes you actually sound like a human, not like a robot delivering a script. The problem with having that script as well is you lose your character because you're just reading the script. You're going to come across as really unnatural and rarely soulless. And this is just going to come across as a very, very boring video. But when you have a clear list of bullet points and you know roughly what you want to say, but you'll free styling around those words a little bit. Then this means your personality, you can come out, your excitement and your passion for the topic can come out. And this means you're going to look more natural on camera. So prepare, but do not over prepare. That is my tip and my advice for you in this episode. 6. Don't worry about the small things: My main tip to you in this episode is to not worry about the small things. Yes. Your hair might be slightly over here? Yes. The camera angle might not be perfect. Yes, you might not have delivered that word brilliantly, but it does not matter. Done is better than perfect. So do not sweat the small things. Do not worry about all of the small imperfections. If you fluff a word, just keep going. I always find this when I'm interviewing people and they're on camera for the first time, they trip over a word and that sends them into a spiral and then they lose what they were talking about and then they get angry with themselves and then they get flustered. And that just creates a whole cycle of negativity and it makes the problem so much worse. So if you trip over a word, completely ignore it, and carry on. If I was to show you the unedited footage from these courses, you would see hydrophobic my words on a very regular basis. That's why I've got two cameras because I can cut between the two angles to cover up any mistakes in any cuts. But all I do when I make a mistake, when I trip over a word, I just typed. But all I do when I stop or a trip over a word is I just go back to this phrase before or I just carry on. I think people put themselves under a lot of pressure when that on the camera and they feel like they have to get it absolutely perfect, no mistakes. Every single take is perfect. Unfortunately, that's just not reality. You're going to make mistakes. You're going to trip over words, and that's completely fine. But when you stop yourself and you get frustrated and you get derailed, that is going to cause more harm than good. So like I said, do not sweat the small stuff. If you say the wrong thing, if you fluff a word, if you unfortunately have to cough or mid take, if your hair is messy, if something's happening in the background is completely fine, don't worry about it. Just get through what you want to say. Review the footage and if somebody's got majorly wrong, of course, go ahead and re-record it, but don't sweat the small stuff. 7. Know when NOT to film: If you have to produce videos on a regular basis, you might find yourself forced into some sort of schedule. And this means you might have to film at a time when you would rather not. And I would definitely argue against this. Now my number one tip for people when they're getting on camera for the first time or one of the first times is to do it when you're feeling calm and comfortable. If something is bothering you, that is going to carry on playing in your mind throughout this process. So if you are angry, stressed, or tired, do not step in front of the camera because unfortunately you're not going to be focused. And when you're not focused, you're going to forget what you're saying. And when you forget what you're saying, your trip over your words. When you trip over your words, you'll get frustrated and you'll do take after take, after take. And unfortunately, you'll just completely hate the process and you'll eventually just give up and stop all. You'll deliver a video that isn't showing your true character and doesn't look great. So I would definitely feel, when you feel comfortable. Now, of course, you're never going to feel completely comfortable stepping in front of the camera for the first time. But if you can go into this process feeling calm, relaxed, stressed, nothing is bothering you. You can come into this with a clear mind. That's gonna be much better than coming into this, worried about something that might have happened coming into work. You only got two hours sleep last night or you've got a really busy day ahead and you got to wrap this up in ten minutes. Otherwise you're not gonna be able to get everything done. You don't need any of those distractions because that is going to completely derail your efforts. Come into this process with a clear, empty, and calm mind. And you'll find this process so much easier because you'll be focused and you'll remember what you want to say. 8. Body language: Body language is very important in day-to-day life, but it is also really important on camera. Because if you have the wrong body language, unfortunately, that can send the wrong message to the viewer and the viewer might feel uncomfortable and end up clicking away from the video that you have created. So there's two things that I really want you to focus on. Of course, there's a lot more that goes into body language, but the two that I find are most important and the most powerful and making you feel comfortable and confident on camera is eye contact and standing or sitting up straight. So the first one there is eye contact. If you're looking around down here, you're looking down at your hands, you train your very best to avoid the camera or you're looking up at the monitor. So as you can see down here, I've got the monitor. This is what I used to frame myself up. So if I'm just looking down here, looking at the monitor, it doesn't feel confident, it doesn't feel comfortable. And unfortunately, that rubs off on the viewer and the viewer also feels uncomfortable. So I would definitely recommend keeping strong eye contact into the camera lens if you are looking into the camera for the video, of course, if you are being interviewed and you have to look at an interviewer just off-camera, maintain that strong eye contact with them rather than into the camera lens. Because it's the same story. If you're looking into an interviewer and you're just looking around, you're looking down, you're looking somewhere else. You don't want to be here. That translates. So regardless of whether you are looking into the camera lens or you're looking into somebody off camera, just maintain that eye or lens contact. And that will make you feel more comfortable and it will make you look more confident. And then the second one is to stand up or sit up straight. This is me sat up straight and I feel confident. I feel comfortable. But if I slumped down here, unfortunately, I'll kind of, it looks like I've lost interest and it really wants to be here. I don't look too confident or too keen on camera or from down here some way, it doesn't look great. So if you can focus on sitting up straight or standing up straight, if you're standing, that is going to make you appear to be more confident and more in control of the situation. Of course as well. I know I said I was only going to mention two. But the third thing you want to pay attention to is do not play with yourself mid filming. If you're there, you're rubbing your hands or your scratching the back of your head nervously, or you're doing something that is gonna be distracting, or you're just rubbing or scratching the back of the arm, you're rubbing your elbow. It's all a big distraction and it makes you look weak and unconfident. The same thing applies for crossing your arms as well. If you cross your arms, you look less interested and it doesn't exactly straight confidence. So just be aware that your hands should be away from your body. So put them down on the table in front of you. Or you can put them down by your sides. Just be aware that you're not playing with your body Mid filming. Personally, I'm quite socially awkward and that translated on camera. So the first few videos, but I was on camera. I was doing this. I was rubbing the back of my arm because it gave me some level of comfort internally. But unfortunately, when I looked back at the videos, I didn't look very confident at all. So now what I try and do is I keep my hands in front of me. And as you've probably noticed, I'm very vocal with my hands. My hands are leading the dialogue, but that feels much more confident and comfortable rather than being in with a crust arm or holding myself or awkwardly scratch in somewhere. Being in front of being down on the table is what I would recommend when you are on camera. Body language is very important. You want to make sure you are set up or stood up straight, straight back. You don't want your arms to be in and playing with yourself. You want to keep them out or down on the table in front of you. And then of course, you want to maintain the eye contact. So make sure you're doing those three things and you'll instantly become more confident, or at least you'll appear more confident on camera. 9. Be Yourself: My next piece of advice is to be yourself. Unfortunately, it can be very tempting to try and copy other people's on-camera style. And you see this with new YouTubers all the time. New YouTubers will come in and go, hey guys, what's up? Unfortunately, they're copying other people. They're copying those famous YouTubers that are doing this at the start of their videos. And they're trying to mimic that style because they think that is what being on camera should be. But unfortunately that's not true. The best person to be on camera is yourself. The problem we're trying to mimic somebody else's style is you're trying to be something that you are not. And unfortunately, this means you're always going to be putting on an act when you are talking into the camera. And this means you're always going to be second guessing how you should be acting, what you should be saying, and how it should be delivered. Because if you're naturally a bit quieter, a bit calmer, a bit more content, and you're trying to be one of these loud, excitable YouTubers. Unfortunately, those two polar opposites, and you're always gonna be thinking, is this the right thing? Should I be saying this? Is there a better way to do this? And unfortunately, that just adds more stress into the process. So my best piece of advice to you is to be you. In a previous video, I talked all about how you should be practicing and how you should be talking into the camera and telling the camera all about your day. And this was an exercise to get you comfortable in front of the camera. So completely get rid of these videos. Don't worry about these videos. But once you've gone through this exercise and you're feeling a bit more confident on camera, try and film an actual video. So maybe you're advertising a product, or maybe you're talking about your freelance career, or maybe you're talking about something specific. Film, this video, and then watch it back. You don't have to publish this anywhere. Just film the video, watch it back and examine your delivery, examine your technique and see what needs to be worked on. Because after doing that practice exercise of talking into the camera, you've blown off the cobwebs and you should start to becoming out on camera a bit more. Your personality and who you are should be shining through a little bit more now. So you'll get a better indication of what you look like on camera after doing all of those exercises. Complete this video, watch the video back and see what you need to work on. I would definitely recommend doing this because it's going to give you that instant feedback. You film a video, watch it back, and you look at it and go, Oh, this time I was a little bit too quick. Next time let's slow it down. In the next video, you slow it down, you film it, you watch it back and you go, Oh, maybe I was too slow in this video. Let's speed it up a little bit. Film again. You watch it back and you go, oh, now I'm saying something awkward or there's too many, ums, there's too many stutters. Let's work on that. Let's go back as film of practice video. Watch this back. That's great. All those problems are solved or feeling more confident and I'm coming across confident and comfortable on camera. This whole episode can be summed up in, Be yourself. Do not try and imitate other video creators or any other presenters. And then once you feel like you have become yourself on camera, start watching those videos back and critique yourself and critique your performance and figure out what you can do to improve on the next video. And keep completing this exercise until you feel a bit more comfortable and confident. 10. Slow Down: Now this tip is probably the most important tip that I will give you in this entire course. And that is to slow down, breathe, and leave gaps when you're on camera, It's very tempting to start racing and talking all about everything that you want to talk about and you're going to deliver it in the quickest possible way and you're not breathing and you're getting yourself all caught up and you're delivering this really quick word and this really quick performance. So these dots trip over your words and unfortunately you start to say the wrong things. You're not giving yourself time to stop and think and reflect on what was said is just a race to the end. How quick can I get this done and finished? And unfortunately, that's just going to make you more stress because you'll mess up your trip up, you'll say the wrong thing. And it would just take a lot longer than you think, even if it feels like you're talking at a comfortable pace, if you watch the footage back, it's going to seem like you're talking a lot quicker than it feels like a really slow it down for the first time. Take every possible moment to think about what you're going to be seeing next. If you need to leave a gap between each section to have a moment, to think that it's completely fine. Just slow you're talking all the way down because that's going to give you the time to calculate the next thing you are saying on camera. The whole point of being on camera and talking into the camera lens is to speak to your audience. So talking slowly allows you to think about what you are saying. This means you're going to say it the correct thing. But talking slowly allows your audience to understand you. Because if you're talking really quickly, the audience is going to have to keep up. And this means they're not thinking about what you were saying and they're going to trip over what you're saying and they'll just lose interest because they'll stop being able to keep up with what you were saying. So believe me, it's very tempting when you are nervous, you feel uncomfortable. The thing you wanna do is get out of there. So you're going to naturally speed up and you're going to try and get to the finish line and try and deliver the quick as possible performance and say everything you need to say in this time. But take a breath, take a moment, deliver the lines comfortably and slowly. Take gaps between sentences. And that will give you the time you need to say what you need correctly. 11. Dealing with Negativity: One of the reasons why you might be feeling unconfident and unsure about being on-camera is because you feel like people might judge you and believe me, I totally get that because I thought the exact same thing. In fact, I even felt this on my entire first year on YouTube. Every time I posted a video, I was worried. What if somebody thinks I'm too awkward? What if somebody doesn't think I look good? What if somebody thinks a certain way? What if somebody doesn't like my accent? These are all the thoughts that were going on in my mind and there's a chance that might be going on in yours as well. Because being on camera in a video, it's a vulnerable position. You're out there for the world to see and everyone can judge you. But the best advice that I can give you, their opinions do not matter. If somebody is taking time out of their day to judge your parents what you were saying, your accent, then, shame on them. If bringing people down, is there a way of bringing themselves up, then it's kind of a poor reflection on them. So do not take notice that these people, now, most people I would like to believe, would really support you and, uh, definitely not thinking these things. I think a lot of us overthink this and I think we assume that everybody is going to judge us. You are your own worst critic. You're going to think the things that most people are not going to think. I'm very conscious about specific things in myself. And it's taken me quite a while to get over that. Understand that if somebody else thinks that who cares, It doesn't matter because I feel confident and comfortable enough to be on camera now and I've let that go. You should feel the exact same thing. Don't feel like being on camera is a vulnerable position. Own who you are and embrace the fact that you are delivering a really important service by delivering these videos. And if anybody wants to pour some negativity on that, then more for them because you're delivering a great video and your great, So honestly, do not worry about your imperfections, do not worry about any insecurities, and do not worry about everyone hating you because 99% of people are going to love the content you're producing. I do feel like a lot of people do not start filming themselves on camera for this very reason. They worry that other people are going to see that insecurities. You are your own worst, judge. So put that aside, leave that aside and just stop filming yourself because honestly, it is a great process. And being comfortable and confident on camera and owning who you are is a really great empowering feeling. 12. Outro: There you go. If you follow all of the advice mentioned in this course, you should start to feel comfortable and confident in front of the camera in next to no time. Just remember though, that it takes practice and it takes time. You don't learn how to become the best footballer in the world overnight. You don't learn how to become the best ballet dancer in the world overnight, it takes a lot of time. It can take days, weeks, months, years. So just put the practice in, make sure you're doing those practice exercises that I mentioned. So talk to the camera, tell the camera all about your day and when you feel comfortable enough talking into the camera, start to film your own practice videos. So if you're going to create a YouTube channel all about baking, maybe start making some mini baking videos. You don't have to publish them yet, but just go through the process of creating these videos so that you can get comfortable with talking into the camera. Honestly, the more you do it, the better it will become, and the more comfortable and relaxed you will feel to practice, practice, practice, and there you go. If you enjoyed watching this course, then please do consider checking out one of my other courses. I've of course is all about how you can become a YouTuber, video production, photography, and so much more over on my channel. So feel free to check out one of those courses. But if not, if this is the last time, I'll see you. Thank you ever so much for watching this course. I really do appreciate it, but hopefully I will see you on the next course. See you there.