Video Manual

Creating high-quality videos on your smartphone

Are you ready to film high-quality video blogs with your smartphone? With the accessories we’ve provided, you can now help us add videos to your website, social media accounts, blog posts and more. And we’ll also provide editing.

Why should doctors do video blogs? Several reasons:

• It makes them more human to existing and prospective patients, building patient trust
• Videos supplement one-to-one consultations and patient education
• Video blogs help a healthcare provider share his or her views and care philosophy
• Both video and written blogs can bring more traffic to a provider’s website, building a practice’s reputation and online visibility
• Video blogs are often faster and more convenient to create than written blogs.

To get started, watch our video tutorial:

Setting up your tripod & microphone

The Acuvar smartphone tripod requires minimal assembly.

1. Remove the tripod from the black carrying sleeve inside the box.
2. Locate the phone mount in the packaging, the one piece of the tripod that’s not already assembled. It’s a rectangular-shaped clamp.
3. Align the gold threads on the mount with the silver screw on the tripod. Ensure that the rubber-lined base of the phone mount sits on the opposite side of the small plastic switch that’s on top of the tripod.
4. Tighten the mount to the tripod by turning the knob beneath the silver screw (rather than twisting the mount itself). Tighten until it is snug and held securely in place.
5. To attach your phone, pinch the rubber flap, open the clamp and insert your smartphone.
6. Unwrap the smartphone video microphone, packaged separately from the tripod. Plug in the microphone to your phone’s headphone jack, and attach the microphone to your lapel, shirt or blouse. Once it’s plugged in, it’s good to go!

Tips for filming video blogs

Your Vanguard Communications team will work with you throughout the year on video blog topics. You may also have some of your own in mind. Below are general tips.

• Use the camera on the back of the phone rather than selecting the “selfie” camera option. The front-facing selfie cam produces lower quality videos on most smartphones.
• Make sure your phone is always filming horizontally, and not vertically in portrait mode.
• Use the bubble level on the tripod (right below the phone mount) to ensure the shot is level.
• Avoid harsh light sources behind you. For example, do not sit in front of a window, instead find a place with light facing you from the front. Also, try to find a location relatively free from noises and distractions.
• Remember that the popular videos on the internet are usually no more than 2 minutes long. Please aim for no more than 3 to 4 minutes in length. Vanguard can edit your video to length, but it’s far easier to work with shorter lengths.
• Don’t hesitate to prepare reference notes prior to recording. If necessary, you can write them on a pad or on so-called butcher block paper to refer to while you’re filming.
• Feel free to send multiple videos to Vanguard, including as many “takes” as you need. If you need to break the video into shorter segments or re-record a segment, that’s completely okay. We can patch together different pieces on our end, usually almost seamlessly.
• Be yourself! One of the benefits of video is that people have an opportunity to see your personality – let it shine!

Sending your video to Vanguard

Once you’ve finished filming, you have several options for sending your video to Vanguard for editing.

• Draft an email on your phone, attach the video(s) to the email, and send it directly to Vanguard. This should be the easiest option for small video files.
• If you have a Google or Gmail account, you can use Google Drive to send files too big to attach to emails. There’s a free Google Drive app on the Android, Apple and Windows app stores that can be very useful for this purpose.
• If the above methods aren’t an option, we use an internet delivery service called HighTail that allows the sharing of large media files. If needed, we can set up a free HighTail account for you, and walk you through how to send the files that way.