You may be familiar with TLC’s reality television show “What Not to Wear” which first aired in early 2003, and stared fashion stylists Stacy London and Clinton Kelly.  In each episode Stacy and Clinton would select an unknowing candidate, guilty of extreme fashion neglect, and give them a much needed style makeover.

Don’t worry.  You’re 1980’s Led Zeppelin t-shirt collection is safe with me🙂, but did you know that a video camera actually prefers some fashion choices over others?  The next time you are examining your wardrobe for a camera ready selection, please feel free to use these suggestions:

The Don’ts:

1. Pinstripes, herringbone, or Scottish tweed. 
   • While dapper in person, small tight patterns on camera will render the Moiré effect.
2. Saturated red.
   • Unless you have a pro-grade camera this color will bleed in your shot. 
3. Creating high contrast with your complexion.
   • The camera will have trouble exposing if:
     • You have a very dark complexion and wear solid white
     • or if you have a very  pale complexion and wear solid black
4. Fabrics that make noise when they move, or are pressed against a microphone
   • Wind suits and other crinkly materials
   • Wool suits when wearing a lapel.
5. Clothes that have no place to clip a microphone/ no pockets to hide the microphone pack.
6. Green clothes if you will be using a green screen.

The Do’s

1. Mid-range solids or subtle patterns
   • Navy blue always works. 
2. A collar or neckline where you can clip a microphone
3. A pocket for the microphone pack
4. Soft non-textured fabrics
5. Something that makes you feel comfortable and confident

Best of luck!  You are now camera ready. 

If you are an educator, you know that you should never get up in front of a class without first preparing a word-for-word script.  You must make sure that everything in your lecture is grammatically correct, that the vocabulary is impressively academic, and that no detail is left unmentioned.  You should spend as much time as it takes to memorize this presentation, because you know what messing up means!  The class will expect you to start over again from the very beginning, and keep repeating this process until everything is absolutely perfect.

Assuming the above assertion sounds completely ridiculous, why do so many of us default to this behavior in front of camera?  We prepare this script, look into the camera, and try our very best to recite it from beginning to end without missing a beat.  If we do mess up we stop, apologize to the camera operator, and start over from the beginning.  With this method it can take as much as an hour to get out a one to two minute course introduction.

This happens because it is completely normal to be nervous at the thought of being recorded, especially if you are new to the medium.  It is important to realize that students, and viewers in general, do not expect the online educator to be a Shakespearean actor or actress.  In fact, I would argue, that many of them are hoping that this will not be the case.  (Sorry English instructors 🙂 )  They don’t want a script!  They want someone like you, who knows what they are talking about, and who presents the material in the same conversational way that they would in a classroom setting.  Be real with them, and know that your tiny mistakes are indeed tiny.  If you don’t draw attention to them they will fall below the level of cognitive perception.

So next time you get in front of that camera, leave the script at home.  Have an outline of talking points, and maybe a few notes in the margin, but remember above all else to be yourself!  You are engaging, reciting a memorized speech is not.