Making videos requires seeing the Rotary story in a different way. How do we convey that we are people of action who are taking tangible steps to make a difference in this world? There are already assets out there that show the Rotary story in a big picture way and these can be found on myrotary.org in the brand center and on YouTube and Vimeo.......
Simply do a search/find for the terms ROTARY and PEOPLE OF ACTION or ROTARY and POLIO and you’ll find some. The newest People of Action can easily be uploaded and embedded from there or from the Brand Center on MyRotary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxze-dj5Ll0
There are also a lot of Rotary videos about Ending Polio and Doing Good in the World. Simply subscribe to the Rotary channel on YouTube to
stay updated. You can find that channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/RotaryInternational
Many clubs and districts want to make their own videos and/or add in images to the end of the existing Rotary assets. Staff at Rotary International is
currently looking for ways to make those videos more easily customizable, and we will keep you updated as new tools become available.
HOW TO MAKE A VIDEO: (SORT OF. THE SIMPLE, CHEEKY VERSION)
1. Ask everyone in your Rotary club and district and make them do it for you. Claim it will make them all better Rotarians because it is a gift of service above self. Offer bribes. No, not really. Just gifts. Legal gifts that pass the Four Way Test.
2. If you don’t have any takers and you can’t afford to pay someone to do it, proceed with the following steps.
3. Determine what you’re going to use to make the video. Options include:
a. Smart phones – (Some footage in the five-summit video is caught with this).
b. Video cameras – Don’t use VHS or Super 8 because the files are hard to transfer to digital format.
c. DSL Cameras with video capabilities - (This is what was used for the Bar Harbor Club videos)
d. Your webcam on your laptop. You won’t be able to move around and quality will be poor, but does it matter? (Hint: Yes, it matters sometimes. But not all the time.)
e. Super expensive cameras made for filming televisions shows. Hey. You’re a Rotarian. Go all out. No! Not really. This does not pass the Four Way Test. Believe me. I have seen people try.
4. Record the content.
a. This is the fun part, the creative part. To make a video, you have to record stuff.
b. Come up with an idea.
c. Record that idea.
d. When recording try to make sure everything is well lit. Speak so others can understand you. Dance around. Drink wine or chocolate milk – whatever makes you happy and your people happy. See our hints pull out.
5. Transfer that content to a program.
a. Unless your video is filmed as one file with one consecutive stream, you are going to need to send it to a computer to cut and splice and arrange the segments. To do that, you need a program. iMovie, Davinci Resolve and HitFilm 4 Express are all free and work well for beginners. Adobe Premier Pro, Final Cut Pro X, Vegas Pro are awesome for the more advanced and also cost money. Think about your budget. Do you have one? Did you spend it all on wine and chocolate milk? If so, go with a free option.
b. To transfer content to your computer, connect your phone or camera with a cable. There are a million tutorials about this. You can do it!
c. Once your content is transferred make sure to find the footage. It’s often in your computer’s ‘videos’ or ‘photos’ folders. Videos like to get lost. They are like members who show up for two months of meetings and then disappear and you can’t quite remember their names or how to find them.
d. Remember to save your video and select the proper Export options. Put that video on your desktop so you can find it without breaking the Four-Way Test.
6. Share it with the world – Upload Your Baby – YOU CAN DO IT!
a. YouTube and Vimeo and Google Drive are great places to upload your video to and then from there you can share it to the world. To open those applications, you need to have accounts. These are easy to set up.
7. Celebrate Your Success
a. Show that video everywhere. Toast it with wine and/or chocolate milk. Bask in your success in sharing the Rotary story.
To see two of the district’s different approaches to videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzjEYfaB4-w&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiWfn_n3i1k
To see how my own Bar Harbor club created
a video to promote the club itself: https://vimeo.com/221977321
And a shorter version: https://vimeo.com/221968486
And a long four-minute version: https://vimeo.com/222047309