Your “Talking Head” Videos Aren’t Enough Anymore
Everyone and their mom is talking to the camera now, giving it their all in a single angle, hoping for big views.
The competition is stiff, and honestly, your talking head probably isn’t as special as you think it is.
Unless what you’re saying is earth-shattering or scandalous, your single-shot setup is likely going to struggle to compete, on YouTube or any other platform.
But don’t worry – there are ways to add life to your videos without blowing up your schedule or production budget.
Here are seven ways make your videos more dynamic, starting with the simplest:
1. Switch Locations, Mid-Video
One of the easiest ways to keep your audience engaged is to change your location a few times in the same video. For example, make one point in your living room. Then shift to your office, then maybe your back porch.
The subtle change of scenery gives viewers a “palette cleanser” and keeps them visually engaged.
It also suggests that you’re willing to put more effort in vs. others.
Plenty of education-based creators are nailing this with two or more locations in the same video. It’s not hard to do but it feels more dynamic.
Pro tip: Bring your soft light source with you from room to room, or sit in front of windows with plenty of ambient daylight.
2. Walk and Talk
Leave your desk. Go outside. Take your audience on a stroll, vlogger style.
A real-world background gives viewers something to look at other than your face, and the movement adds energy to your delivery. I once met the creator of the channel I Allegedly in an elevator at VidSummit, and was impressed how he makes 20+ minute long video walk-n-talks in scenic locations, and dropping his thoughts on the economy and more.
Pro tip: Improvising on the fly is a skill that can take a lot of practice, even if you know your talking points. Give yourself plenty of time and patience to get good.
3. Grab a Whiteboard
Write. Scribble. Draw. It’s old-school, but totally underrated.
Just like unboxing videos, people love watching stuff unfold in real time, including your writing!
And if you can draw something that helps communicate your points, even better.
The anticipation of you writing out your next point can keep viewers engaged.
Pro tip: Use a lavalier mic clipped to your shirt so your audio stays consistent as you turn towards the whiteboard and away from the camera.
4. Toss in Some Digital Text
This is pretty standard, but text overlays from your editing software are a simple way to boost engagement, whether they’re a list of bullet points, or captions of what you’re saying. If this article were a video, the bullets we’d show so far are:
Vary locations
Walk and talk
Write on a board
Use digital text
I find text on screen oddly less engaging than hand-written text, but it’s better than nothing in that it gives people a second way to process your points – by reading and listening. (There’s a reason Mr. Beast uses those hyper-fast captions!)
Pro tip: Time your points so that they fade-in as you talk about them, so viewers stay with you and don’t read ahead. When they get ahead, you start to lose their attention.
5. Cut to Slides
Don’t want to fuss over the tediousness of text in your editing program? No problem. Dump your brilliance onto some slides and cut to those, mid-video.
Keep them clean and simple. Use Loom if you have it, so that you can include your face in the same shot.
Pro tip: Don’t run slides 100% of the time, or else it might start to feel like a corporate PowerPoint presentation. Ideally, you cut back and forth between your slides and a full shot of you speaking.
6. Add B-Roll / Stock Footage
Why stop at text or slides? Drop in some B-roll or stock footage to illustrate your points. This is where generative AI is offering all sorts of license-free options.
And if you got tired of that “AI look” in 2024, good news – it’s becoming more and more realistic.
So use those to
generate your
own visuals, or
stick
with
classic
stock
footage
services like Envato Elements.
Either way, cutting away from your face once in a while, as gorgeous as it is, is a gift to your viewers.
Pro tip: It’s very easy to overdo stock footage and get cheesy here. Just because you mention an apple doesn’t mean you need to show an apple. Be selective about when you cut to b-roll; pick clips that enhance your points.
7. Set Up a Second Camera Angle – or More
Feeling bold? Add a second or third angle.
Yes, it’s tough and annoying to manage and edit two or three times the footage, but switching perspectives gives your audience a very effective visual refresh.
Overhead shots for diagrams, close-ups for emphasis, or wide shots to give viewers the full perspective.
My friend Nate Black puts on quite a production with every upload, as you can see in the video below. It’s an all-you-can-eat buffet of angles, text, a white-board and cutaways. In my opinion, that is an element to his success.
Pro tip: Don’t go full-on profile or anything else wildly different (no “dutch angle”), because it can throw off the visual flow. Alternate angles should be not too different from the main.
Also, get some production help! Running all these cameras requires some assistance. Yes, you could try to operate them all yourself, but you’re setting yourself up for a nightmare, with one camera out of focus, and another that runs out of battery while you’re recording. I’ve been there!
The Bottom Line
Your talking head isn’t going to win a share of YouTube’s attention pie by itself. You need to make your content look as interesting as it sounds.
But don’t overwhelm yourself. Start small. Add one new visual trick at a time. The goal is to make your content more engaging without turning your production process into a circus act.
Get creative. Shift locations. Take a walk. Or, you know, add a second camera and pretend you’re running a mini Netflix special.
Whatever you do, as Hank Green used to say, don’t forget to be interesting.
