Getting Video Right

Rachel Cossar: Welcome everyone to conversations in the future of words. I am your host, Rachel Cossar, Founder and Ceo at Virtual sapiens. And today is a special day because we have the amazing rob on with us today who is a total master in all things video. So, Rob, if you wanna just go ahead and introduce yourself quickly and share a few points about your your background and what it is that you do

Rob Ruscher: Sure. Yeah. Thank

Rachel Cossar: take for the audience?

Rob Ruscher: Thanks for having me on. My name’s is Rob Ru, and I’m a video production specialist, I guess, you could call it. So my career sends graduating collagen about what was it two thousand nine, has just been working in the commercial world and on some movie sets and Tv set. So that was kinda of my background and then through we’ll just skip to Covid because I feel like that’s where a lot of people’s careers have changed. Twenty twenty where I wasn’t able to fly all over the world and and shoot what I was you know, normally filling. And I kinda found that, oh, okay. There’s this whole tech world in Sas world. And there’s these amazing people making they’re living off of being in front of the camera, you know, by selling software, offices and teams that are now needing to communicate not in a physical space, and there was definitely that lack, you know, at first, we all had the zoom calls with the cameras looking up and seeing the ceiling fan. And and shortly after you can kinda see okay, everyone’s kinda raising the bar And it was just one of those things I fell into just helping people I knew that reached out. I started a podcast through it also just to help more people, and that’s that’s kinda where I am today. So I’m, I guess, my business is almost split it seems odd, but it just works for me where half of it is still the commercial world and a bigger sets them on and then consulting and educating professionals on how to look their best and turn their offices and their home into, like, a studio worthy space.

Rachel Cossar: Awesome. So first question kinda touches on what you shared. In a little bit of that journey evolving from what you use to do prep pandemic to what you do now But I’m curious to hear more about how your relationship to video has changed evolved as as a result of this kind of global evolution.

Rob Ruscher: Yeah. I think it’s one of those things where I’m am definitely guilty of overcome locating and doing all this. Like, the first version of my studio set was all these lights and things and rigged, and that’s just because you know, on my day dates, we set up, like maybe four to six scenes in a day. You know, you shoot a scene, You shoot it out check off on the list and then go to the next piece. On a commercial shoot, But then what I found is, okay, I can make this look good enough, you know, great for what we need to on camera. But I found there was more value in making it easy. You know, right before I got on the call with you, I was eating popcorn and watching a little bird notice Guild you know. So I was upstairs just hanging out taking a little break. I took a walk around the neighborhood. And then I only needed fifteen minutes if that, You know, I probably could have done in five. But I can just turn on these lights. I have everything set up. And as I was showing that to other, you know, especially Saas founders busy companies, marketing professionals, that’s where they were, like, oh, that’s what I need. It’s great. You can look like a movie set, but I need something that I can turn this either do the sales call, be on this podcast and then go right back to responding to emails or building out, you know, whatever my main nine to five job is. So it kinda changed as still needs to have that level of looking good. But I found the efficiency was probably the most valuable part.

Rachel Cossar: That makes a ton of sense. I I’ve always tried to be as simple with my setup as possible. I found that I didn’t wanna be sending the message to customers and clients that you needed to invest in, like fifteen hundred dollar plus you, studio situation, but that you could show up very effectively with, you know, a good laptop frame, good light and a good mic.

Rob Ruscher: Yes.

Rachel Cossar: You know. So I I totally hear you. That makes a ton of sense. And this actually brings to to our next question, which is, you know, what are some of the biggest mistakes that you tend to see professionals make when it comes to communicating or setting themselves up for fast one video.

Rob Ruscher: Oh, man. Well, there’s a lot. I guess it just it just depends. I think a lot of it is understanding that without getting like, to out there, but it is an art form, you know, figure out how to shape light on your face and make yourself look good. There is the sense of art form to it, And I would say, like, the the quick ones, maybe the biggest biggest things. One is framing. So if you just have your laptop on the desk, and it’s not even saying the laptop won’t work. But just prop it up even on some books and and keeping the level your eye level with the camera. So when the camera is down and looking up, there is like the psychological cool effect. That isn’t necessarily the one you wanna give off if you’re trying to be friendly and and gain sales and be professionals. And at the same time, people that take the cameras like, way above their monitor and look down, that’s like really popular in gaming because you can see the whole desk, but when you’re trying to sell something, you start looking kinda small and you see your floor and it gets gets distracting. So the one I I always say first, if you don’t wanna spend any money, find something to prop your camera up on. Right? So you can just see… Just like you, you’re your very eye level. I feel like we’re in the room. I think as I’ve done it more,

Rachel Cossar: Yes.

Rob Ruscher: especially with consulting. It’s like, how do you bridge that or knock down the walls, the barriers of of being on camera to feel more like your in a coffee shop that you feel like you’re across a desk talking to someone. So that that would be a big one. The framing And then those that do have lights and they have purchased equipment, you know, I I hear a lot. Oh, it doesn’t look that much different. And really, the biggest thing I would suggest and I do this on every shoot no matter what the budget is, no matter what time I have. Is I set up the camera with the frame and the background, I think I’ll be filming whether it’s an interview with sports scene, whatever, and I turn off all the lights inside. And that way, you can kinda see which each light is doing? What what does the window look like? On you with nothing else on. Because if you just start turning all these lights on, you have no idea what is doing what, and you might have double shadows and some other stuff. So it’s kinda just like, almost painting it in layers, you know, just one thing at a time.

Rachel Cossar: Right.

Rob Ruscher: And the last one is audio. You know, I think a lot of people even those that buy these podcasting mics. As soon as the mic over here. Right? You can’t hear. And it’s… If it’s just a little past me,

Rachel Cossar: Right.

Rob Ruscher: But just taking that time to say, okay, this doesn’t block my face and I’m as close to it as possible, makes a huge difference. Especially if you’re talking to a group of people.

Rachel Cossar: Mh. Yeah. No. For sure. I it’s… I had admit… I don’t have my microphone with me today. I’m traveling and I feel my so of conscience about how, like, ten or echo my voice might be coming out as, but it’s true. Like, I think even more important than getting that, like, video camera, quality, if you can get your your vocal and your voice to really catch the other person on the other end. Right Really grab their attention. That’s a huge power play. I also love what you said about framing. The other one I’d add to framing is your dis dense from the lens, I find people are accustomed to being pretty close to their screens. And when your face is like, really up in the lens, it you are and a breaking the protocols around social distance, from a professional perspective. Right? Like, professionally, we’re used to seeing the other person on the other side of people, you know, we see a certain perspective of them and that’s comfortable professionally but if you start to advance and en of on people’s personal space, even though we’re miles and miles apart, it still feels intense and a little overly intimate Right? It can be exhausting and contribute to zoom fatigue. So I’m totally with you, like, the lighting framing audio, like, that and those are all things that you do interestingly before you even start. The video engagement.

Rob Ruscher: Yeah. Totally Yeah. And it’s… It… There’s… I think there’s, like, a sense of I found a cool thing that I learned just from helping friends and stuff. The feedback I got it how I feel so much more confident. You know, I didn’t wanna be on camera. And I was like, that’s really cool. You know, I didn’t think of that. Originally, my my just tech brain was like, okay, this looks good because of lighting and this type of lens, but it’s really kinda nice and encouraging and kinda helped me inspired to keep trying to help more people is It’s just hearing, like, oh, I do more at work now. I’m signing up for more things. I’m selling more of my software because I feel better and you know, that… And especially what you were just saying with close up to the lens. A lot of people don’t realize like, especially your webcam cams, they’re a fish eye lens. So it’s a very wide lens And as your face gets closer, it it will distort your face. So I’m not saying, individual doesn’t look good, but you’re not gonna look your best, I guess, is the best way to put that. So if you… Have the cameras closest to you as possible. You might notice your face doesn’t really look the way. It looks in the mirror. So I always try to do my best to just give people the tools and resources control the way you wanna look. Because I think once you can look the way you wanna look on camera. That’s where you start feeling confident and you stop worrying so much about how you look on camera, you can just engage with who… Who’s on the other side of the camera?

Rachel Cossar: Right. Right. That’s that’s great to hear. That’s what we found as well with our tool was you give people some feedback. They are able implement the feedback. And and the the interesting thing about video two is that more so than in person, you do have the opportunity to see the changes in yourself reflected back at you. Either if you’re looking at something before you go live a little mirror demo or if you do keep yourself view on which I find distracting, but you can you can see the changes, which can be an empowering experience in enough itself. Yeah.

Rob Ruscher: Yeah. And people notice, you know, it’s not I I do a lot of, like, pitch meetings. So before Covid was, you know, usually on phone, you email on the phone, maybe you would go in with, like, a physical pitch deck and and go through But now everything is just just online. And especially when you have multiple people, like people listen to you, when you show up and you look like this, and especially me I’m selling video services. So I feel like I would be really in my head if I didn’t, you know, go a little overboard with with my setup. But It’s just crazy how much people will not really be talking why you’re talking. When you say something when you step up to add something, people really focus on you. I think it’s a lot easier. And it just… I don’t know. Do you just have this, like, heightened trying to think of the word, but you just seem more valuable, I guess is is what I’m trying to get at.

Rachel Cossar: Yep. Yeah. I think… I mean, so because we look at everything from a nonverbal perspective. Right? And if you are showing up and you’ve taken the time to set yourself up success, you are showing up in a way that your lighting makes it very easy to focus on you. Right? It makes your image pop among the c of other digital squares, Right? You’re you’re showing as much of your upper body. You know, as you comfortably can with with the right distance and you’re effectively using hands. Like, all of those things are very captivating visually. Right? The way our brains work is to detect like, we have very efficient brains. And so as soon as we see some new piece of information or a new visual, like, will our eyes would go to that. So if you are a dynamic human when you communicate, you’ll draw eyes towards you. Right? If if you’re showing up as more than just a talking head, it’s easier to relate.

Rob Ruscher: Definitely. Yeah.

Rachel Cossar: Awesome. So we kind of touched on this in last but in addition to some of those setup, what I would consider. Techniques. Are there other hacks that you found kind of can be particularly effective and setting yourself up for for doing video right?

Rob Ruscher: Yeah. I mean, the the first thing is if you If you don’t wanna spend any money, most of us have an iphone, I’ll just I’ll just assume that or smartphone and especially if you have, like, an apple computer and an iphone even if not, there’s apps out there. But going from just your built in webcam to an iphone and having an app that you can control the manual settings when the sun comes behind you, we’ve all been there. We’re all sudden, you look you know, like your a witness protection because you’re you’re all shaded in the windows there, or the Windows lasting behind. Now you don’t have to worry about that. You have a lot more controls of the lens, and you can definitely even speak probably more in this, but I love this device called a P cam. I’m not sponsored. I just love them. And all it is is it’s p gas that just goes right over your monitor,

Rachel Cossar: Yeah.

Rob Ruscher: and then you can mount either a phone or webcam. And what that does is now… As you know, just gives you that… I can look right at you in the. You know, I’m not looking over here. I’m not trying to talk to you on this monitor. It just it just brings that real to it. And that… That’s a huge thing. I mean, these these are not expensive at all. And if you already have an iphone or even an old iphone, an old iphone will work better than, you know, most of the built in webcam cams.

Rachel Cossar: Mh Mh Yeah. Totally. Yeah. The the making think if there’s a question around, like, what can you do to make your set up as ergonomic? As possible as well, because you want to make it easy for yourself to look straight ahead and cover your your eyes lands within that same kind of I Eye gaze perspective of the audience. If you are set up such that you’re oriented towards another screen in your camera’s on the side. Like, you’re just not gonna like, look over to the side as much. Right? So

Rob Ruscher: Yeah.

Rachel Cossar: Just thinking about that, I think it’s really really critical.

Rob Ruscher: It seems like the conversation is easier to get

Rachel Cossar: Thank you.

Rob Ruscher: going because I think we’ve all been especially when you first start getting on, you know, Zoom is kinda weird. It virtual car calls aren’t like something we grew up doing. But

Rachel Cossar: Yeah.

Rob Ruscher: Having a meeting and sitting down with someone as something hopefully you’ve grown up in enough social situations where that’s not so awkward so I just try to find, like, how do I get back to that? And in my head, I specifically think I’ve try to think of, like, how can I make this feel like we’re sitting in a coffee shop? Because that’s just my favorite. I feel the most comfortable having a meeting with someone

Rachel Cossar: Yep.

Rob Ruscher: over a cup of coffee. So I try to kinda ins that a little bit with with my setup. And the next thing I’ll add too just so I don’t forget because I… I’m a huge proponent on this as much like I love the video stuff. But if you are gonna spend let’s say you have a couple hundred dollars or your work has a little s for you I would do audio first. I would look at, like just some kind of microphone That can plug right into your computer, it doesn’t have to be fancy, but just being able to get the microphone close or, I find that makes the biggest difference because you could always find a different angle with maybe you have a window in the room and you can use that as your light for now. But I think a lot of people get excited because it’s fun to have the lights and cameras But really, the… I think the audio makes the biggest difference. In the professional setting.

Rachel Cossar: Growth. Right. Yeah. No. That’s a really good point. It’s a very good point. I I I agree. I I got a real microphone before I got a real extra camera. So I think that all makes a ton of sense. So here we’re gonna change tracks a little.

Rob Ruscher: Yeah.

Rachel Cossar: Like, what… So Ai Right? We’ve been talking to date about how can we show up and be more human and connect more as humans over this digital virtual channel. So what are your thoughts on Ai being used to like specifically to deep fake kind of the the the person, whether it’s adding an avatar or or just changing the way they’re kind be behaving.

Rob Ruscher: Yeah. I don’t I love I would say and before maybe this will help flow into that answer. But I love Ai for, like, pre production work like using Chat P, chat Gp, just to formulate the thoughts, but I just feel like people get really smart fast, and I think it will be easy to tell when it’s an Ai person or not when you’re on camera, You know, whether that’s the delay, whether that’s not stumbling through words, like even you and I have had

Rachel Cossar: Yeah.

Rob Ruscher: you and I’ve had to, like, okay. Let me think real quick or look up, so I can think I think that’s great. I think that shows personality and it shows, like true connection because a lot of us when we are on these, even if you are selling, well of it comes down to that connection. So maybe there’s a way to use the Ai to I don’t know. Make content that way, but I don’t know if it’s ever gonna place like the human to human interaction, But I also think you can’t ignore it because it’s one of those things where it’s not gonna go away. And all these people I see, like, especially on Linkedin that, like, hate on chat Ep and say this and that. I’m just like, that’s great. But like, while you’re spending the time, not doing it someone younger with less to lose is learning how to use it to replace

Rachel Cossar: Yes.

Rob Ruscher: you. You know? And I think that’s gonna happen. So it’s you know, I try to just keep a tab on everything, but and I know some of the software but I’m like, I’m not ready for someone to replace me. Just yet, but it… I think it’s interesting to know what options are out there.

Rachel Cossar: Yeah. Yeah. I I wholeheartedly agree. I love… I mean, the meeting sum stabilization, keep talking points, you know, Zoom Ai companion that just came out I think is actually probably one of the better experiences for in call intelligence because all these bots personally week. I find too much of a distraction. So I’m all about enhancing some of the… What would you call it? Like, the the almost like back office type work that needs to be done in order for a meeting to be efficient whether of the prep work is use suggested or some of the after kind of meeting note taking components. I think that absolutely is a great use case for Ai. I struggle with because it you can’t deny the that, like, personal personal video, at scale, components of using Ai to, like, deep fake the greeting or whatever it is. Or an entire conversation, and I agree with you that …I mean, Ai will also continue to get better as we’ll get smarter to it. So it’s kind of this really interesting relationship, but I would I would never wanna see a human get completely replaced by the digital Avatar or a deep version of themselves and trying to connect either with like another deep big version, right or or an actual human on the other end.

Rob Ruscher: That’s… Well, that’s even scared to think about it. I think that’s like a movie right there.

Rachel Cossar: Right.

Rob Ruscher: The I will start having their own friends and social network that the humans won’t be able to

Rachel Cossar: Right. Have you seen her

Rob Ruscher: to get in on, I think. Yes. Yes, I have.

Rachel Cossar: Yeah. You know, Yeah. Like, eventually, they’ll be like, oh, Sorry, guys. My Ai friends are like, just a little more on on top

Rob Ruscher: I that’s so funny.

Rachel Cossar: been on the ball than you are so. Hi.

Rob Ruscher: Yeah. And and that’s a great point too the post stuff, like, not only the the meetings and I love that for, like, podcasts that will end up doing your own episode summary. You know? And and again, what I like is that it’s using your words to do it.

Rachel Cossar: Yes.

Rob Ruscher: There’s a great app called Cast Magic. I use a lot where you can just upload the audio file and And it’ll you can also create your own prompts and they have some prem made prompts depending on what type of, like situation or what type of content it is, but I had them on my podcast, and and he was telling me they have this new app where. You could just talking into your phone. So let’s say you have an idea for live event. You have an idea for a new addition to your software. You can just rip on it and say, a data, you know, go on, and then it will formulate all that. And I like that because I’m great at speaking, but writing for some reason. I… You know, maybe it’s my Adhd, but it’s just like, my ideas are kinda all over. You know? So… Like, it helps me formulate it and condense it. Into one thing. And that way, it’s like, okay. Cool. I can spend my time. Doing something else, and not spending hours, just trying to get a newsletter out or getting this follow

Rachel Cossar: Right. Right. For sure. Yeah. I think it’s great. This

Rob Ruscher: email done.

Rachel Cossar: platform actually zinc does a great job, leveraging Ai and generative Ai specifically. Right? Like, after this episode, we’ll get a really nice summary and they’re they’re very accurate and organized. And it’s just like that kind of time is.

Rob Ruscher: Yeah. And it’s done from, like, our words. So from real people

Rachel Cossar: Huge. Yep.

Rob Ruscher: talking through things. It will just make it a little more condensed and and easier to digest

Rachel Cossar: Right. Yeah. Absolutely.

Rob Ruscher: for for the audience, which is great.

Rachel Cossar: Awesome. Well, that was that was the last question I had for you today, Rob.

Rob Ruscher: Okay.

Rachel Cossar: Wanted to thank you so much for being here. And, I mean if there’s anything else that you’d like to share with the audience and also just let let them know how they could be in touch with you directly.

Rob Ruscher: Yeah. Definitely. I mean, for for one to answer the first question, I would say it’s one of those things you just have to film. You just have to shoot and then even in my career early on, I remember people telling me that you know, they call it seat time. The only way you get better is is actually being in the seat and doing it. So I I would… On a different way. I would just Lived in dc so I take my camera. I would write in the metro. I would just film all this stuff. Just city scape and the city, do whatever. Most of it was terrible. And then all of a sudden, it was just like, oh, Okay. I get it. Yeah. I’m seeing different things. I am doing it faster and better. And same with content, even with my podcast. I mean, the first couple episodes, I definitely was feel nervous and wasn’t really sure what I was doing. But then after, you know, the sixth It’s just like, oh, okay. I know how to be myself. I kinda have an idea. So I think it’s one of the things. You just have to force through not being great. You know, it’s it’s such a scale and there’s so much to it. Even me, I’ve had a career behind the camera, but being in front of the camera completely different as as you know as well.

Rachel Cossar: Yeah.

Rob Ruscher: So I would say hopefully, you just don’t get frustrated and just try to keep filming and and doing doing what you can because all of a sudden they’ll start clicking, You’ll find your voice. And in terms of finding me, I’m most active on Linkedin it’s just my name Rob Ru, r u s c h e r, and that’s that’s where you’ll find me most of the time.

Rachel Cossar: Awesome. Great. Well, Robert’s, always a pleasure. I always learn something new when I’m talking to you. So thank you for sharing your insights with our audience. And, you know, Always happy to continue the conversation. Alright.