Video

  • We suggest your video to be between 1 and 3 minutes long.
  • Check the lens is not dirty.
  • Don’t cover de microphone.
  • Position your device horizontally.
  • Try stabilizing it as much as you can, that is, put it on a table or surface that doesn’t move or, if possible, ask someone to record you.
  • Try to record with the background of the place you’re quarantined in: your house, someone else’s house, etc.
  • Try that there are no loud background noises. Do what you can to record in a place where you know you won’t be interrupted.
  • Find the best possible light: if you can’t record with natural light, look for a place with good artificial light (don’t record under white lights, they deteriorate the quality of the image).
  • Don’t zoom in. If you want to record yourself closer, get closer to the cellphone. That way you won’t lose image quality.
  • Add a short text describing your video.

Text

  • Try to make your text is shorter than one page.
  • Check your story has a beginning, a middle where the facts happen, and an end.
  • Try to make your story clear. To be able to do this, writing a short diagram describing what you are going to say might help.
  • Spell proof and check the wording of your text.
  • Try that your text is coherent: use the same verb tenses (present, future, past).
  • Read it one last time before uploading it. Many times, when we re-read what we write, we notice mistakes we hadn’t seen before.

Audio

  • We suggest your audio to be between 1 to 3 minutes long.
  • Record your audio as you record a voice message, not too close and not too far, with a neutral tone of voice and without speaking too fast or too slow.
  • Don’t cover the microphone.
  • Stay away from walls as they can have a “rebound” effect causing echo, and that will look as if you were far away.
  • If you are going to record yourself in a house or a confined space, be sure you have sofas and curtains nearby. This will help to improve the sound.
  • Try not to make overly long pauses. You can have a script to read from while you record.
  • Add a short text describing your audio.

Image

  • Avoid using flash.
  • Try not to take pictures aiming at the sun or artificial light.
  • Try that your photos don’t look too crammed on one of the sides. To be able to do this, imagine your screen is divided into three sections. When you take the picture, check if one of the sections has more things than the other. For example: if you’re going to take a picture in your living room, check there aren’t a lot of things on your right or on your left.
  • Be sure of what you want to show in your picture. That way you will know what to focus on.
  • Try to take your pictures in the morning or at sundown, that’s when the light is better.
  • Try to stabilize your camera (either from your phone or a separate camera) to take your pictures.
  • If you are going to take pictures at night, be sure to use the HDR function on your camera. It is a function that improves night pictures and almost all cellphones have it.
  • Add a short text describing your image.

Comic

  • Be sure about the story you want to tell: if it’s going have text or if it’s going to be only image, if it’s going to be black and white or color, and what story you want to tell.
  • Check that your texts, if they exist, are short. We recommend your comic to be no longer than one page. The easiest way of achieving this is by creating a script where you fixate what happens in every panel.
  • Be sure to define a short title that says, briefly or even in only one word, what you want to say with your comic.
  • Add a short text describing your comic.