What will you do to make your edits better?

Let's throw out some brainstorming ideas for this year. I'm hopefully going to start filming next weekend at Lake McClure on a camping/drinking extravaganza and I have a few ideas up my sleeve for what I will be doing.

After the thread about music we do and do not want in edits it has helped me narrow down my choices for what I will use this year.

I think I will probably use "Son of a Preacher Man" by Dusty Springfield or "Animus Vox" by The Glitch Mob in my first edit this year, whichever doesn't make it for the first will be in the second. "Animus Vox" is a very expected song and I probably won't be the only person using it this summer, which makes me hesitant to use it at all.

LIFESTYLE SHOTS, I think are huge this year. Videos are getting better year by year, I think what makes a great 3-5 minute video is how well it can pull you in. You want to be able to watch the video and feel as if you were there. At least I do. I really don't care to see your trip to the lake at 500x speed and then you launch your boat and wakeboard for 2 minutes then close it with a funny clip of your friend. That is every action sports video on youtube ever, let's switch it up a bit this year.

Different angles. SO IMPORTANT. A GoPro can make a huge difference in your videos. Get behind the boat and film, either from a board or a tube. Set it up on shore and get ride by shots, or use another camera for that. Chase boats will make great shots if you have the ability to use one.

All of this may sound like a big production to do but not really. If you are worried about driving a chase boat behind the rider, then go off to the side where you don't have to worry. But these different angles can make a huge difference in video quality.

LESS TRANSITIONS. No star wipes please, over editing kills videos. What I think makes a great video are a few cross dissolves and GREAT TIMING. I cannot explain how many videos I watch where the riding kicks grass and it doesn't look as good as it should because the hammers are dropped off beat. If you are going to film something and put music to it, make it match up.

What I think makes a big difference as well is picking your music before you shoot. If you know what you want to put in your timeline, you can film accordingly and it makes the video much higher quality.

(NOW LET'S HOPE I GET THE HD HERO 2 FOR MY BIRTHDAY OR I WON'T HAVE A VIDEO TO MAKE!)