Cinematic techniques play an important role in the production of a video review. There are a lot of video reviews on the Internet; however, we would like to investigate the kind of video reviews that viewers would be more likely to click on.

Referencing to our case study, the cinematic aspects are pretty well done, when compared to the others found on YouTube. For example, the lighting is top-notch and helps the product stand out. Also, the framing of the iPhone 6 in the video helps indicate the points that the reviewer is going to discuss. These cinematic techniques help the audiences such that decoding the information is made easier and faster.

For our sketch, we wanted to see how two different video reviews would play out, if they contained the exact same content but were shot in different conditions. If a snippet were to be taken from each video and used as YouTube thumbnails, which video would a person be more likely to click on?

The clip to the left is the one with good cinematic techniques – such as good lighting and proper framing – whereas the other is shot with bad lighting and is out of focus most of the time. We decided to put them side-by-side in our sketch, accompanied by a short descriptive voice-over. By doing so, we were able to compare the attractiveness of both clips and to explore what a typical viewer would prefer.