What is a video clip?
A video clip is a short video that aims to educate or communicate a substantive message. Clips might feature a person filming themselves, an animated GIF or some conference excerpts.
The only real requirements are that clips must not be too long (no more than 15 minutes) and they must have a clear purpose. Companies and major brands now use clips to report figures, communicate their values and present upcoming projects.
For example, a vlog (i.e. a short video sharing insights into a creator’s daily life) is considered to be a type of video clip.
The French digital education council DANE defines this concept as: “a short-form written, oral or audiovisual production addressing a specific topic or theme”. This production may be distributed via social media, an official website or email.
Defining features of a video clip
Video clips differ from a feature film in several ways:
- They last no longer than 15 minutes.
- Their purpose is not to entertain, but to provide useful, practical content to Internet users.
- They can take a variety of forms, including testimonials, humorous videos and commented slideshows.
Pros and cons of video clips
HAL Open Science conducted a survey examining the behavior of 2,000 university students shown video clips between 3 and 14 minutes in length. Some of these clips were viewed 20,000 times.
The surveyed students emphasized the fact that they were able to view sections they were particularly interested in multiple times, and therefore target their learning. They also appreciated diagrams and GIFs that stimulated their visual memory. Additionally, they could isolate the video footage in order to make their auditory memory work. In short, video clips are an effective tool for learning faster and better.
Their only weakness is that they are not suitable for exploring a subject in depth. Complex themes tend to be over-simplified. It is therefore important to supplement video clips with other teaching methods.
The video clip approach on digital platforms
Madeuxièmeécole.com is a French-language YouTube channel that uses short videos to explain, mathematical concepts taught in high school. This approach is ideal for revising basic notions. The channel has around 2,000 subscribers, but some content items have racked up nearly a million views.
Video clips can be used to cover a huge range of topics. All activity sectors can use them. Examples include tutorials to help consumers or messages to inform employees about planned changes within the company. This format can also be used in e-commerce to present new products.
