Video is an incredibly important part of any online marketing campaign and, in my first months as a freelance marketer, I discovered social video to be one of my greatest strengths.
My background in music gives me the edge when it comes to video editing. Audio quality is one of the biggest indicators of amateurish and unprofessional video, so it’s a real advantage to understand processes like compression, EQ, etc, and to have plenty of tricks to record great audio in the first place.
While I was teaching guitar, I developed skills as a filmmaker to create resources for my students. Over time this developed into a successful YouTube channel and gave me a professional skill set I could offer to others. More recently, I have written and directed short films, performed well in international film competitions, and built up an amazing creative team (pictured).
Social Video
In 2024 I was brought on board the WeeblsStuff team to reconnect with existing Weebl fans on the apps and introduce a new generation to the madness. This was a great opportunity for me to work on videos that got significant views (we’re talking severals of millions) and engage with a super responsive community.
If you’re interested in repurposing old video content for social platforms, check out the Case Study linked below: includes details on the process, the technical details and the results.
Roman Armstrong
One of my first clients, magician Roman Armstrong wanted to pivot away from children’s parties and target a more grown-up audience: corporate events, weddings, etc.
We made the most out of Roman’s natural charisma and incredible, magic skills, and developed a series of tricks that could be delivered down a camera lens, on to Instagram.
Once per month, we filmed a batch of content which would then be spread out over the next 4 weeks.
“Liam helped work with me on my website and social media platforms for my business as a magician. He helped clarify exactly what I wanted when I was unsure of what directions to go in. Not only is he someone I can trust, but as a creative he’s someone I have fun bouncing ideas off. Thanks to Liam, I’ve had way more leads!” – Roman Armstrong
Department of Magical Gifts
The Department of Magical Gifts was a small, independent store in central Cambridge. They specialised in movie memorabilia from Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, etc. The strategy I developed revolved around comedy-driven social video, so every week I would write a short sketch based around items in the store that could easily be performed by members of staff.
“I knew it was working when customers told me they’d seen us on Instagram and loved the videos so much they had to see the store for themselves” – Roger Lefever, owner, Department of Magical Gifts
Conversation Hat Podcast
The Conversation Hat is a comedy podcast for geeks, artists and terrible people. The show has been running for several years and, as well as co-hosting, I’m also responsible for editing the show and it’s marketing assets.
This is, by far, where I spend the most time editing social video. We knew that video highlights would be vital to reaching new listeners. From Jan 2024, our goal was to release 5 highlight videos each week. In order to keep on top of this it was necessary to develop shortcuts, templates, etc, to minimize the edit time and focus on creating compelling content.
We noticed an increase in podcast downloads and the platforms seem to reward us for consistent uploads.
Harri Beasley Events
In the summer of 2023, Harri Beasley hired me to film a series of live music events in Cambridge. He was promoting 8 events on Saturday nights one after the other. My job was to attend the first 2 events, capture as much footage as I could, and edit them into highlight videos for the event’s social media channels. I only had a week to edit the footage as, naturally, we needed to get the adverts out ASAP.
The 2023 series was a great success – so much so, that Harri invited me back to do exactly the same thing in 2024!
More social video projects
Peaked Interest YouTube channel
Round Fox jewelry
Missed Apex F1 podcast
Enterprise Consulting UK LTD
Video Podcasts & Talking Heads
Everything I’ve learnt about marketing stems from my own audio projects. I got into podcasting before “podcast” was a household term, long before the emergence of video podcasts.
Here is a great example of video podcast editing. I’m on call with Missed Apex for odd jobs: any time there’s a sudden influx of content their usual team can’t support. In this example, my job was twofold.
Firstly, I had to ensure consistent audio quality and levels, even though the speakers were recording online, from different parts of the world, all using different equipment.
Secondly, I had to edit the video so it was consistent with previous Missed Apex content. Sometimes this is straightforward, but sometimes you need to make creative decisions to hide bugs caused by latency and other magical tech factors.
Educational Video
I’ve spent many years creating long-form, educational videos. I got started on YouTube creating videos to keep my private guitar students engaged, which would eventually become the LTGuitarist Music Channel and collaborations with various music brands:
One of the successful channels I ran was Stabbed Panda Music, music education content and journalism around independent artists. Our Music History series was particularly popular, embedded is a video on Medieval Music. This is a straightforward, factual look at the Medieval period and how music developed including well-known composers, instruments, dates, etc.
During my time with Enterprise Consulting UK LTD, we created a widget for the website that could accurately provide quotes to new customers. This set us apart from our competition who would typically require a client’s contact info before providing a quote. Pricing was a real strength of ECUKL, so the no-obligation quote widget was part of that.
We wanted to highlight this feature, so I created an educational video explaining all quote widget, and the various factors that impact pricing.
I collaborated on the video’s script with the technical director of ECUKL, edited it and provided voiceover myself.
This video was created for North Hertfordshire Council. They created a certification for local businesses with the aim of creating a safer nighttime economy for women and girls. The Violence Against Women & Girls initiative (“VAWG” for short) included training for staff and managers at venues, bars, etc, to help them recognize unsafe situations and act accordingly. They needed an introductory video to promote the initiative, and as a first point of call for interested parties.
My job was to write a script in collaboration with the North Herts staff; suggest a duration and format that engaged viewers throughout; direct the shoot (my good friend Richard Jackson was camera op for the day); capture audio; compose the background music; and create 2 edits – 1 for YouTube and 1 for social platforms.
North Herts Council were thrilled with the result, and so am I.
Animated Music Video
My first steps in media creation were based in music, so it’s only natural that I’ve developed some interesting approaches to creating music videos. Typical techniques include modern audio animation techniques, circuit bent video hardware, audio reactive hardware, found footage and footage of live performances.
My approach with music videos is similar to my approach with design – take any opportunity to physically touch the project in real life. Great examples include creating bespoke grunge layers, visual effects as well as hardware video editors.
SD Video & Circuit Bending
The music video for Sunset by The Musical Endeavour takes the form of a video collage, using hardware video editors from the early 2000’s.
Audio Animation
Animated video for The Offering, score for short film Type Till You Bleed, prominently features a waveform animation – you can see the music fly by as you hear it.
Chaotic Montage
The video for Cadillac Deathtrap by 6AM Saint was a combination of audio animation and archive footage, frantically interspersed, through a monochromatic filter.
If you’re looking for more music-related services, click here.
Trailers
The Freestyle Cowboy Showdown is a short parody of The Power Of The Dog (2021), shot by Richard Jackson and Michelle Siu. One of my roles on this project was to edit together a trailer using their footage. The embedded video won Best Trailer at the 2022 DAFTA comedy awards.
I’ve been creating YouTube content for over a decade, so was well placed to create a snappy, short trailer to hook viewers and encourage them to watch the full parody. I’ve found that there’s a lot of crossover between editing social video and editing trailers – short form video designed to encourage viewers to take some form of follow-up action.
LT Content Marketing 