‘Hot For Words’ is a smash hit Web series. If you haven’t seen it yet where’ve you been? According to Tubemogul as of today ‘Hot For Words’ is registering a massive 225,901,955 all time video views and in the past 30 days alone, 13,065,929 views, ranking it as the Number 4 show globally.

With the tagline ‘Intelligence is Sexy’ the show is presented by the fabulous Russian host Marina Orlova and each show focusses on Marina explaining the origin and meaning of a Word.

I spoke to Marina about the making of her Web show and here is the Jules TV exclusive interview which has some Hot Tips for videomakers.

JTV: Right back at the beginning how did the idea come about for ‘Hot for Words’?

Marina: I have two degrees in philology which is the study of the origins of language. I’ve always been fascinated with the origins of words and I wanted to share that fascination with as many people as I could, and when a friend showed me YouTube in December of 2006, I thought.. WOW, I can tell perhaps thousands of people about etymology. I never thought that my videos would end up being seen over 220 MILLION times!!

I chose the name ‘Hot For Words’ for the channel as a kind of homage to the Van Halen song “Hot For Teacher”. I always found that I paid more attention in classes where the teacher was hot .. so why not bring that to YouTube?

JTV: What camera do you use to shoot the show, what software do you cut with plus tell me about the green screen set up?

Marina: I currently shoot with a Sony HVR-V1U Camera that shoots in HD on DV tapes. I shot the first couple hundred of my videos on my MacBook camera, but when YouTube started offering HD, I switched to the Sony. I prefer the cameras that shoot on DV tape over the hard disk units as the DV tapes make for great backups in case you ever have a hard drive fail.

As you can see in this shot I put the external mic right in front of me to get the best sound.  I have a one of those folding Blue/Green screens behind me and I use DayFlo fluorescent lights that are matched to Day Light so that I don’t have to cover my windows. The fluorescents are great because they don’t consume much electricity and they don’t get hot! I have a total of 5 lights .. two in front and 3 lighting the green screen.

I edit my videos in Final Cut Studio, which is great because it comes with all kinds of templates that can get you up and running very quickly and that make your videos look great even if you are just starting out.

JTV: Do you need to follow a strict schedule, for example do you have writing and researching days and shooting days and editing days or does it just happen when you feel like it?

Marina: I try to shoot most of my videos on Monday and then spend the rest of the week editing them. I also do my research during the week as well. I prefer to stick to a schedule as it forces me to make the videos on time. I have one of the most prolific channels on YouTube putting out more videos than most.. and my strict schedule is what allows me to accomplish that.

JTV: The show looks quite different now than even a year ago, you’ve added more effects and graphics, why did you decide to go for a more polished look and is it important keep the show moving forward?

Marina: I just changed as I got better at editing on Final Cut Pro. When you sit at a computer for 5 hours at a time editing videos, 7 days a week, you are bound to get better at what you are doing! The style of my videos simply changed with my abilities as an editor!  People also seem to appreciate it when they see you getting better and better at something.  You definitely DO NOT need to start out all polished as people on YouTube like stuff that looks home-made anyway. If you start out looking too sophisticated, people might ignore you thinking you are some big Hollywood production. This fact is actually great as it means you can start out really cheaply.. editing the videos yourself .. even if you are horrible at it!

JTV: What’s the most rewarding thing about making your own show and distributing it on the Web?

Marina: The most rewarding thing about making your own show on the net is that it is 100% YOUR OWN SHOW! You’re not at the mercy of a TV Network .. you are your own boss! What’s also nice about having your show on the net is that you get INSTANT feedback from your audience. You’ll get a lot of idiotic comments from kids, but you’ll also get a lot of helpful feedback that will help you make your show better and better! You can’t get that kind of instant feedback from other mediums!

JTV: Do you have any tips for people who want to start their own Web video show?

Marina: Make videos on a topic that you find interesting. Since you will need to make lots and lots of videos to attract your audience, it had better be something you find interesting, otherwise you will burn out before you gain traction.

Also.. get into a schedule of making videos on a regular basis … you want to build your subscriber base and there is no reason for people to subscribe to you if you are not making any videos!

Picking a topic you love will allow you to always be thinking about the next video and having that schedule down will force you to make each video in a timely manner.

I’ve posted below one of the early shows so you can see the quality difference we talked about plus I found a really great behind the scenes film made by Snob Magazine (Russia) that is worth a look too.

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