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Home Video Tips| Improve home video movies|make better videos
This paper aims to assist the home video movie maker to achieve better results and more natural movie making with your home video camera. Tips and tricks as well as some basic rules will help you make a far more pleasing video of your holidays and landscapes, also the family activities and events such as weddings and sports.
As you can guess, Avid Tech receives hundreds of video tapes each month some are great, most are pretty average and could do with some of these tips and tricks to make more enjoyable home viewing with less expensive editing and frustration for those who edit at home.
The most common errors we see are the main downfall items for the beginner.
Camera Shake. A tripod is an essential, even a pocket mini pod will help you here
Zoom excess zooming. Zoom first then hit the record button
Panning, too much information too fast panning.
Composition, learn about the rule of thirds in film and video making
Short takes, use your video tape it has 60 minutes unlike your old Super 8 which had less than 4 minutes
No motion-static imagery. May be the digital still camera would be useful or try to use the 7 second still capture feature in digital video cam corders.
Are these bad sins?
No not really, they are born out of the use of film when film was short and you needed to catch it quick.
Often, there is no training when you purchase a video camera and little help in the manual, how are you expected to go beyond just running it let alone using all those digital features. There is a very strong case for a instructional DVD to be made and supplied with video cameras as there is little out there to assist you so like most of us we learn by trying this and trying that until we experiment with our new camera and learn what works and what to avoid.
Taking each point above and making it a doddle to improve your home movies out of sight.
Camera Shake. What causes camera shake?
An unsteady hand...zoom set too close in will make this worse.. Digital zoom, if you have it set to 30X or more then camera shake is inevitable even with a sturdy tripod.
A camera with its zoom set to fully wide is more stable and you can engage the feature of "Steady Image" or inage stabiliser built into most digital video cameras, but be warned they have some draw backs and should not be used when you have a steady camera hand or set on a tripod as the steady image system may have it's own idea of wht it is recording. Steady image is great tool when you need to video free hand while walking, moving in a car etc, but should not be needed when filming from a aircraft, hot air ballon or other stable platforms.
To stop camera shake make a habit of always having the video camera either fixed to a mono pod ( one legged tripod) or at least a pockect tripod and also make a point of having a sturdy light wieght metal tripod in the boot- trunk of your car, you will thank me for it later.
Plan to use a stable tripod or mini tripod before you shoot, I know impropmtu opportunities means that a tripod is not going to be high on the list of priorities, however a ready steady base for your camera is often a quick look for a rail, car hood, fence or what ever you can lean the camera against for a steady influence will help but of course you now carry a tripod of sorts with you everytime you take the camera out with you don't you?
Resist zooming unless there is simply no alternative, if you can move you and camera closer then do so. Zooming makes for very shaky video, with zoom less is more.
When video of landscape is on the agenda, keep the zoom out wide and a tripod is a must you shoudl always be equipped for this.
If you do not have a wide angle lens attachment for landscapes you can use a cinema trick of shooting in 16 x 9 letterbox mode which will give a spectacular result ( if you must pan see the panning tips) camera shakle is not a problem when doing this method and remember to shoot a little longer 60 to 90 seconds of a landscape is good footage, it can be edited later if you must.
If you can control the shutter speed of your camera and many programmed AE cameras allow for shutter control, see if you can increase the shutter speed a little at least, the ideal is 1/250 th and a baseline of1/125 is good. It may surprise you to know that many video camera shutter speed settings are fixed at 1/50 or 1/60 th of a second (PAL and NTSC) by default which is not the best for helping to keep the image steady. Depending on how your AE system works ie: Apature Priority or Shutter Priority, both systems can usually be manipulated to help you achieve your goals here. Since there are thousands of brands and systems we urge you to go back to the little bool that came in the box with your cam corder to help you understand how it works and what settings can help you such as mode setting for things like sunny, landscape, close up-macro and protrait or backlit. These modes can help you get the right expsure for most situations.
Having said that if you own a Sharp handy cam you just need to point and shoot, forget about everything and concentrate on the golden rules.
In Summary of Camera Shake
Buy at least one small tripod, keep one in the car at all times and have a minipod in your camera bag, another handy gadget is a sandbag to use as a steady base.
Visit your best camera store and look at and try several tripods to see what suits you and your travel or activity needs, some people have 4 or more steady items to help them achieve a flawless production.
Don't Zoom in-move in. Zoom kills a steady image, try it and you will see for your self as you telescope in towards your target it becomes increasingly difficult to keep the image steady this is due to optical systems and even with digital zooming things can become very hairy and difficult. Remebr get in closer if you can and a steadier image is the result.
Panning- Dead pan better video easy on the eyes.
Fast pans or moving your camera in a sideways motion too fast is very distressing for viewers, especially on a large screen.
Pan slowly-smoothly, and again use the tripod pan handle to smooth the move. It is easier to deal with a slow pan than a fast pan in editing as well so take your time.
Hand panning for sports action needs a fast shutter speed unless you are looking for motion blurring for effect, in lanscape use it is always better to have a steady base to work with.
Fade Control
Scene change cut-cut in is a method that you stop the recording and then nove the camera to it's new position so that the next scene is an instant scene change or you can use a disolve or transition when editing, this keeps things interesting and provides a direction as well as allowing you to plan continuity with several scenes in your tape to choose from.
Composition- rule of thirds.
Imagine your image cut in equal thirds vertically and horozontally and you will note a grid, some video and still cameras have these permenatly etched in the view finder or focus screen. This set of lines will help you to compsoe your image and leave room for title space and provide a balance for viewing video.
Make use of an imaginary line if you do not have an actual grid to work with and you will slowly understand how the rule of thirds works.
The rule of thirds is not new all professional film makers and photographers know it's value and use it in daily practice.
You do not have to follow these rules in absoloute terms but understanding how it can assist you to produce better video is going to make your movie making so much more rewarding and enjoyable.
The rule of thirds
Rule of thirds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An example of a compositional arrangement based on the rule of thirds (courtesy http://neptunedivers.com/)
The rule of thirds is a compositional rule of thumb in photography.
The rule states that an image can be divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines. The four points formed by the intersections of these lines can be used to align features in the photograph. Proponents of this technique claim that aligning a photograph with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the photo than simply centering the feature would.
The photograph of the cuttlefish to the right is an excellent example of the rule of thirds. First, both cuttlefish are positioned where two lines intersect, sometimes called the "power points", as denoted by the yellow circles. Second, the right cuttlefish's right tentacle (our left) is lined up with the lower horizontal line, highlighted in yellow. Subjects in the photograph don't have to hit a line to take advantage of the rule of thirds, however. Notice that the rock formation in the background moves diagonally from section A1 to C3, along the dotted yellow line. Lastly, note the right cuttlefish's left tentacles (our right) flow down the far right column from section C1 to C3 (highlighted in yellow).
The application of the rule of thirds to photographs is considered by many to make them more aesthetic and professional. The rule of thirds can be applied by lining up subjects with the guiding lines, placing the horizon on the top or bottom line instead of the center, or allowing the subject(s) to flow from section to section, as is done with the example photograph.
So there you have it and all of the rule of thirds applies equally to film making and video movies as well. Use the rule to help frame your image, leave the zoom toggle alone and use wide angle as much as is reasonably possible.
Adopting these easy and worthwhile habits now will make your videos look a treat.
Home Video Tips| Improve home video movies|make better videos
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