Include the following shots in your video:
Labeling Your Tapes
Labeling your DV Video Tapes presents challenges for many beginning videographers.
Without proper labeling, tapes become misplaced. Valuable production time is wasted. You may suffer the rath of the producer.
A successful vidoegrapher or film maker usually works with a team of highly trained professionals. They can hire script supervisors to organize their work. However, the aspiring filmmaker must be good at many tasks, including organizing their work.
When you open your new tape take care not to throw away the labels. You will need them to label your tape. Write on the label BEFORE you put the label on the tape. It is easier to write on a flat surface than a little tape. You will need to add a title, a shooting location, a date and a name on your tape. Avoid anything too long such as, “I went to Jamba Juice with my friends and we like drank our juices to fast and they were like too cold and our chests hurt and then we like screamed and the manger made us leave…” Try something like “Cold Jamba Juice”
Always place your label on the correct area of the tape. Never place the label near the moving tape cover. Place your label neatly and centered in the designated area.
You will be much happier when you have well organized tapes.
Lighting Your Video
Videos are much more pleasant to watch when your are in control of your lighting. Your lighting should always be purposeful. You control the light.
Most video cameras have automatic exposure. This means that the camera selects the amount of light passing through the lens. If you have bright light, then the camera adjusts by closing the aperture. If you have dim light, the camera will open the lens aperture.
Most beginning video makers don’t have the budget to produce well lit video, however, if you pay attention to your existing lighting conditions you can produce a better looking video.
Avoid areas that mix dark shadows and bright light.
Avoid shooting under in dim lighting. This gives your video a muddy, grainey look.
Avoid back lighting unless you are trying to create a sillouhette.
Remember, the camera does not record light as accurately as your eye. It has a narrower dynamic range. For example, you can probably see more details shadows and bright highlights than your camera can record.
High Contrast when used properly can give you a dramatic effect, familiar to many in the film noire genre.
Low Contrast, flat lighting can enhance the attractiveness of your talent.
In bright light, colors are more intense and pronounced.
Keep your camera steady, and when it moves, move it on purpose.
Most beginning video makers tend to move the camera too much. When you move your camera you should only move it on purpose. Seems simple enough, however just because your see something and move your head doesn’t mean that your audience needs to move it too. Lets say you are filming a scene and everytime you see something interesting you move the camera. You then end up with a record of your own eye movements and not a good video. Remember, your audience is perfectly capable of moving their eyes. You can set your camera on a tripod, let your action happen and your audience will watch it. You don’t have to visually say, “look at this, then look at this, then look at this.” Do it with new shots. For example: If you want to show two characters in conversation, moving the camera back and forth can be very annoying. Use single shot close-ups to create a more steady look.
Remember, use a tripod and take multiple shots. If you want the more fluid look that hand held can give you, hold the camera steady. Pretend you are taking still photos or when tracking, follow with the action.
Continuity means continuous.
Good videos have a continuous look. That means you don’t notice the cuts. Continuity can be achieved with good lighting, match cuts, and consistency in sets, props and costume. We are going to discuss continuity in sets, props and costume.
Good video making requires multiple takes of an action. That means you video the same action three, four, five or more times. Professional directors will sometimes do twenty takes of one shot and then choose the best one. When you do multiple takes you need to pay attention to all the details. Lets say you are filming a scene with objects on the table. The scene requires six different shots. An opening shot, a full shot, a two shot, two close-ups then another two shot. On the first two shot there was a large basket of doughnuts on the table, during the shoot though, your crew ate the doughnuts and during the second two shot, the basket was empty. This disparity of doughnuts resulted in a noticeable difference between shots. Also, in one of the close-ups your talent wore a hat. While eating the doughnuts she took off her hat and the director didn’t notice, resulting in another continuity error.
Pay attention to all the details in your scene.
Your set can make or break your video.
Your set should enhance your story, dialogue and talent. Your set is part of your story. Most beginning videographers can’t afford a good set so they have to adapt to their surroundings. After you develop your story, script and shotlist, you should do some scouting for a good place to film your video. Choose a place that gives you the best setting for your story. If you are thinking about recreating Hamlet but you have nothing in the way of 14th century Denmark you can always adapt your story to lets say, a high school auto shop instead of a castle.
Clean up any clutter in the area. Less is more. You don’t want to confuse your audience. Avoid clutter. Avoid accidental live action in the background. Avoid merging of background objects with your center of interest. Spend some time looking through the camera at the scene. Use the viewer to FRAME your scene. Study how the background and foreground interact. Avoid any busy action that interferes with your story telling. If it doesn’t belong then it is wrong.
Budget minded professionals often use tight closeup shots. They save money by not having to pay close attention to the background. You can do the same by positioning your camera so that most of the face is in the frame.
Long and boring.
In the 1920’s the average shot length of an American film was about 5 seconds. Modern Hollywood film makers use an average shot length of 4.5 seconds. Not much difference in 80 years. It takes the viewer only a few seconds to see what is going on in your scene. You are telling a story and you don’t need to make your shot any longer than the time it takes to tell it. For example, it takes about 3 seconds to say, “walking up the stairs” You don’t need to show the entire journey up the stairs you just need about 3 seconds of a walking up the stairs shot. Some shots involve complex dialogue that requires a long take. Some directors want to explore the limits of mise en scene and use long takes. However, beginning film makers need to keep the short and sweet rule of film making. Tell them only what you need to tell them, or show them only what they need to see.
Zoom
Almost all cameras have a zoom effect built into the lens. The zoom changes the focal length of the lens. That’s the actual length of a lens. A longer lens gives you a telephoto effect while a shorter lens gives you a wide angle effect. For most shots you don’t have to use the zoom feature. The zoom is an effect, and you only use an effect when you need it to tell your story. Lets say your want to reset your center of attention without changing shots. You might have wide establishing shot and you want to shift to the main characters. You might want to try a zoom effect for that shot.
Zoom abuse. Many new video makers will use the zoom much too often. They zoom in and out randomly. Make your zooms purposeful and use it sparingly.