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Some of the smoothest, most cinematic moves you'll see are dolly shots, where the director mounts a camera on a wheeled tripod and moves it toward or away from a stationary subject. How can you do it? Simple:
- Fake a dolly with a skateboard or a baby carriage (minus the baby, of course).
- How about a rolling office chair? You'd need a dolly driver to maneuver for you, but with a couple of rehearsals, you could get an interesting new shot.
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| | Put together a budget-friendly light kit |
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Some of the smoothest, most cinematic moves you'll see are dolly shots, where the director mounts a camera on a wheeled tripod and moves it toward or away from a stationary subject. How can you do it? Simple:
- Fake a dolly with a skateboard or a baby carriage (minus the baby, of course).
- How about a rolling office chair? You'd need a dolly driver to maneuver for you, but with a couple of rehearsals, you could get an interesting new shot.
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Relax, find something interesting, and enjoy your subjects. You can always cut it short in the editing.
- Don't cut off the action too soon.
- Let the actions develop and play themselves out.
- Avoid changing your angle constantly as if you were a dog hunting for treats.
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It's true for camcorders as well as cameras: optical zoom, good; digital zoom, bad. You may have been suckered into buying a particular model because it touted some astronomical digital-zoom number (240X! 300X! 800X!), but unless you like grainy, pixelated video, never use it. If you need to get even closer to your subject, follow the old photographer's maxim: Zoom with your feet. |
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Since the dawn of the VCR, people have been using LP (long play) mode to fit more video on each tape--at the expense of video quality. What's worse: a gap of 2 to 3 minutes while you swap in a new tape or an entire video that looks grainy? The latter is what you'll get from LP, even if you have a high-end camcorder. If you really need to fit more video on each tape, try a little in-camera editing. Shoot only the scenes you really need; pause the recording during long, uneventful stretches. |
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This one's a no-brainer: pack an extra battery. In fact, pack two. And throw in the charger/power supply if you're going to be shooting near an AC outlet. At best, you'll be able to run your camcorder off electricity; at worst, you can toss your drained battery on the charger after you swap in the fresh one. There's just no excuse for running out of juice while you're filming. Also, remember that all rechargeable cells wear out over time. A battery may give you an hour of power when it's brand-new, but after 12 to 18 months, it may peter out after 30 minutes. Thus, you should not only augment your equipment with extra batteries, you should plan on periodically replacing your batteries as well. |
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Even if your camcorder has image-stabilization features, they can't compare to the physical stability of a tripod. Unless you're specifically going for that overused documentary-style shaky look, put your camcorder on a tripod. You'll be amazed at how much better your video looks. |
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| | Use editing soft ware for special effects |
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Lots of digital camcorders offer special effects, everything from sepia to slo-mo to letterboxing. These can be fun to fool around with, but when the time comes to shoot your scene, turn off the glitz. Likewise, skip the camcorder's autofade features; your editing software will give you far greater control over transitions and greater variety as well. The one exception to all this is letterboxing (16:9 aspect ratio); if you want those DVD-like black bars at the top and bottom of your video, it's better to frame your shots with them already in place. Apply special effects using your editing software instead (a little maneuver the pros like to call postproduction). |
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Let's say you're filming your daughter's soccer game. Convenience dictates that you put the camcorder on a tripod, frame the field, then go chat with the other parents. But the creative thing to do is film the game from different angles: behind the goalie, atop the bleachers, and so on. Even if you're not planning to edit the video into a fast-paced, Bend It Like Beckham-style montage later on, you'll avoid the staggering boredom of watching the entire game from the same perspective. Whenever possible, mix up your shots. Get high, get low; move in close, shoot from afar. Add the occasional pan or slow zoom. In short, do the things you can't do in postproduction. |
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Remember that soccer game? The video you shoot of the game itself is A-roll--the primary action, the main focus of the movie. B-roll is supplemental footage, the extra stuff you shoot to fill in gaps, transition a scene, hide a zoom, or illustrate something that's being described in A-roll. In the soccer example, this could be your daughter getting ready for the game, a close-up of the coach shouting instructions, shots of other parents' faces while they watch the game, and so on. When the time comes to edit, you can sprinkle these shots throughout the movie, thereby adding visual diversity and making it much more interesting to watch. Obviously it takes some extra time and effort to shoot B-roll, which is why most videographers forget--or neglect--to do it. But when you see how much it can add to your movie, you'll find its well worth doing. |
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