Keeping the Memories - Video Cameras

The A Day In™ Guide to Video Cameras

Using a video camera is now a fairly simple affair. But using one effectively is still very difficult. Follow these simple but effective tips to ensure you capture the special moments

• Set the camera properly before you need to use it - Make sure for example that if you are going out for the day it is not still set to "night shots" or backlighting.
• Pan & Zoom - Both are very important tools in video but don't overuse them. Too much movement can destroy a good scene and cause discomfort to the audience.
• Still camera - The best video shots are taken when the camera is held still or when it is panned very slowly. Try to get the scene in slightly longer shots with the camera still and then pan slowly to take in whatever is important but not in the first shot.
• The story - Try to tell a story with the video. Rather than a set of disjointed shots of everything you see, try to get shots that will help people to understand what you’ve done and enjoyed.
• Use people and voices - It helps the video story if you either "voice over" a commentary or use your friends or family to talk directly to the camera to explain what is happening, how they are feeling, and so on.
• Be prepared- Check before you need it that your camera has a fully charged battery and that you are carrying spare film cartridges or DVDs. If you have a hard-disc video camera make sure that you have enough disc left and that you can download it to a laptop if necessary.
• Lighting is everything - Get the lighting of your subject right. This is just as important with video as it is with still cameras. If you take shots directly into the sun you'll get silhouettes of people and buildings. Remember that in tropical and sub-tropical latitudes the sun is very bright in the middle of the day and videos (and photos) can look washed out and over-exposed. Try shooting early in the morning and later in the evening - the longer shadows will give much better-looking shots.
• Be creative - Try to imagine the effect of any shot on the audience watching it on a computer monitor or TV screen. Landscapes without people in them can be boring, and so can unexplained shots of people milling around.
• Be stable - In spite of modern image stabilisation it is still best to be stable when taking a video. Use both hands and, if possible rest your elbows on something - a wall or table perhaps. If you can use a mono-pod you'll notice the difference in steadiness.
• It's in the detail - Just as with still photography scenes of detail are extremely effective - from the quaint doorknocker in a back-street to the colouring of a stained glass window, from your friend's face lying on a beach towel to the creatively presented meal in the bar. You can often tell a video story very effectively with just a few shots of close-up detail after a scene-setting long shot of the whole scene.
• Foreground and background - Depth is important and will avoid the shot appearing flat. Add pointers to assist the eye such as a tree or a person in the foreground. Use movement in the shot - cars or people to lead the shot to your subject.
• Editing - Very few people do much to their still photos after they have taken them but with videos it is almost essential that you work on it afterwards. Unedited video is extremely difficult to watch and - with the immense capacities of modern storage media - is usually extremely lengthy. Edited video provides much more audience-friendly footage. It is more interesting because the wasted shots and the poor footage have been removed, the story is told more effectively, and the whole thing has been rounded off by titles and transitions.

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