Learner’s Permit
Being smooth with a camcorder can be a great skill to have; whether you want to catch the eye of a prospect viewing your Web site, add something sleek to your participant meetings, update your channel on YouTube (see Learner’s Permit, PLANADVISER July-August 2010), or capture memories at the company BBQ, keep these pointers in mind.
Not your parent’s video camera
Today, there are video cameras that fit in the palm of your hand and are astonishingly simple to use, such as Cisco’s Flip (soon to be discontinued), Creative’s Vado, and Kodak’s Zi8. These cameras shoot HD-quality video, cost less than $200 (some less than $100), and have a built-in USB port—just plug the camera right into your computer to upload the video.
These small pocket video cameras have their drawbacks too, of course. Their memory space is limited, ranging from 4 GB to 16 GB, or 1 to 4 hours depending on how high you set the resolution. They use digital zoom, rather than optical zoom, which causes the image to lose its sharpness. However, they can be an efficient option to get HD-quality video.
Other hi-tech camcorders are also smaller than they used to be but, if you don’t plan to use the various settings, you might as well stick with the simpler versions.
Let there be light—and sound
Light and sound are the two most critical elements to shooting video. There are other elements of course—framing the shot, holding the camera steady (much harder said than done, which is why tripods are always a good idea), editing the video after shooting it—but, if you shoot the most amazing scene or the most brilliant interview and it’s too dark to see or you can’t hear what the subject is saying, it is completely worthless.
Every new videographer has made the mistake of not having enough light in the room or not having usable audio—it’s a mistake you make once and never again! As for lighting, shoot outside whenever possible; nothing beats natural light, even if it’s cloudy. If it is sunny, try shooting earlier in the day or later in the day; when the sun is high in the sky, it can cause unflattering shadows. If you’re shooting inside, get as much light in the room as possible. As for audio, you must run a sound check! Have your interviewees speak as they would during the interview, then go back and listen to it with headphones. Ambient noise that might be innocuous to your ear can sometimes be amplified on the recording, so it is always important to check.
What to shoot
Your scene is well-lit and you know your audio is working. Now what? Two things the professionals consider: the rule-of-thirds and B-roll. The rule-of-thirds says to picture a tic-tac-toe board over your shot. The main action should be taking place on one of the four intersecting points—not right in the middle square or in any of the outer squares.
Some people describe B-roll as “secondary footage.” B-roll includes shots that are related to your primary subject, but are not the primary subject alone. Let’s say you’re shooting an interview that you want to post to your Web site. After shooting the interview, shoot your subject walking around his or her office, or making a phone call. In the editing process, you can place a few seconds of these video clips (just the video, not the audio) over the interview video to make it more visually stimulating.
Editing
Two of the most common editing programs are iMovie and Final Cut. It’s very rare for “raw” video—the video that you shoot on your camera—to be usable as is. Ideally, your final product shouldn’t be too long, it should be well-lit and easy to hear, and B-roll should be used to make it more interesting, all of which can be taken care of during the editing process. —Nicole Bliman