But since that’s seldom true, you might want to schedule time to simply review the dreaded manual. It helps. Especially in the beginning. 

I keep my camcorder manual in my camera bag. That way it is always with the camera when I need it, at home or out on a shoot.

Power. A camcorder isn’t enough. Camcorders eat power. On this video shoot, will you have access to an electrical outlet or will you be relying on batteries? 

If an electrical outlet, will you have an appropriate length extension cord to reach it? If batteries, do you have enough spares? Are they fully charged? 

The party is over for your video shoot when the last of your batteries gives up the ghost. Most batteries take too long to re-charge on-site during a shoot. Purchase and pack spares accordingly.

Lighting the shot. Camcorders like light. Lots of light. It is always better shooting outdoors in sunlight. But that’s not always possible,  practical or even desirable. Will this shoot occur indoors? If so, will you have adequate light? If you are not sure, the answer is no. Now what are you going to do? There is no substitute for adequate light. In low-light conditions try to keep the light source to your back and on the subject you are trying to shoot. Shooting subjects in shadows doesn't work

Wind Noise. While shooting outdoors (from dawn to dusk) usually ensures enough light, outdoor breezes (even those you are not aware of) can play havoc with unshielded microphones. Especially the internal models built into modern camcorders. 

Recorded wind noise has spoiled more than a few otherwise great shoots. If this is your problem, drop by a camera store and invest the few pennies that wind shields typically cost. Microphone wind screens only have to save a single shot once to return 100 percent on your wind screen investment. 

Pros will tell you that audio is “the other half” of video -- i.e. a very big deal. Pros invariably recommend investing in an external mic solution designed to fight wind noise. 

Tripod vs. Hand Held. Do you own a tripod? If not, can you borrow one? Preferably a good one, with a smooth swivel head. (Yes, the better models cost more, but they are worth it.) If not, have you got a bean bag, or something else you can use as a tripod substitute?

Handshake spoils videos. Don’t let that happen to you. Handshake detracts from the content of any shot, forcing viewers to concentrate on your camera work rather than your video’s content. The name of the game is to shoot video so well that viewers concentrate on its content, rather than notice how it was assembled.

Some handshake is worse than others. Yet you probably believe you are the one in a thousand who can pull handheld off. The problem is: 999 of those who believe that are wrong. 

Try this test. Grab a tripod or facsimile and head outside. Stand across the street and take two identical shots of your house, one using a tripod, one not. Render both shots to a DVD or CD and play them back on your TV. Ask your spouse which s/he prefers, and learn from the experience.

That test is unfair. Your house doesn’t move, so any handshake at all is revealed. If the test had been to shoot a group of people milling around, their movement would have hidden at least some of your handshake. 

As a rule of thumb, shots of stationary items, things that don’t move, like buildings, parked cars, billboards, etc., are less forgiving of handshake than things that move – a pet fetching a stick, for example..

But stabilized shots are always better. Particularly if you intend to zoom in. The higher the zoom magnification, the more you need stabilization, regardless of your subject.

Shot Duration. Movies made in the 1940s used longer shot durations than today’s efforts. Today’s music videos use such short durations that seniors raised on 1940s movies get dizzy watching them. 

The rule of thumb used to be five second shots – every five seconds you should change angles, zoom factor, or other variable, to prevent viewer boredom. Today’s rule of thumb for the younger set is more like two second shots. The shorter each shot, the more exciting your video will seem. (Now you know how to keep adrenalin junkies glued to the screen.)

But rules of thumb are guidelines, not religions. Shot duration can and should vary. Ten seconds of a parked car would be boring, but 10 seconds of the bride walking down the aisle, or of your son active in some athletic competition, might be just right. 

If the shot is full of action, duration limits increase. If the shot is of grass growing, duration limits decrease. (Go ahead, just try to make even a one-minute video of grass growing that holds viewers’ attention.)

Over-shoot. One of the most common mistakes amateur videographers make is deciding prematurely that they’ve shot enough footage. You’re there, you’re equipped, tape is cheap, so shoot extra footage if possible. That way you’ll have more options when it comes time to edit your masterpiece. Without options you may have no choice but to include a shot you’d rather not. (More on this later, under Editing.)

Panning and Zooming are both problematic. They tend to be abused, overused. If you must pan, pan s-l-o-w-l-y. The results will look better. If you must zoom, do that slowly too. (You can always speed up slow shots in editing, if you need to.) If you are determined to pan and zoom, practice a lot. Practice makes perfect. Find out for yourself what works best for you with your particular camcorder. While the video editor can subsequently speed up or slow down any scene in the editing suite, the final result can be problematic.

Time and Weather. Try not to shoot out of doors at high noon. Whether it looks good through your viewfinder or not, the sun really beats down at high noon. Schedule noon to 2 pm for other stuff. Conversely, don’t fold your tent at the first sign of drizzle. While you may want to project your camera investment with an umbrella, drizzle and overcast can be great video lighting conditions.

Shy people make poor video camera operators. They spend too much time and effort accommodating everyone else present and lose sight of the fact they represent every video viewer to come. 

Get in the subject’s face as much as you must to get the shot. Don’t zoom your camcorder to the max. Instead, zoom all the way out and step closer to your subject. Sure, it is counter-intuitive, but your video will look a lot better. 

Accessories Account. How much did your camcorder cost? Did you spend that much again for accessories like extra batteries, external mics, lights, tripods, carrying cases, backdrop sheets, props, something to sit on? If not, you may want to open a video accessories savings account. The quality of your video will eventually be determined by your style, which in turn will be determined largely by the tools you have to work with -- patience being Accessory One.

Steady Cam. One of the best accessories you can invest in is a “mobile stabilizer.” There are several available, with trade names like Glide Cam, Steady Cam, Steadicam Jr., FlowPod, etc. The unmet need for a mobile stabilizer is behind virtually all jittery handheld shots. Mobile stabilizers aren’t cheap. Hollywood spends a fraction of a million on each one. But with the right skills, you (or a friend) might build a reasonable facsimile for less than $100.

Mobile stabilizers are more useful than tripods. Indeed, you can think of them as tripods that move. They are cheaper and a lot more practical than dollies – train tracks you have to lay down so the camera can follow the action you’re shooting.

The Box. While your first videos may well be shot around home, eventually you will want to venture out to the park, beach, lecture hall, church, where the action you want to tape will occur. So as a practical matter, it makes sense to invest in a heavy duty plastic box about two cubic feet square. Preferably one with a lid for weather protection and perhaps a lock for security. 

Call it your accessories box. It can hold a background backdrop sheet, extension cords, extra mics, lights, stabilizers, batteries, tape, even manuals at the outset. It is much easier carrying a single accessories box to and from the car than it is carrying dozens of little individual items.
 

Copyright 2006-2007 John Cardiff