5 basic tips for shooting video

Learning to shoot video can seem like a complicated and lengthy process, but there are some simple tips to bear in mind that can go a long way to ensuring great quality footage…

Plan your shots

It doesn’t matter what you’re shooting, its important to plan what shots you’ll need to take and how you’ll take them. This could be as simple as sketching out a short storyboard on a piece of paper to help you to understand what you need to do and flag up if there will be any likely problems. For example, will there be enough light in the room? If you want a wide shot, do you have enough space or the right lens? What is going to be happening in the background?

If you’re taking lots of footage, it’s also wise to mark your shots. This is done most commonly using a clapperboard and helps to avoid confusion when you come to edit your footage later.

Ensure your location is well lit

Lighting is critical to good quality video footage. Generally speaking camcorders don’t work well in low light conditions. If you’re just capturing a quick clip of something then, providing you have daylight or plenty of artificial light, you may not need to think too much about it. If you’re keen to make sure your shot looks great though, then you need to spend a little more time planning the lighting. This video provides a good introduction to some lighting basics and three-point lighting:

Use a tripod

Everyone has endured having to watch a shaky video – it’s no fun. While it may seem like overkill at first if you’re only shooting footage on a Flip Camera or even on a mobile phone, the watchability of you footage will be vastly improved for this simple addition. In fact, there are now some great tripods designed specifically for mobile phones.

But tripods can also free up your hands. If your shooting a video alone, it can be useful to retain some control over the situation outside of the video, or the case of an interview you are able to focus the subject’s attention away from the camera.

Minimize use of zoom

While it’s not always necessary to follow this rule, its a good starting point when shooting straightforward footage. Excessive use of zoom can have the effect of taking shots out of focus, making video uncomfortable to watch and take the viewer’s attention away from the main focus of the video. These two videos demonstrate well the difference between poor use of zoom…

…and good use of zoom:

Don’t skimp on sound

Built-in microphones, especially on cheaper camcorders or combination devices like phones, have a reputation for recording poor quality audio. That’s not necessarily always the case, but wind and background noise can play havoc with recording and can ruin an otherwise perfectly good piece of footage. The microphone you choose (or are able to choose) will depend very much on the device that you are using to capture the video, but this video provides a great demonstration of how different microphones and microphone setups affect the quality of the audio that is captured:

MITES runs a range of film and video training courses and we also sell and hire out video equipment with reduced rates for certain types of organisation.

To find out more, you can contact us on: 0151 707 4433 or fill in our email contact form and we’ll get back to you asap.

Image: Francesco Marino / FreeDigitalPhotos.net