In this workshop, we’ll go over the basics of planning a video, how to operate the camera, fundamentals of picture composition and camera movement, and touch on in-camera editing. We’ll offer true video editing and other advanced video skills in future workshops.
 

Try to develop a mental picture of what your message is and how you want it to be received. Do you want your message delivered with flash and dynamism? Is your message better conveyed with deliberation and smoothness? It’s important to keep your intended audience in mind during this planning stage. Are you shooting for kids? Adults? Professionals? Undergraduates? Understanding their expectations and meeting them as closely as possible is an important part of planning your video.

Where are you going to shoot? Do you need permission to shoot there? Must you reserve the space in advance? If reservations are needed, be safe and overestimate how much time you’ll need. What about noise? Will your microphone pick up unwanted traffic sounds, sirens, or aircraft? Such sounds may add immediacy and authenticity to certain types of videos, but they would be real distractions in others. Consider factors such as these as you do your planning.

Don’t expect to get all of these things right the first time. That’s why the pros rehearse. Allow time in your planning for a few run-throughs before you actually try to tape anything for keeps. This gets everybody used to the camera—the people in front of it and the people behind it.

A. The Viewfinder

The viewfinder is really just a little television, or video monitor, that shows you what you’re shooting and how it will look when you’re done. You can also play back whatever you’ve just shot on this little monitor to see if it looks okay.

Most viewfinders display information about the status of the camera so you can keep track of things while you’re shooting. Most will indicate whether you’re recording or not, a tape (or time) counter, an exposure indicator telling you whether there is enough light, and most importantly, an indication of how much power is left in your battery.

B. White Balance—True Color Reproduction

Our eyes automatically adjust for different types of light, but the imaging devices (or "chips") in video cameras that change the light into electronic, recordable signals can’t do that. If the camera is incorrectly set the colors will be off. Fluorescent lights tend to give whites and other colors a bluer look, and sunlight and incandescent lights tend to give a redder tinge. To allow for this shift in color, set the camera’s white balance adjustment for the type of lighting you’re shooting in.

In the same kind of light you’ll be shooting with, aim the camera at something white—a piece of blank paper, a white wall, a white blouse or tee shirt—and press the white balance button on the camera. After a moment, there should be an indication in the viewfinder that the adjustment is complete. For the rest of the taping, unless your lighting changes, your color reproduction should be accurate. If you start taping outside, as guests arrive at an afternoon party, set your white balance there. If you move inside under fluorescent lights in your kitchen or den, you need to reset it under the new light conditions so the colors will be consistent. It only takes a few seconds, and it makes a big difference. Some of the latest cameras do this automatically. Check your instruction manual to be sure.

C. Focus and Zoom (Wide-Angle to Telephoto) Controls

The most identifiable indicators of the amateur videographer are poor or inconsistent focus and constant zoom, in and out, in and out. Here’s how to prevent both from drawing away from the subject of your video.

1. Focus is important for a clear picture (unless you’re doing a piece on what it feels like to be drunk), and many cameras have an autofocus feature. This is a mixed blessing; it does automatically reset the focus, but it may not focus on what you are focusing on. It works best with a stationary camera and an unmoving subject—a speaker at a podium and the camera on a tripod, for example.

Autofocus works less well if you’re working with the camera in your hands, trying to tape one person in a moving group. If you’re taping a softball game for example, the camera would constantly shift the focus as different people move in front of the lens. It doesn’t know whom you’re trying to keep up with. In addition, cameras usually try to focus on what’s in the center of the frame. What if you’re trying to get the batter on one side of the picture with the expanse of the field filling up the frame—what will the center-weighted autofocus do?

Manual focus is the best way to go in these situations, but that can be difficult with the small viewfinders on some cameras. If you’re not sure of the focus (or you can’t wear your glasses when you put your eye to the viewfinder), aim the camera at your desired subject and turn on the autofocus to get the focus right. Then turn if off, compose the picture the way you want, and off you go.

A professional focusing trick—When focusing manually, you can preset the focus to get the most "depth of field." This is the range of distance from the camera that’s in focus. This only works if the camera stays stationary once it’s set, however. Follow these steps:

Zooms are fun, and they give you tremendous flexibility, but the temptation to use them too much overwhelms many beginning videographers. Resist that temptation! The zoom is a fairly recent technical innovation in lenses. It’s just thirty or forty years old or so—and remember all those movies from the 1960s that zoom rapidly in to a close-up of our hero—and remember how distracting that was? Compare that with just about any professional film or video of even slightly more recent vintage and you’ll see that the zoom is used sparingly.

To be more precise, they use it all the time, but not while taping. They regularly go from close-up to long shot and all points in between, but usually not while the camera is running. Go ahead and try it while taping some non-essential things to see how it looks, and adapt your style accordingly.

A. Shot distance

To the right is a series of stills representing the different types of "shots" from long shot to close-up:

1. Extreme Long Shot (XLS)        Also known as a cover shot, this sets the  scene by placing your subject in his environment for your viewer.
2. Long Shot (LS) or full shot Similar to the XLS, but with more emphasis on the subject relative to the background.
3. Medium shot (MS) or waist shot   This one’s name is self-explanatory…
4. Close-up (CU) shot …the same with this one…
5. Extreme Close-up (XCU) …and this one. Note the way the top of the head is cut off, while the top of the shoulders is in the shot. When framing this tightly, make sure you don’t cut the head off the shoulders, or it will look like a disembodied head in space.

B. Headroom and Noseroom

Your subject needs noseroom for proper framing in a profile shot.

 

This is good noseroom…

...and this isn’t.

 
 

Be conscious of what’s behind your subject. How many times have you seen lamps or trees growing out of someone’s head? Watch out for it or your subjects could end up like these poor characters:

D. Subject Movement—How to Keep It in the Frame

The whole thing with shooting people is that they rarely sit still. Who would want them to? This is video, after all. How do you keep them in the frame? Two basic rules apply in most situations.

1. Leadroom means allowing space in the frame for your subject to move or point into. This gives your viewer a sense of moving or looking (or imagining) with the subject, in a way going where the subject goes, even though they really can’t. Compare these pictures:

1. A pan is a lateral, left-or-right movement of the camera while standing still (or mounted on a tripod). Try for slow, smooth movement, not jerking or hesitating. Too quick a movement can disorient your viewer, taking away their visual cues for context. Try this when you can plan for a panning movement. Plant your feet in the direction where your lateral movement will finish, and without moving your feet, turn and point your camera at the point where the movement will begin. Once you’re shooting, uncoil your body smoothly in the direction you want to the camera to move. This gives a much smoother movement, especially at the end of the pan where jerkiness is most noticeable.

2. Tracking means literally to follow the action, moving behind, beside, or in front of your subject. Walking forward with the camera on your shoulder while following your subject is going to reveal the greatest amount of shaky movement to your viewer, so do this cautiously. This just seems to transmit more vibration to the camera. Walking alongside allows a smoother step, but it can be harder to watch where you’re going. Walking backward while leading the subject is also smoother and you definitely can’t watch where you’re going very well, but this can be a very effective shot. Watch the news or a newsmagazine—they like this shot. It appears a lot. There’s movement, it’s dynamic, yet it isn’t flashy and it keeps your subject smack in the middle of the frame. Just try to peek over your shoulder or get someone to guide you so you don’t find that gopher hole the hard way.

3. A tilt shot means the camera is looking down or up, so to speak. Imagine shooting down at a three-year-old from an adult’s full height. That’s a high-angle shot. This can be a subtle indication that your subject is weak or passive. Shooting up at an adult from a child’s-eye-view would be a low-angle shot, indicating strength or power. This may seem to be over-stating the importance of these camera angles, but think about the quadrennial presidential debates. Every time, they haggle about camera placement, to make sure the angles are as flattering as possible. In 1988, when Michael Dukakis (5’8" or so, I believe) was debating George Bush (6’2", I think), the discussions were quite heated, I assure you.

So unless you want to make a point, or it just suits your subject, shoot at your subject’s eye level when possible. This is especially important if you’re doing candid work with children. It shows their world from their point of view, and lets your audience share it with them. If you’re doing a more formal presentation, it makes it easier for the audience to relate to your on-camera subject.

4. Special or oblique angles can add dynamism and energy even to images with very little movement. These are shots in which the bottom of frame is not parallel with the horizon line, like so: 

Remember all the car commercials that have the car moving rapidly across the screen, and at an oblique angle? That makes even a Ford Escort seem a little bit inviting.

Whenever the subject moves or the camera moves, try always to be zoomed out to a wide-angle position. If the camera is zoomed in on the subject, she could move out of the frame with as little as one step to the side. Even if she doesn’t move, the camera could lose her if it pans just a couple of degrees.

With the camera zoomed out, the subject has more room to move in the frame before leaving it, and the camera has more latitude for movement without losing her. It’s also easier on the viewer. Some people can get queasy if the camera moves too much, and zooming in accentuates this sensation very much. Wide angle is best, so combine zooming in and movement with caution.

If you’re preparing a more formal video, consider the important aspects you want to emphasize. If it’s a tour of the campus, for instance, you may want a longish shot, maybe five to eight seconds, from MARTA as it approaches the campus. Next, maybe a three-second street-level shot of the Urban Life Building, starting level and slowly tilting up to show it against the city’s skyline. From there you could cut to one- or two-second shots of students in the Library Plaza during the break, in the University Center, working in the library, crowding the ITC or the Computer Center.

Remember, you can do all this in the camera. Think about what you want to convey, what pictures will create the mood or tell the story, and stick to the plan.
 

Making good videos is a skill, like cooking or driving or riding a bike. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist or be Steven Spielberg. Think about what you want your viewer to know, feel, or understand. Choose the types of compositions that will effectively make that happen. Practice practice practice, especially before the critical got-to-get-it shots. Get the shot, but if you’re editing in-camera, don’t hold it too long. Follow my advice and you can make terrific, effective videos that you can be proud of. Good luck.