| Let's start there (but not spend too much | | | | shot. Use the zoom feature to frame in a shot |
| time on it because you are probably already | | | | correctly before you push the red "take" |
| checked out on their use):On/Off - On some | | | | button, and keep your fingers off it while |
| brands you actually have to find two or three | | | | rolling. Fast or excessive zooms cause nausea |
| switches to accomplish this. You may be | | | | and disorientation of your poor audience. You |
| required to choose between camera and VCR or | | | | don't want to have to provide air sick bags |
| VTR, you may have to open shutters over the | | | | at your showing.These rules barely scratch |
| lens or remove a lens cap, and you may have | | | | the surface. Start by following them and when |
| choices about snapshots, locked, standby, or | | | | your footage looks more respectable, you'll |
| video. You're probably ready when you see a | | | | be ready to study the hundreds of other |
| picture through the viewfinder with no | | | | things you see the pros do in great movies |
| unexpected icon flashing in the middle.Zoom - | | | | and on TV that makes their footage dazzle.Now |
| Changes the lens setting from wide angle to | | | | let's take on some of the many buttons on |
| telephoto. You see what's happening in the | | | | your camcorder. You should have a large |
| viewfinder.Red "Take" button - Rolls the | | | | owner's manual that explains what they do and |
| tape. Usually "REC" shows in the viewfinder | | | | I don't intend to duplicate that. (Most |
| when recording and "STDBY" shows when the | | | | owner's manuals were written in Japanese |
| tape is stopped.Beyond that everything else | | | | first and then are translated into dozens of |
| is automated on most consumer camcorders. You | | | | languages, perhaps by a computer. Legal |
| only have to master all those other buttons | | | | warnings probably fill the first two pages |
| if you want to take control of things like | | | | and the really interesting stuff is |
| focus, exposure, shutter speed, color | | | | frequently buried away in tiny-typeface |
| balance, stabilization, depth of field, | | | | footnotes. Don't get discouraged, you are not |
| freeze motion, volume, and tons of other | | | | alone when wondering if you no longer know |
| special effects and titling. On most | | | | how to read.) If you've studied photography a |
| camcorders the default manufacturer settings | | | | lot, the information that follows may be old |
| are the place to start -- they've done a very | | | | hat, but I've got to cover it to show you why |
| good job taming all these options. You should | | | | you may want to explore some of the buttons |
| only need to make changes for particular | | | | from time to time.Basically you are simply |
| scenes when you see things going wrong. So | | | | managing light and motion. Start with light: |
| let's not trail through all the buttons and | | | | too much light and everything is blistered |
| menu options out there right now. Instead | | | | out, too little light and details get lost in |
| let's focus on you and all the problems you | | | | the shadows. The human eye has a much wider |
| can create.Let's examine other areas that | | | | range from bright to dark in any given scene |
| separate the pros from the beginners. It's | | | | than does any video equipment. A video shot |
| always said, and frequently demonstrated, | | | | of your "true love" that looks OK to you |
| that if you put the cheapest pile of junk | | | | standing there may play back later with white |
| camcorder in the hands of a pro, the | | | | splotches and blisters all over his or her |
| resulting footage will look dazzling. It | | | | face. How can something like this happen, you |
| doesn't work the other way around. It's not | | | | ask? You assumed the camera would "close |
| the tools that separate the 8-year old baking | | | | down" automatically when the subject got too |
| her first cake from her grandmother -- it's | | | | bright.The automation in the camera can fail |
| lots of little things, some of which are hard | | | | you if there are extremes in any one shot. It |
| and tedious to document, and some of which | | | | adjusts for the average brightness. Hot areas |
| fall into discussions and hot arguments that | | | | are averaged with dark areas. The range it |
| might be lumped together under the category | | | | can handle is limited. The middle or average |
| called "style."Let's get you started with | | | | of the range you are trying to shoot may not |
| some of the obvious areas. As you shoot video | | | | be the setting you want for a correct |
| you will naturally get competitive with and | | | | exposure where the true subject is very "hot" |
| wonder why your footage doesn't measure up to | | | | surrounded by a lot of dark holes. You have |
| the footage you see on TV and in the movies. | | | | to take charge deciding to throw away the |
| This will cause you to start adding tricks to | | | | details in the dark holes in order to get |
| your trade consciously and unconsciously. | | | | proper exposure of the main subject. Shots of |
| Most of us are very critical viewers of TV | | | | someone on a stage in a spotlight is the most |
| and movies.The first sign that there is a | | | | typical example of having to manually take |
| rank amateur running the camera comes when | | | | charge of the exposure setting in your |
| you realize it is being hand-held because the | | | | camcorder.The other extreme occurs when |
| picture bounces around (and may actually make | | | | details of your true subject are crushed into |
| some viewers seasick, watch out!). The | | | | a gray mess because your subject is |
| standard answer to this is to lug a tripod | | | | surrounded by a very bright background. You |
| around with you. This is great if you are | | | | need to open up the exposure, throwing away |
| going to be positioned in the same place for | | | | the details in the bright background so you |
| more than three minutes filming a game or | | | | can brighten up and see your subject |
| stage performance, but if you are zipping | | | | correctly. Some camcorders have a button |
| around like a fly on the wall you have to | | | | called "backlighting" that does this for |
| take other measures. Here are some:Lean on | | | | you.This doesn't mean your camera can't take |
| things while filming to stabilize yourself. | | | | pictures in extremely bright or extremely |
| Find a tree, a wall, a table, a friend . . | | | | dark places: it can if the whole scene is |
| .Take a deep breath and hold it. Dig your | | | | bright or the whole scene is dark. The thing |
| elbows into your inflated rib cage creating a | | | | you have to be sensitive to occurs when there |
| triangular bracing system between the | | | | is a mix of bright and dark, your true |
| camcorder and your stable chest. Do not | | | | subject is not in the middle of the range of |
| answer any questions thrown at you and stop | | | | lighting intensity, and your camcorder is |
| filming before your whole body starts | | | | calculating an average brightness setting |
| convulsing trying to purge the stale air.Zoom | | | | that is wrong for what you want to |
| out (going to a wide angle setting) and then | | | | capture.What do you look for to adjust |
| move yourself and camera in close to the | | | | exposure? If your camera is anything like |
| subject. Wide angle shots are much easier to | | | | most of ours, there are several ways to |
| hold steady. Zoomed in telephoto shots really | | | | adjust exposure -- some are redundant and |
| need a good tripod.Practice, practice, | | | | others handle extreme situations beyond those |
| practice. While rolling tape, pick a | | | | discussed above. How do you sort it all |
| stationary object near the corner of the | | | | out?If your camera has a wheel or dial called |
| viewfinder, lock in on it, and don't let it | | | | exposure and the picture gets dark and light |
| move around in the viewfinder. This turns | | | | as you turn it, then that's where to start. |
| your whole nervous and muscular system into a | | | | You will need to "turn it on" telling the |
| self-correcting stabilization machine. It | | | | camera's automation that you are taking |
| becomes second nature if you work at it | | | | control of exposure and to butt out. This may |
| enough just as a waitress can carry a tray of | | | | require you to read the manual -- different |
| drinks without spilling any.Push the "take" | | | | manufacturers have different ways to block |
| button to stop rolling tape when you realize | | | | you from tampering with their automatic |
| you are about to lose stability. You'd be | | | | settings. Once you are in control, here are |
| surprised how many shots run until the | | | | several things to consider and several words |
| cameraman bumps into something, loses | | | | of advice:Be sure you trust what your |
| concentration or literally falls off a | | | | camcorder's viewfinder is telling you. In an |
| step.Be sure the camera's built-in motion | | | | ideal situation, you want to play with your |
| stabilization feature is turned on. On some | | | | camcorder in some very tough situations |
| brands the stabilization feature reportedly | | | | taking and reviewing throwaway footage before |
| snaps and jerks the picture too much as the | | | | you "go live" on location. The viewfinder may |
| camera is moved around. You'll hear that the | | | | have its own settings which if set wrong will |
| feature should be turned off. Don't accept | | | | mislead you. For example, if the picture in |
| this advice as gospel -- play with it for a | | | | the viewfinder looks dark and dingy, but it |
| while first because this objection is true on | | | | looks great when played back on a TV, |
| only a small percentage of camcorders.Don't | | | | brighten the viewfinder setting, not the |
| dismiss using a small mono pod or very light | | | | exposure setting of the footage you're |
| portable tripod for those "on the go" shots. | | | | taking.Flip out screens are a wonderful |
| These won't serve you well when shooting a | | | | invention everywhere except outside on a |
| long event but may be just the ticket when | | | | sunny day. Because it's so hard to see |
| moving around like a fly on the wall.Another | | | | anything on them when it's too bright |
| rule to consider is how long your shots | | | | outside, you may be tempted to crank around |
| should be. Watch TV and count how long their | | | | on the brightness setting of the flip out |
| shots run. You'll notice that the average | | | | screen. Fine, but this may seriously mislead |
| 30-second commercial may have 20 different | | | | you when you come back inside again -- be |
| shots. Pretty much the same with MTV. Now | | | | careful. Try to remember the setting before |
| watch situation comedies and cops and robber | | | | you changed it outside and go back to that |
| stories -- maybe shots stay on 3 to 5 | | | | point as soon as possible.Once you trust what |
| seconds. Follow up with slow running talk | | | | you are seeing in the viewfinder, learn what |
| shows on PBS. Even there they switch the | | | | to look for that clues you when to switch off |
| camera before 10 seconds have gone by.Back | | | | the camcorder's automation and change to |
| when you were getting advice with your home | | | | manual exposure control. Then you need to |
| camera movie film from Kodak, the advice they | | | | know how to set the exposure manually. Set it |
| gave was to count to 7 and shut the shot | | | | wrong and everything will come back too dark |
| down. They advised against lots of jerky | | | | or too bright -- sadly it's easy to do.There |
| short clips. While that was in a slower and | | | | is a trick I use when going to manual |
| more graceful period of time, it's still a | | | | exposure at an event such as a stage |
| rule to seriously consider. Tightly edited | | | | performance or a wedding. Let the automation |
| sales pitches, action packed movie clips and | | | | help you! Before going to manual exposure, |
| music videos may demand one to three second | | | | zoom in tight on an important face that is |
| clips, but this is too fast for general | | | | lit pretty much as you expect will be common |
| family footage. We find that when people put | | | | throughout the event. The camcorder should |
| photographs together in a video presentation, | | | | adjust its exposure to a nice mid-point of |
| six seconds for each photo is about the right | | | | the light on that face. Then flip the manual |
| time.On the other hand, you'll lose your | | | | exposure feature on. Normally this will |
| audience if you make your shots too long. I | | | | "lock-in" the automatic setting that you |
| can't tell you how many times I've seen shots | | | | trust is OK. Do not turn the manual exposure |
| of a baby being fed in its high chair that a | | | | knob -- the camcorder is set to the desired |
| proud parent lets roll for over a minute. | | | | value. You are now free to zoom wide and pan |
| It's equivalent to a 3-hour sermon in church | | | | around the room knowing that a bright window |
| or a filibuster in congress.Even though you | | | | in the background won't close the camera's |
| and I may have no interest in a "feed the | | | | lens down and black holes won't cause the |
| baby" sequence unless we know the baby, it | | | | faces of the main stars to blister out.As I |
| might keep our attention if broken up into | | | | mentioned earlier, many cameras have other |
| multiple shots such as an establishing shot | | | | ways to accomplish the same results when |
| showing where we are, feed the baby, look at | | | | working with uneven lighting situations. Many |
| the mother, close up of the mess, close up of | | | | have a "backlighting" button that will take |
| mother's stress, picture of baby wiggling | | | | faces out of the shadows in a scene with lots |
| feet in the air, mother leaning back in | | | | of hot spots in the background. Solving the |
| exhaustion . . . . All of this puts you the | | | | other problem, some have a special features |
| videographer to work. You have to move around | | | | setting that shows an icon with a face in a |
| and compose several shots telling a story. | | | | spotlight. This feature will help eliminate |
| Some shots may be long, some short, but the | | | | blistered out faces in your video where the |
| overall impact is dramatically | | | | main characters are surrounded by dark holes |
| improved.Closely related to this is rule #3: | | | | in the background.You may find these settings |
| avoid "hunting" with the camcorder. We've all | | | | are easier to use that trying to adjust the |
| seen shots where the camera is panning to the | | | | exposure manually. Just be sure to turn them |
| left surveying the scene only to change | | | | off when no longer needed. We see videos shot |
| direction and pan back to the right again, | | | | with the backlighting feature turned on |
| then no, maybe what it is looking for is | | | | during normal shots -- they are all washed |
| down, let's zoom in for a second, darn it | | | | out.The camcorder engineers didn't stop |
| moved out of the shot, let's follow it | | | | there. Lurking behind every senior male |
| putting everything out of focus, well heck, | | | | electronics engineer is a teenage boy who |
| we seem to be looking at a blank wall, and | | | | wants to develop the perfect camcorder that |
| with a shake of the camera, it's turned off | | | | will shoot good footage in near darkness. The |
| finally, followed by a totally unrelated shot | | | | race is on between vendors. This means you |
| taken hours later.You avoid hunting by | | | | will likely find still more exposure settings |
| following rule #2: shut the camera off when a | | | | that address this issue. Most of these |
| shot falls apart. Also you avoid hunting by | | | | settings result in footage with horrible |
| getting your head out from behind the camera | | | | color, jerky motion, and grainy images. Go |
| before you start the shot and planning out | | | | there if you must but all of these features |
| what you are going to shoot. If you want | | | | are outside the scope of this booklet.The |
| really good footage, you might practice the | | | | next basic issue centers on focus. Most |
| shot a couple of times before you push the | | | | cameras have a very good auto focus feature. |
| red "take" button. Does it stay in focus, is | | | | This feature probably does a better job by |
| the movement too extreme, is there a bright | | | | far than you can do manually if you lack |
| light or window that comes and goes as you | | | | experience or just use the camcorder from |
| pan causing the camera to change the color | | | | time to time. Some situations confuse the |
| and brightness of the subject, etc., | | | | automation, however, and to get decent |
| etc.?Paint your scenes with shots that move | | | | footage you will have to jump in and take |
| in one direction, then quit. Don't backtrack | | | | charge.There are two things to look for: 1) |
| in the same shot. This applies to all three | | | | the camera is focusing on the wrong thing, |
| movements you control: panning, tilting, and | | | | and 2) the camera is confused and is hunting |
| zooming. This seems so simple and yet this | | | | back and forth for something to focus on. |
| indecisiveness shows up all over the place in | | | | Most camcorders today look for a sharp |
| the work of amateurs. You "hunt" before you | | | | vertical edge in your picture. Once found, |
| "roll." A few seconds of planning pays big | | | | they very quickly focus in and out picking |
| dividends.Rule #4 builds on the two previous | | | | which direction better sharpens this edge in |
| rules -- vary your shots. Some shots should | | | | the picture. It's the same process the eye |
| be from a distance to establish where we are | | | | doctor uses: "Which is better, A or B"?No |
| and some should be very tight so we can | | | | edge in the picture: the camera is lost. A |
| really see the subjects in your video. Some | | | | clear edge close by and another in the |
| shots should be long and some short. Here's | | | | distance: the camera is confused which one to |
| what to avoid: lots of mid-range shots with | | | | select. Most of the time you can help your |
| three or more people posing in them.TV is an | | | | poor camcorder by just centering in on a |
| "in your face" medium -- watch it closely. It | | | | sharply defined object that you want to film. |
| sits across the room from you. The pros cut | | | | If it's really lost and is focusing on the |
| the tops off of heads with impunity. You need | | | | dust on its own lens when you want to shoot a |
| to be "tight" on a lot of shots to make it | | | | sunset, you can move things along by aiming |
| interesting but you want to vary it so as not | | | | the camera at a tree or something else in the |
| to be too invasive.Also you need to be | | | | distance before you push the red take button. |
| sensitive as to whether you are above the | | | | Once it's focused for distance shots, it will |
| subjects you are shooting making them look | | | | usually stay there.If none of this works you |
| small and dominated or you are below the | | | | are going to have to learn how to turn off |
| subjects making them look lordly, | | | | the automatic focus feature and take charge |
| controlling, and terrifying. If you get down | | | | of focusing yourself. This is not |
| on the floor with kids they look a lot more | | | | complicated. One switch or button gives you |
| like little human beings when looking | | | | control and usually the ring around the lens |
| straight at the camcorder than if you are | | | | moves so you can change focus. Some |
| always shooting the tops of their heads.Rule | | | | camcorders let you go to manual but have a |
| #5: let the motion come to you -- be careful | | | | button or spring loaded switch setting that |
| how much you zoom, pan and tilt. Watch what | | | | lets you tell the camera's auto focus feature |
| the pros do and you'll be surprised how | | | | to quickly do its job and return to manual |
| little zooming you see. Any pans or tilts | | | | operation.Carlile and Louise Crutcher went on |
| (looking from side to side or up and down) | | | | a trip to China in 1992 and took a Hi8 |
| are generally very slow. When you do see the | | | | camcorder with them to document the trip. By |
| pros chase the subject, you'll usually then | | | | the time they returned they had recorded 8 |
| see a series of stable shots to let you get | | | | hours of footage. They were interested not |
| your bearings again.The pros hate zooming in | | | | only in editing down the video footage but |
| and out. Instead they lay a track, bring in a | | | | they wanted to combine it with still pictures |
| crane or rent a well-trained Steadycam | | | | that they also had. None of their friends or |
| operator to follow the subject around | | | | family would sit still for all the raw |
| smoothly. This technology is beyond the | | | | footage. They looked, but could not find |
| casual user's reach, so we zoom. Best advice, | | | | anywhere in Louisville where they could do |
| zoom slowly and zoom less than every third | | | | this work easily and affordably. |