Using A Camcorder To Record Family Events Quickly And Easily

Using a Camcorder to Record Family Events Quickly and Easily

Let's start there (but not spend too much time on it because you are probably already checked out on their use):Visit Here http://top10camcordersinfo.blogspot.com

On/Off - On some brands you actually have to find two or three switches to accomplish this. You may be required to choose between camera and VCR or VTR, you may have to open shutters over the lens or remove a lens cap, and you may have choices about snapshots, locked, standby, or video. You're probably ready when you see a picture through the viewfinder with no unexpected icon flashing in the middle.

Zoom - Changes the lens setting from wide angle to telephoto. You see what's happening in the viewfinder.

Red "Take" button - Rolls the tape. Usually "REC" shows in the viewfinder when recording and "STDBY" shows when the tape is stopped.

Beyond that everything else is automated on most consumer camcorders. You only have to master all those other buttons if you want to take control of things like focus, exposure, shutter speed, color balance, stabilization, depth of field, freeze motion, volume, and tons of other special effects and titling. On most camcorders the default manufacturer settings are the place to start -- they've done a very good job taming all these options. You should only need to make changes for particular scenes when you see things going wrong. So let's not trail through all the buttons and menu options out there right now. Instead let's focus on you and all the problems you can create.

Let's examine other areas that separate the pros from the beginners. It's always said, and frequently demonstrated, that if you put the cheapest pile of junk camcorder in the hands of a pro, the resulting footage will look dazzling. It doesn't work the other way around. It's not the tools that separate the 8-year old baking her first cake from her grandmother -- it's lots of little things, some of which are hard and tedious to document, and some of which fall into discussions and hot arguments that might be lumped together under the category called "style."

Let's get you started with some of the obvious areas. As you shoot video you will naturally get competitive with and wonder why your footage doesn't measure up to the footage you see on TV and in the movies. This will cause you to start adding tricks to your trade consciously and unconsciously. Most of us are very critical viewers of TV and movies.

The first sign that there is a rank amateur running the camera comes when you realize it is being hand-held because the picture bounces around (and may actually make some viewers seasick, watch out!). The standard answer to this is to lug a tripod around with you. This is great if you are going to be positioned in the same place for more than three minutes filming a game or stage performance, but if you are zipping around like a fly on the wall you have to take other measures. Here are some:

Lean on things while filming to stabilize yourself. Find a tree, a wall, a table, a friend . . .

Take a deep breath and hold it. Dig your elbows into your inflated rib cage creating a triangular bracing system between the camcorder and your stable chest. Do not answer any questions thrown at you and stop filming before your whole body starts convulsing trying to purge the stale air.

Zoom out (going to a wide angle setting) and then move yourself and camera in close to the subject. Wide angle shots are much easier to hold steady. Zoomed in telephoto shots really need a good tripod.

Practice, practice, practice. While rolling tape, pick a stationary object near the corner of the viewfinder, lock in on it, and don't let it move around in the viewfinder. This turns your whole nervous and muscular system into a self-correcting stabilization machine. It becomes second nature if you work at it enough just as a waitress can carry a tray of drinks without spilling any.

Push the "take" button to stop rolling tape when you realize you are about to lose stability. You'd be surprised how many shots run until the cameraman bumps into something, loses concentration or literally falls off a step.

Be sure the camera's built-in motion stabilization feature is turned on. On some brands the stabilization feature reportedly snaps and jerks the picture too much as the camera is moved around. You'll hear that the feature should be turned off. Don't accept this advice as gospel -- play with it for a while first because this objection is true on only a small percentage of camcorders.

Don't dismiss using a small mono pod or very light portable tripod for those "on the go" shots. These won't serve you well when shooting a long event but may be just the ticket when moving around like a fly on the wall.

Another rule to consider is how long your shots should be. Watch TV and count how long their shots run. You'll notice that the average 30-second commercial may have 20 different shots. Pretty much the same with MTV. Now watch situation comedies and cops and robber stories -- maybe shots stay on 3 to 5 seconds. Follow up with slow running talk shows on PBS. Even there they switch the camera before 10 seconds have gone by.

Back when you were getting advice with your home camera movie film from Kodak, the advice they gave was to count to 7 and shut the shot down. They advised against lots of jerky short clips. While that was in a slower and more graceful period of time, it's still a rule to seriously consider. Tightly edited sales pitches, action packed movie clips and music videos may demand one to three second clips, but this is too fast for general family footage. We find that when people put photographs together in a video presentation, six seconds for each photo is about the right time.

On the other hand, you'll lose your audience if you make your shots too long. I can't tell you how many times I've seen shots of a baby being fed in its high chair that a proud parent lets roll for over a minute. It's equivalent to a 3-hour sermon in church or a filibuster in congress.

Even though you and I may have no interest in a "feed the baby" sequence unless we know the baby, it might keep our attention if broken up into multiple shots such as an establishing shot showing where we are, feed the baby, look at the mother, close up of the mess, close up of mother's stress, picture of baby wiggling feet in the air, mother leaning back in exhaustion . . . . All of this puts you the videographer to work. You have to move around and compose several shots telling a story. Some shots may be long, some short, but the overall impact is dramatically improved.

Closely related to this is rule #3: avoid "hunting" with the camcorder. We've all seen shots where the camera is panning to the left surveying the scene only to change direction and pan back to the right again, then no, maybe what it is looking for is down, let's zoom in for a second, darn it moved out of the shot, let's follow it putting everything out of focus, well heck, we seem to be looking at a blank wall, and with a shake of the camera, it's turned off finally, followed by a totally unrelated shot taken hours later.

You avoid hunting by following rule #2: shut the camera off when a shot falls apart. Also you avoid hunting by getting your head out from behind the camera before you start the shot and planning out what you are going to shoot. If you want really good footage, you might practice the shot a couple of times before you push the red "take" button. Does it stay in focus, is the movement too extreme, is there a bright light or window that comes and goes as you pan causing the camera to change the color and brightness of the subject, etc., etc.?

Paint your scenes with shots that move in one direction, then quit. Don't backtrack in the same shot. This applies to all three movements you control: panning, tilting, and zooming. This seems so simple and yet this indecisiveness shows up all over the place in the work of amateurs. You "hunt" before you "roll." A few seconds of planning pays big dividends.

Rule #4 builds on the two previous rules -- vary your shots. Some shots should be from a distance to establish where we are and some should be very tight so we can really see the subjects in your video. Some shots should be long and some short. Here's what to avoid: lots of mid-range shots with three or more people posing in them.

TV is an "in your face" medium -- watch it closely. It sits across the room from you. The pros cut the tops off of heads with impunity. You need to be "tight" on a lot of shots to make it interesting but you want to vary it so as not to be too invasive.

Also you need to be sensitive as to whether you are above the subjects you are shooting making them look small and dominated or you are below the subjects making them look lordly, controlling, and terrifying. If you get down on the floor with kids they look a lot more like little human beings when looking straight at the camcorder than if you are always shooting the tops of their heads.

Rule #5: let the motion come to you -- be careful how much you zoom, pan and tilt. Watch what the pros do and you'll be surprised how little zooming you see. Any pans or tilts (looking from side to side or up and down) are generally very slow. When you do see the pros chase the subject, you'll usually then see a series of stable shots to let you get your bearings again.Visit Here http://top10camcordersinfo.blogspot.com

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