For the best video
picture quality, good lighting is required to give you good contrast
and detail. Shooting
outside where you are working with available sunlight can present its
own challenges if you need to have your subject facing the sun,
without them squinting. Reflectors
and other equipment can be used, but if you think creatively, you
don’t need to buy a lot of expensive stuff.
Indoor lighting
situations are by far the most challenging to deal with.
You can buy cheap aluminum scoop lights at the hardware store
for around $10 and then put your own light bulbs into them.
Using several of them pointed at the ceiling for more ambient
lighting helps a lot. There
are also key, fill and back lights that you want to use for the most
professional lighting possible. There
are books that you can buy or check out from the library that give you
instruction in how to set up studio and outdoor lighting.
Other than a
30-second commercial where shaky and jerky camera movements are used
for some edgy message, people don’t want to watch a long video
segment where the picture is constantly moving around on them.
It is not only distracting, but in my opinion, the first
tip-off of a poor quality production.
Having a tripod is required equipment for good solid shots of
your subject matter. I
have used a cheap photography tripod that didn’t move without
jerking, so I made sure I cut between shots to get nice steady shots. A
good fluid-head or fluid motion tripod is essential for zoom shots
where you need to adjust your pan and tilt.
Once you have your
video, you have to decide how you want people to see it.
Do you want to be able to edit your video on your computer?
Do you want to copy it to a videotape or burn it onto a DVD?
Answering these questions will help you decide how to deliver
your movie to your audience.
There are many video
editing solutions available ranging from the very simple to the
professional programs.
If you are using a
non-digital camcorder and want to edit the footage on your computer,
your options for editing would have to include some way for you to
transfer your footage into a digital format so that you can download
it to your computer. Any
digital video camera store can help you sort out your options and you
would be well advised to spend some time in the library and at the
bookstore studying reviews for different editing systems and
solutions.
If you are using a
digital video camera, you have more options for editing and burning a
DVD. For example, on my
iMac, there is an iMovie program where I can make edits and add music
to my video then transfer it over to iDVD where I can then burn a DVD.
This software is standard on the iMac and shipped with the
computer. Along the way
there is an option to download it back to my video camera to make a
videotape from it.
I use Final Cut Pro,
the Apple professional software bundle that also includes DVD Studio
Pro, Soundtrack Pro and Motion, a graphics program.
I found that with the featyres I wanted to include on my
DVD’s, I had to go beyond iDVD to a professional standard.
Your best and easiest
resource for searching for information on products and techniques is
the web. With your web
browser, search for digital video production to start your search for
information. Two websites
that I like are Videomaker at http://www.videomaker.com/scripts/index.cfm/
and 2-Pop at http://www.2-pop.com/.
