Next Steps in Video
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I have to thank long time reader Dave for the compliments on the two recent video articles and for his thoughts on next steps.
So here we go!
Some Basics
Now that we have locked down our understanding of how to select the shutter speed, the depth of field (aperture) and gain (ISO) for our video, it’s time to move on to thoughts on making your video.
All video, and cinema for that matter, is generally composed of short segments that we call clips. A clip generally is between six and twelve seconds in length. They could be shorter or longer in duration for specific goals, however the idea is keep things moving to keep viewers engaged. To see why clips are useful, find an empty bowl and set a timer for 15 seconds and stare at the bowl. Then do it for a minute. Bored yet? Exactly. Viewers bore easily so we need to constantly give them something to look at.
Unlike a still where the viewer may engage with it, it is far less common for a general viewer to really get personally engaged with a video. The clips are put together on a timeline that when played back must tell a story. The more interesting the story, the more engaging the video.
That’s not to say that there is no market for a video that’s sixty minutes long of clouds moving across the sky, or waves lapping on a beach, or a fireplace just burning. There are cable channels on TV for this kind of content, yet they are probably not what most folks will want to watch.
Your first video effort should involve stringing your clips together into a timeline. Most video editors today allow for flexible editing, meaning you can put a clip on a timeline and then move the different clips around to create the best flow for your story.
If you watch a television show or movie, you will see this in action. A series of clips that are put together that move the story along. Feel free to time how long a particular shot is on screen. We don’t think about this much, but when we inspect, we find that the duration of each shot (clip) is quite short. When we move from clip to clip it is immediate. This is called a jump cut and is not only commonplace, it is very effective for the viewer. There is no need to use complex fades or transitions between clips. Doing so is a creative choice, but use sparingly as they get old very quickly.
Shooting Handheld
We can shoot clips handheld so long as our stance is stable and we keep the clips short. Start the camera recording before your action is going on and let the camera continue for a bit before stopping the recording process. This gives you trim space at the beginning and ending of your clip. Trimming is a necessary tool to keep each clip as short as suitable but no shorter. Remember that shakey-cam worked ok in the original Blair Witch Project, but that’s been done and it generally looks like crap.
Camera movement is very distracting and it is common when shooting handheld. You can spend a lot of money on stabilization devices that allow you to move the camera and keep the shot steady, and there are editor tools that can do stabilization after the fact, but the best option is always to have the camera fixed. Stabilizers add weight and require practice. They’re never as good as you think that they will be without spending a lot of money and doing a lot of practice.
A Video Tripod is Key
Ok, a tripod is key, but if you want maximum flexibility you will want a solid leg set and a fluid damped video head with a long panning arm. This is not the same as a pan head for stills. Cameras on video tripods often have to move to complete a clip. Remember this rule.. FAST IS SLOW, SMOOTH IS FAST A fluid damped head helps you achieve smoothness in your camera movements and also locks down to prevent any camera movement for clips where the camera is not moving at all. You can certainly start with the tripod and head that you have, but if video becomes part of your creative arsenal, a video head is in your future at the minimum.
Back and Forth or Dialogue Shots
This may mean shooting individual clips out of sequence. This is common for shots going back and forth of two people talking. This is how TV and Film are shot. All the content from one performer is shot at one time, then the other performer is shot in bulk, and the editor then manipulates the clip position on the timeline to make it look like the camera was bouncing back and forth between subjects, This is planful and hard work, and one of the reasons why we recommend starting simple in your first projects do you don’t make them too complex.
The Shot List
Once you have mapped out your shooting sequence in a series of shots that will create the story, you are ready to make your shot list. Working without a shot list is going to be really difficult. Trust me on this. Spend more time on your shot list and your storyboard flow than you do behind the camera. Sometimes it’s helpful to use a series of stills in a slideshow to get your shot list conceptually laid out..
Focusing
Mirrorless cameras do a good job of autofocus while shooting video, DSLRs are less good at this, Professional videographers tend to shoot with manual focus because the subject is rarely moving in the clip and any movement is handled by choice of depth of field. Lots of folks spend too much time worrying about autofocus for video. If your subject is moving in a single clip and you want to use AF, set your camera to a single point AF and enable tracking focus, or choose sufficient depth of field to cover the movement range front to back.
Panning
A “common” camera move is to pan the camera to keep the subject in the same place in the frame during movement in a clip. Learning to pan takes a lot of practice and excellent coordination between the subject and the camera operator. A much easier option is to use a wider angle of view and let the subject move through the frame. If you watch many TV or film productions, you will discover that panning is a lot less common than people think. A wider field of view in one clip followed by a jump to the subject in its ending position is much more likely.
Zooming
Nothing screams amateur in a video like a live zoom. Zoom lenses are awesome to create varying compositions without having to move the gear from place to place. Since most video involves only three types of shot, with the most used being the medium and the closeup, a zoom lens can let you achieve both without moving cameras, tripods and supporting gear. If you must zoom, use a short range and get it over smoothly, not overly fast and not overly slow. A manual zoom without a zoom controller is going to be jerky. Save money on gear and avoid live zooms. Use different clips with jump cuts instead. There’s a deeper issue with maintaining focus while zooming. Most still camera zoom lenses are not parfocal which means that at different angles of view, they need to be refocused. True video zoom lenses do not have these issues, but they are a different critter and have a different cost structure.
Intros and Outros
Don’t go overboard on these things. Simple is better unless you have days/weeks to spend on these elements. A simple opening that has titles and that moves to an establishing shot (which tells the viewer where the video is happening, is all you really need. Each change of location should have an establishing shot, and this is about the only place where a transition effect can be used successfully. The common ending is a fade to black, but if you use one, make it quick and get to your outro. Most video editors come with prebuilt credit sequences that are already properly timed and all you need to do is fill in the blanks. We’ve all seen films where the intro is so long that is really just advertising for the sources of funding that we want to give up before the film starts. Remember Star Wars? George Lucas broke the rules by not having a long intro sequence or list of actors. He got right to the point, a very successful route that grabbed the audience right away..
Audio
While all our cameras can record audio with video, for the most part, they suck at it. Those in camera microphones are junk and they pick up all manner of noise. It’s recommended that you have no scene audio in your first few video projects because audio recording is a completely different skill set from video. This is why the camera operator and the sound person are two completely different roles on a set. You can always add audio after the fact in your editor and if you use music, make sure it is licensed. I source my video music through Triple Scoop Music. The licensing is simple and the costs are low. Or make your own music. If you want to do a voiceover, a decent USB microphone and your computer can do the job. Most all video editors directly support voiceover recording. This goes on its own track so if you don’t like it you can redo it without impacting your video clips. Don’t do this until your video sequence is locked in the timeline because if you start moving clips around or trimming after doing the audio, the timing could be out.
If you do want to record audio that goes with the video and record at the same time, buy yourself an on camera video microphone. Since the audio processor in the camera is mostly junk, use a good microphone such as one of the shoe mount shotgun microphones from RODE or Sennheiser. Bad audio ALWAYS wrecks good video.
If you want more sophisticated audio with better preamps and the ability to use condenser microphones, we’re not in Kansas anymore and that’s an entirely different and lengthy subject. Don’t go there until you are prepared to have a dedicated sound person.
The Next Steps
The obvious next steps in growing your video success are lighting for your video and getting more effective audio. We will tackle those in the next article.
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I'm Ross Chevalier, thanks for reading, watching and listening and until next time, peace.
