How do I take decent home video?

December 22, 2005 7:58 AM

How do I take decent home video?

My still pictures have gone from amateurish to adequate with the help of a few basic tips - don't get the sun behind your subject; fill the frame with your subject; outdoor lighting is best; etc. But my home movies are godawful.

What tips do the pros know that could help me take decent video at weddings and family gatherings? Video taken with my Sony Handycam will ultimately be edited into a short DVD, using Roxio Easy Movie Creator, for distribution to family.

My question is part technical and part social. Things like lighting tips are most welcome, as well as tips on how to get people to relax and say or do things that are actually worth recording.

posted by selfmedicating to sports, hobbies, & recreation (18 comments total)

I can't help with the technical side, but I find that having the videocamera going constantly gets people used to it. If you're making a home video, unless it's a five-year-old putting on a play, you want your family to act naturally, not perform for the camera. If they're used to you taping them, they will (hopefully) act naturally. After all, they way they normally act is what inspired you to tape them in the first place.
posted by danb at 8:02 AM on December 22, 2005

Just an anecdotal answer, my aunt got one of those fancy camcorders back in the 80's and used to bring the damn thing to family functions. We thought it was annoying so she started just filming us from the shadows or from distances, playing, cooking, eating, chatting, generally interacting. This we got over fairly quickly as she wasn't obtrusive.

Her videos now are priceless and bring tears to even the crustiest old codgers in the family when they see kids now grown and loved ones gone by. The video of my grandmother teaching my other aunt a recipe in the days before her mind was lost to Alzheimer is unwatchable, but not because of its quality.
posted by Pollomacho at 8:07 AM on December 22, 2005

Move the camera around and zoom in/out. Reasonably, of course, not fast or randomly. Just don't have the same frame all the time. Even interesting things can be boring to watch if it's all from the same angle, and boring things can be interesting if you look at it in different ways.

I recently rewatched some of my parents old videos, and that was the most striking difference between things that were boring or fun. The static shot of dolphins jumping was somehow less interesting than the panned shot of a random guy crossing the street.
posted by easternblot at 8:15 AM on December 22, 2005

Shots of each of the main characters arriving helps give some structure.
posted by StickyCarpet at 8:18 AM on December 22, 2005

This is a good page.
posted by fire&wings at 8:23 AM on December 22, 2005

This page is also good.
posted by kcm at 8:32 AM on December 22, 2005

Er, how about this one.
posted by kcm at 8:32 AM on December 22, 2005

Shoot "moving photographs." Seriously, the best lesson my girlfriend ever learned with the video camera is to shoot for a couple of seconds at a time. 5 seconds is quite a bit of time. 20 seconds is an eternity. So capturing a set of 20 or 30 clips over the course of a weekend is great. Another way to do this is to be ruthless in the editing booth and chop down the longer video into shorter scenes. Nobody bothers doing this though, so it's better capture less video more often.
posted by zpousman at 8:34 AM on December 22, 2005

I second zpousman. If you have time, the best way is to take a LOT of footage and cut it down mercilessly. Also, judicious use of voice-over or titles to explain who is involved and the significance of what's going on could help future generations. Mix talking-head interviews/stroytelling with more active shots. I recommend iMovie--you can throw in photos with the "Ken Burns effect." And make sure to include chapter markers for easy DVD navigation: "Skip this boring part, Dad!" Think of it as lots of mini-stories adding up to a family portrait.
posted by rikschell at 8:45 AM on December 22, 2005

Zooming in/out looks amateurish, although modern professionals are starting to use it when they want the rough, unsteady look. The biggest thing that makes your video professional, IMO, is a tripod.
posted by knave at 9:00 AM on December 22, 2005

First,

Obey the rule of thirds. Draw a tic tac toe board (mentally) when you look through the eye piece....try to put people/faces/intresting objects at the crossing points.

Second, never, ever, ever, zoom. Move closer. Tripods a great...but feel static.
If you want to walk with the camera, keep it near your body (hip/waist is very steady), with zero, zero, zero zoom.

When you zoom in, every breath of your body is magnified. No zoom permits you to work handheld without calling as much attention to that it's handheld.

Nobody ever watches the raw feed. Edit, edit, edit. Think about the last time you watched your "family" memories. You fast forward past the boring parts. That's the basis of editing.

Realize that if you're shooing you're not part of the picture.

Lighting: add light, never shoot into it. When light is low, the video will be noisy.

When possible, never use the built in mike on a camera. It's lousy and cheap.

If you want to loosen people up...ask them something they have to think about...but they're passionate about (say, their favorite movie)...they stop thinking they're on camera...and stop remembering they're on camera.
posted by filmgeek at 9:27 AM on December 22, 2005

I would also add this: Don't overshoot. As filmgeek put it, "Edit, edit, edit!" But if you have 16 hours of video over the course of a weekend, that's too much to edit and you'll never get to it.
posted by lunarboy at 9:31 AM on December 22, 2005

Use the zoom a lot less than you think you need to. Remember what your subject is and keep your camera pointed at them. If they're moving, leave extra space in the direction they're moving as you follow them so it doesn't look like they're trying to escape the frame.

Lighting is important; don't let your subject get lost in the shadows. Torchiere lights (bright ones) bounced off the ceiling work nicely indoors if you're in a setting where you can get away with bright lighting. Otherwise, try not to mix lighting sources of different color (sunlight+incandescent, incandescent+fluorescent, etc.).
posted by kindall at 10:04 AM on December 22, 2005

Consumer camcorders don't have fast or smooth enough zooms to use them while recording, so don't.

One thing pro cameramen do is set the focus and exposure manually. If possible, turn off everything automatic and adjust the settings only when changing between subjects (this requires a camera with some sort of manual controls, of course).
posted by cillit bang at 10:57 AM on December 22, 2005

When you are editing the movie together avoid all the fancy transition effects and stick to straight cuts between one shot and other. One quick trick to draw in people's attention is to try some "J cuts" and "L cuts" - in the former the sound for the next clip starts before the current clip ends; for the latter you carry some sound over to the next show.

Try some music in the background - it can be great for conveying a message or increasing the emotional punch of a shot.

In terms of editing density watch any TV commercial for inspiration of what can be done (typically shots will be between 1 and 5 seconds long and every one will have a clear purpose in terms of telling the story).
posted by rongorongo at 12:42 PM on December 22, 2005

I have to disagree with the advice to zoom or move around. Try to keep the camera as still as possible. Whenever I see some footage on the news of some event that was shot by an amateur, I just want to scream at the camera STOP MOVING AROUND AND JUST BE STILL. It's like the person zooms in, zooms out, pans left, pans right, pans left again, zooms in again, etc. It is so annoying, and it would be so much easier to watch if it was just STILL. Try to get a shot that says everything you want to say without having to pan or zoom. Too much movement is the mark of a true amateur, if you ask me.
posted by Rhomboid at 1:46 PM on December 22, 2005

I think the best basic tip I've heard is to stay with a given "shot" for 7 seconds. Pan, tilt, and zoom if you need to, but stay on one subject for at least that long.
posted by CrayDrygu at 2:53 PM on December 22, 2005

Thanks everyone! All very useful answers. I'm off to my inlaws now to begin filming xmas.
posted by selfmedicating at 7:09 AM on December 23, 2005