| To avoid being one of the 'many' follow these | | | | camcorder remote microphone, up the inside of |
| tips and produce great website videos to | | | | your shirt and to your lapel. Bear in mind |
| impress your visitors and put you way ahead | | | | that you will normally be seated within two |
| of the competition. | | | | metres of the camcorder so the microphone |
| | | | should have plenty of cable. |
| 1. Good Lighting. | | | | |
| | | | 4. Avoid Zooming and Panning. |
| The main difference between amateur and | | | | |
| professional videos is the quality of the | | | | Another amateurish trait, avoid these actions |
| lighting. With poor lighting comes graininess | | | | as much as possible. If you are videoing |
| which results in poor quality video. In film | | | | yourself or a subject in the garden for |
| and television studios, you must have seen | | | | instance and want to 'set the scene' for your |
| them on TV, there is always an excess of | | | | viewers then by all means zoom out, pan a |
| lights and the cameras can be adjusted down | | | | little if necessary and then return to the |
| to suit the amount of light. It is not so | | | | subject and continue with the recording. This |
| easy or successful to adjust the camera up | | | | should be as much zooming and panning that |
| when there is not enough light. This will | | | | you need. |
| lead to noise and graininess and a low | | | | |
| quality video. | | | | 5. Pre Roll and Post Roll. |
| | | | |
| For your home studio make use of fluorescent | | | | This is the time from starting and stopping |
| light bulbs. These bulbs have several | | | | the camcorder and the actual start and finish |
| advantages over tungsten and halogen lights, | | | | of the action you want to record. This allows |
| namely no heat output, low energy consumption | | | | for better editing once the shooting is over. |
| and a nice soft light with not so harsh | | | | Not allowing for the pre and post roll can |
| shadows. You can buy fluorescent light kits | | | | make editing difficult, resulting in |
| or you can save a lot of money and make your | | | | amateurish videos. If you are filming |
| own fluorescent light box as we show you | | | | yourself then start the camcorder recording |
| elsewhere in this web site. It is best to use | | | | with the remote control, wait six seconds |
| a three point lighting system which is fairly | | | | before you start talking and at the end let |
| standard in most studios and again we will | | | | the camcorder run on six seconds before |
| show you how to do this elsewhere on the | | | | stopping. This will give you plenty of time |
| website. | | | | to play with when editing. |
| | | | |
| 2. Tripod. | | | | 6. Remember It's A Small Screen. |
| | | | |
| Use a tripod for shake free shooting. Tripods | | | | When shooting videos to add to your web site, |
| come in all sizes and quality but don't go | | | | normally the player will be 320 x 240 so |
| overboard to start with. The camcorder that | | | | avoid wide scenes, keep it close to see the |
| we use on this site is only small and weighs | | | | detail. Typically you will be shooting close |
| in at just over 500 grams (1.1lbs) so there | | | | or very close shots. If you are filming |
| is no need to buy a tripod to suit a heavy | | | | yourself talking then you will be within two |
| professional video camera. | | | | metres of the camera and shown from the waist |
| | | | up. Keep the content simple and |
| 3. Microphone. | | | | uncomplicated, do not have much happening in |
| | | | the video and keep movement to a minimum. |
| The built in microphone on your camcorder is | | | | Watching action from a football game in a 320 |
| not the best to use if you can avoid it. | | | | x 240 player is not great. So keep it close, |
| Typically the quality is not good enough and | | | | keep it simple and keep it quiet. |
| it has a wide pattern picking up lots of | | | | |
| other noises, even the running camcorder | | | | 7. Think Like a Photographer. |
| noises. Don't scrimp on buying a microphone, | | | | |
| buy a uni-directional one that preferably can | | | | When shooting a video see it like a |
| be mounted on the shoe on top of your | | | | photographer taking individual shots. Compose |
| camcorder. Otherwise mount the microphone on | | | | your shoot, take a few seconds from one |
| a boom or support just out of view of the | | | | position. Stop the camera and reposition |
| camcorder but close to the subject. | | | | yourself then shoot again. Do not have too |
| | | | much camera movement in your video. |
| Another option is to use a lavalier | | | | |
| microphone, the sort that clips onto your | | | | Using these tips will ensure that you can |
| lapel and as used by newsreaders on | | | | shoot and produce quality website videos of a |
| television. These are very effective and | | | | better quality than most people. As with many |
| decent quality ones can be purchased for less | | | | things in life, practice makes perfect and it |
| than $50. No need to buy a wireless unit, but | | | | will not be long before you are getting good |
| you need enough cable to run from the | | | | results on the first take. |