Tips for Capturing Great Video

1) Be prepared

• Create a storyboard and shotlist.

I strongly encourage future film makers out there to always always prepare your storyboard. That is MOST important. Compared to shotlist, it can always changed because sometimes we will get new idea or scrap our usual idea when we were in the location of the shooting. But by having storyboard, you will know what you should do. What kind of flow you want for your video. Storybold hold your stories together and go to one direction. 

2) Opening Establishing Shot

• Begin with what is called an establishing shot. Its a shot of location where the action is going to take place. For example if we want to shoot a birthday party, we should have the panning shoot for the place or house where the party being held.

3) Change angles and positions

1. Viewers will be easily bored if we stuck at the same position for entire video production. 
2. Change position and angle whenever necessary to convey impactful message to viewers.

4) Shoot close

• Shoot close to our subjects. More background in the back makes it less appealing. Better if we can blur out the background to make our subject looks more stand out.

5) Don't forget the background

• Keep it simple
• Make sure there is no distraction background behind our subject too.

Check that objects don’t look like they’re growing out of your subject 

6) Get clear,steady footage

• Avoid zoom in and out. Let the actors provide the motion.
• Use our camera movement for a purpose. Plan what kind of panning and tilting that will be suitable to convey the message to viewers.
• Use tripod or stabilizer too.

Here are two video tips for stabilizer if we don't have any stabilizer .

7) Capture Candid Shot 

• Make your subjects feel comfortable and relaxed by talking and interacting with them 
• Try to be discreet 
• Take still images with a digital camera so you can incorporate the still images into your movie 

8) Composition

• Make sure all parts of your shot work together -- the subject, background, color, and lighting 
• Position your subject off center for a more interesting shot 
• Make sure there is no unnecessary space around the subject 

9) Capture the complete story

• Press “Record” about 5 seconds prior to the action starting and let the camera run about 5 seconds after the action stops 
• Keep each and every short steady for at least 10 seconds. 
• 15 second rule: When shooting for b-roll*, try to shoot at least 15 seconds of video. This makes editing it into smaller segments easier. 
• Capture an establishing shot at the beginning of each scene 

10) Shooting for B-roll

• B-Roll is a supplementary footage shown during a production. 
• It can make telling your story much easier and compelling with added footage. It is often used to enrich a story.
• B-roll can include the following: 

• Video footage  

• Graphical elements (Charts, diagrams etc.) 

• Photographs 

• Animation

How long should a shot be? 

• 5 seconds minimum 
• 10 – 20 seconds is preferred 
• Get at least two shots (close-up and medium for example) of same spot before moving on. 
• Shoot from different angles at the same spot to prevent boredom.

This tips are only for guidance. As we learnt and explore and experimenting, we can shot a very great video too. Most important is to not be afraid to try something new and exploring/experimenting new technique. Another thing is we can always browse through alot of video examples from all over the world in internet. Be inspired and make our own version then!

Production : Camera Shot & Movement & Angle

Common Shot Types

Camera Shot : size of the subject in the frame (How much of the person/subject we will see). 

For this topic, I think it better for me to just share common shot types that people always used in video.  Instead of explaining in details, pictures above show a thousand words. Research said people studied better with visual kan.. 

Apart from that, here is a Youtube Video that help us to understand more about camera shot. This video is really helpful in order to help us understand the basic concept concept of camera shots. Credit to the owner.

Different camere shots can bring different meaning and message to convey to viewer. Here is a link of blog that listed the advantages and disadvantages of using each camera shot in our video production.

Advantages & Disadvantages (Camera Shots)

Camera Movement

Camera movement : Help to make the video that we produced does not look static and boring.

7 Basic Camera Movements

Zoom : Use zoom creatively. Don't misused it. Zoom in or out from an unexpected, yet important, object or person in your shot. Use a quick zoom to add energy to a fast-paced piece.

Pan : when we move our camera horizontally; either left to right or right to left, while its base is fixated on a certain point. We are not moving the position of the camera itself, just the direction it faces. These are great for establishing a sense of location within your story.

Tilt: when we move the camera vertically, up to down or down to up, while its base is fixated to a certain point. Again, like panning, this move typically involves the use of a tripod where the camera is stationary but we move the angle it points to. These shots are popular when introducing a character from top to below of the character body.

Dolly : We move the entire camera forwards and backwards, typically on some sort of track or motorized vehicle. This type of movement can create beautiful, flowing effects when done correctly. If we want to attempt a dolly, make sure our track is stable and will allow for fluid movement. 

Tips : Can use some sort of trolley too! We tried this in our project. Hahaha!

Using trolley >.<

Truck : Trucking is the same as dollying, only we are moving the camera from left to right instead of in and out. It is best to do this using a fluid motion track that will eliminate any jerking or friction.

Pedestal : A pedestal is when you move the camera vertically up or down while it is fixated in one location. This term came from the use of studio cameras when the operators would have to adjust the pedestal the camera sat on to compensate for the height of the subject. A pedestal move is easy to do when the camera is fixated to an adjustable tripod.

Rack Focus : We adjust the lens to start an image blurry and then slowly make it crisper, or vice versa. It is an extremely effective way for us to change our audience’s focus from one subject to another.

Example of Rack Focus in our project

Camera Angle

Camera angle affect how we perceived it.

A strong weapon in the cinematographer’s arsenal is the ability to position the camera in relation to the subject or scenery.

Sometimes different angles will be chosen to emphasize different elements in the screen.

Example of High Camera Angle in our project

 

Low Camera Angle

Pre-Production : Shot list

Once we have written our script/story board, we can use that to create shot list.

Shot list should include :

• Shot number
• Shot type
• Angle
• Duration
• Description of action

Example of shotlist

Shot list is often created by the Director of Photography or member of the camera department  and is used to make sure all coverage needed is captured on location.

• A complete list of shots we want to get
• Images of particular people/subject
• Contextual footage ("B -roll")
• Establishing shots

Shot list often created based on Storyboards or script.

Resources for Templates:

Filmmaking Documents and Templates (Download)  

Pre-Production : Storyboard

Story boarding : A process of producing sketches of the shot from your script.
End result looks like comic book of your film (without the speech bubbles)

Types of storyboard :
Hand drawn
Photo storyboard

Tools for storyboarding:
Inspiration,Kidspiration,Microsoft Word,Microsoft Power Point,pencil and paper

Another resource that I just found recently is : storyboardthat.com

This tools help us to create storyboard, providing us the background and character as well as icons/items need to be use in our storyboard. The drawback is that it is not free forever. We need to buy a package premium. But they do give us 14-days trial. And I personally love the functions they gave to us. Check it out by yourself!

While preparing the storyboard, here are the things that we need to consider :

• How can we use shot types and angles to communicate meaning?
• How we intend to use composition to communicate meaning?
• The role of "mise-en-scene"
• Use of framing
• How we can use camerawork in a visually striking way?

Always include these in our storyboards :

1. Graphic description of what takes place in the shot
2. Camera movement/shot/size
3. The direction which the camera should pan or zoom (use arrows)
4. Shot duration
5. A list of props that will be needed

By listing all these, it can helps cameraman and director to visualise.

Pre-Production : Scripting

A script is not just a dialogues. The script is a written guide to what you are going to film. All action should be in the script.

Basic rules include :

• Keep it simple
• Think in big pictures
• Make every line of dialogue count
• Show motivations and character type via dialogue

There are two types :

• The "SPEC" script
• The "SHOOTING" script

SPEC Script

SPEC Script contains :

• Slug-line (Brief description of the setting e.g . "INT.ROOM-Day which means the interior of a room during the day)
• Bussiness (descriptions of characters/action)
• Dialog (lines intended to be spoken by the actors)

Format :

• INT/EXT-Location-Time of Day
• First appearance of character should be in capitals with brief description
• Use Courier size 12 font

Shooting Script

SHOOTING Script

• Version of screenplay used during the production on motion picture
• More details version of SPEC Script
• Numbered scenes,specific camera angles and other technical information

BREAKDOWN SHOOTING SCRIPT

• Number each scene in script
• Bracket off each intended shot
• Designate each shot as CAM A/B/C (if use >1 camera)
• Give each bracket a shot description
• Make sure to leave lots of generous action overlap so you have editing options

When developing a shooting script , it is very important to convey what kind of environment you want to establish through your video. Take notes on the part of how to smoothly make the character move and what kind of POV we are sharing. Use variety of composition to shows relationship so our video is not too static and boring.