CAMCORDER 101: HOW TO MAKE BETTER VIDEOS

by Timothy Liebe
(originally published on C/Net, ©2001)

 

That camcorder you got for Christmas a couple years back is in the closet gathering dust. The last time you broke out your videos, friends and family suddenly remembered an urgent dentist’s appointment. Every time you view your tapes, you get motion sick and wear out your fast-forward button.

Sound familiar? If so, then you’re one of the millions--and millions--of camcorder owners who’s been frustrated by the results they’re getting. Fortunately, shooting better-looking home videos is easy--you just need to follow some straightforward guidelines.

Camera Movement

1) Use a tripod or flat, stable surface for steadier shots. You’d be amazed how much better your videos look when most of the shots don’t shake. The best way to do this and still have some freedom of camera movement is to use a tripod.

 Tripods come with a “pan head” which let you move the camcorder left or right (“pan”) or point it up or down (“tilt”). Just about every tripod has telescoping or collapsible legs, and an “elevator section” which extends the pan head above the legs, so the camcorder can be raised or lowered.

 Tripods range in price from $20 for a cheap desktop model which only raises the camera a foot or two off the ground, to several thousand dollars for a television-studio grade Matthews or Miller. The more expensive the tripod, the more stability it has and the smoother the pan head will be.

 Unfortunately, tripods are also an extra, bulky piece of equipment to carry, and take a few minutes to set up and break down. If you don’t carry a tripod, find a flat, stable surface like a table or wide ledge to set your camcorder on. This won’t give you a tripod’s freedom of movement, but at least your shots will be steady.

 2) When you pan or tilt, do so slowly and steadily. Because your head and eyes move quickly while looking over a large area, it’s tempting to move the camcorder just as quickly. Unfortunately, this type of movement (called a “whip pan”), is disorienting to viewers. (That’s why horror movies and thrillers utilize it so often).

A good general rule for panning or tilting during a shot is to move the camcorder deliberately and at a snail’s pace. It may feel too slow while shooting, but won’t look that way when you play it back.

3) If you're moving and shooting handheld, hold the camcorder STEADY. Image stabilization is built into most current mini-format (8mm, VHS-C, MiniDV) consumer camcorders. It compensates for the slight shakiness you get when shooting one-handed with a camcorder that’s small and lightweight. (Larger-format camcorders like full-sized VHS don’t generally come with image stabilization as their weight, size and shoulder-mount design do the job instead.)

 However, image stabilization can’t fix excessive camera shake, so try these tips for steadier handheld shooting with mini-format camcorders: 

 

• Don’t hold your mini-format camcorder by the handgrip alone--use your other hand, resting lightly on the other side or flip-out monitor, to keep the camcorder steady.
  
  
• Tighten the handgrip’s strap as tightly as you can comfortably take it, so your shooting hand is pressed flush against the camcorder.
  
  
• Walk and move slowly and carefully, like you were trying to balance a book on your head.

4) Don’t shoot out the side window of a car in motion. If you’re a passenger in the back seat of a car, it’s easy to shoot out the side window. Unfortunately, it’s also a guarantee you’ll get a lot of awful-looking footage, since image stabilization won’t be able to correct for all the bouncing around. Moreover, side windows have a narrow field of vision, so even if you pan to follow a subject, you’ll run out of window after a few seconds and end up with a shot of the car’s interior.

If you see something you want to shoot, stop the car, get out, and shoot from the roadside. You can use the top or hood as a stable surface, and get as much footage as you want. If you can’t get the driver to stop the car, shoot out of the front or rear window instead. Whatever you’re shooting will stay in shot for a lot longer than if you shoot out the side window, and it’s easier to stabilize the camcorder when you can brace yourself against the seat backs.

Zoom Lenses

1) Do NOT zoom in and out constantly. When used properly, a zoom lens brings your viewers close to the action. Unfortunately, most people with a new camcorder get “zoom-happy”, zooming in and out until viewers feel like their heads are being slammed against a wall repeatedly.

A zoom in or out should only be used as emphasis, to draw the viewer’s attention to something. Constant zooming is like The Boy Who Cried Wolf; it’s not only annoying, it quickly loses its ability to suggest the viewer’s seeing something special. Most of the time, zoom in or out before you start recording.

2) Do not walk with the camcorder or make any sudden movements while zoomed in. A zoom lens is designed to go from wide angle from telephoto (closeup). The good thing about telephoto is that it gets you close to the action. The bad thing is that it also amplifies any camera movement, so that the tinest shake looks like you shot in the middle of an earthquake.

If you’re moving with the camcorder, keep it zoomed out as far as you can and get closer to the subject. If you’re standing still and zoom all the way in to get a shot, don’t trust yourself or image stabilization to hold the camera steady--use a tripod or flat surface to reduce shakiness.

3) Telephoto considerably reduces the depth of field. “Depth of field” is the area in a shot in front of and behind the subject that’s in focus. With a zoom lens, the more you’re zoomed in, the narrower the depth of field. You may want a narrow depth of field which blurs the background in some cases. If you don’t want that effect, then zoom out and get closer to the subject.

4) When you zoom, zoom slowly. As with whip pans, fast zoomS in or out are disorienting to the viewer. Most camcorders these days have two or more zoom speeds, usually selected by the amount of pressure you put on the “zoom rocker” (the two-way button or lever that activates the zoom lens). The more pressure you put on the zoom rocker, the faster the zoom.

Depending on the manufacturer, zoom speeds can either be slow and slower (current Samsung camcorders), or slow to kung-fu movie fast (Sony camcorders’ fast zoom will give viewers whiplash). In most cases, you’ll want the slower zoom speed because it’s less disorienting.

5) Don’t use digital zoom, ever. A zoom lens is an “optical zoom”, which uses the lens’ optics to bring a subject closer.  This way, you don’t lose any image quality. “Digital zoom” has nothing do with the lens; instead, it digitally interpolates from the picture already on the imaging chip, in much the same way as you’d make a small image file larger in photo editing software. Unfortunately, just like increasing a picture’s size in Photoshop, it isn’t long before the image starts to degrade noticeably.

Autofocus and Focusing

1) Turn Autofocus off if you're holding a shot for a while. Autofocus can be a great convenience, particularly with smaller camcorders where the manual focus usually isn’t well-placed. Most work kind of like radar, bouncing infrared signals off what’s in front of the camcorder to select the appropriate focus (“infrared”), while other analyze the image to find the sharpest parts (“piezo-electric”). Autofocus can also be a pain because it has a tendency to “hunt” (focus on one object, then another, then back again), particularly if there’s a lot of motion cutting through the shot (i.e., cars driving down a road).

Some Autofocus camcorders compensate for focus hunting in various ways. Canon’s “FlexiZone” gives you the ability to select the part of a shot that autofocus and other automatic camcorder functions use, while other camcorders have zoom lenses with shorter “focal lengths” (the distance from the center of the lens to the imaging chip--see below for an explanation as to why this is significant). However, there’s no guarantee your camcorder has these features, or that they’ll work in all cases. If you’ve got a shot that you’re holding for a few minutes, it’s a good idea to switch autofocus off.

2) The more you’re zoomed in, the more your Autofocus will hunt. It’s generally believed that a lens’ focal length partly determines a shot’s depth of field--the longer the focal length, the shorter the depth of field. Zooming in on a subject increases the lens’ focal length and reduces the depth of field considerably. This makes the Autofocus more vulnerable to focus hunting, because a slight movement of the camcorder could easily throw an subject outside depth of field range.

This is a problem when you’re “romancing a table”; that is, shooting a table with several objects on it (like a collection of gifts at a birthday party or wedding) so that each object gets a few seconds as the subject. Nothing spoils the mood of a complicated shot like this more than seeing each object go in and out of focus several times!

To remedy this, zoom all the way out and get closer to the subject you’re shooting. If that’s not possible, move the camcorder slowly and carefully so that Autofocus will be able to adjust smoothly.

3) Whenever possible, manually focus. This could be difficult, since a lot of camcorders put their manual focus controls in inconvenient places--like a tiny wheel on the front of the camcorder or as a secondary option for the zoom rocker. However, it’s the best way to avoid focus hunting.

Here’s a little trick that pro videographers use to make manual focusing easier. Activate manual focus. Zoom all the way into the subject. Focus while zooomed in. Then zoom out to the shot you want. You’ll maintain sharp and clear focus as long as the camcorder or subject doesn’t move out of range.

Using Light

1) When shooting indoors, place your subjects so they're in the available light. Too many people figure that they don’t have to worry about light at all because consumer camcorders record in low light. While this is true, low-light shooting causes colors to come out wrong or barely at all, and the resulting image is grainy, with streaks of unwanted color shooting through.

This is because your low-light camcorder has to increase the video “gain” (add more power to compensate for a weak signal). Just as when you try to pump up the volume to hear a quiet piece of music, you pick up a lot of unwanted “noise” along with the signal you wanted to hear. Moreover, low light means that your camcorder’s lens aperture has to open up more, which reduces depth of field.

To avoid these problems, always try to maneuver your subjects so that they’re where the available light is. Shooting in the kitchen will generally give good results, as will having your subject sit sitting near a lamp, switched-on television set, or window if there’s daylight out.

2) When shooting indoors, use the camcorder's built-in light. A little extra light indoors can make the difference between a poor image and a good one. That’s why many camcorder manufacturers build low-wattage (20-40 watt) “color enhancement lights” into their camcorders. Since they’re not that bright, people generally aren’t bothered by them.

Color enhancement lights aren’t much good more at more than six feet, but provide sufficient illumination to keep colors accurate when shooting close-ups or medium (head-to-waist) shots in a poorly-lit room. They also drain battery power, so if possible use the camcorder’s AC adapter and plug into a wall socket.

3) Mixed lighting can cause color shifts. If you shoot indoors on a sunny day with the lights on, parts of the shot near the window may look kind of like they were shot at the bottom of a swimming pool. That’s because you’re shooting under two different types of light (“mixed lighting”). Different types of light have different “color temperatures”, which changes the amount of red or blue in them. Sunlight has more blue than incandescent light, for instance.

To adjust for this, consumer camcorders have a feature called “automatic white balance”, which lets the camcorder recognize what’s white under various lighting conditions. Once white’s set, all other colors fall into line. Sometimes, though, the auto white balance can’t decide which white is which or chooses the wrong one.

If you’re shooting in mixed light, see if your camcorder has selectable white balance options--usually sunlight, incandescent and fluorescent. Most mid-range and high-end camcorders do, either in the onscreen menu or under Program Autoexposure. If your camcorder has selectable white balance, choose the option that best suits where you’re shooting; for instance, if you’re mostly shooting people standing near a window, you’d set for sunlight.

4) Don't shoot facing a bright light source, and don’t make your human subjects face it, either. If you shoot facing a bright light source like the sun or a picture window during the day, your camcorder’s automatic aperture will close down to compensate. This will result in a well-lit background and a subject who’ll look like a silhouette. If you reverse positions so that the subject’s facing the bright light, it’ll be well lit--but if the subject’s human, he or she will also be squinting. You can make everybody happy and get a well-lit shot by putting both subject and camcorder at opposing 45-degree angles to the light source.  

In-Camera Editing

1) Limit long scenes. More than anything else, what makes the average home video boring is that it’s a bunch of long scenes without any point to them. By using a bit of discipline, you can edit your video as you shoot it, catching only those parts which viewers will find interesting:

 

• Don’t introduce people on tape by walking around the room with the camcorder running. Instead, set the camcorder up in a specific spot, then invite everyone to come over and introduce themselves on-camera for 10-15 seconds.
  
  
• Shoot only the highlights of an event. For instance, the highlights of a birthday cake scene are bringing in the cake while everyone sings, blowing out the candles, and maybe cutting the first piece. Shoot that and nothing more until everyone has their cake and is settled. By applying this reasoning to all events, you can make your videos more interesting.
  
  
• If two people are having a conversation, stay on a shot of both of them talking ("two-shot"). Don’t try zooming in and out, or panning around to catch whoever's talking at the moment. Not only won’t you be able to keep up, but your camerawork will make people seasick.
  
  
• If one person’s doing most of the talking and the other’s listening, you can emphasize the importance of the talker and still include the listener by what’s called a “favoring shot”. This is a camera angle that puts the talker closer to the lens than the person listening, but shows both.

2) Only shoot continuously when your subjects are doing something interesting, and you can clearly see what’s going on. Some occasions, like people playing a fast-moving card or board game, have built-in excitement. If that’s the case, angle your shot so the viewer can clearly see what’s going on and who the participants are.

If the activity is repetitive or unexciting, like washing dishes, try this in-camera editing trick instead: First, shoot a 10-15 second shot establishing who and where they (“establishing shot”); cut, go to a closer angle that shows what they’re doing for 20-30 seconds (“cutaway”); cut, then go back to establishing shot for 10-15 seconds. Repeat as necessary a couple times, slightly varying the cutaway and establishing shot angles, until you feel you have enough of that scene, then leave it be.

3) Give your video a story. While nobody’s expecting you to be James Cameron, viewers are more likely to keep watching if they feel the video’s telling a story--which is really nothing more than progressing logically from beginning to end. If you know what the video’s story is going to be in advance, you can shoot knowing what you need to get to tell it, and what you don’t need.

If you’re shooting an "event" video like a birthday party, it already has a pre-imposed story; guests show up and congratulate the birthday boy/girl, the birthday cake, open presents, then play games or socialize. It’s hard to go wrong if you follow that.

Vacations are also event videos, since most of the time a vacation involves travelling to a specific place like Disneyland or the Grand Canyon. It’s just that the event takes more than one day.

If you’re doing a video about family or friends in a non-event situation, come up with a series of “mini-movies” that tells viewers something about them. For instance, do you have a brother who likes fixing cars? Shoot him while he does it, explaining as he goes what he’s doing and why. If you have a children, show them playing their favorite game, coloring, or learning to walk.