When you decide to create your own video, where do you start?
You might be thinking of a popular topic for videos, how to generate an audience, or just how to edit for social media. These are all important, but here are the basic techniques and prep for starting a video.
Be ready for the day of filming.
This seems obvious, but you need to make some notes for your dialog, write down or draw out some key shots that would look cool, and double check that from start to finish, you know what to film.
Common fails or oversights when filming range from forgetting to charge your camera battery to speeding through the whole film process and ending up with something that feels awkward or hard to understand. Just be sure to spend some time making notes and ask someone to help you out. Filming with a friend is extremely valuable and it works best when you both review the notes before filming content.
What is the best filming style?
An easy way to start filming is; find a style that you want and copy it. Focus on camera movement and individual shots others are using. Fancy editing, epic transitions, and music can overshadow this, so try look past that and focus on what the camera is doing. Filming low to the ground, filming with a drone, getting a stable tripod shot, these are the things you need to look for, think of where the camera is and try to copy it.
Light it up
You might not think so, but filming with a smartphone can look good. Most modern phones have 4K capability and while the smartphone lens is limited in its range, lighting becomes your best friend. Why? Without light, you lose detail and quality. Especially for less expensive camera bodies, lenses, or phones, you need to make sure your subject has a good source of light on it. You could drop a couple grand on a DSLR with a few nice lenses to overcome this, but if you on a budget, your phone can do the trick.
Head cut off by camera
Every time you set up for a new shot, double check your subject is in frame. It’s silly how often videos are ruined because the subject was not in the full view of the camera. Also, give some space around your subject, you might want to crop the shot later in editing, so make sure you have a little wiggle room.
Boring video?
Whenever you want to tell a visual story, even with dialogue narration, you are going to want a lot of b-roll. What the heck is b-roll? Supplemental footage that shows people up close, far away, side to side, up and down, whatever! B-roll is visual context, and it’s awesome. Film lots and get creative with it, show a unique perspective that helps viewers get the idea.
These are basic filming techniques to get started; preparation, equipment, lighting, camera technique, and b-roll. Just remember to get out there and start making content.
Practice is always good, and always needed. As you try and try again, you’ll improve your skill, discover new shots and naturally want to learn more experienced techniques to include with how you film.
