Shooting Tips for Nauseous Free Videos

You may not be a Spielberg or Scorsese but with today's sophisticated video technology so readily available, you now have the tools to shoot like a famous director. Producing good home video takes a little planning and some basic shooting techniques. Here's a short checklist on some instant ways to improve your videos so that even your neighbors will want to watch your nauseous free videos.

1. Try and tell a story. Nothing is worse or more boring than a hundred back-to-back shots many different scenes. Before you shoot, think about telling a short story of what you're doing and shoot scenes that best represent those events. Basically, edit the move in your mind before you hit the record button. For example, the traffic getting in to see your city's Holiday Parade (with some close-ups of some very frustrated people in nearby cars) along with a bit of fun narration can be as entertaining as seeing the floats and bands themselves. Just be creative and capture these often forgotten moments, you'll enjoy them next summer when remembering how cold you really were while waiting for the millisecond Santa Claus actually drives by and waves.
2. Zoom no more. Professional camera operators rarely use the zoom lens on video cameras. Sure once in a while a nice push in or zoom out is nice, but think about all the home videos you've been forced to watch which actually got you dizzy from all movement. For best results, put a piece of tape over your zoom button to remind you NOT to use it. Only use it when you're setting up a shot and not recording.
3. Stagger your shots. A nice way to tell a story with video is to start with an 'establishing shot'. This shot is usually very wide and sets the stage for what’s coming up. Next, while NOT recording, zoom into a medium or close-up of something specific you want to feature. Once you have it set up, hit record for a couple of seconds and hit stop. Follow this procedure with people, places, and things and your video will have a nice rhythmic feel to it with out the dizzying effect of constant zooming.
4. Sound is half your video. Professionals use external microphones to capture sound but you'll have to depend on your built in camera mic. Remember if the people you are shooting are far away, chances are good you won't be able to hear them very well. If you want a person talking to camera, keep them 5 to 10 feet away. Any further and you'll be making just about silent movies. Also remember that if you're doing narration while you are shooting, your mouth is about 4 inches away from the microphone. Talk in a low voice or you'll be distorted and sound like some creature from the great beyond.
5. Storing video. Videotape has a shelf-life of about 10 years so if you have some priceless home videos that you want to keep for your kid's kids, transfer it to digital media like a DVD. Most computers can handle video these days and if you have a DVD burner, it's easy to preserve these memories on a disc until the next digital storage solution comes along.
6. Get in the picture. Very often the owner of the camera never gets to be in the video because they're too busy shooting everybody else. Take the time to set up shots with you in it or even have some fun by shooting yourself in a mirror giving an on-camera summary of what you did that day. Even Alfred Hitchcock gave himself cameos in his movies, you should too.