VIDEO RECORDING TIP SHEET

1.  Always have multiple batteries with you.  When out doors in cold weather, keep batteries inside shirt next to your body to keep them warm -- they’ll last longer.  When in doubt about batteries, buy new ones and mark them so you know which are your prime units.

2.  If you are in the cold for a while and come inside, immediately place the camera in a plastic garbage bag so that condensation forms on the bag and not on or in the camera. Believe me, it is VERY bad when that happens. Let the camera warm up to room temperature before removing it from the plastic bag.

3. To set your focus, zoom all the way into a shot (like at someone’s eyes,) focus and then zoom out to your shot.  If shooting video of a group of people, focus on the primary speaker. 

4. When in doubt about focus, go as wide as you can on the scene and then slightly back from the infinity mark, if there is one, to set the lens for all-purpose, in-focus shooting.

5.  Remember the more you zoom, the more your movement will show when watching your footage.  Be sure to use a tripod as often as possible, particularly for zoom shots. Do your zoom, in or out, and bring the shot to a smooth stop. Hold the shot for a few seconds before moving to a different shot. Sensitive cameras can pick up the vibration of your heartbeat. When you can, let go of the tripod handle and just let the camera record.

6. Never carry the tripod with the camera attached to it. If you must move the tripod, support the camera as you do it. You would be surprised at how quickly a camera that falls off a tripod can seriously diminish your afternoon.

7.  Although some cameras are pretty “smart”, if there is one available you must remember to press the white balance button before shooting (particularly indoors) to avoid green florescent or orange safety-light tinge. Different types of lights have different color temperatures that can confuse the camera and result in blue, green or orange tints to your footage.  If you white balance inside and then move outside, white balance again.  If you move from an office setting to a warehouse for example, white balance again. It is helpful if you point the camera at something truly white when you do this. A piece of paper is great.  (Stick some paper in your equipment bag along with pens for marking tapes and writing down the correct names of the people you interview.) When you white balance, what you are doing is telling the camera what “white” should look like so that all colors will be correct on tape or card.

8.  If your camera has sound (audio) meters, always watch them before you shoot something important, to see that the volume is okay.  You can buy an adapter and use headsets to be sure you can hear your target audio. Listen for annoying background noise that you may want to avoid, like planes flying over or that really loud icemaker in the fridge behind you.

9.  Panning right and left makes people dizzy.  Use sparingly.  It is better to shoot, let go of the camera if you can or hold steady if you are good at that; stop, set another shot and shoot again. If you want to pan a shot, do it slowly and not for too long.

10.  It takes about five seconds for most cameras to get up to speed when you first hit record after powering up the camera. So that you don’t miss anything, keep this in mind when you are taping. In newer cameras, you might not need the 5 seconds. Try it and see.

11. Remember to shoot extra footage before and after what you think you are actually going to use so there is room to maneuver when editing.  Five seconds before and after a scene is the rule of thumb to allow for dissolves, etc.  Remember to get cut-aways! (Close up shots!) If you don’t get cut-aways, editing will be very difficult.  Don’t be afraid to get up close to your subject, or to ask your subject to repeat a movement so that you can get close ups for editing.

12. Check your subject to see if any plants, wires or trees appear to be growing from his or her head. If you have to move things around a room to get a good shot, remember to put everything back the way you found it.

13. Shooting a stream or other nature shot? Don’t talk! You may need to use that audio to cover a different scene during which, for example, a car drove by and ruined your sound. Speaking of audio, if your camera permits the use of two microphones, do so! Use the camera mic and a wireless mic so that the speaker is talking into the camera, not across the room at it.

14. If you are shooting a moving object, at some point allow it to leave the frame to make editing easier. Then move the camera and let the subject come into the frame for a different shot, perhaps more close up, so that shot can be used as a cut-away for editing. Always think about what you are getting that will allow the editor, which could be you, to move from one scene to the next.

 15. Check the lens to make sure you don’t have a squashed bug or water droplets on there that are going to ruin your shot.  You won’t see them in the viewfinder! Of course, use glass-cleaning tissue whenever possible on the lens to avoid scratching it.

16. Look to the Internet for more advice about media production.

17. This is not the definitive list of tips about how use a video camera. Others may contribute more suggestions, but employing the tips above will immediately improve your camera work!