Quick note up front: I wrote this guide with the assumption that if you're reading it, you intend to make some kind of informational
video, like for example about "how to build a rocket mass heater" or "how to plan a
garden bed", but my advice
should translate to any kind of video or movie you might want to make. Also remember, as with all creative endeavors, once you've learned the guidelines you are free to selectively break them!
So. You've decided to make a video and you don't want it to be unwatchable. Good! Here are some tips and tricks to get you there, from a former professional filmmaker who also taught video production to kids for several years:
1. Plan. Try to imagine the whole video in your head first. Don't worry, you're not committing to anything, and you don't have to mentally envision every single shot. But do try to think about how your video will start, how it will end, and what will come in between those two points. This will help you think about what you need to include in your video and what you want it to look like.
It's always a good idea to write things down. You can write a list of "stuff I need to get shots of" or "stuff I want to show". If your video will have a voice talking in it (whether on or off-camera), it is often helpful to write down what you want that voice to say, and then think about what you want people to see as each thing gets said.
Another thing to plan up front is your process. What kind of camera and mic will you use? Where will you store and access the files? What kind of editing software will you use (if any)? Where will you post your video? Who do you want to see it? These questions will determine how you go about the rest of the activities below.
2. Shoot. If you're using a phone, hold it in "landscape" mode. I know some popular video-based social media apps are changing the convention of how we (especially young people) expect to see footage oriented, but landscape orientation exists for a reason: it better matches the way our visual cognition works. Remember, you can break this rule later, but if you're starting out I strongly recommend going "landscape".
Okay, with that out of the way, think wide/medium/closeup. Whatever you want to shoot (your "subject"), get a wide shot first: that will show the subject in its context, usually from somewhat far away. Then get a medium shot: that will show the subject filling the frame. (A medium shot of a person usually shows their upper half, which has all the expressive bits like arms and face attached to it.) If something is important, shoot a closeup of it: this provides rich details of the subject that provide more information than merely the fact that it is there.
For each of the above, hold your camera as steady as you can. Even if you want to move the camera around, make sure you at least get one good steady shot, at least 5-10 seconds long, where you don't move it at all. Think of that as the price of being allowed to move your camera while it's recording.
If you have a tripod, use it! If you don't have a tripod, rest your camera on something sturdy like the hood of your car or the top of your
compost bin. If you don't have anything sturdy, take a wide stance, brace your elbows against your belly, and hold your camera in two hands. If you're going to move the camera while it's recording, always zoom out all the way first.
Don't be shy or lazy! Get up and walk to your shot, do not rely on zoom!
A note about framing: try to keep the "rule of thirds" in mind. Rather than explain it here, I recommend just skimming
the Wikipedia page.
If you are using manual focus, then I will assume you know how to use it. If you are using auto-focus, make sure your subject is in crisp focus BEFORE you hit "record". If you can't seem to get your subject in focus, try shooting it from another angle or from a different distance. Many cameras will be unable to focus on something if it is closer than about a foot. Brightly lit subjects are easier for cameras to focus on. Try to resist the urge to use any zoom but especially digital zoom, because it makes footage grainy and jumpy.
If you are using manual exposure, I will assume you know how to use it. If you are using auto-exposure, realize that your camera will typically expose for the average brightness of whatever is in frame. So if you want to shoot a beautiful tree but most of your image is filled with bright sky, that tree is going to be a silhouette because your camera is sort of "squinting" to get the details of the sky. If you tilt your camera down until the sky only takes up a narrow sliver at the top of the frame, then your tree will be more likely to be properly exposed. Note that when you do this, however, that beautiful blue sky might become undifferentiated whiteness. Different cameras have different capabilities when it comes to handling brightness and darkness, so learn what your camera can do and try to account for it as you frame your shots.
Pro tip: Shooting outside on a sunny day it can be very hard to see what you're recording. Cloudy days make for easier shooting.
3. Record clean audio. In film and TV, we used to say the quality of audio creates 90% of the audience's impression of the overall quality of the movie/show. I think now with so many people watching videos on phones and laptops that is probably no longer true, at least in those contexts, but it's still a good idea to get the best audio quality you can. If you're reading this, you are probably going to be using whatever microphone is on your camera, which is likely also your phone. But if you can buy a better microphone and connect it, I would encourage you to do so. The mics on phones and laptops are quite crappy, so you don't have to spend a lot on a mic to get a huge
boost in audio quality. A $100 handheld USB mic would be great investment for anyone who wants to step up their video game. That said, I will assume for now that you are using the onboard mic on your phone or camcorder.
If your video has voiceover, I recommend recording it separately, in a quiet place out of the wind where you can maintain a steady tone of voice a consistent distance from the mic. Sometimes this is impossible, and you just need to speak while you're shooting. That's probably fine, most phones can handle it. Keep the thing reasonably close to your face (so, not way out at arm's length or off to one side) and remember if there's a big gust of wind while you're talking, you might want to redo part of what you said, just to be safe.
Pro tip: Remember what I said about cloudy days? They tend to be less windy too!
4. Do all this shooting and audio recording with the end in mind. You will save a lot of time and frustration if you shoot and record in a way that makes your editing job easier. This is hard to explain and really only practice and repeat
experience will fully impart what I mean by that, but for example... when you press record for video, wait a few moments before you start talking for voiceover, and when you're done talking for voiceover, wait a few moments before you stop recording video. If you're moving the camera during the shot, start and end each shot without any movement. That kinda thing. You're kinda giving yourself "handles" to grab your footage with later.
5. Edit. If you've edited in-camera, that means you've paused the recording in between shots to produce one long video file, rather than fully stopped the recording between shots to make separate files. If you edited in-camera that's fine, and if you can do that well (it usually takes a lot of practice) it can be a huge time-saver for the casual videographer! But I'm assuming here that after each of your shots you stopped the recording, creating a separate video file, and that you will edit these video files together to make your video.
First, organize your files well. Make a folder for your video
project, make a folder inside that one for your footage, another one for your voiceover or audio (if recorded separately), another one for anything else you might include like music or still photos or whatever, etc. Label them so that if someone else walked into the room and had to suddenly take over your project they would have no trouble finding anything.
I haven't really used video editing software since the mid 20-teens, but the basics had stayed the same for a while up until then so I assume they mostly all still work the same way since: you drag your footage onto a timeline, where you can slide them around, adjust each one's start and end, or split them at a certain point, etc. Different software lets you do this in different ways, with varying degrees of control, and some let you add effects and "transitions" and whatnot. I will just give some basic advice:
- Start at the last possible moment, end at the earliest possible moment. That goes for individual clips, scenes, and your whole video!
- Don't use fades or transitions or effects. They basically never look good, even if you think they are cool.
- Err on the side of shorter. Constantly ask yourself "has the viewer gotten the point yet?" and as soon as
the answer is plausibly "yes", cut and move on to the next shot/scene.
- Long stretches of video without voiceover? That's fine, but don't make us listen to wind noise or the sound of you breathing. Replace it with pleasant music, or record some nice ambient sounds that fit the scene.
- Showing a long process? If you can't just cut to the end because you need to show how it's done, speed up the footage and swap out the audio for nice music or appropriate ambient sound.
- You might need to tweak your audio levels to make it consistent. Try to edit out harsh noises like pops and clicks and wind noise. Listen to it both on headphones and through a few different kinds of speakers and make sure it's intelligible and at a decent level.
- 45-90 seconds is what most people will give you the time of day for, and that's being very generous. Longer than that, if anyone keeps watching your video it's because there's something very important in it they're looking for, or they already love you and will happily watch anything you make, or you are Steven Spielberg. Try to keep your video as short as you can, not only so people will watch it (just seeing that your video is an hour long might keep many people from clicking play in the first place!) but because you presumably want to take up less of people's time with watching videos--you want them out doing
permaculture!
When you're done, output a rough cut to show but get ready to keep working on it.
6. Get feedback. Show your rough cut to someone who hasn't seen any of the video yet. Make sure it's someone who'll be honest about what parts drag, what parts were confusing, etc. Ask them to point these out to you. Ask them to tell what they thought the point of the video was. Ask them if they understood what the video was about. Etc. Take notes!
7. Go back and edit more. Repeat steps 5 & 6 as many times as you can stand. By the time you're really done you will be very sick of your video and never want to see it again. (In my experience.) But the payoff comes when people compliment you and thank you for making it.
The posting/publishing side of things I don't know much about anymore, but there are many other threads here about that and I will refer you to them.
Okay! That wraps up my rough guide to making decent videos. Obviously I left out a lot, and I could go more into depth on any one thing, but hopefully that is
enough to get you started.
If you have more questions, leave them as comments and I will respond as long as I'm around.
16
