Video Techniques By Ron Eggers Shooting video is very different than shooting stills. The two genres are different in objective and in approach. The primary objective for a photographer is to capture one (or maybe a few) key highlights of an event or action. All the other visual and audio elements of the situation are stripped away. Whatever story the photographer is trying to tell, or whatever point he's trying to make, has to be made with very few elements. In many cases, it's only one photograph. Whether photographing a wedding, a portrait, a sporting event, a landscape or a candid, if the photographer doesn't capture the essence of the moment in that photograph or photographs, the image or images are unsuccessful. To be successful and make a memorable impact, the objective with video is to capture a combination of visual and audio sequences to tell a story. While there may be (in fact, there should be) a key sequence in a video that stands out from the rest that can serve as a climax, the finished project must be a cohesive package that builds toward that climax. The different objective requires a different approach. Still photographers tend to wait for climactic points to take their pictures to tell their story. A photographer may take lots of pictures, but, in a photo feature, there may be only three or four stills required to tell the story. Videographers generally start shooting early, and finish shooting later, to make sure that they have everything they need to tell their story. It's much more of a building process that includes not only video clips but also audio. Audio can be used to enhance video. In most cases, it's captured at the same time. But, with a computer and a video software package, it's getting easier and easier to add other audio elements, such as voice-over narration or a music sound track to video clips. In fact, inexpensive computer equipment and reasonably priced consumer video-editing packages are making the whole process of putting effective videos together a lot easier for casual videographers. Video, stills, audio, animation and other graphic elements can easily be combined into interesting projects that can be burned onto CDs and DVDs. Video camcorders are getting smaller and smaller all the time. In some respects, that's good. That makes them a lot easier to carry along. But the smaller sizes can also cause problems. Miniature equipment is sometimes harder to work with. Frequently, controls and settings are grouped so tightly that it becomes difficult to make adjustments. For example, it's much easier for a finger to slip off of the zoom control on a miniature camcorder than it is with a full-sized unit. Making camera adjustments can be a challenge when trying to make them with the camera rolling. It's better to keep the adjustments to a minimum when actually shooting. Another potential problem when shooting with smaller gear is that it's less stable. It's more difficult to hold a light videocam steady than it is to hold a moderately heavy unit. When using a miniature unit, even a slight shake of the hand translates into unacceptably shaky pictures. One way of steadying a small camcorder is by adding a camera grip or something like a small monopod to the tripod base on the camcorder. When shooting, particularly when shooting with lighter gear, camera movement tends to be too rapid. It's important to pace the shooting when panning or zooming. If it feels like you're panning way too slowly, the final footage will probably look about right. Similarly, keep the zoom speed down. Some of the newer digital camcorders can zoom in and out very quickly. Unless you're trying to achieve a certain effect, such as adding tension, with the zoom movement, slow the speed to the point where the zoom effect is almost unnoticeable. Poorly paced pans and zooms take the viewer's attention away from the video's content and turn it toward its production values (or shortcomings). Also be careful not to clip video sequences too tightly when shooting. It's more difficult to edit together numerous short clips into a cohesive video sequence than it is to edit together longer segments. Since there's no real cost involved with video tape, shoot more than what you think you might need and dump anything that you don't need. Longer segments not only make editing easier, they also make more interesting transitions. In a video, slower paced segments interspersed with more interesting segments can be used creatively to build up to a climax. Even in major Hollywood movies, there are slower scenes between the car chases and blown-up buildings. Many digital camcorders have the capabilities to capture still images. With some, it's possible to select whether the still shots are saved to the digital videotape or to separate removable media. There are also some models that let you record only audio or still images with audio. If it's possible to store stills and audio on the tape, those elements can be used to produce interesting footage, directly in the camera. As with most things involved in digital video, if it can't be done in the camera, it can be done on the computer.