News, Tips and Tricks

Web video production tip 1:

Each time the light changes, set the white balance. Fill the frame with white card and press the white balance button (with white balance set to manual). If you don’t, in low light things might look orangey-red and in high light, things might look blue. Even if you think everything looks okay, set the white balance and see the difference.

Web video production tip 2:

Get the perfect focus. In manual, zoom right in to your subject, focus, then zoom back out to frame your shot. Perfect focus.

Web video production tip 3:

Make sure your gain is set the way you want it (usually on 0 or “L”). The gain function digitally increases light. Trouble is, the higher you go, the grainier the image. Unless you’re shooting a documentary about bats, you probably won’t need this feature. Before you press record, check the gain setting – it’s very annoying when you get to the edit only to find a “noisy” image.

Web video production tip 4:

Always use headphones to monitor your sound. A guy said to me once that sometimes he didn’t bother using headphones with his camera – very bad idea. How would you hear the interference caused by a mobile phone? That’s just one example. Use headphones and do a sound check before you start recording.

These are just four basic tips on how to avoid making the same mistakes that lots of people make. The best way to learn video production is to practice. Keep making videos and this stuff becomes second nature.

Don’t forget your lens pen.

No decent camera person should be caught out with a dirty lens. You won’t notice it when you’re filming but it only takes one speck of dust on the lens to ruin all your footage. Dust usually shows up most when you’re filming outside with the sun towards the front of the camera. Whatever the environment, don’t take any chances – get into the habit of cleaning the lens before every video production. Always carry a lens pen in your pocket and keep checking the lens throughout the shoot.

As well as a lens pen, I recommend the Giottos air blower and a Spudz micro fibre lens cloth. Use the air blower first to knock off any dust, then use the lens pen for fingerprints etc. The micro fibre cloth is great for other situations – like a steamed up lens for example (it does happen). All these tools are very cheap and completely essential to any videocamera operator or video production.

A talking head/interview shot might seem simple, but people often get it wrong. One of the main things to get right is your lighting.

After much experimentation, I have found the following method provides the best look…

One 800w Arri Redhead lamp, with suitable soft-box, positioned at the same level and in front of your subject. This will be the key light. Place it to the left and back a bit from the camera. Point it towards the right hand side of the subject’s face (their right) so that it casts a gentle shadow on the left side of their face. Use a large reflector on the subject’s left to reflect this light, angling it to bring up the light on the left of the face. You’re not looking to eradicate the shadow, just to make it more subtle – it’s this shadow that will give the face definition. If you shone the light front on, apart from blinding your subject, they would look very flat.

If you’re still finding that the shadow is too harsh, you could put a 650w Arri Redhead (with barn doors at suitable angles) high up on a stand and bounce more light off the reflector onto the left of the face.

Now you’re probably thinking “great, this looks fine” but there is still more to do. Although it might be hard to see, there will be a small area on the back of the head and shoulders that the light isn’t quite getting to. To sort this out, rig up a Birdie light directly opposite the camera, behind and above the subjects head and angle it so that light spills onto the back of the head and shoulders. You may want to turn all the other lights off to check the direction of the birdie.

After you’ve done a white balance on your camera, things should be looking pretty good. Depending on your situation, you may think about lighting the background with another Arri lamp, but apart from that, the lighting for your corporate video, web video or documentary is sorted. (For the talking head part anyway).