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Video Edit Magic
v4.46
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Planning and Shooting your Videos |
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Every video captured by your camcorder is a story
waiting to be told. It could be the story of your child’s first tentative
steps, a typical day in your life, your daughter’s little league game, or
that perfect vacation with your family. |
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All you need is
creativity, a structured
and organized plan, a
little discipline and a
capable video editor
like
Video Edit Magic. This
article aims to explain how you can adapt the basic principles of professional
movie making to your home videos. |
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PREPRODUCTION |
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Outline:
Preproduction involves the steps you should take before shooting a video with
your camcorder. At first glance, this looks unnecessary for impromptu home
videos, but it really is one of the most essential things in videography,
professional or otherwise. |
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Serendipity can only get you a great shot every now
and then. Your videography skills will always get exposed to criticism over
videos that last longer than a minute or two. So, you need to have a plan
(or at least a rough
outline ). |
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When designing an outline, write down a list of
shots you will need.
For
example, let us consider your daughter's
softball game. You can make a checklist listing the following ‘must
have’ shots. |
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| 1. |
A close
shot of
your
daughter putting on the team cap. |
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A close up of the team list, with a slow zoom in to
her name. |
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A long shot of the park. |
| 4. |
The team practicing and warming up. |
| 5. |
Shots of the scoreboard before, during and after the
game. |
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A few shots of the crowd. |
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A close up of the players smiling after the game. |
| 8. |
A long shot of the sun setting. |
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Once you have a checklist or
an outline, you at
least know what sort of footage
is important. An outline also helps
if you have some existing footage. It will guide you in fitting the existing
footage around your concept. |
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Know
your equipment:
As basic as it might sound, it is a good idea to explore each and every button
and control of your camcorder. Do read the user manual. There is nothing as
frustrating as missing out on a good shot due to unfamiliarity with the
controls. Know all the buttons inside out. If you have the option to configure
your camcorder to a beep on starting and stopping, then turn it on.
Take a few practice shots for zooming in and zooming out and
any other special controls. |
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PRODUCTION
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Always shoot as much
content as you possibly can.
You will appreciate this
habit when you edit in the post-production stage.
The content could include
video footage, snapshots and
sounds. During the
production, follow the
suggestions below to
shoot great,
professional looking
videos. |
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SHOOTING TIPS
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1. |
Use
a Tripod:
A steady home video is a rare achievement, even if your camcorder has an image
stabilization feature.
You should mount your camcorder on a tripod whenever
possible
to avoid
jerky-looking videos. |
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Lighting:
Perhaps the most important aspect of
video
production
is the
lighting. A
common
mistake most
amateurs
make is to shoot
towards the sun. Whenever possible, try to
keep your
back towards the
sun, while keeping your shadow out of the frame. The
same principle applies while shooting indoors. If you shoot in a bright
light, then your subject might appear dark. Try to shoot in front of
backgrounds
with uniform
lighting to avoid bright spots or reflection. |
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Smooth
Zoom in and Zoom out:
Abrupt zoom-in and zoom-outs never look good in home videos. Always zoom-in to
and zoom out of subjects slowly.
Start by
framing the
subject for
a second or
two, then
zoom in very
slowly.
After
completing
the zoom-in,
hold the
camcorder on
the subject
for a moment
before
zooming out
or panning
away. |
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Other
handy tips:
While shooting an event, take good shots of relevant text documents, invitation
cards, banners etc. These can prove to be useful during post production for
making title slides. |
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Most camcorders these days come loaded with special
effects. If possible avoid the urge to apply special effects while shooting. This is to prevent being stuck with garish looking videos which cannot be
changed. As
much as possible, leave the special effects and other editing
operations to the post production stage. |
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POST PRODUCTION
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Post production involves organizing all your videos,
editing them using software like Video Edit Magic,
and then
getting them
out of the PC in a
format
appropriate for
distribution. |
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You shoot for hours, but
the actual video must
hold the viewers'
attention. The art
of editing is to tell
the whole story in a
shorter, crisp
narrative, without
losing anything
essential. Editing
gives you a chance to
play with space and
time. Videos are
entertaining because
they are larger than
life. They ability
to create a world
different from and more
intriguing than the
daily world people live
in. You can
transport a person from
one location to another.
You can move people to
other places, even other
worlds,
using
the green screen
effect. |
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In a video production
audio plays a pivotal
role in telling a
story. Video Edit Magic
provides you with
unlimited possibilities
of creating
audio
effects, similar to
visual variations that
you can bring in by
applying video
transitions. |
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The last step is
selecting a
distribution option for easy sharing with your
family and friends. |
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A video can make
people laugh or cry. A
story told by video can grab
the audience and refuse
to let them go. Using
the techniques described
in this article, and
Video Edit Magic, you
can create your own
video masterpiece. When people see the
final product they will
refuse to believe that you are not a
professional movie-maker! |
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