Today there are millions of videos on YouTube and other Internet resources. Thanks to them, people learn valuable things, see beautiful places, or learn unusual and funny things. Inspired by this, some people decide to start making their videos with royalty free music. If you are one of them, this article is for you. Below you will learn how to shoot video at home, using the most affordable amateur equipment, and still achieve an awe-inspiring result.
Some people think that if you choose a camera like a pro, you will automatically get a good movie. But, unfortunately, it’s not hard to guess they will be disappointed. To understand how to shoot video correctly, you must delve into the tricks known to directors and understand the technical nuances. Let’s consider this issue in detail.
DIRECTOR’S TRICKS.
The first tip is – to make a beautiful home movie, you need to consider what will interest the viewer. Your movie is made “for memory,” but rarely do they plan to review it alone – more often, they do it to show friends and relatives later. So, imagine what scenes they would have liked. Children, holidays, trips to exhibitions, and often travel through the lens of home video cameras. For the cameraman, it is a memory, but the viewer is not interested in watching people just eating at the table. So, set a goal to shoot in style, with a “twist,” and look for exciting objects in the lens.
How to shoot video properly.
The more emotions you put in the shot, the more the video will resonate with the viewer.
The second tip is to bring it smoothly to a climax. Let’s say you’re shooting in nature and like a particular flower. The most obvious way to capture it is to get a close-up immediately. But that’s like telling you in a detective movie who the killer is. It would help if you had a story.
Judge for yourself; much better work with the following option: the video starts with a joint plan of the meadow, recorded in parallel with a short story about the different plants. Then the operator stops and notices a particular flower. The viewer is waiting. Gradually the author hits the central object, and there comes a climax – the most beautiful flower is close-up or even detailed.
Change of plans while shooting
Include all types of plans in your video, from general to close-up.
If you plan to record a few people, like an interview or a role-playing scene where everyone has something to say, think through the shooting plans – general, medium, and close-up. It is essential to involve them all and, at the same time, alternate. It is better to make a storyboard of future movie scenes, i.e., sketch frames and distribute timing.
TECHNICAL NUANCES OF SHOOTING
Chosen an exciting story, make a plan – go to the equipment preparation. You are unlikely to understand how to make a beautiful video if you do not go into the technical nuances. Here are the most basic ones.
USE A TRIPOD.
To keep the picture from shaking, a stable platform is essential. Therefore, regular shooting needs a tripod on a tripod. The tripod head should rotate sideways and perpendicular, allowing for smooth camera rotation in any direction. A lap tripod is handy when the operator needs to move around a lot. If you don’t have special equipment, you can use improvised means to fix the camera on the railing, a pile of books, a table, or simply on your lap, as long as it is stable.
Shooting with a tripod
Once you start shooting with a tripod, your clips will look better.
★ WORKING WITH A LENS
To create a beautiful clip, you must set up your lens correctly. Zoom (digital or optical zoom) is used to adjust the boundaries of a static frame. In the process of direct shooting, it is better to approach or move away from the character himself. To record a panorama, the aperture is narrowed so that the focus covers the frame completely. Interviews and close-ups of objects are recorded at an open aperture, blurring the background. This focuses attention on the main character.
Blurred Background
Close-up shots of faces should ideally be taken with the aperture open to focus on the main character in the frame.
BALANCE WITH THE LIGHT
It’s common for a room to lack light. To find out how to shoot video in such conditions, you can do one of the following: add artificial light or increase the ISO sensitivity of your camera (if it is technical). But you want to set the ISO at a maximum of 800 points because you will end up with noise that will ruin the quality. Make sure you keep your hero’s face and bright objects attractive.
Lighting in the video
You may need several lighting devices for filming in a set or indoors.
★ DIVERSITY
If you shoot a video from one location for longer than a few minutes, the viewer will quickly become bored. Record short clips from different angles and alternate them by combining them into a movie. This will diversify even a simple interview, not to mention
★ THE RIGHT BACKGROUND
To improve the quality of your video, you need to choose the right background. If the focus is on a person, it is better to have nature or a blurry cityscape in the background. Transparent objects, extraneous people in focus, or dynamic motion in the background will distract the viewer.
You can make the shot more enjoyable by replacing a mediocre or ruined background with a better one. Of course, you will need to record the material on a one-color background (screen or wall) to achieve this effect. But then you will need processing in an editor for video.
Shooting on a green background
When shooting on a green screen, you don’t have to worry about the background – you can easily replace it when processing.
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR VIDEO FOOTAGE
Knowing how to shoot a video is half the battle to create a movie at home. The second half is processing the material to “tastefully” serve it to the viewer. For this, as already mentioned, computer programs are used. A good and simple tool is the multifunctional editor. Below, we will talk about some of its main features:
Often at the editing stage, you need to reduce the size of the video and remove unnecessary timing and boring scenes. In the program, it is easy to delete the recording’s beginning, middle, or end or combine separately shot clips into one movie. Again, combining photos and video is allowed.
Trim video
Crop scenes from your video
The software adds transitions between scenes. They allow you to prepare the viewer for the new action and fill the gaps with various effects. In addition, the catalog has animations for every taste – as a simple flipping and complex drawing of one frame from another.
Add transitions
Join your videos together with transitions
Beautifully design your video without the help of music. Video editing software allows you to overlay audio files and rotate them along with the video.
Adding music
Add a matching song to your video.
A kiss caught on video or a butterfly landing on a flower can be slowed down by focusing on the critical action. Conversely, it’s easy to speed up a movement, making it more dynamic where to get music.
Green screen
Recorded on a homogeneous background, it’s easy to make the material enjoyable by replacing the background with a chromakey. For example, a volcano or the sea might be behind a person instead of a wall.