I decided to start my own video business a while back, and have been doing a few freebies to start to get my name out, get some good references and the start of a reel. A while back I did a short documetary on a local event I learned a lot while shooting the video, and thought I would share where I went wrong, went right, and went off to who knows where.
I shot this solo, using an HV20 as my main camera, and an old Sony camera locked down on a wide view of the event for an overview. In total, I spent about 7 hours at the event.
1. Nail interviewees feet to the floor. I had the camera on a tripod for interviews, and the LCD flipped so I could see it, but trying hold the mike, ask questions and be involved with the interviewee means I wasn't moving the camera, and people like to move while standing. This led to several interview shots having the interviewee looking off the wrong side of the frame. So either nail them down, give them something to hold onto so they don't move, or have someone helping you.
2. B-roll is a godsend. If there was one thing I picked up from all the articles on videomaker and everywhere else, it was SHOOT LOTS OF B-ROLL. So I did. At the event, I spent the last hour of my time there shooting B-roll footage, and I still felt like I didn't get as much as I wanted. Now that I'm editing, I'm finding it basically enough, but more would have given me a lot more flexibility. But I am eternally grateful for what I have. If you haven't gotten the point yet, let a first time shooter make it clear - B-roll will save your a$$ in the editing room. There is almost no way I could cut this video into anything decent without that footage. Shoot as much as you think you need, then shoot some more.
3. Turn off the auto exposure (at least lock it). Generally, the AE worked fine, with minimal tweaking. Not having full manual controls was an occassional annoyance, but not a major impediment. However, leaving the AE unlocked did kill a (small) number of clips. If you leave it unlocked, and any kind of significant light change occurs (the one that sticks out to me was someone walked by carrying a white folding table), exposure will change and it will be obvious, ruining the clip.
4. Shoot lots of B-roll. It will save your butt in the editing room.
5. I need to shut up. In a number of interviews, I was trying to engage the interviewee conversationally, and so it lead to my voice and laughter being very audible, which is not acceptable for the final video. While in most cases I was able to cut myself out, some I was not, losing even more clips. And where I was able to cut my voice out, it left less room to play with the interview, making editing it together more tedious and requiring additonal NATSOT.
6. Shoot lots of B-roll. It will save your butt in the editing room.
7. An offboard mic is essential. You've read it a million times, so do it. It doesn't need to be expensive. I used a cheapo dynamic mic from Radio Shack, and while not spectacular, it got the interviewees to stand out loud and clear from the background noise. While I am sure a better mic would have done a better job at it, I figure I got about 85% of the sound for 20% of the price. My main concern was seperating the interviewee from the background noise, and the handheld did just that. So get a mic, any mic, and get it off the camera.
8. Shoot lots of B-roll. It will save your butt in the editing room.
9. Place the mic in a stand, or choke it. Yet more clips were lost (it's a wonder I had any left) to mic handling noises. I was hand-holding the mic, and after 5 minutes straight of holding the mic, you want to move around a little. Be careful, and maintain a death grip, or better yet put it on a stand.
10. Shoot lots of B-roll. It will save your butt in the editing room.
11. NATSOT is the B-roll of audio. I captured NATSOT conicidental with my B-roll video. If that works for you, great. If it won't work, be absolutely certain to recor NATSOT. It will allow you to work the same wonders with audio as the B-roll does with video. It makes sound edits flow together smoothly, rather than nasty cuts from noise to nothing to noise. It is as essential as B-roll. Get it.
12. Shoot lots of B-roll, and a bunch of NATSOT. It will save your butt in the editing room.
13. Be friendly. While attempting to engage with the interviewees did cost me some clips, what it got me was authenticity. I had a great time talking with them, and I hope they enjoyed chatting with me. As a bonus, I caught it on video. I took a genuine interest in them, and they gave me the genuine them in return. Even if I hadn't been shooting the video, I would have had a great time talking to them all and hearing their stories.
14. Shoot lots of B-roll, and a bunch of NATSOT. It will save your butt in the editing room.
15. Use a light. The only piece of equipment I really felt I missed was a camera mounted light. While the natural lighting was sufficient, a mounted light would definitely have helped bring out the interviewees and objects I was shooting.
16. Shoot lots of B-roll, and a bunch of NATSOT. It will save your butt in the editing room.
17. Equipment isn't everything. I meant what I said in 16. All I really needed to do good job was a camera, tripod, mic and light. Would a better camera have helped? Sure, we could have fine tuned the exposure more. A better tripod? We could have done a few more moving shots. A better mic? Some, but the cheapo did pretty well for itself. A light? Well, yes I needed a light. My point with all of this is to stop worrying about gear and shoot with what you have. Will it produce the pinnacle of technical achievements in video? No. But will it do a decent job, and meet the viewers' expectations? It probably will.
18. Shoot lots of B-roll, and a bunch of NATSOT. It will save your butt in the editing room.
19. Get releases now. I brought a packet of blank releases, and had everyone sign them right after their interview. I got permission for the music the week before. I had the building release a month ahead. You will save yourself a tonne of stress by getting those details out of the way ahead of time. I did miss a couple of releases, but by being diligent on the rest, I had enough material to just let the ones I missed go. In a similar vein, one of the people I interviewed is a member of a performers' union. She had some concerns about appearing depending on how the video was classified. While she did do an interview, in the end I had enough material that I was able to leave her out and avoid any potential issues.
20. Shoot lots of B-roll, and a bunch of NATSOT. It will save your butt in the editing room.
The reason I'm harping on the b-roll stuff is that while I read it and understood it in my head, untill I got in the editing phase, I didn't realize just how absolutely critical it is. Now that I am editing, I don't know how I could have done the video without it. It gives you so much more flexibility in how you can put the pieces together. You won't really appreciate it until you actually sit down to do the edit. Then you will be like me, unable to talk about anything except how important b-roll really is.
I hope that my experience can save you some of the troubles that I had. I've learned a lot from here, so it's only fair I pass back what I got too. Hope it helps.
I shot this solo, using an HV20 as my main camera, and an old Sony camera locked down on a wide view of the event for an overview. In total, I spent about 7 hours at the event.
1. Nail interviewees feet to the floor. I had the camera on a tripod for interviews, and the LCD flipped so I could see it, but trying hold the mike, ask questions and be involved with the interviewee means I wasn't moving the camera, and people like to move while standing. This led to several interview shots having the interviewee looking off the wrong side of the frame. So either nail them down, give them something to hold onto so they don't move, or have someone helping you.
2. B-roll is a godsend. If there was one thing I picked up from all the articles on videomaker and everywhere else, it was SHOOT LOTS OF B-ROLL. So I did. At the event, I spent the last hour of my time there shooting B-roll footage, and I still felt like I didn't get as much as I wanted. Now that I'm editing, I'm finding it basically enough, but more would have given me a lot more flexibility. But I am eternally grateful for what I have. If you haven't gotten the point yet, let a first time shooter make it clear - B-roll will save your a$$ in the editing room. There is almost no way I could cut this video into anything decent without that footage. Shoot as much as you think you need, then shoot some more.
3. Turn off the auto exposure (at least lock it). Generally, the AE worked fine, with minimal tweaking. Not having full manual controls was an occassional annoyance, but not a major impediment. However, leaving the AE unlocked did kill a (small) number of clips. If you leave it unlocked, and any kind of significant light change occurs (the one that sticks out to me was someone walked by carrying a white folding table), exposure will change and it will be obvious, ruining the clip.
4. Shoot lots of B-roll. It will save your butt in the editing room.
5. I need to shut up. In a number of interviews, I was trying to engage the interviewee conversationally, and so it lead to my voice and laughter being very audible, which is not acceptable for the final video. While in most cases I was able to cut myself out, some I was not, losing even more clips. And where I was able to cut my voice out, it left less room to play with the interview, making editing it together more tedious and requiring additonal NATSOT.
6. Shoot lots of B-roll. It will save your butt in the editing room.
7. An offboard mic is essential. You've read it a million times, so do it. It doesn't need to be expensive. I used a cheapo dynamic mic from Radio Shack, and while not spectacular, it got the interviewees to stand out loud and clear from the background noise. While I am sure a better mic would have done a better job at it, I figure I got about 85% of the sound for 20% of the price. My main concern was seperating the interviewee from the background noise, and the handheld did just that. So get a mic, any mic, and get it off the camera.
8. Shoot lots of B-roll. It will save your butt in the editing room.
9. Place the mic in a stand, or choke it. Yet more clips were lost (it's a wonder I had any left) to mic handling noises. I was hand-holding the mic, and after 5 minutes straight of holding the mic, you want to move around a little. Be careful, and maintain a death grip, or better yet put it on a stand.
10. Shoot lots of B-roll. It will save your butt in the editing room.
11. NATSOT is the B-roll of audio. I captured NATSOT conicidental with my B-roll video. If that works for you, great. If it won't work, be absolutely certain to recor NATSOT. It will allow you to work the same wonders with audio as the B-roll does with video. It makes sound edits flow together smoothly, rather than nasty cuts from noise to nothing to noise. It is as essential as B-roll. Get it.
12. Shoot lots of B-roll, and a bunch of NATSOT. It will save your butt in the editing room.
13. Be friendly. While attempting to engage with the interviewees did cost me some clips, what it got me was authenticity. I had a great time talking with them, and I hope they enjoyed chatting with me. As a bonus, I caught it on video. I took a genuine interest in them, and they gave me the genuine them in return. Even if I hadn't been shooting the video, I would have had a great time talking to them all and hearing their stories.
14. Shoot lots of B-roll, and a bunch of NATSOT. It will save your butt in the editing room.
15. Use a light. The only piece of equipment I really felt I missed was a camera mounted light. While the natural lighting was sufficient, a mounted light would definitely have helped bring out the interviewees and objects I was shooting.
16. Shoot lots of B-roll, and a bunch of NATSOT. It will save your butt in the editing room.
17. Equipment isn't everything. I meant what I said in 16. All I really needed to do good job was a camera, tripod, mic and light. Would a better camera have helped? Sure, we could have fine tuned the exposure more. A better tripod? We could have done a few more moving shots. A better mic? Some, but the cheapo did pretty well for itself. A light? Well, yes I needed a light. My point with all of this is to stop worrying about gear and shoot with what you have. Will it produce the pinnacle of technical achievements in video? No. But will it do a decent job, and meet the viewers' expectations? It probably will.
18. Shoot lots of B-roll, and a bunch of NATSOT. It will save your butt in the editing room.
19. Get releases now. I brought a packet of blank releases, and had everyone sign them right after their interview. I got permission for the music the week before. I had the building release a month ahead. You will save yourself a tonne of stress by getting those details out of the way ahead of time. I did miss a couple of releases, but by being diligent on the rest, I had enough material to just let the ones I missed go. In a similar vein, one of the people I interviewed is a member of a performers' union. She had some concerns about appearing depending on how the video was classified. While she did do an interview, in the end I had enough material that I was able to leave her out and avoid any potential issues.
20. Shoot lots of B-roll, and a bunch of NATSOT. It will save your butt in the editing room.
The reason I'm harping on the b-roll stuff is that while I read it and understood it in my head, untill I got in the editing phase, I didn't realize just how absolutely critical it is. Now that I am editing, I don't know how I could have done the video without it. It gives you so much more flexibility in how you can put the pieces together. You won't really appreciate it until you actually sit down to do the edit. Then you will be like me, unable to talk about anything except how important b-roll really is.
I hope that my experience can save you some of the troubles that I had. I've learned a lot from here, so it's only fair I pass back what I got too. Hope it helps.
