There are only so many things you can read to become a better cinematographer. Truly, the best way to shoot better video is to practice. With all things in life, practice makes you better. In film, practice is truly the only thing that actually makes you better. Even reading this article isn’t going to actually make you a better video creator. What will make you better is practicing and implementing the tips I give you into your practice. That being said, here are a few basic video-shooting tips that will get you ready for shooting better video.
Tip 1 – Camera Choice
Do you already have a camera? If you do or if you don’t, this is an important tip for you. The type of camera you have doesn’t really improve your video. Whether you are shooting on your iPhone or on the RED camera, you can still make great videos. Some of you may be saying, ‘What are you talking about?! The Canon 5d Mark ii is way better than the Canon 60d.’ I will agree that the 5d has a lot more features, a bigger sensor, and more options when shooting a video. I do not agree that all of these features automatically make a video shot on the 5d better than a video shot on the 60d.
So if you don’t have a camera and are in the market for one, my best advice for picking one is to shop within your budget. I’ve personally spent too many hours pouring over countless comparison websites.
These are too many questions, especially if you are starting out. The quality of the cameras won’t dramatically change from one to the next. As long as you have an HD camera (definitely a must in today’s video creating community), you’ll be fine. If you have any concerns, just ask. The best thing would be to go to your local camera shop and ask. In Southern California, we have a small chain of Samy’s Camera shops. Everyone there is very professional and very knowledgeable about cameras. They never try to sell you on anything extra; they just give great advice. Hopefully you have a store like this near you. It’s always better to actually go in person rather than do all of your research online. You’ll even be able to check out the camera you want and actually hold it. You’ll see how to work it and if you have any questions, someone is right there to answer them.
If you don’t have the budget to buy a camera, you can either rent one or borrow one from a friend.
Tip 2 – Stabilize Your Camera
Use a tripod or a monopod. Don’t think that you’re going to be able to get great shots without one. It’s not impossible to do so, it is just highly improbably especially if you are new to video making. Aside from your camera, a good sturdy tripod is the next best piece of equipment to invest in.
I currently own a $40 tripod from Best Buy that is meant for photography. It doesn’t pan or tilt well, but it holds my camera still when I need it to. This guy gets me through many of my own shoots but if I’m doing something professional like a wedding or a corporate video, I always try to get my hands on a tripod that has a fluid head. This allows me to get smooth pans and tilts, which add to the production value of your video.
If you’re doing interviews or shooting business videos, most of your shots are going to be static (non-moving). So any tripod will do.
If you are moving around a lot, doing documentary style shooting, a monopod is a good tool to have. I find that lugging a tripod around can get in the way of your surroundings. It takes a little while to set up. And when all you need is more stabilization than your arm, a monopod is perfect. Monopods allow you to run around with your camera attached to it. You can set it up in three seconds and still get great shots.
So depending on your video style, make sure you have a tripod or monopod to stabilize your shots. Obviously if you are the only crewmember and you are doing interviews, you’ll need a tripod to hold your camera. If you don’t have anything at all, you can use a sand bag or stack of books to set up stationary shots. But hauling a bag of books around doesn’t seem too fun to me!
Tip 3 – Learn the Manual Camera Settings
Learn your manual settings. It is very easy to just turn on your camera and flip it to the automatic mode. But this limits you greatly. Your camera is just a machine. It’s a robot that doesn’t have an eye for moods or style. While your camera can judge how bright a shot should be and try to white balance your shot according to what it sees, it won’t let you overexpose or underexpose the shot if it is in auto mode. It won’t automatically know that you want a short depth of field or that you want to focus on the thing in the background, not the subject in the foreground. These are things that you do as a cinematographer. These make you a great video maker.
So please learn how to use the manual settings on your camera.
A quick guide to the most important manual settings:
White Balance
Sometimes your camera won’t have the perfect white balance option so knowing how to white balance is important. Usually it is as simple as holding a white sheet of printer paper out in front of the lens and pressing a button on the camera.
F - Stop
Especially if you are using a DSLR camera such as the Canon 7d or Nikon 3000, knowing how to change the F-Stop is important. Also understanding what F-Stops (a.k.a. the aperture) is will help you become a better shooter. For a quick lesson – this has to do with how wide open or closed your lens is. The way lenses work is they have a hole that opens up wide to let more light in or closes to let less light in. If you are in a dark situation such as inside a building, you will need to let more light in to allow your video to have proper exposure. If you are outside in the sun, your aperture will be closed to let less light in. The confusing part is the higher the aperture, the smaller the hole closes. The lower the aperture, the wider it opens. Another thing to remember is if your f-stop is set wide open (lower number) then you will have a shorter depth of field. This is a stylistic choice when you want the background to be very blurry and the foreground to be super sharp. The higher the f-stop, the less depth of field there will be. This means more things in the frame will be in focus.
Shutter Speed
This is how fast the shutter lets light in. In old film cameras this actually meant how fast, mechanically, the shutter would open and close to let light in… to capture images/video. With new cameras it is all done digitally. The slower the shutter speed, the more light will be let in = the brighter your video. So if your video looks too dark on screen, try lowering the shutter speed. Be careful about putting your shutter speed too high because your video will get a weird choppy look to it.
ISO
For DSLRs you will have the option to change the ISO. This is a digital way or brightening your video. The ISO usually ranges from 100 all the way up to 3200 or even 6400 in some cameras. If you are shooting inside a building, you can crank up your ISO to 800 or 1600 to brighten up your video. But be careful of setting the ISO higher than 1600 because the higher you get, the grainier your picture will be. This is the downside of using ISO to make your video brighter. Of course, a grainy picture could be a stylistic choice of yours. Change the F-Stop and Shutter Speed before using the ISO to change how dark or bright your video is.
These are all the basic manual settings you’ll need to know to get started. There are a lot more settings that you will run in to so make sure you have the camera guide with you if you’re out shooting. There are lots of online courses now that go over everything you need to know about DSLR cameras which seem to be the popular choice for professional and semi-professional video creating nowadays.
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