Home Video Hints: Shoot to Show
Tips for in-camera editing.Your friend has called you in a panic: His sister is getting married tomorrow and, thanks to an unforeseen emergency, the wedding videographer has just canceled the shoot. You're already up to your eyeballs in work but you can afford a few hours to help a friend.
In an effort to keep costs low, the bride and groom can pay you for the shoot but they don't have enough money for an edit. Not the ideal situation for a great finished product, but when you are shooting a live event under hefty time constraints with no money or occasion for an edit, you're options are severely limited. You're going to have to edit in-camera.
Plan Ahead
You have about half a day to plan your shoot. With your camera in hand, take some of that time to scout the location, familiarize yourself with the event's surroundings and devise a plan for working around potential problems. If you need to light the event, take note of accessible power outlets. If sound is an issue, figure out how you will mike your subjects and where you're going to run cables or wires so that they are safe and out-of-the-way. You will also want to find a remote, yet accessible location to stow your gear.
While still at the location, take some time to pull out your camera. Practice zooming, panning, tilting and making clean cuts in-camera from several angles. Also look through the lens for potential obstacles from various positions around the location. Is there an unruly plant or a podium obscuring your view from one particular angle? Is there an air-conditioning vent that makes sound recording more difficult while shooting from another spot? Scouting the location allows you to weed out problems before you shoot the event and, ultimately, it will save you time in the end.
Once you have finished with your scout, take a few minutes to storyboard the coming shoot or at least create a quick shot list. It's a wedding, after all: there are some things you can predict. Next, lay out your gear, set your camera batteries to charge and …
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