Happy Birthdays, Happy Videomaking

Birthday parties are a lot of fun for kids. But as a videomaking parent, trying to document the hoopla can be less than your idea of a good time... if you're not prepared.

If you've never before videotaped a child's birthday party, I have good and bad news for you. The good news is that the script writes itself. Parties haven't changed much since you were a child; you know what the highlights of the day will be.

Because a birthday party is such a structured situation, your planning will be easier. You know where the kids will sit to open presents, eat cake, and play games-so you can plan your lighting and audio needs ahead of time.

The bad news is that because tradition provides the script, birthday tapes tend to become predictable-a polite way of saying "boring."

The kids arrive, play games, eat cake, horse around, go home. Fade out. End of tape.

Shoot for Aunt Martha

The story of Junior's party should do more than record the fact that he's noticeably taller on his sixth birthday than he was on his fifth. It should entertain Aunt Martha.

You don't have an Aunt Martha, you say? Oh yes you do. Everyone does.

She's that person we all know who, without fail, 10 minutes into your vacation, anniversary, or whatever video, suddenly finds it necessary to get a drink of water, retrieve something from the car, or thumb through a magazine. As you plan your shooting, keep Aunt Martha's short attention span in…