Getting Started: Writing Video Letters (page 2)

YOU (whispering): Okay, go ahead.

JIMMY: Uh, hi, Gramma.

YOU: Go on!

JIMMY: Uh...

YOU: (urgently) Go on!

JIMMY: Whatta I say?

YOU: Whatever you feel like telling Gramma.

JIMMY: Uh, hi, Gramma. Uh...

Well, I'll spare you further agony. At the very least, you should discuss what Jimmy's going to say before rolling tape.

And maybe you should videotape an actual interview. This is often the best way to structure comments even as you're stimulating them. On-camera interview techniques could have a whole column of their own, but here are a few quick hints for success:

• Plan and discuss the questions beforehand so your subject is ready with answers.
• As off-camera interviewer, stand as close beside the camcorder as you can (not difficult because you're looking at the viewfinder as you shoot.) This will direct your subject's look (and voice) toward the camera. It will also allow the on-camera mike to pick up your questions "loud and clear."
• Ask open-ended questions. "Did you write a school paper, Jimmy?" "Yes." End of answer. Compare: "What was your recent school paper about?" "I wrote it on Spinoza."
• Even better, give directions instead of asking questions: "Tell us about your Spinoza paper, Jimmy."
• Ask follow-up questions, where appropriate: "What was the most interesting thing about Spinoza?"

Whether interviewing a subject or documenting a garden, a car, or a room full of posters, remember to edit as you go. Keep your shots brief, but not too short for the viewer to take in. Vary shooting positions and image sizes constantly, to ensure visual variety. Avoid talking yourself (except in interviews) because the mike will pick up your every whispered word.

As always, eschew the seven deadly camera sins, especially firehosing (vague but constant camera movement), snapshooting (making shots too brief to see properly), headhunting (placing your subject's eyes below the top third of the frame), and backlighting (throwing your subject into silhouette by shooting toward a much brighter background).

And above all, keep it short. A 10-minute video letter will be eagerly viewed. Fifteen minutes is pushing it, and a half-hour epic will be a chore to watch (if it's watched at all).

Reading between these lines, it's easy to discover that I prefer the alternative of building a letter from previously shot footage.

You can do this with very little extra time and effort by following just a few easy procedures:

1. Edit from your VCR to your camcorder, if you can, since the latter is more likely to have flying erase heads (for clean edits), and probably simple effects such as fades in and out. (With 8mm and VHS-C format cameras, this will mean copying your edit master to regular VHS so that Grandma can play it.)
2. Choose only the highlights of even your most interesting tapes. Your audience may welcome 15 minutes documenting your survival of the great floods (or fires or twisters or blizzards--'96 was an dilly of a year, wasn't it?) but as for Jimmy's birthday party, well, a five-minute anthology will satisfy even Grandma.
3. Mark sections with simple titles, maybe composed on your bubblejet printer or simply inked onto cards. Alternatively, shoot an evocative image (like a closeup of a birthday present) while you announce the section title aloud for the microphone. See the December '96 issue of Videomaker for more titling ideas.

• Digg This!
• del.icio.us
• Technorati
• StumbleUpon
• Reddit