What's the one factor that usually separates the video novices from the burgeoning pros?
Talent.
When you tackle the trials and tribulations of working with real live talent, you know you've become a pro.
For the sake of this article and for most videomakers' purposes, we will define talent as any purposeful...
Makeup and Clothing Tips For Video
Bright lights glaring, camera in tight, tape rolling... cue talent
Oops...what's that glare where your subject should be? This is no time to realize the talent's forehead reflects light like a beacon, or the color of the talent's clothing clashes with this upholstery.
Makeup and...
Modern still cameras are so easy to use that you can snap a pin-sharp, correctly exposed photograph even with a bag over your head.
We should all be grateful for modern automatic controls; the less there is to worry over the more we can concentrate on framing. But trouble arises...
Manufacturers load camcorders with all sorts of electronic doodads that let the user create amazing effects like slow motion, freeze frame, fades in and out, picture-in-picture, strobe and superimposed titles.
But there's a feature on every camcorder often overlooked by professional and amateur alike. Whether controlled by all electronic switch...
A Baker's Ten to Improve Your Special Effects
Most videomakers fall into one of two groups. First, the snapshotters, people who record scenes until their tapes are hill, then view the disconnected events using the search button. Second, videomakers
and pros, who edit their tapes and employ all the techniques...
There are few problems in videomaking life that cannot be solved by a suitable application of explosives.
Explosions can add drama, excitement, impact and humor to productions. A good bang can sustain or resolve suspense. And nothing makes a visual statement quite like blowing some object to smithereens.Apple Scrap
I once...
Working Towards the Perfect Fit
Making the whole greater than the sum of its parts is a fundamental aspect of videomaking.
Making the whole greater than the whole fits, too.
0ne night, after a long but pleasant day of shooting, a member of the production crew and I went out for a...
Every time you point your camera you make choices: how much of the scene to include; using a still shot or movement involving pan, flit, tracking, or zoom; angle and position; length.
These are the same decisions that occupy the minds and time of filmmakers like Francis Coppola, Martin Scorsese,...
Many video viewers wouldn't recognize jump cut or bad edit if it bit them on the bottom. Everybody, however, notices bad audio. They might not know that it is, but they know that something is definitely wrong.
For this reason, videomakers should always edit with their ears before editing with...
Scenery and staging for economical videomaking, impressive results.
When we watch a TV program or film we have an impression of total reality. We seem to be there where the action is, seeing everything as it's happening. We don't give a single thought to the mechanics of the...
