Basic Video Production

From Acorn

Instructions are simplified for the purpose of quickly getting up and running, they do not include more advanced techniques.

A. Pre-Production

1. Familiarize yourself with the camera and tripod the day before use.
   1. Buy a tape from Media Services. Record and play back a little bit of video.
   2. Fully charge the battery (this can take a few hours). The camera works with the AC adapter, but you can't charge the battery at the same time, do one or the other.
2. Have a complete checklist of needed items for the day of the shoot, it’s easy to forget things.
3. Scout out the shoot locations for suitability.
   1. You don’t want excessive noises, avoid rooms with HVAC systems.
   2. Check availability at times needed.
   3. Avoid extreme differences in light and shade. Outdoor locations are best shot in the shade, or on a cloudy day, if possible. Direct sunlight is very harsh. Indoors, watch out for bright windows. They will close the camera iris, and everything else will be dark.
   4. Don't forget the importance of props, scenery, ambiance.
4. Take good care of the camera
   1. Do not expose to extreme sunlight, heat or cold.
   2. Internal parts are delicate, keep dust out, do not force anything.
   3. Do not locate camera where it can easily be dropped, where tripod can be kicked over, where camera can be easily stolen.
   4. Return equipment in a timely manner, someone else may be waiting to use it.

B. Major camera features (These are for the Panasonic PV-GS300 miniDV videocameras available at Media Services)

1. There are a few settings that need to be checked before using the camera.
   1. Turn on the camera, open the LCD monitor. If any menus are showing, push the "Menu" button to disable them.
   2. Set the focus switch inside the camera, behind the LCD screen, to AUTO.
   3. Set the round dial to the red video camera icon. This is record mode. (If you want to play back your videos later, turn the dial to the green arrow, this puts the camera in VCR mode)
   4. Push the Menu button. Use the little joystick to go into Basic mode. The joystick can be pushed in 4 different direcitons to navigate the menus. Make sure that Rec Speed is set to SP
   5. Set Aspect to 16:9 if you want the more modern wide aspect ration, if you want the older squarish aspect ratio, set this to 4:3.
   6. Push Menu to exit the menu system, then push Menu again, and navigate to the Advanced settings.
   7. Make sure that Audio Rec is set to 16 bit.
   8. Set D.Zoom to off, and Zoom Mic to on.
2. Use either the viewfinder or the LCD screen to frame your shots. The LCD screen uses more battery power, if your battery is getting low, use the viewfinder. The LCD screen is washed out in bright sunlight.
3. When using the viewfinder, adjust the diopter, a small lever above the viewfinder, for your vision.

C. Production and Videography techniques

1. Set up early for the shoot. Record and play back a little video.
2. Watch out for camera shake. Use a tripod if you are zooming in at more than 50% for more than a few seconds or if you have longer scenes. Make sure your tripod is level. If you are not using a tripod, keep the camera as steady as possible, and avoid extreme zooms.
3. If you are more than 8-10 feet away from the action, the built-in microphone will start to sound poor. Good audio is harder to capture than good video.
4. Control the lighting: try for even illumination, nothing extremely bright, or the camera iris will close. Try to keep the subject brighter than the background.
5. Compose the shot esthetically before you record it. Make your pans and zooms slowly and carefully. Watch some of your favorite shows or movies for ideas on composition.
6. Head locations are especilally important. Always take into account visual “headroom” and “talkspace”. If you are ambitious, you can sketch out rough storyboards of the action.
7. Be aware of tape recording lag. Let the camera record 5 seconds before and after a scene.
8. When you are done, rewind a short section of the tape, and play it back, to ensure you have recorded.

D. Editing and Post-production

1. A member of the Instructional Technology Team can offer editing workshops using iMovie in the Advanced Technolgy Lab, in Shain Library.
2. Sign up for the computers in the ATL for edit time. There are 3 Macs with miniDV decks that can be used. The fourth Mac has editing software, and can be connected to a camcorder for capture.
3. Editing support can be provided by Jeff Gada and Dave Baratko, in Media Services, and Frank Fulchiero
4. IMPORTANT NOTE: If you shot in 16:9 Widescreen, when you start a new project in iMovie, set the Video Format to DV-Widescreen. When you go to make a DVD, set the iDVD theme to a widescreen one.