To bring off suave and liquid moving shots, film studios use equipment that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. But you can make expert, professional camera moves without any special equipment, and the results will add interest and snap to your programs. This month’s column looks at th

Have you ever driven through the mountains and suddenly come upon a beautiful scene, perfect for video? Or perhaps seen breaking news just ahead? Maybe you just want to get some “on the road” shots for your videos. In all these cases, the problem is the same: how to capture all these

Fun, Fun, Fun Applications I was headed for the mailbox to send a letter to Loren Alldrin at your magazine, since I respect his technical reviews and thought he might be interested in the video experiences of a strict amateur. As the mail had already been delivered, it was too late to post my lett

Of all the technical gremlins that can frustrate a videomaker, poor exposure has got to be the most common. Whether you’ve used a camcorder a thousand times or only bought your first one last month, the chances are you’ve experienced: faces that become black smudges against bright bac

Traveling for pleasure ought to be an ideal subject for video: exotic locales, colorful people, exciting events, spectacular scenery–how can you lose? So you videotape with abandon, haul 40 hours of footage homeward, and spend days carving it into a carefully assembled program. The result? Fir

That title alone may be enough to scare off some readers. If you’ve gotten this far, please stay with me. I know the technical side of video production isn’t fun for most. It’s actually a nuisance when you come to think of it. But understanding some of the basic mechanics and te

This month’s Camera Work is about the naming of shots: what’s a long shot, what’s a closeup, and why should you care, anyway? When I began this piece I thought, hey, I can almost write this in my sleep–just round ’em up, brand ’em, and ride on outta here. No suc

Invite friends and relatives to see your latest home movie and count on a generous outpouring of stammered feeble excuses designed to keep them at a safe distance. If the assumed victimes are already trapped, simply threaten to bring forth your vacation video-then watch your guests scurry like rats

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, and

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 drink. The shooting

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 amateu

If your footage sometimes looks as if you taped it during an earthquake, it’s not your fault. No hand-held video will be perfectly steady; even shots made on a tripod can get the jitters when you’re shooting at full telephoto. But you can banish bad vibes from your programs by using ima

Sports video is more popular than ever. And why not? Today’s easy-to-use camcorders make sports video a breeze for many parents. But sports video goes far beyond the proud parent syndrome. Football, hockey, basketball, tennis or swimming…today’s technology gives sports enthusiasts

Ah, the holiday season! The feasts and festivities, the laughter and love, the torture and torment. That’s right, torment…the sheer agony of sitting through typical holiday home videos: moving snapshots that have nothing to say and take five times too long to say it. Why are some holida

The Confusion Solution We regularly receive letters from subscribers concerned that Videomaker is too complicated. Confused by acronyms like A/B roll, PCM audio and BNC, these readers believe making video must be easier than our magazine says it is. True, making video is easy–but you get wha

Have you ever wanted to make a sci-fi video, complete with sleek starships, strange worlds, and bug-eyed monsters, but feared it would require a budget worthy of Aliens or Star Wars? If so, then you should know that many aspiring sci-fi videomakers have made up for their lack of funds with an inve

A renewed interest in wildlife preservation has increased the frequency of animal “shootings.” Fortunately, they’re happening with video cameras! There’s no better way to capture the reality of the wilds than with the “aliveness” of video. However, taking a video

Minimal Investment of Time and Money Big Payoff in Quality and Convenience If you’re like most people, you have a shoe box or two hidden away in a closet, carefully tucked behind an old pair of ski boots. Every year during spring house cleaning you pop open the lid and say, “Gotta go thr

If the director is the leader of the orchestra, the cameraman is the first violinist. The director may be able to inspire his shooting crew to produce an Academy Award-winner, but he can’t make “music” alone. He must rely on the cameraman, with his camera violin. I’ll be so b

Moving the camera is an important tool in a filmmaker’s toolbox and can accent important storytelling moments in a film. Master filmmakers should have a clear understanding of when to intentionally move the camera to convey different emotions. One such technique master filmmakers use to add m