"The weather outside is frightful," as the song has it; but are you tucked up by the fire in your bunny slippers with a mug of hot sassafras tea? Naaah! You’re out in the rain, sleet and snow, blazing away at snowboarders, snowperson builders, Christmas shoppers and anyone else as d

The images you record are the building blocks and foundation of your video productions. As your foundation, some thought and planning should go into how your shots are composed. A well-composed shot grabs and holds your viewer’s attention. It also influences the mood of the scene or the comfor

$369 Glidecam Industries, Inc. 130-4 Camelot Drive Plymouth, MA 02360 (800) 600-2011 www.glidecam.com We regularly recommend that you bolt your camera down on a tripod and avoid moving it. No pans. No zooms. And, unless it is an emergency, no handheld shots. But we must confess that the slick camer

We often admonish readers to use tripods to achieve steady shots. This is good advice and we stand by it, but sometimes you are required to shoot on the move. You’ve seen tons of camera movement on TV and the big screen. But why is it your video of your toddler’s first steps looks like

It's easy for first-time camcorder owners to be intimidated by all of the buttons and controls that seem to sprout from every recess and surface of a new camcorder. Believe me, if you don't know how to focus, adjust your iris or when to select a different shutter speed, you are not alone.

Here at Videomaker, we refer to basic shooting errors as "The Seven Deadly Camera Sins." Today’s sermon spotlights these camcorder transgressions. To cut to the chase, the dreaded seven deadly camera sins are Firehosing, Snapshooting, Headhunting, Backlighting, Motorzooming, Upstand

Videomaker Expo East 2002 Accurately tagged as a place where creativity and technology would connect, Videomaker’s ninth East Coast Expo further established itself as the industry’s leading consumer video production event. The Expo, held just outside of New York City in late-July, was k

action axis An imaginary line drawn between two subjects or along a line of motion to maintain continuity of screen direction. Crossing it from one shot to the next creates an error in continuity. It is also referred to as the "180-degree rule." closeup (CU) A tightly framed camera shot i

Unless you run a surveillance camera in a convenience store, you move your camcorder constantly. Most casual shooters hand-hold every shot, often walking around as they blaze away. To avoid the jerks and jiggles that often result, you can learn how to move your camcorder just like the pros. LetR

Say you just directed a scene that showed most of subjects A and B, and now it’s time for a closer angle on A. But how close? Medium shot, medium closeup, closeup, big closeup? Neutral angle or high or low? Three-quarter or profile? Maybe an over-the-shoulder two-shot? How do you choose among

As someone who has made working in the electronic media a lifelong adventure, I not only enjoy everything about producing video myself, I’m also an avid viewer of the moving images created by others. Watching their work, regardless of the source or the topic, is a great way to learn new techni

Piece by piece, we all gradually upgrade our equipment to take advantage of the latest technologies. Most of us don’t have the money to upgrade everything at once, so we end up with a mix of the old and the new. "Old" does not mean obsolete, however, and the trick is to make all of y

$200 SLIK Corp. [Now Distributed in the U.S. by: THK Photo Products, Inc. 2360 Mira Mar Ave Long Beach, CA 90815-1754 (800) 421-1141 www.thkphoto.com] The affordable SLIK 504QF II tripod, designed for beginning to intermediate videographers, is loaded with high-end features. Built to support small

Exiled Grass Roots TV on Mini DV Exiled, billed as the first ever college student-produced reality TV series, was created entirely with consumer video gear. What began as a college project to bring some fun and excitement to a dull campus has now, backed by Zilo Networks, reached more than 250 coll

At the Grand Canyon last spring, I shot a slow, careful pan across the magnificence in front of me, confident that my wide-angle lens setting and camcorder lens stabilization circuits would deliver a creamy-smooth panorama. No such luck. Camera shake was indeed zero, but the panning speed was errat

Ever had the feeling that you are at the mercy of your camcorder? Things you had hoped would be in focus weren’t. Your subject seemed lost against the background. Let’s take a step toward understanding and taking control of that device. One of the most critical components of your camcord

The most powerful video tool at your command is the humble frame that surrounds the image. The four sides of the display monitor determine what your viewers will or won’t see and how they’ll see it. This power lets you play all kinds of tricks with images. You can make subjects float in

Fully half a video director’s job is staging action for the screen. If you think that’s no big deal to accomplish, you’re ripe to join the list of big shot Broadway stage directors who failed miserably in Hollywood. Directing for the screen means setting up the camera at the right

Q. I’m a 17-year-old who currently uses a VHS-C camcorder, a VCR and a Videonics MX-1 video mixer to edit. I realize it’s outdated and by this time I should be using digital, but I have a question regarding digital camcorders: Is it possible to edit using a digital (video) camera with,

It used to be that discussing the space-and-time continuum fell into the domain of science fiction writers and astrophysicists. Not any more, though. Fundamentally, videography always includes altering time and space for your viewer. Through video, you can routinely expand seconds into minutes o