Most home movies are painful to watch because they’re, well, boring. Here are several simple strategies that will instantly make your home videos much more enjoyable…
Think in shots. Most people just point their video camera and start recording. Instead, think in shots. A shot in a video is a short clip showing an action. You point the camera and record, “Mom lighting the candles on the cake.” Then stop. That’s a shot.
Think through each shot as if it were a sentence you are about to write. Sentences need both a noun and a verb—usually a specific person doing a specific thing. A shot with a noun and a verb is active—and never boring.
Example: If you are shooting video of Junior’s birthday party, one shot might be “Grandpa sings Happy Birthday”…another “Junior blows out the candles”…followed by “Sally eats cake”…and “Junior opens a present.”
Keep your video short. You probably don’t need as much time for a video as you think you do. Two minutes’ worth of quick shots tells you a lot about, say, a birthday party. Remember that the goal in home video is to help preserve memories of what happened, not to be able to live them again in real time.
Example: Junior’s birthday video should show him opening one present, not every present.
Pay attention to the length of the “cuts” the next time you watch a movie or TV show—most shots will be no more than 10 seconds in length. Most shots in your home movies should be no longer than 10 seconds as well. That might seem very quick in real life, but longer shots usually seem boring on film.
If you must record for longer than 10 seconds at a stretch to capture key moments, use digital video-editing software later to cut these shots down to the best segments of 10 seconds or less.
Example: You are recording your granddaughter attempting to take her first steps, but you have no way of knowing when she will succeed. If this video stretches for longer than 10 seconds, edit it down to a few quick clips of key moments. Or, if you don’t want to bother with editing, record in short bursts, then simply delete all but the best.
Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes. Cameras cannot capture facial expressions at a distance, and when viewers cannot see facial expressions, they do not feel emotional connections with those on-screen. Close-ups showing emotional facial expressions are a major reason why some films seem compelling…and a lack of close-ups is a major reason why many home movies seem dull.
It’s best to film close-ups by getting close rather than by using your camera’s zoom capability. A video camera’s zoom might bring the action 10 times closer, but in doing so, it makes the images 10 times shakier. Shaky video is very difficult to watch.
Mounting your video camera on a tripod or leaning it against a wall could significantly reduce that shakiness, but using zoom still means that the audio component of your video will be distant or inaudible…and it increases the odds that your images will be too dark.
Keep the light at your back. Modern video cameras automatically adjust to the light level in the frame. Trouble is, there sometimes is more than one light level within a frame. When that happens, most video cameras adjust to the brightest thing in the shot, which might not be what you were trying to record.
To avoid this, position yourself so that the brightest source of light—the sun, a bright window or a bright lamp—is behind you as you record.
Example: If you record indoors on a sunny day and a window is in your shot, your video camera likely will adjust to the light level of that window. People in front of the window will be reduced to silhouettes. Stand with your back to this window, and your camera should adjust to the interior light level.
Skip the digital effects. Most modern digital video cameras can perform a range of video tricks, such as making images appear to be seen through night-vision goggles or in a sepia tone. Resist the urge to use these. They will only distract and annoy viewers.
If you must experiment with digital effects, use a digital editing program to do so after recording. Effects added during editing can be removed if you decide they’re a mistake. Those added while recording are permanent.
Treat your video camera like a still camera. When the camera moves, audiences have trouble making sense of the shot. What are they supposed to be looking at? What are they supposed to notice? Unless you’re a pro, it’s hard to direct the viewer’s attention in a moving shot. But if you keep the camera still, it’s much easier. And the resulting video is easier to follow. Sometimes you have to move the camera to follow someone else who is moving, but most of the time, you should treat your video camera like a still camera. Point…shoot…stop. Move. Then do it again.
