Making a video presentation, short film or any project involving recording video can be a little intimidating, especially if you have little to no experience running a camera. Here we'll go over some important tips that should help you make your project successful whether your filming a recital or scripted material.

Pre-Production

The first step to a successful project is pre-production. This is preparation in terms of your filmed project, everything from solidifying your script to setting up your equipment. Get everything you can set up before the actual production. It'll only make everything go that much smoother when the time comes cameras to roll.

• For scripted material, make sure the script is exactly how you want it. You'll obviously make changes throughout the production process in order to accommodate all those things that happen beyond your control. Making sure the script is the way you want it gives you a solid base to start from, where locations are, who is supposed to be around for certain scenes, what kind of props or items need to be available for certain shots. "Lock" your script before you start.
• Know your equipment. Read the manuals for the camera and microphones and make sure you test the equipment before the actual shoot. That way there are no surprises, like a technique you don't understand how to do or faulty equipment you didn't know was broken. Make sure your microphones will get the quality of sound you need (omnidirectional if you want sound from the atmosphere, unidirectional if you want to pinpoint the place where sound is coming from). You can also find some equipment suggestions at the TIE Network Wiki.
• Scout your location(s), whether you are doing scripted material or filming a recital/play/"unscripted" event. Take a look around where you want to shoot. If you're shooting something scripted, make sure to find the best backdrop. For unscripted material, try to get the best vantage point.
• Make a plan and walk through it. If you have a good idea of what you're shooting, make a list of what kind of shots you want to use during the shoot (see list below). Try to get a mental picture of how the shoot will go and walk through how it will go, hitting all the things you want to accomplish. Do this on location before actually setting up the equipment.
• Use a project-planning utility to make sure you have everything ready for the day of the shoot. Celtx is a free, cross-platform program that boasts a powerful scriptwriting utility but also has many production planning features for small size projects.

Production

The time has come for you to do the actual shooting for your project. Here you'll learn some of the filmmaking techniques that will make your shoot a success.

• Camera shots: there are many different shots you should know for production. A shot here is how the subject is sized up within the frame (how the camera sees the subject at any particular time). Below are a list of shots, how they size up the subject, and what each shot is generally used for.
  • Extreme Close Up (XCU): The XCU is usually used for emotional tenor or to shift the viewers' focus on an object or body part of specific importance. The shot is usually framed by centering the small object or detail. The XCU is often used on parts of the face during emotional scenes to increase drama.
    
  • Close-Up (CU): Also called a "bust shot," the close-up is usually framed from mid-chest up. The close up is used to bring focus to one character or aspect of the frame. The close-up is not as specific as the XCU but does attempt to bring the viewers' focus to a single part of the action.
    
  • Medium Shot (MS): The medium shot is one of the most commonly used frames, consisting of a subject from the waist up. This is a shot that contains most of the major action (hand gestures, core movement, facial features) without the extraneous framing of the legs.
    
  • Long Shot (LS): A long shot is usually an establishing shot, demonstrating where the subject is in space by framing the subject's full body and some of its environment. It's good practice to establish a subject in space before manipulating the angles so the audience isn't confused.
    
  • Extreme Long Shot (XLS): The XLS is almost always an establishing shot of the environment or location. An XLS is good for transitions between scenes in different locations and making sure the audience understands changes in space. Generally, this is accomplished with a full shot of immediate environment surrounding the location of the shoot.
    

  Here is a video demonstrating some of the various shots available to you:

• Camera movements: there are few camera movements that you should be familiar with: pan (moving the camera horizontally across a space), tilt (moving the camera vertically across a space), track (moving the entire camera setup either side to side or forward and backward, also known as a dolly), crane (a camera is hooked into a small crane and then moved along all three axes of direction: up and down, left and right, forward and back) and zoom (not so much a true camera movement than a virtual one, where the camera simulates movement toward or away from a subject by manipulating the lens). Any of these movements can make your video more interesting in moderation. Too much of any of these techniques becomes distracting.
• The 180° Rule: The general rule of thumb when shooting something when you can manipulate the space (obviously, if you're shooting something on a stage you have less power to work the space) is to stay on one side of the action as to not confuse the audience. Breaking the plane might result in characters that are facing each other looking as if they are facing in the same direction and generally confuses the space for the viewer. See the figure below for a typical shot-reverse shot setup.
  
  
• Remember to get coverage shots if you can. Getting something from multiple angles will help when it comes to editing.
• Don't set up, turn the camera on and walk away. Check the equipment to make sure it's working at all times (video and sound).

Post-Production

There are many post-production/video-editing applications out there, some that come for free on your computer (such as Windows Movie Maker for Windows and iMovie. The free applications are made to be user-friendly and typically just ask the user to drag and drop captured clips onto a timeline. There are a few things to keep in mind.

• Pay attention to continuity. When going from sequence to sequence, make sure to it makes sense, that there aren't any "jumps" or any offputting action that doesn't make sense between sequences and make sure to stay continuous to the emotion of the scene(s). If editing a recital, make sure the editing flows together nicely and as true to the actual timeline as possible.
• Use wipe transitions sparingly (if at all). Many editing applications come with more than a few funny transitions like a clock wipe that makes it look the minute hand of a clock transitions one scene to another or like one that turns the frame into a cube and switches the cube to another side and another scene. As interesting as they look, generally these wipes tend to look profoundly unprofessional. Always tried and true are the straight cut (no transition, just one scene juxtaposed to another) and the cross-dissolve (where one scene fades into another). Leave the fancy transitions to the amateurs.
• Watch your audio levels. Make sure there are no random spikes that aren't supposed to be there or distortion from peaked audio levels.

Hopefully these are some helpful reminders for your project. Some helpful links:
Pre-Production Tasks for the Digital Video Producer [BrightHub]
How to Produce an Online Video Show [Blip.tv]
Film School Course 01 - Learn the Basics of Filmmaking [Wikiversity]

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