By following a few key video shooting tips, you can greatly increase the family fun when you film your personal family videos. We saw video everywhere during the recent Labor Day weekend. Family members took turns filming the action while the other family members played on the beach.
We even saw some people wearing virtual reality headgear at a local boat race. We have no idea about the virtual video world they were watching. However, we hope you saw our commentary on VR in our previous blog.
In the parks, we saw friends shooting video of spur-of-the-moment games. Video was there at Labor Day community parades and at intimate backyard Labor Day family get-togethers. And family members were filming on Florida rivers, lakes, and beaches, where video captured the splashing action of family members boating, fishing and swimming.
Filming Family Fun Video
We are not talking about professional video. Filming family video memories is far different from what we do at Bullhorn Media where we film to capture corporate identities.
Heart in Hands: A good, symbolic shot for a silhouette.
The filming we saw was being done for memory’s sake. They were filming for family and friends, by family and friends.
Amateur video, to be sure… But as we observed families filming video everywhere, we thought: It is amazing how beloved this media has become in a relatively short time.
A Few Good Tips From Our Professional Videographers-Just For You
We also wished that we could just coach a few good video shooting tips just for family fun video making.
Thus, this blog article is dedicated to the fine art of family Video Shooting Tips: Simple stuff to enhance your enjoyment of the filming and the watching of your family fun videos.
Fall Will Bring You Massive Opportunities for Story-Telling with Your Video
After all, Labor Day closed the summer, and we have the fall coming. We wanted you to have these video filming tips now, as we close summer. The fall will many Autumn will offer us many video shooting opportunities for family fun. Think of children playing drifts of falling leaves. Soon there will be hot cocoa picnics. And don’t forget to shoot all the family fun at Halloween. Using these video filming tips will enhance each fall –all great opportunities for family fun video.
Tip 1 Steady As She Goes
We bet you think we are going to recommend a tripod. Whereas a tripod is certainly one way to shoot steady video, we noticed a lot of the amateur tripods were shaky, flimsy contraptions. And we know you do not want to lug a heavy tripod around. Fine, let’s go hand-held for that steady video. Here is how:
You can shoot steady video without lugging around a lot of gear.
Position your body “so that every breath you take doesn’t lead to unwanted camera motion.” Brace the camera for steadiness:
Once you understand shooting into the sun causes a silhouette effect, you can use it creatively, deliberately and sparingly.
- Use the ground,
- Lean on a wall
- Lean on a car or truck.
Just examine your area for places you can brace the camera for steady shooting. “Experts have stated, “By ditching the tripod, you can move around a scene without being anchored in one spot.”
Tip 2 Get Into Your Scene for Creativity and Family Fun
Producing good family videos involves learning creative shooting techniques.
- Avoid shooting like you are a surveillance camera.
- Beginning videographers shoot everything from the corner of a room or far away from the action. Do the opposite. Get into the action.
“By putting yourself in the middle of what’s happening, you will get images that aren’t possible from a distance. Experiment with different angles by shooting above and below your subject.”
Tip 3: Include Some Widescreen Shots in your Videos
Capture Those Moments of Family Fun on the Beach. In a Wide Shot, You Help To Create Mood and Setting.
Judging from the standards set by television, the “videos of tomorrow will all be 16×9 widescreen. Think of how you can make this extra visual space work for you.”
- Establishing the Place of your family story means you can grab a lot of content in a single wide shot. But remember that widescreen video doesn’t mean shooting all wide shots.
- Video, like Television is an intimate medium.
- Therefore, large close-ups of the faces of family and friends bring emotion to the video.
- Sometimes close-ups can convey more emotion than a group shot of a crowd.
Tip 4: Zooming and Panning are like Salt and Pepper
Please avoid unnecessary zooming and panning.We saw many family shooters zooming and panning far too much. Later, the video will leave viewers distracted or seasick.
Close Ups can Add Emotion to the Moment. But, Avoid Random Zooming.
“Make sure there’s a reason you are zooming or panning. At a sports event, professional videographers follow the action by following the ball. That’s the motivation behind tilting the camera up when a baseball player hits a fly ball or panning during a double play.”
So a simple rule of thumb might be that you do not want to zoom and pan for no reason.
Tip 5: Shooting Outdoor Video is Not So Easy
If your family event is outdoors, watch out for that sun! Our best advice is to shoot with the sun at your back. Remember, in people shooting, if you shoot your video into the sun, the people’s faces will be in shadow (very dark) or silhouette.
This can be very Disappointing.
So do not shoot into the sun, unless of course you want to capture some silhouettes. If you are shooting close-ups or interviews or conversation, keep the sun to your back. Your subjects might squint a little, but at least they will have light on their faces. On the other hand, shooting silhouettes is not always a bad thing. They can be very creative-looking if you plan them as in the example at the bottom of this blog page.
Baby and Grandmother Share a Special Moment with an Unusual Find on the Beach. Close-up and Personal!
Tip 6: Capture Good Sound, not A Silent Movie
Check and re-check your audio settings. Do not forget to check your audio and monitor the sound you’re getting. You do not want a silent party or picnic. Likewise, “Monitoring the sound helps you avoid recording unwanted audio. That can happen when you interview someone and don’t notice that you are standing near a loud air conditioner.”
“When you watch the video later, all you hear is the hum of the A/C unit, which drowns out what the person was saying.” Wind noise is another possible problem, especially at the beach or in the forest.
As we noted above, even as the doors close on summer, they open on fall with great opportunities for amateur video shooting. From kid’s carving pumpkins to baby’s first Thanksgiving drumstick, the fall season is
One Final Take-Away: Do Not Fear Capturing unusual angles and views, cropped details and zooms.
replete with opportunities to practice our 6 video tips. In the meantime, thank you for reading our blog and please keep returning for the latest and greatest in news you can use from the world of video and photo news and information.
Remember our Six Outdoor Video Tips at your Next Video Opportunity– Viewers will be glad you did
Follow this short list of 6 video filming tips for Outdoor Family Events. Just try it. If you follow each tip one time, you will make it your own forever.
Good shooting will become your habit. You will make later viewings more enjoyable and fun.
Remember, these tips are designed for outdoor shoots. Different tips may apply to indoor gatherings, where you control the lighting.
But that is another story … and another Blog….. Look for indoor shooting tips as a topic in upcoming blog articles.
One Final Take-Away:
Unusual views and detail shots add creativity and finesse to a video story. This one shows a detail shot of father and son surfers. Yes, it is shooting into the sun, which accounts for the darkness and blur.
The videographer planned it intentionally to add mood and time of day to the shot. You would not want an entire video shot like this, but it’s a creative technique to enjoy using sparingly. So, happy fall filming to all of you!