Jul
3
I really should have posted this about a week ago. Very short. I’ll have more to say about the process later.
A blog on journalism, media-related matters and some occasional personal stuff, by Mark Hamilton, a journalism instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, in the suburbs of Vancouver, B.C. You can email me or follow me on Twitter.
Hi mark,
Nice work on the Greek festival video. If I may, a couple of suggestions.
Think more about sequencing your video. That means after you shoot a wide shot, move in real tight to show detail. You had lots of wide and medium shots, but very few (super) tight shots. An example was the grill. As a viewer, I wanted to see the food close up. Put that camera as close to the food as it will focus. Tight shots give your video visual variety and they also work great as transitions. Avoid editing two wide shots (like the line dancing) together. A tight shot of the dancing feet would have been great transitional shot!
What this video really needed was some narrative. A couple of quick interviews with people would have made it much more interesting. Finally, the tripod talk. I too resisted using a tripod for a long time. But once I committed to using it, my video improved dramatically. I assume you are using a small video camera. They don’t require a large tripod. The main benefit I found with having my camera on sticks is that it allows me to zoom in tight on things. I set my shot, then I shoot a wide, medium, and tight and move on. This gives me a variety of shots to choose from when I start editing my video.