10 Steps to Shooting Great Videos Maybe it's just masochism. Every year, thousands of people lay down substantial amounts of the ol' disposable to buy a device they just know they'll never be able to figure out completely. Ages after they have paid out hundreds of dollars to buy camcorders, most still are intimidated by them. True, the video companies have managed to cram a lot into a small package, and it can be more than a little daunting to keep all those teeny buttons straight, but a camcorder is a truly creative tool that can give both you and your friends and family -- really! -- hours of pleasure if you let it live up to its potential. So stop staring blankly at your new toy and settle down to becoming a proficient video producer. It's not that hard. WHAT IT'LL DO. I know, I know: nobody reads instruction manuals unless they really can't make things work, but in this case rest assured that your camcorder can do things that you won't be able to figure out on your own. So go through the manual page by page and try everything out. Many functions will have little appeal to you, but you won't know that until you have put them through their paces. Even so, you may think some feature is a waste at first; then someday when you are in the field it will turn out to be just the thing you need. It'll help if you know how to use it. So check out everything. Does your machine have a shoe for an external light? Is there a way to power that from the camera? Is there an external microphone jack? A headphone output? Which automatic functions are defeatable and which aren't? What kinds of noises do the internal servos put on a tape, if any? And on and on. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. Inevitably, your audit will tell you which features you will use and which you won't. But don't assume that the useful ones will be easy to operate the first time out. Making good videos is like any other high-level skill: you have to train yourself. Holding a camcorder steady through a long shot -- long in time or long in focal length -- is no easy task, particularly with very light models, so it takes some rehearsal to get it right. Zooms and pans can be tricky as well, if for no other reason than the behavior of auto-focus systems differ from one camera to another and thus take some getting used to. Spend a weekend shooting everything you can, in as complicated a fashion as you can muster. Try low-light shots, back-lit shots, fast zooms, slow tilts -- eveything, until you can do them smoothly. It may take a while, but it will undoubtedly give you new appreciation for what you see the pros do in movies or TV shows. And it'll improve your tapes. FROM A DISTANCE. The image of the video buff clutching his camcorder and shooting everything in sight is common, but there are times when you want to be away from your equipment, and there are accessories that can help. Many camcorders are supplied with tiny infrared remote controls, and these can be very handy things both when you are using the machine to play back tapes at home, and when you are shooting in the field. They let you take part in the action: set up the camera, walk into the shot and push a button on the remote. The only real trick is to avoid making the operation of the remote too obvious, but the techniques of surreptitious clicking are easily learned. That sort of use presupposes you have armed yourself with a tripod to hold the camera while you are away from it. The one accessory every camcorder owner should have is a tripod; try to find one that's light and compact enough that you can take it with you all the time. Your shots will be steadier even when you don't have to leave your equipment, and your viewers will thank you for that. Chances are, your camcorder has some sort of image stabilization system. These can be quirky, and can take some getting used to, but it's worth the effort. SOUND SENSE. The audio portion of your video production is very important, but it's easy to neglect as you try to get the pictures right. Don't: a beautiful set of visual images can be absolutely ruined by lousy sound. Bear some things in mind: The closest thing to the built-in microphone is your mouth, so keep your verbal directions to a minimum -- if you must prompt your "cast," invest in an external microphone that can be placed near the sounds you want to capture and away from the camcorder. You might even think of a wireless microphone, if you really want to be serious about the audio. In any event, be conscious of what ambient noises are going to affect your recording and try to avoid the more unpleasant ones; monitoring the audio by headphones is always helpful, if your camcorder lets you. Wind filters simply cut the bass a bit but do nothing if wind has totally obliterated the sound.  PLANNING THE DAY. Every foray into the world of videoable images presents its own equipment requirements. Most of those who have been into video for a while have amassed a fair pile of ancillary gear, and it's usually not practical to carry all of it around all the time. So one of the ways you can make life a lot easier is to decide what you are going to need before you leave home base. If you're going to spend the day on a sailboat, for instance, forget the tripod. If you will be sightseeing all day, make sure you have at least an extra battery pack, charged and ready to go. For noontime pictures, leave the fill-in light at home. On long trips, such planning may mean that you have to have two equipment bags: one that you carry around, and one that you leave in the hotel room. However you arrange it, you'll be grateful for not having to haul any more than is absolutely necessary -- for many, just toting the camcorder itself can be exhausting after a while. TOUJOURS LA POLITESSE. Never forget that your camcorder may be construed as an invasion of privacy and that not everyone wants to be captured on tape. This is certainly true of strangers, who should always be asked before you aim your lens at them, even if you have to overcome language difficulties by means of gestures. Your own family and friends may object as well, if even only because you have made yourself a pest once too often. Again, ask. Oh . . . and it's not wise to get angry when your on-screen subjects do something you don't like or didn't expect -- this is all supposed to be fun! LESS IS MORE. Almost always, the less you actually shoot, the better; concentrate on quality rather than quantity. Too much material not only wastes time and battery power, but it can wear out those with you and make your eventual editing a much harder job. Sure you can cut stuff out later, but if you're going to do that, why shoot it in the first place? PRE AND POST. Still, only Alfred Hitchcock could consistently edit in the camera, so unless you are his reincarnation, you should consider what you shoot to be raw material that will be assembled into a smooth -- and much shorter -- final version later on. If you intend to inflict your production on anyone but yourself, editing is a must. This can be as simple a matter as dubbing the better scenes in order onto a second tape using your home VCR for the final dub. The ultimate is computer video editing software. This may be pricey and time-consuming to learn thoroughly, but it will pay off in the final product. NECESSARY GOODIES. If there's an area in consumer electronics that abounds in accessories, it's video. A lot of them won't apply to you, perhaps, but some extras are always useful, and these should be acquired before you discover you don't have what you need. Along with a tripod, at least one fairly capacious bag is a good idea, for carrying not only the camcorder itself but also whatever peripheral gear you will require on a particular occasion. Such bags can be quite elaborate affairs, with pockets and crevices especially meant for things like battery packs, microphones, and cables. Alternatively, a simple canvas carry-all may do the trick, as long as you can sling it over your shoulder to keep your hands free for operating the equipment. Cables are usually not necessary in the field, except perhaps for connecting microphones and lights, but in some circumstances a duplicate set of patch cables for hooking your camcorder up to a stationary system might come in handy. If unpatching and repatching your own home system is awkward, but occasionally you want to connect your camcorder to a friend's system, extra cables would be the answer. CARRYING ON. Camcorders are designed to be bumped and thumped and flung about -- up to a point -- so they tend to be pretty hardy and need relatively little care to keep working over the years. Nevertheless, a camcorder is a fairly major investment for most of us, so it only makes sense to perform some routine maintenance chores every so often. Perhaps the most dramatic visual improvement you can make is cleaning the lens. Even if you keep the lens cap on whenever you're not actually shooting (and you should do that as a minimum), the optics can still get begrimed over time, particularly if there are smokers about. Anything designed to clean eyeglasses will do the job, although specific photo/video lens cleaners are also available. A wise investment is also a video head cleaner to remove the bits of oxide that inevitably cling to the parts the tape touches. Dirty heads can result in noisy pictures, or even damage to the tape, but can be prevented by a regular cleaning regimen. Finally, if your rechargeable batteries are NiCads, make a point of completely flattening them occasionally. They will take more charge afterwards, meaning you can tape for longer periods without changing batteries. .