Whether you are content to make filmmaking a part time hobby or you aim to make it your career someday, it is important to make the most of your craft. That means taking the time to set up each scene carefully, staging your subjects properly and paying attention to lighting, set design and other elements.
In order to reduce your costs and increase your overall satisfaction it is important to make the most of every shot. No one likes to shoot the same scene over and over again, so it is important to learn the techniques you will need to make reshoots a relative rarity.
Getting Close to Your Subject
One mistake many beginning filmmakers make it putting their subjects at a distance. In most cases you will have more success if you place yourself, and your camera, closer to your subject rather than farther away. Many people think they can remain at a distance and simply zoom in on the action, but the human eye can tell the difference between a zoomed scene and a scene that was filmed close to the subject. By remaining close to your subject throughout the shoot you will get crisper, clearer pictures, and that quality will show when you edit your work.
Telephoto lenses are great for zooming in on the action, but they have their limitations as well. With a telephoto lens you are more likely to get a jerky result, whereas a regular wide angle picture will be much smoother. It is also hard to focus properly using the telephoto lens, since the magnification factor can leave everything looking slightly off.
Experiment with Different Angles
Many of the most successful and most studied directors did things that are not considered technically correct. And yet in those skillful hands those non-standard angles and creative worked quite well. While you may not be able to achieve the same results as your film legend heroes, you can help yourself learn by experimenting with different angles and different types of shots. At worst you will learn what not to do – at best you will learn some great techniques you can use to make your films come alive.
Filming scenes with a series of quick shots and cutaways instead of a single long shot is an excellent way to keep the interest of the audience. Be careful not to overdo this technique, however. Too many quick cuts and subject changes can leave the audience frustrated.
Get on the Right Level
For the most part it is a good idea to film at the same height as your subject. While there are some valid artistic reasons for shooting from above or below, it is best to limit those shots. Filming at the same height as your subject will give the finished product a much more natural and polished look.
It is important to adjust the height of your camera as needed to stay on the right level with the subjects you are filming. Always keep an eye on your filming to make sure it looks natural. You can fix some minor technical errors in editing, but major errors and problems with perspective will probably require a re-shoot.
What Editing Can – and Cannot – Do For You
Many new filmmakers assume that they can just fix their mistakes during the editing process, but this is rarely the case. Editing allows you to put your shots together in the order you want, but the editing process rarely if ever affords you the opportunity to fix errors you made while filming.
You can, however, use video editing to remove elements that do not belong in a particular scene. You can edit out the time you spent waiting for your subject to be ready, for instance. What you cannot do is edit out a problem with sun glare or a dark subject caused by the wrong type of foreground lighting. It is better to address these problems during the filming process, rather than waiting for the editing process to begin.
Source : http://www.clipcanvas.com/blog/video-production-101-getting-the-most-out-of-every-shot/
Source : http://www.clipcanvas.com/blog/video-production-101-getting-the-most-out-of-every-shot/
