Wyndham Wisdom

Moving Pictures

                                                                                                                   By Bob Krist

These days, most digital cameras capture much more than still images. With practice, you, too, can be a YouTube sensation.

The performance bar has been raised. While digital compact cameras have actually been able to capture rudimentary video since the beginning, many compacts and entry-level digital single-lens-reflex cameras (DSLRs) now come with high-definition video capability. And if you're going to show your videos in high def, you might as well make them worth watching! Try these tips to unleash your inner Cecil B. DeMille.

1. THE PICTURES SHOULD MOVE, NOT THE CAMERA
A shaky camera is a clear sign of a novice videographer. Nobody says you have to tote a tripod everywhere (though dedicated video shooters do just that), but you can easily steady your camera by bracing it on a tabletop, chair, door jamb--you name it. Or try one of the clever portable devices designed for light cameras, such as the Joby Gorillapod (joby.com; from $22). My favorite is the Bottlecap tripod (semsons.com; $20), which fits onto the neck of an open bottle to provide a steady platform.

If you must move the camera, do it creatively. Shoot video from a bicycle, a moving car, or even propped on a baby stroller. The "tracking shot," in which the camera is deliberately moving, is a staple of good moviemaking.

2. WHO'S ZOOMIN' WHO?
Another dead giveaway of inexperience is a heavy hand with the zoom ring. More often than not, zooming in and out during a shot only annoys viewers. Instead, try to do your zooming between shots, so you have a choice of angles and magnification when you're editing your masterpiece. And if you must zoom while filming, make it slow and steady. (The zoom mechanism of a digital compact actually gives smoother results than you'll get by manually zooming the lens on a more expensive DSLR.)

3. SHOOT LOTS OF ANGLES AND DETAILS
As still photographers, we're always looking for that great "wrap it all up in one frame" storytelling shot. Videographers, on the other hand, tell their visual stories with lots of little cuts and detail shots. An average shot in a video stays
up only about four seconds, so evena one-minute movie requires at least 10 angles. Close-ups and detail shots are much more important than they are to the still shooter, and you'll kick yourself later on when you're editing if you only have the big wide scene-setting shots.  

Let's say you're shooting a blacksmith at a living-history museum. Start with
an overall shot of the smithy at his forge, but then look for close-ups: the hammer striking the metal on the anvil, the concentration on the smithy's face, the forge fire and any other paraphernalia around the shop. And don't forget to change angles and shoot "reverses" or "cutaways"--shooting from behind the subject to see what he or she sees.

4. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Today, both PCs and Macs have consumer-level video editing programs, usually bundled in the software suite that comes with your computer. Windows Movie Maker and Apple's iMovie 09 are both fairly intuitive to use and surprisingly powerful in terms of the effects, transitions and themes they provide the budding director. When I'm editing travel videos with iMovie 09, one of my favorite features is the maps function. Simply designate your starting and ending points (the database has 6,000-plus locations around the world) and the function creates a sophisticated motion graphic of a plane flying over the globe to your destination. And you also get to choose about a dozen "looks" for your map--antique, sepia, psychedelic and so on. DeMille never had it so easy!