Capturing action for a film is an art form. Four pointers will help you better capture the action on tape.

Camera operators have a lot to think about while they are taping. A camera operator must be concerned with what is in the picture and what is not, whether there is enough light, and whether the camera is picking up the sound of the action or not. Anyone who has picked up a video camera at a family gathering knows that it is work. Filming changes your perspective from someone who is involved in the gathering to someone who is observing it. A little preplanning can help you determine what is important and what is not. That way, you can pick up the camera only when you need to rather than tape the entire event, worried that you might miss something important. For more formal productions that involve a script, this is where the production moves from abstraction to reality.

These four pointers will help you better capture the action on tape:

1) Determine what you want to tape. Decide what is most important and make sure it is most prominent on the screen. If what you are highlighting is the happiness of a particular person, move the camera close to that individual so that you can see the expression on his or her face. If what you want to show is a large family gathering on a lake, back up so that you can see all the members of the family and the lake. In filmmaking terminology, this is called the field of view. Take a look at the different shots below and notice that the Extreme Long Shot highlights the surroundings of an individual while the Extreme Close-up highlights the expression on a face. During a production, it is a good idea to mix up the shots so that you get a sense of surroundings and emotions.

2) Follow the three S's rule of Straight, Steady, and Smooth. For best results, you should use a tripod whenever possible. A leveled tripod will keep your video camera straight and steady. When you pan the camera left or right or tilt it up or down, you want the movement to be smooth as well. Try to avoid the zoom as much as possible. If you do have to zoom, try to also make it smooth and slow. Over-zooming is a frequent mistake of all amateurs.

3) Make sure that you have the right amount of light. Video cameras struggle to figure out how much light they should let in. If you position a person in front of a window with lots of light in the background, the camera will think that it must not let in too much light and will darken everything else, leaving your person as a darkened figure against a bright background.

Likewise, a person in direct sunlight will have deep shadows under their eyes as the camera struggles to deal with the other bright spots in the shot. It is usually a better idea to shoot video in the shade, to even the light and eliminate deep shadows.

4) Make sure the camera can hear what it is supposed to record. Remember that the closer the camera is to what you want to be able to hear, the better. The camera is going to record the sounds of whatever is closest to it better than those sounds that are far away. Most cameras also have the ability to attach an external microphone to assist in picking up the right sounds.

While these four things are listed in order, they all have equal importance in video. Nothing is more frustrating than watching a video in which you cannot hear what you are supposed to, or see what is going on, while being made sea sick by a handheld camera that is zooming in and out. These four skills separate the professional from the amateur. If you pay attention to them, you too can shoot like a pro.

From Adobe, Inc.

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