Lights, camera, satisfaction!

Composition
• Don't shoot subjects against backgrounds that are lighter than their faces. This will give you poorly exposed shots.

• Some camcorders have a rectangular window within the viewfinder. The space within the rectangle is what you will see on a monitor. If your camcorder does not have this rectangular window, assume that one-tenth of the outer edge will not be viewable and make sure your subject(s) are within safety margin area.

• The rule of thirds. For most, the natural instinct is to centre everything within the viewfinder. This works adequately for stationary subjects but makes for bland visuals. Using the rule of thirds, mentally divide your viewfinder into three columns and three rows, similar to a tic-tac-toe board. Keeping your subject on an axis within this framework makes for a more interesting shot.

• Lead the action. Using the rule of thirds, keep moving subjects on the axis farthest away from the direction in which they're moving. In other words, give them room to move into. If you have someone's profile, give them space to talk into.

Audio
• Stay close to the subject to minimize background noise.

• Avoid shooting subjects in front of noisy places. Position them away from the noise and shoot with camcorder (and microphone) facing away from noisy area.

• Don't give verbal directions. Your camcorder's mic will pick up your voice and detract from the final product.

Pans, tilts and zooms
• Avoid these when possible. Pans, tilts and zooms can seem fun at the time but they rarely translate into good home video. They're choppy and take away from the subject(s) and the action.

• If you really want to experiment with these, and you will, be sure to get a minimum 10-second shot of the subject(s) before and after the pan, tilt or zoom. This way you can edit out the middle and keep the two key shots.

There are other things to learn about shooting great video but these tips should get you off to a pretty good start. Just remember to get to know your camcorder and most importantly, have fun!

Recommended books:
Digital Video for Dummies
By Martin Doucette
IDG Books Worldwide, Inc., 1999

This book covers everything from the basics of shooting digital video to preparing your computer for loading video editing software and editing home videos with various Adobe products. It comes with a CD-Rom that contains video samples to practice on as well as Adobe's Premiere, Photoshop, Illustrator and After Affects
programs (these are all outdated by newer versions at this point).

Video: Communication and Production
By Jim Stinson
The Goodheart-Willcox Company, Inc., 2002

This book deals with the production of programs in the medium of video. Plenty of diagrams and bright colour photographs illustrate the principles discussed here. A very thorough textbook for budding videographers.