Shooting Video

SHOOTING
The Little Digital Video Book/Chapter 3
By Michael Rubin
Prepared by Madelon Gruich
IT753 Instructional Applications of Interactive
Video
The University of Southern Mississippi

Some important facts
 Shooting a video is not making a
video.
 Editing will not occur “in-camera.”
 Shooting to edit involves non-linear
thinking.
 Shooting to edit is gathering bits and
pieces of material (collecting video).
 Final results will be a story, assembled
from video collections.
2IT 753/USM SHOOTING

Before you begin, ask
yourself:
 What’s going on here?
 What in this scene interests me?
 What little details would highlight the
scene?
 What are my subjects seeing?
 What personality traits of my
subjects can I show?
 What would be another way to look
at this scene?

Rubin’s 10 Rules of
Shooting
1. Shoot to edit. Keep it simple.
2. Ad-lib it. Make “sketches” and shoot
your life.
3. You’re a one-person production
team.
4. No equipment that you can’t carry in
your pockets.
5. Use existing light only.

Rubin’s 10 Rules of Shooting
(cont’d)
6. Shoot real moments, “small” moments.
(Ex. Popsicle dripping on child’s face.)
7. Don’t let your subject talk directly to the
camera.
8. Impose limits on your project.
9. Avoid in-camera effects.
10. Concentrate on static shots (use
moving objects minimally). Stop
moving; stop moving the camera; stop
moving your body; stop zooming in and
out.

How to Shoot
 Take shots from a range of positions.
Experiment!
◦ Lying or standing
◦ Shooting up or shooting down
 The closer the camera is to the body,
the more stable the image will be.
 Patience is necessary for the good
shots. (It takes 7 seconds to start
shooting video from a camera that is
turned off.)
 Consider zooming and scanning no
good – garbage.

Structure
 Images are edited to create a
structure.
 Elements of structure include
◦ Beginning shots
◦ Middle shots: action or event
◦ Ending (closure) shots
 Closure is last thing viewers see, so
make it a lasting impression.

Suggested Closures
 Cliché closures: turning out light,
waving goodbye, walking into the
sunset (still good).
 Keep camera still and allow people to
enter and leave the frame—classic
way of closing a video.
IT 753/USM SHOOTING 8

Camera Shots Vocabulary
 Close up – CU
◦ Subject fills the screen
 Wide shot – WS
◦ Subject is far away
 Medium shot – MS
◦ Not too close; not too far away
Consumer camcorders have a powerful
zoom lens.

The Close-up
 Powerful
 Use sparingly
 Inserts

Face shots – It’s the eyes.

The Medium Shot
 Head and shoulders
 Most shots are medium shots

The Wide Shot
 Provides context of the shoot
 Takes longer to shoot
 Balances out the close-ups
 Allows viewers a break from close-ups
and action

Coverage – 6 elements
1. Establishing shots – beginning of
video usually to establish time (clock,
newspaper, TV clip, “voyeur” footage,
signage).
2. Cutaways - unlinked shots for
inserts.
3. The shot/reverse shot – (classic
shot) capturing scene from other
side; when two people are speaking,
both faces are filmed.

Coverage (cont’d)
4. Over-the-shoulder (OS) shots –
establish relationships to use with
reverse shots.
5. Point-of-view (POV) shot – shoot
person then the subject to show what
the person sees.
6. Top-down shots – pointing down at
subject giving different perspectives
of angles.

The Pickup
When editing, additional video may be
needed to complete the project.
Cutaway shots make excellent pickups.
The pickup is often shot later than the
original footage.

Popping between shots. . .
. . . means that transitional moments
between close-ups and medium shots
are rapidly done; no slow zooms.
. . . means that wasted time is avoided.

How long should a shot be?
 4-second minimum
 10 – 20 seconds is preferred
 Get at least two shots (close-up and
medium) of same spot before moving
on.
 Shoot from different angles at the
same spot to prevent boredom.

Looking into the camera?
 AVOID
 Difficult to edit
 Hold camera away when shooting so
subject is looking at you—not camera.

Hollywood parlance
 Scene – the setting
 Setup – shots taken at a particular
scene
 Take – each repetition of a scene
Watch the raw material as soon as it is
shot and shoot pickups if needed.

Some Tips Before Shooting
 Watch TV for shots.
 Repetition makes editing easier.
 Vary the framing, design, balance, and
centering.
◦ Rule of thirds – shoot subject about one-
third way in the frame.
 Maintain safe frame margins.
 Stop moving the camera – only
professionals get to move the camera.

How NOT to move the
camera.
 Brace against something.
 Move eye around frame—not frame
around subject.
 Allow subjects to enter and exit your
frame.
 Shoot a little wide.
Remember—when a camera moves, it
shakes and bounces around the
image.

Lighting
 Try to use only existing lighting.
 Decrease shutter speed (if you dare)
to create interesting blurred visual
effects.
 Backlighting – light is behind subject;
creates a silhouette.

Sound
 Camera automatically synchronizes
sound as video is shot.
 Picture and sound – separate entities.
 Ambient sound – background sound,
such as sound of ocean waves on
beach.
 Sound editing too advanced for
amateurs.
 Turn off music when you shoot.

Shoot the SMALL Moments!
 Get the candid shots – start with wide
shots and move in toward the subject.
 Shoot about 20 minutes at any one
time.
Finished videos will only be as good as
the raw footage you shoot.
Lights, Camera, Action!

Information Sources
 You Ought to be in Pictures
 Shoot, Edit, and Share Digital Videos
 Create an iMovie Project

Shooting Video

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