St Louis Video Production, Inc.

St Louis Video Production

Professional videotaping

Always use a tripod.

When videotaping you need the kind of tripod that has a “fluid” head, to produce smooth motion.

If outside on location, shoot with the sun on your back.

The best-looking footage will come if you shoot either during sunrise or during sundown. For all other times of the day, you will have to carefully pay attention where the sun is located and either avoid shooting altogether when the light is harsh during mid-day, or to make sure you have the sun on your back. The ideal time to capture footage without a lot of camera adjustments is on a cloudy day.

Before shooting, set your white balance.

A camera that allows you to manually set a custom white balance is the best. Then your camera is ready to shoot in the right conditions with the right colors.  Plus the camera will be automatically exposed the right way.

Plan your shots according to your script.

Always plan your shots, how you will pan, how you will zoom, and how you will compose the picture. It’s a good practice to not zoom in and out fast, or too much, and don’t pan a lot either. This gives more time to the viewer to study the subject, without your video being too static. No script?  You should always shoot to a script!

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Become a difficult editor.

Select only the best video you have shot.  Cut where there is a lot of camera shake, cut where the composition is not right, and cut when the wind is over-powering the conversation. And edit according to your script.