Twelve Helpful Tips for Shooting Great Video

1. Use manual focus if your camcorder has it.
2. Set white balance at every location.
3. When shooting outdoors, keep the sun behind you.
4. Plan your shoot.
5. Use a tripod or other image stabilization device.
6. For handheld stability, imagine that your camcorder is a very full cup of hot coffee.
7. Use the zoom to compose your shot. Avoid zooming while the tape is rolling.
8. Move the camcorder only when necessary.
9. Shoot to edit.
10. Keep your average shot length between 5 and 10 seconds.
11. Keep the shot steady (no zoom or pan) for at least 10 seconds.
12. While shooting, be as inconspicuous as possible to best capture the true behavior of your subject.

Top Ten Wedding Video Tips

1. Bride and bridesmaids dressing (keep it G rated!)
2. Exterior church.
3. Wedding party arriving at church.
4. Continuous roll of ceremony, from prior to bride's entrance to the
couple's walk down the aisle at the end. Ideally, use two cameras. Place
one in the back third of the church. Start the other handheld, positioned
on the bridesmaids' side of the aisle at the altar steps. Shoot the
procession. After the bride arrives, move to a tripod placed behind the
officiant and on the groom's side. This gives the best shot of the bride
during the vows. This MUST be coordinated and cleared with the officiant,
which is why it's necessary to attend the rehearsal.
5. Any special touches in the ceremony, like a solo song, unity candle
lighting, etc.
6. Reaction shots of bride and groom's families.
7. Take video during the photographer's formal posed shots.
7a. If you can, stage a reenactment of the ring ceremony. Get a good
closeup of rings being slipped onto fingers.
8. Wedding party leaving church.
9. Wedding party arriving at reception (this'll take some good planning and
fast driving on your part!)
10. Bride and groom entering reception.
11. First dance.
12. Mom's dance with the groom.
13. Dad's dance with the bride.
14. Best man's toast.
15. Cake cutting.
16. Garter toss.
17. Guest book signings.
18. Special dances and ceremonies at the reception.
19. Interviews with guests.
20. Interview with the bride and groom.
21. Cutaways - cake, presents, decorations, flower arrangements, the DJ or
band,etc. Get a copy of the wedding announcement, and anything like
souvenir napkins, etc. for later copystand work.
22. Guests saying goodbye.
DON'T shoot: People eating. Too many backs of heads. People backlit by windows. Drunks. (this becomes harder later in the day. If necessary, shoot the drunk and edit him or her out later).

HD Miniature Cameras

Jonathan Watts and Rafeeq Rasheed

Jonathan's expertise in building and filming with "onboard cameras" has not only jumped to HD on eagles and peregrines etc but is about to go 3D in a 100gram package. 

  

British Technical Films offers purpose built miniature camera systems for almost any application!

British Technical Films has developed systems weighing as little as 11g up to 50g HD and even a 100g 3D system used extensively on birds.   Subsequent scientific analysis of footage has unlocked many of the secrets of pigeon navigation and the flight dynamics of birds of prey.  

 Work has also been carried out on car crash testing (Fifth Gear C4) , on arrows, fireworks, building explosions etc.

 

Jonathan Watts was nominated for a Royal Society award in 2008 for developing an 11g camera system to mount on the tail feathers of Caledonian crows for an Oxford University research team.  He was also nominated for an Emmy award in 2001 for his miniature camera work on the “Animal Camera” series, BBC1 and winner of "TV Moment of the Year Award" (factual) for BBC's "Serpent Special".

 For More details please click this link britishtechnicalfilms