Tell us some tips and tricks to get the best-looking shots.
So, I would say first of all use proper lighting, light, light, light! Light is the key thing that you have to learn. It’s about the experience and learning how to use the lights and how to compose the shot. You know, it's easy to just press the record button and just leave it there but you need to know the location - are you set up for the shot? - as that’s very important.
It's really easy to jump from a bland and boring shot to a really interesting one instead and I would say having something nice in the background, for example, a bouquet of flowers, is probably a good way to have a really interesting shot. So, doing that you need at least some ND filters (which adjust the amount of light going into the camera lens), just little things that help you out with the shot.
Another tip I would have is to plan. If you can plan the shot and location in advance then that’s definitely a good thing to do.
Where’s the best place to film my video?
It depends on the situation and depends on what mood the film is. Think of relevant visual imagery for your subject, no matter how far-fetched it is, and picture where might be a good location to go along with that.
How can I look my best on camera?
I would say everyone’s different, some people don’t like to be in front of cameras as they struggle to be natural. I would say the best thing to do is not even a technical thing: it would be to just talk to the person and make them feel comfortable.
Having someone feel comfortable is at least 50% of the whole thing. If you spend a bit of time chatting and making them feel at ease and natural then that’s cool and then after that, you can play around with the lights such as the classic three-point lights or better backlight to front light to make them look flattering. If you can afford a makeup artist, then that’s cool too to make them feel like they’re looking their best.
What are the best camera settings to use – any tips?
It depends on what kind of video you're trying to create. A lot of people say stuff like ‘I want 4k, blah, blah’ but a lot of the time the final video ends up embedded on social media in very low resolution so it’s a bit redundant to master it at 4k and it’s just a waste of time in post production.
It also depends what you’re filming, let's say that you’re filming lots of action you may want to undercrack (shoot in slow motion) by pushing the frame-rate up from 24, 25 FPS (frames per second) to more like 50, 75 or even a 100!
It's really easy to get lost in the jungle of the Internet looking for things such as the best camera and to buy lots of things that you don’t actually need. I was the same in the beginning. I was thinking I need this and that and you’ve spent all the money you’ll make in the first 5 years before you’ve even made your first video.
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Edited by Esme Johnson.
