This is one I hear a lot about. How do I shoot myself on video? How do I know if it looks right? Or if it sounds right? Well, there are lots of little things that go into doing it right…or doing it wrong. And when the balance tips the wrong way, watch out! Your entire video can flop over of its own weight.
So I made a video that gives you ALL the basics.
I’d love to hear what you think and if it raises any questions. We’ll answer them right here. This blog is all about getting your video questions answered. I’d love to use this video to get us started. Enjoy!
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Great video, Steve – you’ve chunked down that setup and made it very accessible. You didn’t end up explaining the manual iris/focus, but turns out that doesn’t matter as my old video camera (Panasonic) can’t do that way. Look forward to future vids. John
Great tutorial laying out the basics. Much appreciated!
A pleasure. Have you noticed that YouTube seems to be giving us much better resolution on the start frames now? That’s a welcome change!
Excellent video – I can’t wait to get to the hardware store and setup my viewing area. Thanks so much – at least now I have a place to get started!
Thanks, Melodie!
This may be a silly question but what is the bit for an ext mic labelled as on a video camera? I checked the manual on mine and it has the manual iris / focus thing but I couldn’t find reference to anything about sound even though there is quite a few plug holes in it. If it doesn’t have the plug does a wireless mic get you around this? Or am I doomed to poor sound?
Well, you don’t say what your video camera is, which would have told me conclusively what the answer is to your question, but if your manual doesn’t mention where to plug in your external mic, then this is probably not possible and a wireless mic won’t work either.
However, you can plug an external mic into an audio recorder and edit the audio and video together to get great sound. But that’s a topic for another day…
Great video Steve. Very informative and extremely easy to follow and understand. I love the way you explain all the benefits on top of the features. Good work. I’ll be checking out the rest of the site for sure.
Realy like the way you presented the information Steven. Great job. Looking forward to seeing more. Thank you for doing this!
Wow Steve! Thanks for the great tips, I have not posted any video’s at this point just because they come out so goofy. Now I am not trying to put on a Hollywood production, but I do what it to be professional.
The tips with lighting and the microphone, eye placement and background are things I had never thought of !
Thanks!
A pleasure, Rusty. Best of luck as you truly get started now!
Steve,
Thank you so much. I am a beginner and you were so thorough with your explanation that I can hardly wait to get a video camera. I made a short video before but with my regular camera, it has a video section on it. To think I was actually going to use my laptop.
A pleasure. Thanks for the kind words and good luck!
This was a FANTASTIC video Steve.
Wish I saw this a lot of time sooner but oh well, at least I saw it now, thank you! 😉
Sergio
Thanks, Sergio. it’s all a continual learning process, isn’t it?
That is one of THE BIGGEST frustrations with shooting video by yourself…to see how you’re framed. I used to just fudge it and hope for the best, reshooting when it was too bad. I LOVE the bag idea. I’ve never seen that before. Kind of a “duh”, huh? It certainly would have helped me way back when.
What I do now is use an extra lighting stand (it’s actually broken and doesn’t go up and down very easily) and hang a mirror from it. I have a cheapo dime store round mirror that has an adjustable frame and stand attached to it. I put the mirro stand over the light tripod and use the knobs on it to hold it in place. Then the mirror is also adjustable up and down and right and left.
Here are a couple shots I took of that setup: http://www.vspwebandvideo/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/mirrorstand.jpg and http://www.vspwebandvideo/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/mirrorreflectingLED.jpg.
You’re a new find for me and I LOVE your site!
Vickie
sorry I forgot the .com and it wouldn’t let me edit.
http://www.vspwebandvideo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/mirrorstand.jpg and http://www.vspwebandvideo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/mirrorreflectingLED.jpg.
Great tutorial! I have never seen anything done like this before and this was so very helpful! I haven’t shot many videos because it has seemed a monumental task with almost guaranteed poor results. The lighting tip just makes it all seem possible now! Thank you so much!
Hi Steve
I do a fair amount of video, using a number of different techniques including whiteboard and green screen. I always find your simple techniques an absolute treat to watch. It removes all the unnecessary techy stuff we often get bogged down with and keeps it nice and easy.
Grahame
Thanks, Grahame! That’s high praise coming from a “frequent flyer” like you!