Shooting video is not unlike planning to write a printed story. You need to first know your five W’s and then plan on what footage will tell the story most effectively. This includes a combination of live action, stills, and voice overs.
There are two basic forms of video that you can utilize are a full-documentary video or a breaking news story. With a breaking news story you don’t have as much time to figure out what your story will be. For example you wouldn’t be able to know when an accident is happening to get live-action footage but you can report to the scene and get reactions from witnesses and police.
Storyboarding
This is a visual sketch of the story that you want to tell that helps you to better organize your thoughts. This will help you decide what the focus of the story will be. It is important to know what you want your main idea to be before you start shooting any footage. This will help in choosing your A-roll (interviews and demonstration sequences) and B-roll (environmental footage that helps explain the main idea).
Here is a more in-depth video on creating a storyboard:
Mix your shots
Focus your attention on collection sequences of wide, medium, and up-close shots of your topic.
- Wide-angle shots: give viewers a sense of the environment
- Medium shots: in between wide-angle and close-up shots
- Close-up shots: zooming in on who is talking or the subject matter that is being talked about. Zoom in first on the object before recording
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