226 Making Your Masterpiece: Shooting and Importing Video
It’s also a good idea to shoot some kind of establishing shot: a shot that shows
the location where the event takes place. This could be a shot from far away
showing an entire room, or it could be the sign over the door. Establishing
shots serve as natural beginnings or endings to most scenes.
Natural events also make near-perfect beginnings and endings. Someone walk-
ing off into the sunset is a classic (even clichéd) finale. A car pulling up and
parking, someone opening a door to enter a house, or people walking into a
room are all natural introductions to a scene.
One of the great things about digital video edited with an applica-
tion such as iMovie is that you can cut together your shots in any sequence
you want, regardless of when you shot them. For example, you might
get your establishing shot last but use it at the beginning of the scene,
or get your cutaways last but intersperse them with the main action.
Moving the Camera
In many ways, shooting with a camcorder is the same as shooting with a still
camera. All the rules of exposure and lighting apply (keep light behind you,
not behind your subject), as do the rules of composition (don’t always center
your subject; remember the rule of thirds). It’s important to hold the cam-
corder steady (two hands, always) and frame any shot before pressing the
Record button.
But a camcorder has the added feature of motion, and consequently it can
do lots of things that a still camera can’t. You can move the camera or zoom
the lens during a shot, and the camera records all of it. So in addition to basic
photography skills, you need to learn some rules about moving pictures and
good video.
The Lingo of Motion
Before you start moving your camcorder around, familiarize yourself with the
relevant vocabulary.
The Lingo of Motion 227
Pan A pan is a move from side to side, along an imaginary horizon.
Tilt A tilt is similar to a pan but up and down, like scanning a tall building.
Track In a tracking shot you move the camera along with a moving object,
such as shooting from one car to another. (The term dolly is also used when
the camera is moving closer to, or farther away from, the subject.)
Zoom A zoom is a change in frame size that moves toward or away from an
object, using the lens and without physically moving the camera.
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