Top Ten Ways to Improve your Digital Videos and Films

Here are the top ten ways you can improve your videos and films:

#10: Stick to basic transitions. Your editing software probably has a lot of cute effects but they can easily overpower your story. Stick to "no transition" with the odd "dissolve".

#9: Set the focus and exposure manually in cases where lighting conditions may change dramatically during a shot. Otherwise, your camera will try to compensate and you will have a poor result.

#8: Use camera focus to draw attention to the subject of your shot. Set your exposure (manually) to 1/60 and you will discover that focusing (manually) on something close will make distant objects seem blurry and vice versa.

#7: Don't zoom during your shot. Your camera will most likely go out of focus and you will end up with a poor result. Make sure the subject is in focus. Hit Record. Take the shot. Hit Pause. Zoom in for the next shot. Make sure the subject is in focus. Hit Record. Take the shot.

#6: Invest in a tripod. This reduces jitter but more importantly allows you to control the camera remotely.

#5: Just keep shooting. Run through the same scene a few times, even if you got it right the first time. DV tapes are cheap and erasable, so just keep shooting and worry about editing later. You'll find some unexpected bonus material in the result.

#4: Keep your shots to a maximum of four seconds in the final product (i.e. after editing). You will immediately see a big difference in your results. Nothing says "amateur" more than a two-minute shot.

#3: Learn the three-point lighting technique (check WikiPedia). Go to WalMart (or equivalent) and buy some cheap halogen work lamps (500W, 250W and 150W). You can thank me later.

#2: Invest in editing software that lets you work with at least ten tracks of audio and video (the more the better). For example, I like to keep different audio sequences on different tracks so that I can easily manage a) whether they end up in the final product and b) their contribution to the overall sound.

#1: Use an external microphone. There is nothing cheesier than the hum of your camera motor during an (otherwise) quiet scene. If you can afford it, get a Lavaliere.