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PRODUCTION GUIDELINES

Public Site Materials

Please note: A separate set of recommendations will be provided for restricted-access class materials.

Technical

  • Camera. 3 CDD video cameras only. DVCAM format preferred. Some Mini DV may be considered as long as those are not single CCD units.
  • Audio. Audio feeds. Lavaliere (pin/clip on) radio microphones preferred or hard wired feed from podium microphones via press box to camera or recording deck. Absolutely no "built in/on camera" microphone recorded audio will be considered.
  • Lighting. Although 3 CCD cameras are sensitive to low light levels additional lighting is often required. This is due to compression factors. For example, a poor or low light level scene will be come very pixilated when compressed resulting is extreme data loss i.e. no or low detail in darker areas.
  • Editing. Material should be edited on Avid or Final Cut Pro software and output as a Quick Time movie. Compression of material should be through software such as Sorenson Squeeze, Media Cleaner Pro.

Shooting guidelines

  • Use a tripod whenever possible unless the style of the video dictates otherwise.
  • Keep the camera a steady as possible. Use steady shot features built into many 3CCD camera units.
  • Frequent use of zoom controls is often distracting to the viewer. Frame a shot and hold it. If you have to zoom do it when the content would drive such an action.
  • Do not continually pan and tilt the camera. This is often distracting. Do so only when the content motivates such an action.
  • Compose shots very carefully. If you are not familiar with composition theory, learn about it.
  • Light very carefully. Use of soft boxes are preferred for interview situations. A basic understanding of 2 and 3 point lighting design is essential.
  • Shoot lots of material. B-roll is key to telling a good story. Talking heads can be boring.
  • Edit very carefully. Consider edit points critically. Often trimming a frame or two will make all the difference in an edit point. Editing is the art of the invisible. The viewer should typically not be aware of the edit point.