[ Shooting ]
Shake off bad habits and learn good techniques
Shoot as much footage as you can, as it’s better to have more than you need than to discover you haven’t got enough
With your shoot planned and your gear set up, you can get to work. Before your first take, it’s crucial to do a dry run to check everything is working. This means shooting 10 to 20 seconds of test footage and sound and then playing it back to confirm video and audio are being captured as you intended. Also check for things like focus and eyeline. Is your subject in focus, and do they appear to be looking at the right target in the footage? If you’re filming yourself, this stage will involve switching between software much more easily than trying to correct jerky zooms or other errors that stem from trying to be too clever during shooting. Shoot more B-roll footage (cutaways, detail shots and ambient shots) than you think you need, because you’ll inevitably need all of it when it comes to editing. Shoot as much footage as you can, as it’s better to have more than you need than not enough.
B-roll is brilliant for covering up edits in your main footage. If possible, shoot the same scene from multiple angles to give yourself choices later. If something being behind and in front of the camera until the setup is correct.
It’s good to shoot ‘clean’ footage, unless you’re an expert focus puller. Clever effects can be added later in is wrong, shoot it again rather than assuming it can be fixed during editing. If you move locations, recheck all your kit before resuming filming as settings can get accidentally changed in transit.