Better Home Video

Steve Stockman In Tips and Tricks, If you’re new to video, Better Home Video, For Pros, Your Questions Answered

Shooting a Boxing Match Three Ways

I’m new to video recording/ photography and just bought your book…ITS GREAT!

How would you shoot a live amateur boxing event if there is only one videographer and his DSLR? I read that you should not keep the camera continuously recording the whole time. Should I record 5-10 sec of footage…stop and move to another position, then hit record again? Or should I keep recording as I’m moving to another position so I don’t miss anything important during the move– like, say, the knockout!

–Eric Hernandez

Thanks for reading the book, Eric. Shameless flattery will get you nowhere, if you … Read the rest

Steve Stockman In Tips and Tricks, If you’re new to video, Better Home Video, Your Questions Answered

5 Tips for Father’s Day Video that Doesn’t Suck

Father’s Day Video. Memorable–or as undercooked as the runny eggs and cold toast the kids bring Dad in bed? Here are a five tips to improve the video you shoot this Father’s Day.

1. Find the Hero: Focus your attention on someone– anyone! Having a hero invites us to think about our videos as stories about someone, which makes them more intriguing.

Choosing a hero changes the video. For example, if Dad is the hero, your story might be “Dad gets woken up for breakfast in bed– at 4:30am.” Told from Dad’s point of view, the story might alternate … Read the rest

Steve Stockman In Tips and Tricks, If you’re new to video, Better Home Video, Your Questions Answered

Story as a Magical Organizing Force

I have a brain that likes things logical, nicely ordered and in line. You follow the rules, you get the result. I can’t get my head around the order of shots, stories and putting it all together.

Once a week we go to the grandparents house for dinner. We have a niece and nephew, 4 and 1 respectively, who come over as well. It is a good time had by all and I want to capture the moments as they learn and grow. I just can’t figure out what the story is. I get that I should take short shots

… Read the rest

Steve Stockman In Tips and Tricks, If you’re new to video, Better Home Video, Your Questions Answered

Who Needs a Hero, Anyway?

I’m a pure novice at making movies, so your book was exactly what I was looking for! I made one diving video from a point & shoot underwater camera and tried to use your tips, but I struggled with “the hero” – the fish maybe? the turtle? Help!

–Kaidra M.

The “hero” thing can be tricky, but it still works underwater.

The idea of choosing a hero is to make your video about someone. To keep you from randomly pointing and shooting. The key concept: it doesn’t matter WHO the hero is.

Without a hero, your video is about … Read the rest

Steve Stockman In Tips and Tricks, If you’re new to video, Better Home Video

Checklist: 20 Questions to Make Your Video Great

Since everyone alive today has been watching film and video from birth, we all have some idea of what bad film and video look like. It’s that stuff you click out of instantly on your browser or your remote, often within 15 seconds of starting it.

“I know bad video when I see it” works great when you’re the consumer, but not so well when you’re the creator. Creators not only need to know bad video when they see it, they need to know bad video before they see it. Ideally even before they start shooting it.

How do you … Read the rest

Steve Stockman In Tips and Tricks, If you’re new to video, Better Home Video

Shoot Better Labor Day Video

As you cruise to the beach or barbecue this weekend, take your video camera. And think about these tips to shoot better Labor Day video:

1) Memories are about faces. Faces are where emotion lives. The eyes are the window to the soul and all that. And faces are how we chart time– when you want to remember who you were 5 years ago, a long shot of a crowd drinking beer won’t do the job. When you watch video of small children or elderly grandparents later, you’ll never wish you were farther away.

Thinking of shooting distant closeups … Read the rest

Steve Stockman In Tips and Tricks, Better Home Video, Press, Your Questions Answered

Holiday Video Thoughts 2014

Last Minute Holiday video thoughts:

1) This is the time of year for me to humbly remind you that How to Shoot Video that Doesn’t Suck makes an excellent stocking stuffer. It’s not too late to pick up a dozen copies. There’s an audio version too!

2) Take a moment to read my post about The True Meaning Of Holiday Video. Or this post on 10 Great Tips on Shooting Better Holiday Video, or this one with more tips.

3) And finally, a repost of a Christmas video I directed a while back. So long a while back that … Read the rest

Steve Stockman In Tips and Tricks, If you’re new to video, Better Home Video

10 Tips for Great Holiday Video

Ah, Holiday memories.

Like the time you think your dad told a hilarious story– but you can’t hear him on the video. Or the time young Sarah– or was it Matthew?– kept talking about “Santa Paws”. Hard to tell which, because whoever’s face is too dark to see. And let’s not even talk about the video you shot of the lights and place settings and decorations and presents and…um…hardly any people at all.

Shouldn’t your Holiday video bring back memories… of the Holiday? Of course it should. And from now on it will. Just follow these 10 tips for great … Read the rest