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memories Archives - Steve Stockman

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

Perfect Holiday Video in 10 Easy Steps

**Shameless Plug: Of course you’re buying a dozen print copies of How to Shoot Video that Doesn’t Suck for the video people in your family– but did you know there’s an audio version too? 

Special bonus: Scroll down for a Christmas music video parody called “I am Santa Claus” that I created and directed for Atlantic Records and my friend Bob Rivers. There are at least 900 stupid Christmas jokes in its 4 minute run-time. And yes, I’m proud of that.  

End Shameless Plug**

Ah, the Holidays!

Chestnuts roasting, noses being nipped, and hours of incomprehensible video being shot … Read the rest

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

5 Killer Halloween Video Tips

Halloween Princess

Halloween PrincessGoing out to shoot memorable video of your kids?  Here are five Halloween Video tips that will help:

1) It’s dark out at night.  I know you knew that, so let me be more specific:  outside at night away from any light, it will be too dark to see your kids.  The obvious solutions: use your phone’s built-in light, position the kids under streetlights, or shoot at the pre-show party indoors.

Less obviously- have another parent light the kids with their cellphones from off to the side. You’ll get much prettier looking footage. Above all, remember– if you can’t … Read the rest

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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

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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

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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

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

Back to School Video

At my house we have a back to school video tradition.  Every year on the first day of school, my wife makes the kids pose on the front porch for pictures.  They’ve complained and whined about it since they were 3, but they also like to look back and see how they’ve changed.

Now let’s take the tradition a little farther—how about a quick video interview on the first day of school every year?  You can not only see, but hear how they’ve changed.

The passage of time in video is its own story.  What other video traditions can you … Read the rest

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Steve Stockman
In Tips and Tricks

The True Meaning of Holiday Video

As the holidays approach, it’s time for us again to consider the age-old question we ask every Holiday Season:  Why do we shoot Holiday Video?

My answer?  We shoot Holiday Video to remember.

We want to remember our kids as they are now, because they will never be that way again.  We want to remember our parents and grandparents, because they don’t last forever.  We want to remember ourselves too—because whatever age we are now, it’s a hell of a lot younger than we’ll be in a decade.

To really make your memories count this Holiday Season, focus your video … Read the rest

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