Video Tips: No One Plans to Fail

Typical beginning videographers start shooting as soon as they hit the water but before they begin thinking. Half the time they're still fiddling with their buoyancy, yet the camera still rolls. They haven't chosen a strong subject, haven't thought about what framing length to use, have no idea how to end the shot and don't know their next shot. But a quality videographer, even an amateur, plans his shots before rolling one second of tape. Before shooting, ask yourself:1. What's your specific subject for the shot? 2. How will you start the shot - LS, MS or CU?3. When will you start and end the shot? 4. What is the next shot's subject?Question 3 is often the hardest. Divers swim into your view and leave. Fish won't cooperate when you're rolling, but do after you pause. The solution: start shooting early and keep shooting until you get a natural ending. It's usually longer than you think. For example, shooting an UW photographer can be exasperating. You think the photographer is about to take a picture, so you start your shot. But the model takes hours to get composed. No sooner do you give up than WHAMMO - the strobe flashes. Remember, you can always edit tape later, but if you stopped taping early, you can never get a shot back.PLAN YOUR ZOOMS. Beginning videographers often zoom erratically while rolling tape. The result is usually painful to watch. If you must zoom while shooting, try gliding in from a long shot to a medium shot. I usually pause the camera, zoom in, and then resume shooting. When working close, the smoothest zoom is to move your camera closer, rather than fumble with the zoom control. PLAN YOUR PANS. Panning means moving the camera to show a moving view. Underwater, you can pan horizontally, vertically or diagonally. (Topside, panning refers to horizontal movement only.) A pan can take the viewer from one area to another or show a panoramic view of one large area. Most beginners pan too quickly and in a random manner.THE GOLDEN RULE. The golden rule is simple: change image size (LS to MS or CU), camera angle or both when you start a new shot. Changing camera angle implies motion even with stationary subjects. To see how this works, watch the constantly changing image sizes and angles in TV commercials. Notice on TV news that there is a slight change in camera position when newscasters change subjects.SHOT LENGTH. If you're doing post-dive editing, allow enough room at the beginning and end of each shot for cutting. This keeps you from missing important action. In the final edit, don't use shots longer than about 12 seconds unless you have an action sequence or a unique subject.EDITING IN CAMERA. Start your shots early. There may be a delay between the time you trigger to REC and when the camcorder starts. Don't cut shots too short. Let the diver or fish exit the scene completely. If you want a long view of a sedentary subject, use several shots from slightly different angles rather than one long shot.

	Paul Humann; he'd help me ID fish
	Cathy Church; she'd help me set up the perfect shot
	Alan Rebbe; we'd have the wildest dive adventures
	Teddy Tucker; I want to find treasure!
	Richie Kohler; wrecks are where it's at.

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