Beginners guide to running/adventure video:
Before going into some hints, tips and advice for shooting outdoor/adventure video, here’s a two second back story to how i ended up working in the video game.
Besides having always been interested in shooting video the leap to shooting commercial media is kind of a big one. It was because i enjoyed shooting that when i worked on various modelling jobs, id treat them as an internship of sorts. Check out the Sony Headphones ad i was in back in the day. This was shot on a Sony a7s with an anamorphic prime lens and a couple of ND filters, well the shots that i feature in anyway. Being part of this shoot really opened my eyes to what it takes to shoot something and how, actually being someone comfortable in the environment was of huge value to a production outside of the technical aspects of operating a camera.
What i mean is that a lot of the production was a conversation between the crew and myself working out ways to make the shorts authentic. I immediately knew that if i could work a camera, id be more than comfortable shooting in places others might not. So i set about educating myself on how to shoot video.
I wish i could tell you that shooting running/outdoor media was easy. The truth is that it isn’t. However this is the one thing i will say, you’re going to mess it up. A LOT. You’re going to screw things up even when you think you know what you’re doing, so go out and shoot. Turn that footage into something. Honestly, just go out and do it. If you get stuck then reach out to someone, perhaps myself, if you think i can be of help. This is more of a general guide. Next time ill focus on specific sports or shots, like shooting drones, the best settings. Night time lapses etc.
Here’s my beginners guide to shooting video:
Firstly here’s some phrases, meanings and info about various video jargon.
FPS- Frame Per Second. Shooting outdoor media this is super important because, well, EVERYTHING looks cooler when its super slowmo. Typically, you’ll want to shoot at 50 or 60 FPS minimum for slow motion shots. Most GoPros and hand held cameras can probably shoot 100 fps in 1080p.
Sutter Speed- The length of time you’re exposing each frame for. A golden rule is this- if you increase the FPS you have to increase the shutter speed. For most shots you’ll want your shutter speed to be twice your FPS. So 25 FPS would be a minimum shutter of 1/50. 50 FPS would be 1/100. And so on. Ill come to why in a bit.
Base rate- This is something you absolutely need to know and make sure you don’t change when you shoot. Your base rate is basically your ‘normal speed playback’. This can be 23.9, 24, 25 or 30. Just make sure that your timeline when you edit has the same base rate as your footage. (I wish this was easier to understand). If you’re shooting GoPro and even mirrorless to some extent, you don’t have to worry too much.
ND filter- Neutral Density filters as quite simply sunglasses for your camera. They stop so much light entering your lens so you can shoot at slower shutter speeds and keep motion blur when its really sunny outside when you want to shoot wide open. (Its cool if this sentence doesn’t make sense). HOWEVER- if you have bought a DJI drone, you absolutely have to use ND’s every single time. We’ll come this another time.
Motion blur- So video is a series of photos stitched together to make a video. Shot at 23.9, 24, 25 or 30 FPS. Motion blur allows one frame to blend into the next naturally, this is why when shooting you set your shutter speed based off your frame rate.
Grade- Colour grading is only something you have to worry about once you’ve finished all the editing. Hopefully we’ll cover things like LUT’s in a later post.
Over crank- Fancy way to talk about upping the frame rate. If you’re base rate is 25 and you’re shooting at 120 FPS then you’re ‘over cranked’.
Rush- A rush is basically a ‘clip’. We’ll leave it at that.
Resolution- Please don’t be fooled into thinking that you have to shoot everything at 4k. Resolution is only really worth worrying about when it comes to how you want to watch your media or where you’re going to post it. If its going on YouTube and likely to be seen on a mobile then 1080 is absolutely great. Shooting in a high resolution is obviously better quality and gives you more flexibility with your footage but you’re most likely not going to be able to shoot as much slow-motion at higher resolutions. Running media- to be seen on a mobile- 1080 @ 100 FPS.
Sticks- Indy way of saying tripod. I love saying it, you’ll grow to love it.
Glass- Lenses. You’ll come to realise that lenses are super important to shooting video but mostly likely for now, whatever you have is good. The Cooke anamorphic lens that i mentioned earlier was worth over £20,000, the camera was about £2,000.
Top tips:
1. Crank the frame rate. EVERYTHING looks cooler in slow motion, plus you have the added benefit of using slow motion to get rid of some of the camera shake.
2. Buy big memory cards. you might not need them now, but chances are media will sit on them for ages because you can’t be arsed to edit it straight away.
3. Please remember to focus on the macro shots- these are the nice up close tight shots that draw the view in. Think the classic slow motion shoe running through frame shot.
4. You can speed everything up but you can’t slow everything down. You have to shoot at a higher frame rate to slow something down, please don’t ever slow a shot down below your base rate. EVER.
5. Learn what a pan, tilt, dolly, tracking shot is etc.Then think of ways to use them in your media.
6. As much as shooting is an art form, its also a science, aim to fill your card by the end of the day. Get more footage than you think you’ll need. A lot more. You’ll need it.
7. Shooting in 5k, 6k, 7k and then producing in 1080 is cool with me. I don’t care what anybody else says.