Ways to avoid holiday video hell!

With summer holidays inching ever closer, now is a good time to start thinking about the best ways to capture your sunkissed memories.

Good quality digital video cameras have become cheaper and more accessible over the years. This has lead to what can be a baffling array of options for those new to digital video.

Before you purchase your camera, do lots of research online and check out what people are saying about various camera makes and models in forums. Consider what your needs are – is shelling out a little bit more cash for HD going to be worth the investment? Do you want something you can fit in your pocket? Or are you prepared to carry something bulkier around so that you can enjoy more features?

Once you’ve navigated your way through the minefield of picking the right camera, there is the problem of what to do with it.

We’ve all sat through people’s boring holiday videos, with shaky camera work and the predictable accidental shots of people’s feet.

With a bit of knowledge and thought, you can make dull holiday videos a thing of the past.

Here are some top tips from the video production experts at Wolverhampton’s Mediacove Productions:

1. Don’t shoot too much!: This is the downfall of many a holiday videographer. Overshooting means that you will spend a long time transferring your video to your computer and even longer sifting through the footage and deciding what to keep and what to trash.

2. Use a tripod: You can now get hold of cheap, convenient and compact tripods. Using a tripod will make a big difference to the quality of your footage and help you make those shaky shots a thing of the past! You can also use them to experiment with different shot types, like pans and tilts.

3. Be aware of light: Sunny days are glorious, but they can be a nightmare for video cameras. Always shoot away from the sun – otherwise your subject will be in silhouette. Over-exposure is another menace, causing your shots to look washed out. Fix this by using the ‘white balance’ settings on your camera.

4. Review your footage: There is nothing worse than arriving home to find that the glorious sunset you filmed is but a blurry mess. Try to do a quick test shot of your important memories and watch it back. That way, you can be assured that you’ve got memories to last a lifetime.

5. Be creative in the edit process: Even the simplest of editing packages will offer some basic graphic options. You can add some simple captions to remind you of the names of places you visited or maybe create some fun basic opening and closing credits.