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What is B-Roll? Any supplementary video that is considered secondary to your primary footage, such as the interview. B-Roll is the industry lingo for shots that are not of the interview or main action. This footage is essential for editing. (We will learn more about shooting for the sake of editing in tips 11 and…
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Note: These a just the highlights. For the full text, get my ebook: How to Shoot Video Like a Pro: 12 Tips For Using the Camera You Have. Send an email with your request to personalstoryfilms@gmail.com   Hold your camera steady. Use the strap for stabilization – make it tight enough. Put your left hand…
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Note: These a just the highlights. For the full text, get my ebook: How to Shoot Video Like a Pro: 12 Tips For Using the Camera You Have. Send an email with your request to personalstoryfilms@gmail.com   If you have a DSLR, you may want to use these settings: 50mm, and F-stop: 5.6. These settings…
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The day before your shoot, charge your batteries for your camera and microphones. Days before, make sure you have all the equipment you need, giving yourself time to borrow, buy, or rent what you need. Do you have several SD cards? Does the camera fit onto the tripod (do you have the necessary plate that…
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Before you shoot, think of and write down the questions you want to ask your subject. Make sure the questions are open ended, not short answer. Example short answer questions:  When did you start making your own lotions? Answer: 5 years ago. Do you enjoy the process of making the lotions? Answer: Yes, very much.…
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Planning ahead can change your shoot from poor to excellent. After reading through all these tips of what to shoot, you’ll have a better idea of the specific shots you want. Here is an example of a shot list: Wide Shot (WS) of subject (S) walking to car, opening door, getting in and closing door,…
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Taking a trip this summer? Take better videos by following these 3 simple tips: 1. Hold your smartphone sideways – that’s how it will be viewed. 2. Hold your camera as still as possible – viewers don’t want to see wild, jerky movements as you try to capture every piece of the action. 3. Get…
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I have just finished creating an eBook, entitled, 20 Ways of Preserving Memories of Parents and Other Loved Ones.  There are countless ways to capture the memories of the people you love. I  came up with and found a select twenty ideas that I categorized into Digital and Photographic, Writing and Books, and Arts and Crafts.…
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Storytelling has been around since before humans were Homo sapiens. We tell stories to relate events and important news, to entertain, to keep our cultures and communities strong, and to make sense of our lives. Telling our stories has become more popular than ever as our culture embraces the personal story on talk shows and…
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Junius Stephenson slowly and carefully takes out the drafting instruments from the felt-lined box. He explains how each one was used in his work as an engineer designing solid waste disposal systems. Now, of course, everything is done more quickly on computers, but maybe we miss out on something real and tangible when we don’t…
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