Ready, Steady, Shoot

The Guide to Great Home Video

By Roger Sherman

The Guide to Great Home Video

Ready, Steady, Shoot is an upbeat, easy-to-follow book that will help you make home movies other people actually want to watch! Make better videos of your vacations, kids’ sports, family events, a night out with friends better. No matter what you shoot with – smartphone, digital still camera, or a camcorder – this book will teach you basic techniques. I invented an easy learning system, called The 10 Shot Video®, short exercises to shoot and learn from in just a few minutes to get you shooting great home video.

As I say in the introduction:

The video camera is a tool like  pliers or a kitchen knife. Ready, Steady, Shoot wants to make you comfortable shooting, and if you’re already making home movies, to help you improve your technique. You’ll learn how to plan so that every shot counts; how one shot follows another so when it’s played back, it all flows naturally. It’s a film.

I’ve invented an EASY LEARNING SYSTEM system I’m calling The 10 Shot Video, short exercises you can shoot in just a few minutes. I’ve written detailed scripts that you can shoot in your living room and right outside your house to help you begin to see like a filmmaker. The eBook version has my 10 Shot Videos embedded in it. I shot and posted many 10 Shot Videos here on the website to show you how I handled many situations and to give you ideas to make your films better.

I’ll teach you how to shoot so you don’t have to spend weeks fighting with editing programs. It’s editing in the camera. Arrive home and your film is finished, ready for primetime.

I hope you find Ready, Steady, Shoot really useful. Send me your questions and get out there and SHOOT GREAT VIDEO!
 

Table of Contents

  • Introduction: Try This at Home page ix

  1. Make Friends with Your Camera: What You Really Need to Know and How to Start Shooting

    page xiv

    • Most Useful Camera Features
    • Your Camera and Hand Are One
    • All About Batteries
    • Protect the Lens
    • Camera Basics
    • Zooming Equals Death
    • Focus on Focus
    • Practice, Practice, Practice
    • Screen Your Footage
    • Essentials You’ll Never Forget

  2. Ready! Get Your Film Head On: It’s All About Seeing

    page 14

    • Make the Everyday Beautiful
    • Planning Makes the Difference
    • The World Is Not Just in the Center of the Frame
    • Be Flexible
    • How Long Is Too Long?
    • Can You Hear Me? Recording Sound, the Crucial Weak Link

  3. Steady! Be Your Own Tripod

    page 24

    • Static Shots Are Winners
    • Panning, Tilting, and Other Moves
    • The 5-Second Rule
    • Hold Longer—It’s Not Over When It’s Over
    • Move Slower
    • On Second Thought: Buy a Tripod
    • When to Use a Tripod
    • Moves Aren’t a Drag
    • The Traveling Alternative

  4. Shoot! Every Shot Tells the Story

    page 36

    • Break It Down
    • Make a Sure Cut
    • Turn It Off!
    • Telling the Story
    • Editing in the Camera
    • Tighter, Closer, Better
    • Vary Your Shots
    • Move Yourself
    • Bend Your Knees
    • The Last Shot Keys the Next
    • Walking Shots—Trucking and Dollying

  5. The 10-Shot Video®: Short Exercises to Master the Techniques

    page 48

    • The First Exercise: Inside, All Static
    • The Second Exercise: Inside, All Static, More Camera Angles
    • The Third Exercise: Outside, All Static
    • The Fourth Exercise: Outside, All Static, More Camera Angles
    • The Fifth Exercise: Inside, Every Shot Is Moving
    • The Sixth Exercise: Outside, Every Shot Is Moving
    • The Seventh Exercise and Beyond

  6. Don’t Blow That Once-in-a-Lifetime Event

    page 66

    • Stuck in a Seat—Recitals, School Plays, and More
    • Children: Talk About Unpredictable
    • Skip the Commentary
    • Variety Is the Spice of Filmmaking
    • It’s Storytelling

  7. The Art of the Interview

    page 80

    • The Wedding Present
    • Family History
    • Getting Kids to Talk
    • Turn Off the Sound

  8. Shooting Sports

    page 90

    • Baseball or Softball: Wait for the Action
    • Soccer, Lacrosse, or Hockey: Don’t Follow the Ball (or Puck)
    • Basketball: Use the Bleachers

  9. Go Hollywood: Make Your Own Feature Film

    page 98

    • Develop Simple Plot Lines and Plan Scenes
    • Write the Dialogue As You Shoot

  10. Going Viral: Shooting with Cell Phones, Video for Web Sites, and YouTube

    page 106

    • Small Camera, Why Compromise?
  • Afterword page 111