Planning for that holiday film

Are you planning a holiday yet? I am sure most of you are thinking about this year’s adventures to come after the dark winter days give way to Spring. Equipment in mind, that reminds me, I must check my batteries, apart from the camcorder, I am sure most of us will also take a digital camera with us for stills. The stills one prints have a chance of being carefully arranged in an album to look interesting. Though if the pictures were all long shots and distant views, they look better in an album, but the result is still rather boring. Even with titles under each photograph to read where they were taken, if they don’t tell a story, the result remains boring. Putting in a variety of close ups of people within settings showing activities of work or art mixed with medium and some long establishing shots and make the captions tell a story — then it can be very interesting. But only some of the original shots will deserve a place in the album.

The same applies to making movies. All this may seem rather obvious. Especially as we have so many experienced club members — so forgive me. But it is surprisingly easy to fall into the trap of shooting only one type of viewpoint. This especially applies when you are under pressure and things are happening and events changing so rapidly, i.e., the lion turns with a roar and you drop your camcorder. There might even be a sudden clap of thunder and a downpour. Don’t forget to take a brolly, and someone else to hold it. Think forward to how the editing is going to be done. I know I’ve said this so many times, and then find I have fallen into the same trap myself.

When I first used a movie camera, a 9.5mm and more years ago than I care to remember, the word EDIT never entered my mind. I shot thirty minutes and thought, “Wow! This is a BIG FILM.” The length was all important. The processed film came back in a big package. I spliced up 25 rolls of black and white film with great enthusiasm. But the result seemed to last more like five hours. It was a VERY LONG and VERY BORING film. It certainly contained some excellent shots, but it was then that I discovered the need for editing. I’d discovered the magic word. The trouble was that I obviously didn’t have enough cutaways, especially close ups. So from way back, I think “EDIT” as I shoot.

My next holiday film was very much better. I even went to the trouble of writing a script. It is quite possible to do this even if you are with friends who are not involved in making your movie. Of course it should not be difficult to get them to be involved in a small way. For instance, asking one to look and point or, “Walk towards me and please don’t look at the camera.” On one occasion I put the camcorder on the tripod and set it running. Then when I joined the group, we all went into a pub, paused before coming out looking inebriated, well refreshed and laughing. Then I took some shots in the bar which I edited between the going in and coming out shot. The script need only be a rough treatment more a reminder than anything — so that the result has pace and flows naturally.