Videoguys' Tips for Shooting Family/Home/Holiday Video 2014 Update

Videoguys' Tips for Shooting
Family/Home/Holiday Video
Here are some Holiday shooting tips to make your family videos more enjoyable to watch.
(Holidays 2014 update )

Each year around Thanksgiving we update and publish this guide. We've been doing it for over a dozen years! Today you can shoot video on not just a camcorder, but your iPhone or smartphone, iPad or tablet, DSLR camera, webcam, or Go Pro Hero. No matter what you shoot with, you'll find the tips in this guide helpful. After reading it you will be able to make more interesting and enjoyable videos for your friends and family to watch. So have a great holiday, enjoy your Holiday meals and be thankful for all the things you have. Shoot some great video, do a little editing (or a lot ;-), then post your video onYouTube, Facebook or your favorite video sharing website for all to see!

If you're like me, you shoot tons of video of your family. I've got hours and hours of videotape of my kids. Over the past 18 years I've learned a thing or two about getting the best possible footage. No matter how cool your NLE system is and how many awesome special effects you can add, the bottom line is this:

The video is only as good as the video you shoot!

If the quality of the video is poor, then no amount of editing is going to make it look better. By shooting better and getting more cinematic, your videos will look better and the editing will be easier! So here are a bunch of really useful tips and tricks hat will help you shoot better video and capture the moments.

When shooting the kids, get down to their level.
Especially the really young ones. The video will look so much better from their perspective. It's kind of silly to watch video of the tops of your kids heads. But if you are 6 feet tall and they are under 4 feet, that's exactly what you get. Another added benefit of getting down low is that you will also get their little voices better. Here are some great examples of kids eye view technique. read more...