Video Production Tips.

Location, location, location. Three major words to remember when starting your pre production stage. Having the right set for your production is key to bring the right feel to your project and finding this set(s) sooner then later will keep your production on track along with planning your shots for the set as well. There are three major shots in production, and I’m sure you’ve heard these before, wide shot, medium shot, and close up. Make sure to keep these shots in mind when you are planning your video. This all is part of pre production stage along with storyboarding, which is insanely important on keeping your production on track and lighting which i will explain. Once you have these planned out another thing you need to take into account is lighting. Of course I’m not going to be able to go through all of the aspects of a great light rig or how to affectively set up your lighting for specific shots but what I will explain is three point lighting. Lighting is very important because your camera requires more light to view an image correctly than your eyes do.

Three point lighting requires three lights, a key light, a fill light, and a back light. All lights should shine down at the subject at a 15 to 45 degree angle in reference to the camera. The fill and key light should be positioned on opposite ends of the subject to take away any unwanted shadows created and the fill light should be about %50 as powerful as the key light to stray from hot spots. The backlight is used to illuminate the subject from the back to brighten the shot a bit more and is used to fill the scene a bit more and help the subject stand out.

There is a very simple example of how to get started in your pre production stage. If you have any suggestions or want to add on any information please do in the comment area below.

More tips to come soon.

By – Mitch Myers