Making a Mini-documentary, Ep 7: Shooting video with a hand-held camera

Posted 19 Oct 2021Tue 19 Oct 2021 at 4:09am, updated 19 Oct 2021Tue 19 Oct 2021 at 4:17am

Rear view of woman using small camera to film two girls walking with surfboards on the beach — Making a Mini-documentary, Ep 7: Shooting video with a hand-held camera

Shot of Audrey and Grace on beach, walking towards Catherine who is hand-holding an SLR camera.

CATHERINE:

Hi, welcome to ABC Open. I'm Catherine.

Shot of Catherine speaking to camera.

CATHERINE:

In this video, I'm gonna teach you how to handhold a camera. In just a moment, the subjects of our film, surfers Grace and Audrey, are going to walk to the beach and I want to follow what happens.

Shot of Grace and Audrey opening the boot of their car and retrieving their wetsuits.

CATHERINE:

To do this, I am going to shoot handheld. One of the problems with handheld footage is that it can look really shaky.

Shaky shot of girls walking towards the camera across grassy area.

CATHERINE:

Does this look familiar?

Shot of Catherine speaking to camera and holding a camera-phone in one hand.

CATHERINE:

And the lighter your camera, the harder it is to hold steady.

Close-up shot of SLR camera.

CATHERINE:

If your camera has an image stabiliser, that could make your shot steadier.

Shot of Catherine speaking to camera.

CATHERINE:

Probably the most important tip I can give you is to shoot on the wide end of your lens.

Close-up shot of Catherine winding back the camera zoom.

Shot of beach towels being retrieved from boot of car.

CATHERINE:

Try not to use the zoom.

Close-up shot of girls wrapping towels around their waits and legs.

CATHERINE:

If you want a closer shot, move your body in close. Wide angle is more forgiving of any camera movement, and moving with the action tends to hide any camera shake.

Shot of girls at boot of car from inside the vehicle.

GRACE:

Surf's bumpy. Looks so fun.

CATHERINE:

And the best handheld footage is when the viewer feels like you've taken them right in amongst the action.

Shot of Catherine speaking to camera.

CATHERINE:

Next, I need to create something to brace my camera against. I have two do-it-yourself options. The first is my own body.

Close-up shot of Catherine holding small digital camera close to her face.

CATHERINE:

If I pull my arms in against my chest, my body becomes a brace. This will work with almost any camera. My second DIY option, you can use with any camera that has a camera strap.

Shot of Catherine with an SLR camera strapped around her neck.

Just put the strap around your neck and then you can brace against it.

Shot of Catherine, walking backwards, as she films Audrey and Grace walking towards her across the sand, carrying their surfboards.

CATHERINE:

And use your body as a crane.

Close-up shot of Audrey and Grace walking on the beach.

CATHERINE:

Now that you've got a grip on getting steady, let's talk about the next challenge of handheld.

Shot of Audrey and Grace stepping onto the beach and walking past the camera and out of shot.

When you're following action that is happening, you don't have much time to stop and start.

Close-up rear shot of Audrey and Grace walking across the sand towards the ocean.

CATHERINE:

So the challenge is to get a variety of shots so you can edit the scene together.

Frontal shot of girls walking towards the ocean.

CATHERINE:

Think wide shots… move in for mid shots.

Low-angle shot of Audrey and Grace stepping onto the beach.

CATHERINE:

Think low angles… and high angles.

High-angle shot of girls' lower legs and feet walking on the sand.

CATHERINE:

Think about the start and finish of your shot. Let people enter an empty frame and exit your frame.

Wide shot of beach with girls entering walking through the frame.

CATHERINE:

Make sure whatever shot you get, hold it as steady as you can for at least five seconds.

Shot of lower legs and feet walking on the sand.

When you have this variety of shots, it will make editing your story a breeze.

Shot of Catherine walking alongside Audrey and Grace, shooting footage of their feet.

CATHERINE:

Just a couple of safety issues about shooting handheld. If you're on the move and looking at your view-finder, you might not see a potential hazard. So don't shoot near roads.

Shot of beach through adjacent trees.

CATHERINE:

Check out any safety issues before you start rolling. And have someone watch your back.

SUBJECTS: Arts

YEARS: 3–4, 5–6

You're making a video and want to take moving shots with your hand-held camera, but you don't want them to look all shaky.

Catherine Marciniak from ABC Open has some useful advice for you on taking steady shots and getting a variety of shots.

This clip is one of eight on making a mini-documentary.

Things to think about

1.Have you ever used a hand-held camera to make a video of someone moving? Or have you tried to make a video with this type of camera while you were moving? How did it turn out? What safety issues might you need to think about when using a hand-held camera?
2.What tips does Catherine give for keeping your hand-held camera steady? What sort of shot is best? Why is it good to move with the action? What is the best kind of hand-held footage? How does Catherine suggest you brace your camera? What is the challenge when you're following action? What sorts of shots does she suggest? How long should you hold them for? How will a variety of shots help later? What safety issues do you need to be aware of and how can you stay safe?
3.Why might you want to use hand-held camera in a video? Watch the clip again carefully and take notes on using a hand-held camera so you can refer to them later. Do some small drawings of the different shots and label them to help you remember which is which.
4.Practise using a hand-held camera, following Catherine's advice. What steadying techniques work best for you? What are the effects of the different shots and framing? How are you staying safe? Storyboard a short sequence for hand-held camera with the different shots you will use. Make sure you include movement.

Date of broadcast: 2012

Copyright

^{Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated).}^{Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated).}^{Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners.}^{Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).}

Posted 19 Oct 2021Tue 19 Oct 2021 at 4:09am, updated 19 Oct 2021Tue 19 Oct 2021 at 4:17am

Art and Design

Making a Mini-documentary, Ep 7: Shooting video with a hand-held camera

You're making a video and want to take moving shots with your hand-held camera, but you don't want them to look all shaky.

Things to think about

Copyright

Related

Making a Mini-documentary, Ep 5: Interviewing tips for a video interview

Making a Mini-documentary, Ep 6: The shots tell the story in a video interview

Making a Mini-documentary, Ep 8: Using a tripod when making a video

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Transcript

You're making a video and want to take moving shots with your hand-held camera, but you don't want them to look all shaky.

Things to think about

Copyright

Making a Mini-documentary, Ep 5: Interviewing tips for a video interview

Making a Mini-documentary, Ep 6: The shots tell the story in a video interview

Making a Mini-documentary, Ep 8: Using a tripod when making a video

Footer