Brief video lesson for YouTube using my DSLR.

[wildoliver]

Can anyone help with a bit of shooting for YouTube advice please?

I'm soon to start trying to upload a video series on to YouTube, it will be shot mainly in an old barn, I appreciate lighting will be an issue but that's something I can overcome.

What's a bigger worry for me is equipment, I have a DSLR (Nikon d7100) and a gopro. The gopro will obviously be ideal for action shots (under car etc) but I'd assume the DSLR is the best option for shooting most of the video?

Can I at least get a foothold with this equipment? I'm fully aware of the joy of using proper gear but I'm on a tight budget till I know this is going to work out and nothings as cheap as equipment you already have.

Assuming the video equipment will work at least short term any advice on sound recording? It will be a fairly noisy workshop environment so will probably be dubbing a fair bit of it with music or voiceover, but there will be a bit of to camera presenting as well.

I occasionally watch a bit of a YouTuber called wranglerstar and he shoots on DSLR and the environment is very similar to mine, albeit he does use full frame canons.

[singlecoil]

For the pieces to camera you have got to get the microphone close to your mouth. The closer it is, the better the signal (your voice) to noise (all the other sounds) ratio will be. A wireless lavalier mic setup is good, if that's out of budget then a you can get wired ones with long cables. Audio Technica makes some excellent units, good value for money too.

Avoid the use of music unless you are filming a gig.

[wildoliver]

Thanks that's a genuinely big help, music won't be happy hardcore don't worry but will need something as timelapses without sound are painful.

Any advice on the video side of it?

[singlecoil]

wildoliver said:

Any advice on the video side of it?

The cameras will be fine, it's really all about the lighting. For the best results you will want lots of diffused light, and all the same colour temperature if at all possible. The more light the less video noise and the better depth of field. It will make your videos look more professional too, which will gain you viewers and likes.

[Fordo]

wildoliver said:

Thanks that's a genuinely big help, music won't be happy hardcore don't worry but will need something as timelapses without sound are painful.

Any advice on the video side of it?

Go as manual as you can. A lot of things that work for photography, don't work so well for video

- White balance. Don't use auto, pick a white balance for your scene. You don't want the camera changing the white balance during the shot, as it'll look strange to see the colours fluctuating.

- Manual Focus. Similar thing, avoid auto if you can. you don't want the camera hunting around for focus mid-shot.

- Shutter speed. General video rule of thumb, is lock the shutter at twice your frame rate. This will give you natural motion blur, and avoid a stutter look when fast things move. so 1/50 if you are shooting at 25fps. This does mean you tend to need a NDs, or a Vari-ND to control exposure.

- Support your camera. Tripod, monopod, shoulder rig, image stabilised lenses, sliders, track and dolly etc. While in photography you can hold and camera at arms length and take a shot, that doesn't translate so well when you add the 4th dimension into the mix. micro-shake in footage can look horrible and amateur. So use a tripod, or some grip like a slider to add smooth movement. Nothing wrong with good handheld work either, but usually thats done with much bigger more solid cameras, or cameras on shoulder rigs with lots of points of contact with the body, where any movement is intended by the operator, and not just accidental micro-shakes.

- Keep to simple. Good video footage doesnt have to be the camera waving everywhere, pulling focus from everything to everything. A simple, steady, composed shot, where the action happens in the frame, can sometimes be the best shot you need in the edit.

- Film long shots. When ive worked as an editor, its very frustrating to get rushed footage, where the operator hasn't really filmed for long enough, and you've only got 1-2 sec of decent shot there. Give yourself nice long handles at the beginning and end of your shot too.

- Film for the edit. Lots of shots from the same angle, won't edit that well. So think in terms of wide establishing shot, mid shot, close up, maybe an arty angle framing through an object. If someone is doing something, get them to do it again, and get a much tighter shot from another angle.

- Sound, is half the picture. Getting good audio is essential, and an often overlooked part of the process. If an interview is out of focus, but has good audio, you can cover the interview with cutaway relevant cutaway. But if you have awful nosey or distorted interview audio, its unusable. Control the soundscape where your filming - switch off the AC, close windows, switch off the humming fridge. Get the mic close to what you are filming too. And for some things where you can't get the mic close, record foley sound after. Room tone can be useful too, can help fill in gaps in interview audio. A viewer notices change more than overall quality. - interviews tend to be chopped up, and you might have gaps all over the place. Hearing the background sound come in and out with the audio interview, can get distracting, as it draws attention to the fact there is a lot of background sound. Mixing in room tone (filmed in the same place as the interview), inbetween the interview audio gaps, will give the whole interview section, a consistent background sound, which won't be as distracting to the viewer.

Lighting. - As the chap above mentioning, lighting is an important thing to think about. You generally want whatever lights you use to match the colour temp of the ambient lighting where you are shooting. Also think about controlling the existing lighting there - switch off any lights you don't want, curtains and blinds can be used to control the natural daylight coming in. As simple reflector can be very useful, to bounce or diffuse light. (and they're very cheap on amazon.). Black cloth, i think, is the most versatile and cheapest piece of lighting equipment- You can block off lights and windows that are causing light you don't want, or use the cloth as a flag to stop a certain amount of light falling oil your subject.


Hope that helps!

Edited by Fordo on Wednesday 10th January 12:30

[wildoliver]

Gents this is fantastic, single coil thanks ever so much, you've encouraged me no end. Your time is hugely appreciated.

Fordo, thankyou ever so much for typing that lot up, it's going to be a huge help. I'm going to take my time to digest it! But I got the go ahead for the project today so this side venture will also be starting up soon and I'm hugely appreciative of the time you've given to help.