2. Get a closing shot
One shot or sequence that best wraps up your story
Get an establishing shot
Sets the scene in one image
Super wide or aerial shots
Other points of view: ground shot, student/teacher
view
Shoot plenty of video
Adhere to the rule of thirds
8. Keep your shots steady
Use tripod with “fluid” heads (smooth pans and
tilts)
Lean against wall, elbows tucked or on table, or
place camera on solid object
Follow the action
Use trucking/dolly shots
Find unusual angles
Getting your camera away from usual eye level
leads to more interesting and enjoyable shots
9. Lean forward or backward
Get wide and tight shots
Shoot matched action
Boss in office on phone Mouth and phone
shot
Get sequences (instead of 1 long shot)
Driver entering car closing door Securing
seatbelt Keys on ignition Gear shift Pedal
acceleration
10. Avoid fast pans and snap zooms (unless script
calls for it)
Shoot cutaways (to cover jump cuts)
Jump cut = editing out a portion (such as a long
pause, or an “hmmmmm” in an interview, narrator
mistakes
Cutaway = a shot that cuts away from the current
shot
Examples: wider shot, a hand shot, a reverse-angle
shot
Use lights
11. Grab good sound bites
Get plenty of natural sound
Plan your shoot
12. Video – created by a senior high school student
demonstrating a variety of camera techniques
In the subway shot, the most important person is the woman in the third on the left of the image. She could be the main character of a video, or she could be about to do something important that will influence the story.
Here the image is divided horizontally into two equal parts, making for a static image.
In this image there is only minimal content on the very edge of the lower third, leaving the viewer wondering: why? What did the picture taker want to show me?
In landscapes like image d it really helps to divide sky and landscape in the 1-to-2 ratio, here two thirds landscape and one third sky.