The Beginner's Corner: Three-Point Lighting

An advice column from the camcorder experts.

I am shooting some interview video for an amateur documentary I'm doing. The video is just going to have one person in it probably sitting in front of a black wall. I’ve never done any lighting before but I want to try my hand at using some lights for this shoot. Any ideas on what the best way would be to light the interviews?

The Beginners Corner: Recording a Lecture

An advice column from the camcorder experts.

I’m a teacher for a public school. Over the course of the school year I plan on having several guests come in and speak to my class. I would like to record the lectures so I can use them again in future years when the speakers may not be able to come to my class in person. Do you have any suggestions on how I can make the videos interesting enough that kids will want to watch them years from now?

The Beginner's Corner: Putting Video on YouTube

An advice column from the camcorder experts.

I recorded a few short videos using my MiniDV camcorder and want to upload them to YouTube and email them to a few friends. This is my first camcorder, so I'm not sure what to do. What do I need to do to get video from my camcorder to the web?

The Beginner's Corner: Shooting for the Web

An advice column from the camcorder experts.

I just bought a new camcorder and I’m thinking about using it to record my own podcast. Do you have any tips for shooting video specifically for the web?

Edit to the Maxx - The Art of the Digital Cut - Part 21

The final installment of Edit to the Maxx, a semi-monthly introductory course in video editing, aimed at beginners. We use a free, downloadable software program.

In this Lesson, you will wrap up the project and export it to a DV tape.

On the Road with the HVR-V1U Part 7

A video pro journeys to the far ends of the globe with Sony’s new HVR-V1U. Steve Mullen provides first-hand accounts of the camcorder’s features and performance exclusively for CamcorderInfo.com.

The Beginner's Corner - Filming Sports

An advice column from the camcorder experts.

What a great idea to provide a "How-to" column for filming school plays - thank you! Another guide I believe many readers would love to see is a guide on how to film football games or other sports. Thanks again!

Edit to the Maxx - The Art of the Digital Cut - Part 19

Edit to the Maxx is a semi-monthly introductory course in video editing, aimed at beginners. We use a free, downloadable software program. This column appears every other Wednesday.

In this Lesson, you will learn how to create titles for your movie.

The Beginner's Corner - Birthday Parties

An advice column from the camcorder experts.

My daughter's 5th birthday is coming up and I would love to record it to send to family and friends who live out of town as well as to keep for ourselves. Do you have any tips on recording children's birthday parties?

The Beginner's Corner - School Plays

An advice column from the camcorder experts.

My son is going to be starring in his school play next week. I've never recorded a play before. What advice do you have for recording events like this?

Edit to the Maxx - The Art of the Digital Cut - Part 16

Edit to the Maxx is a semi-monthly introductory course in video editing, aimed at beginners. We use a free, downloadable software program. This column appears every other Wednesday.

This week we look at ways to erase clips from the timeline.

On the Road with the HVR-V1U Part 5

A video pro journeys to the far ends of the globe with Sony’s new HVR-V1U. Steve Mullen provides first-hand accounts of the camcorder’s features and performance exclusively for CamcorderInfo.com.
Part 5 - This year I came in November and arrived at the end of the East coast Monsoon. Therefore, many shooting opportunities have been lost to rain. However, I certainly cannot complain about rain, since there has been 5 years of severe drought in Tamil Nadu where Chennai is located...

Edit to the Maxx - The Art of the Digital Cut - Part 15

Edit to the Maxx is a semi-monthly introductory course in video editing, aimed at beginners. We use a free, downloadable software program. This column appears every other Wednesday.

This week we look at methods of inserting video clips, graphics, and audio clips into the Timeline.

The Indie Dispatch - NYC Cameraman’s Death in Oaxaca Adds to a Record Number of Journalists Killed

When I first read that a 30-something American cameraman for an online news outlet had been shot to death in Oaxaca, I was immediately struck by the uniqueness of his death – as well as its ordinariness.  Brad Will was a videographer and volunteer cameraman for the IMC (Independent Media Center), an online organization that emerged during the infamous 1999 WTO protests in Seattle to present grassroots news coverage.  That Brad Will worked for a strictly online news organization, that he was a volunteer journalist rather than a hardened pro, and that he died reporting from a Mexican tourist destination rather than the Middle East makes his death stand out. What makes this death unsettlingly commonplace is that journalists on the front lines are being killed at an unprecedented rate.

On the Road with the HVR-V1U, Part 4

A video pro journeys to the far ends of the globe with Sony’s new HVR-V1U. Steve Mullen provides first-hand accounts of the camcorder’s features and performance exclusively for CamcorderInfo.com.
Part 4 - Gamma determines the relationship between light input (X-axis) and signal output (Y-axis from 0 to 110IRE). Gamma can be represented as a curve as shown below...

Edit to the Maxx - The Art of the Digital Cut - Part 14

Edit to the Maxx is a semi-monthly introductory course in video editing, aimed at beginners. We use a free, downloadable software program. This column appears every other Wednesday.

In this Lesson, you will learn how to add video transitions. While beginning editors make the mistake of using dozens of cheesy transitions, if you watch network TV and movies you will see only six transition types...

The Indie Dispatch - How to Launch Your Film Career Online

Dispatches from the world of independent filmmaking.

By now it should be abundantly clear to any aspiring filmmaker with a broadband connection that the web is film’s new Wild West. It’s a world where opportunities abound, careers are launched, and – if you believe the hype – the right path can lead to Hollywood. New boomtowns, in the form of video sharing services, seem to crop up by the week. Meanwhile, established communities like YouTube and Google Video are rapidly filling up with viewers who’ve heard that the new video frontier is rich with new and unseen content.