Voyaging Video

by Duane L. Barr

What sailor has not dreamed of cruising to some exotic place, recording a video of the adventure, then turning that video into a money-making production? At the very least, you expect a boating trip captured on video to become a lifelong treasure and one that friends and family can enjoy.

Choose a camera that allows manual adjustment of focus, exposure and audio levels.

Following a few basic camera guidelines, anyone can produce a video to keep an audience interested and entertained. Ignore those guidelines, and you'll pummel the poor viewer with easily avoidable mistakes -- and you'll certainly never get that call from Steven Spielberg!

Fortunately, video cameras available today to the average consumer have remarkable resolution, light sensitivity, colorimetry and low video noise characteristics. Newer cameras record a digital signal rather than analog. The most popular format is DV or Mini-DV. The advantage of digital is that it can be edited and copied without any loss in quality.

Camera choice: Choose a camera with as many manual modes of operation as possible. This offers better creative control. Auto-focus, auto-iris and auto-audio record levels seem desirable, but you might have a different idea of the effect you are trying to achieve than the camera does. You will want manual control of these things. (See Photo) A picture-stabilization feature is useful as well.

If you hold the camera, make yourself as steady as possible.

A basic rule: Just because you're recording moving pictures doesn't mean something has to move! Remember that, and you're already well ahead of most amateurs. If there's action in your scene, let the viewer watch it for a few seconds, but don't try to add action to a static scene by zooming and panning all over the place. Put the camera on a tripod or solid support. Don't pan! Don't zoom! Beginners tend to think they have to expose every inch of the scene by moving back and forth, up and down. The result will make your guests seasick right in your living room. (They don't even have to step foot on your boat.)

An objectionable kind of motion is camera shakiness. Your goal is a rock-solid view. Handholding the camera will be necessary sometimes. When this is the case, shoot at the widest angle possible.

Brace yourself against something and learn to make your body into a stable platform by spreading your feet apart and flexing your knees slightly, so as to let your body absorb bouncy, jerky motion. (See Photo) The picture stabilization feature helps eliminate some of the shakiness.

Exceptions to basic rule: You may pan to follow action. Let the subject move into the frame from one side, follow it for a few seconds then let the subject continue its movement out of the frame before stopping the recording.

Storm clouds gathering. To emphasize the sky, put the horizon low in the frame.

Composition hints: The Rule of Thirds operating in still photography is also applicable to video. Mentally divide the picture into thirds, top to bottom as well as left to right. A horizon line should be on the top or bottom third, not across the middle of the picture. To emphasize the sky, like for a great sunset or cloud formations, put the horizon in the bottom third and let the sky fill the majority of the frame. (See Photo) If you're showing azure water, crashing waves, or flotsam and jetsam, put the horizon in the top third. A horizon right in the middle of the frame is boring. If you're shooting a standing person, a mast or a tree, elevate or lower your view so that the horizon in the background doesn't fall right across the middle of the screen. Whatever the main subject, don't put it dead center in the picture.

Compose your shot so that you subject can look 'across' the frame.

If you're shooting a person looking at something offscreen, place that person at one side (roughly one-third of the way), and allow them to look across the frame. (See Photo) If the person is looking right at the camera, give them a little headroom and put their eyes at (you guessed it) the upper third line. When someone is speaking, the camera should usually be at his or her eye level. A common mistake is to be standing with the camcorder while you record someone who is sitting down. Looking down at someone is awkward for viewers.

Try putting the camera in interesting locations to get unusual views.

One of the great capabilities of today's camcorders is that they can be put down low or up high -- in all kinds of places, such as the mast or on the coach house roof, to get interesting views. (See Photo) A remote control can start and stop the camera.

Use lots of close-ups. Use lots of cut-aways. This is where the fun starts. If you're shooting another boat cruising alongside you, every few seconds show a person or pet on your boat watching the scene. Cut to the wake. Cut to the dingy bouncing along. Show the masthead against the white cloud. (This can be part of the editing process, which I'll talk about later. You can edit as you're shooting, or you can edit those shots in later in post production _ but only if you've shot them in the first place. Get lots of shots. Most will never be used, but you'll be glad you have them to choose from.)

Shooting tip: Do some editing in the camera as you shoot. One practice is to limit each camera scene to about five to seven seconds. Give the viewer enough time to explore the scene with his eyes, but don't let him get bored. (Count to seven slowly under your breath as you record a scene.)

An evergreen tree frames Seattle's Shilshole Bay Marina

Frame your shot: Put your winch and shrouds in the foreground of that shot of the boat sailing next to you. Frame that majestic waterfall with your bow pulpit. Shoot over your partner's shoulder so he or she frames the view of the dock you're approaching or leaving. Let a tree branch frame the shot of your boat lying at anchor. (See Photo.)

An inexpensive white card puts light on the subject.

Light! (That's a verb.) A video scene, like a still photograph, is a recording of reflected light. Forget about lux envy. (Lux is a specification camera manufacturers use to tell us how much light energy is needed to give us some kind of possibly recognizable picture. A low lux spec lulls you into thinking that you can shoot in the dark. Don't you believe it.) You don't need a whole Hollywood lighting truck following along on a barge behind you, but one or two low-watt light fixtures would be handy. Don't overlook the obvious. Turn your interior lights on, light the kerosene lamp, or bounce a bright flashlight beam off the overhead to get those cozy, romantic saloon shots.

When shooting outdoors, even on overcast days, try to highlight the subject. One inexpensive method is to use reflectors. As your subject is talking on camera about the joys of that last passage, use a "shiny board" to reflect light onto the face. (See Photo) Use some foam-core, the back of a chart or even a white towel for this purpose. The reflected light from any of these eliminates eye and chin shadows and makes the subject stand out from an otherwise dull, flat background. (See Photo) Put your subject's back to the sun or brightest clouds, so no squinting is necessary while looking at the camera. (Reflect enough light into her face to reduce shadows.) Or use a reflector to get light into that hull area where you are filming the sanding or painting process.

Above, the overall scene has good exposure but the area of interest is dark. Below, light from a reflector or light fixture emphasizes the subject.

The best outdoor natural light occurs before 10 in the morning and after 4 in the afternoon. An overhead noon sun is harsh. It makes unflattering shadows and is too intense.

Good audio: Put the microphone as close to the sound source as possible. About the only thing the camera-mounted, built-in microphone is good for is picking up ambient sound _ wind, engine noise, etc. If you are recording someone talking, put a lavaliere-type microphone on them; if you want the sound of your wake or wind in the rigging, put a hand-held microphone up close to that sound.

Use headphones or an earpiece. Try this experiment now: Stop reading this article and close your eyes, then listen and identify every sound you hear. Is there a refrigerator running? Radio or TV in another room? Traffic? Conversations? The human brain has an amazing ability to suppress awareness of these sounds. But when we consciously listen to radio or TV, we hear everything coming from that speaker, including the things recorded by mistake. The brain won't filter those out.

Perhaps you want to capture the sight of your gently curving bow wave along with its gurgling, splashing sound. (Natural sound should be recorded in every shot.) Headphones will remind you that you are also recording the engine noise, slatting sails and lines, cockpit conversation, stereos, wind in the microphone _ a whole lot of unwanted sound. You can eliminate those extraneous noises if you are aware that they are there in the first place by hearing them in a headset. (See Photo.)

Monitor the sound being recorded. An earpiece will work but full coverage headphones reduce outside sound and let you better hear what you are recording.

Don't try to narrate your program as you shoot. Save this for the post-production process.

What about editing? It's your lucky day again. You don't need thousands and thousands of dollars worth of sophisticated equipment. Today, movies and television programs are edited electronically using computers and software written for this purpose.

A desktop or even a laptop computer with a few hundred dollars worth of editing and graphics software will get you started. And your results will be outstanding. The more you spend on software, the faster you can work and the more sophisticated your titles and special effects can be, but you don't need to sell the boat to be able to afford to edit!

The process of editing is as creative as shooting and works like this: You'll transfer all your beautiful shots from video tape to the hard drive of your computer using your camcorder or another video tape machine as the playback source. You'll need a video input card in your computer to do this. Earlier, we mentioned the DV format. This is already a digital signal, and your computer loves to see that. With DV, the transfer process is by way of a signal called firewire. Your DV camcorder will have a firewire connector, and you'll need a firewire, or DV, input card in your computer.

Once the footage is in your computer, you manipulate scenes like you would move words and paragraphs around in a word processing document. You drag and drop to change sequences, shorten scenes, add titles, narration, music and special effects. It's a lot of fun!

When you are happy with the finished production in your computer, copy the program back to tape, and send the tape off to Hollywood _ or the family room VCR. You can even stream it on the Internet or email it to friends.

If it seems that there are too many rules, remember that as in any endeavor, once you know the rules, you can break them. If you're serious about producing that great documentary/travelogue about your voyage, consider a community college class or two before leaving. At the very least, shoot some video and invite someone in the business to critique it for you. If you know someone who knows someone who knows Steven S., you're on your way! See you at the Oscars!

Editor's Note: Duane Barr has 18 years' experience in video production and has won numerous awards, including an Emmy.