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How to Capture Great Video This Summer!

Video that you and your family & friends will actually watch!

By Eric Cohen July 5, 2016
We all have video recorders in our pockets and these devices are getting better and better. And your iPhone even comes with an easy to use editing tool, yet somehow most videos of family fun end up being not so fun. With a few simple tips, you can create videos in a few minutes that are as fun to create as they are to watch.

1. Hold your phone sideways. Your television and computer monitor are horizontal, so are movie screens. So every single time you shoot a video, hold your phone horizontal.

2. Take short video clips when filming. While it might be fun in real life to watch your kid swimming for 10 minutes, no one will watch a video of that (yourself included). Each video should be about 6 - 10 seconds. If you are not sure you will capture the action, you can shoot for 30 seconds or so and edit later, but no longer. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdxpjiiYNlQ

3. Mix up the shots. Move around the venue. If it's at the beach, get up and walk around, take wide angle shots of the whole beach, take medium shots of your kids (a medium shot is roughly when the whole person fits in the frame), and take close ups. Experiment and play with it. If your kids are building a sand castle, get in close and video their hands in the sand. 

4. Tell a story. A couple things about this is to shoot chronologically, that is from start to finish. As you go about your adventure, grab those short videos along the journey. This will help you when you edit and make the story flow. 

https://youtu.be/2II9UcTM2tc?list=PLL6hqeLpfXiXo85fTJsQ54X6nbROZPetW

5. Keep your story short. Don't make a movie about your summer, or even your week-long summer vacation. It's just too much information to try to share. Break it down and make a movie about your afternoon at the beach. Or your kids attempts at waterskiing. 

6. Keep your video short. A minute or two minutes tops is enough. You can get plenty of story across in that amount of time without it being a total snoozefest.

7. Learn iMovie or the Android equivalent. iMovie for iPhone is pretty simple to use. Once you get the hang of it, you can string together 8 to 12 of the short video clips you took into a fun movie, all on your phone.

8. Don't narrate your video. There's no need to say "Here we are the beach" when you are shooting a video of your kids at the beach. Let your video do the talking. If you want to set the scene, capture video of signage for where ever you are. Such as "Welcome to Jones Beach" or even the front of your house, 3 or 4 seconds will help set the scene.

Then just post to social media and wow your friends. After a few tries, you'll be a pro and your friends will look forward to your videos. Don't miss the opportunities to capture your kids and family this summer. As someone once told me, the days go slow, but the years go fast.