Event videos are all about telling a story: as a video maker, you have your theme and the story you’re telling; it’s your job to tell this story in the most engaging, beautiful and thematically-appropriate way possible.
Good story-telling, like anything else, requires a bit of skill, and understanding of technique, and how different techniques and practices can change the way a story is told.
With this in mind, here are 5 easy-to-master practices for event videos:
1. Engage Your Stars
Think of every video as its own movie – every movie needs stars, and odds are, if you’re shooting an event, people are going to be involved. Make sure nobody’s put off by the camera – it’s really important that the people you film behave naturally and don’t alter their actions because they know they’re being filmed. Put everyone at ease – even if it means chatting to everyone beforehand to request natural behavior.
Focusing on people gives a story its heart and empathy – sometimes focusing on the reactions of people can be more effective than focusing on the action itself.
2. Create Movement
This doesn’t mean shaking the camera around: in-fact, try to avoid this where possible. It’s well worth investing in a tripod, as handheld camera is very difficult to get right and very easy to get wrong, resulting in an unpleasant viewing experience.
Creating movement is incredibly important – because the eye is naturally attracted to dynamic changes and regular shot transitions will keep the viewer’s attention. Contrast close-ups with panning shots, and use your zoom function sparingly, but use it enough to create a variety of different shots.
This can be achieved during filming or during the editing process, and a combination is usually preferable.
3. Use Multiple Angles
Angles often determine the tone of a shot. As a rough guide, consider what tone you’re trying to create, and alter angle accordingly:
- Scary or exhilarating: Shoot from below
- Sympathetic or sentimental: Shoot from above
- Dramatic tension: Move forward in the shot
- Closure: Move backwards in the shot
4. Record More Than You Need
This is something you should do in anticipation of the editing process, which you will need to do unless you are an unparalleled expert at ‘in-camera’ editing.
Average shots last around 4 seconds, but each of your shots should be considerably longer than that while you’re filming.
This is because, when you get to the cutting room stage, you’ll want to find the most engaging way to tell your event story possible, and as a result, most of the footage you film will end up on the cutting room floor.
5. Set the Scene
A story needs its context to give it meaning: consider the background of each shot, how you may want to edit it and thus, how this consideration should affect the way you shoot it. For example, if you want a particular song to soundtrack a particular shot, then think about making the tone of the shot complementary to the tone of the song.
By adhering to these 5 simple practices, you’ll notice a real difference in the way your event videos come out: they’ll be fully-fledged stories in their own right, and soon enough, you’ll gain the confidence to get really creative in your event video-making: that’s when the fun really begins!
– Video Caddy
