Male Feet Video Director's Guide: Equipment

The first thing I ask a prospective director is what experience they have. Regardless of the answer, my next question is: What camcorder are you using? No matter your level of experience, knowing the strengths and limitations of the equipment you are using is essential to getting the most out of your valuable filming time. There are a minimum of four camcorder specs that every director should be aware of:

Resolution:
This is a measure of how many pixels are displayed. The higher the resolution, the better the quality (if all else is equal). Resolution is measured by the number of pixels displayed both horizontally and vertically. So, 320 x 240 tells us that 320 pixels are displayed horizontally and 240 pixels are displayed vertically. For the site, a minimum of 640 x 480 is preferred, or 768 x 432 widescreen. These are the minimum specs that your camera should have.

Exposure:
When we speak of exposure, we're referring to the amount of light that is allowed into the camera when filming. Too much light and the video is too bright, too little and it's too dark. Higher end cameras allow you to adjust the exposure. Consumer cameras often don't, so you'll need to work a bit to make sure that your video looks good.

Focus:
When an image is in focus, it is clear and not blurry. Some consumer grade camcorders only focus automatically, which can be fine, but it can also lead to what your filming being in focus one moment and out of focus the next.

Zoom:
Zooming gives us a close up view of what we're filming. What you should be aware of is that optical zooming maintains quality, when using a digital zoom, quality will be lost. So be aware of which one your camcorder is using!

Once you're used to these four things, you'll have a good basis in filming to begin filming good videos! Next time, I'll talk more about controlling light!