THERE are a few handy hints and tips to digital video that are worth bearing in mind when youΓÇÖre making a production. Long films can take up an enormous amount of disk space so if you can keep it short do so. In the same way that novelists will drum up recognition quickly by writing short stories, most film makers start off by creating something short and exciting which people will be willing to sit through.
The best way to get people to see your stuff essential if youΓÇÖre advertising a club or some such is to put your work onto a floppy disk. High density disks are obviously essential for this, as you should be able to fit about 15 seconds onto one. Use two disks and youΓÇÖve got a good 30 seconds of space that ought to be enough for you to present your message.
There are also tricks to actually directing a nice piece of work thatΓÇÖs going to make your video look better on the PC screen. Most importantly, wide angles and pans donΓÇÖt work as well as tight angles and close-ups because they end up too jerky. This doesnΓÇÖt necessarily mean you shouldnΓÇÖt use them, as long as you keep them slow and steady. A tripod is a good idea if you want to get any kind of decent shot.
Video for Windows and indeed most PC video formats work by updating what has changed in the picture. The close-up is the obvious choice as whatever it is youΓÇÖre filming shouldnΓÇÖt change too much from frame to frame. If you do a more wide angled shot, there is more in the picture that will move around so it will jerk.
If youΓÇÖre filming someone talking, keep the angle tight on the head and shoulders, especially if theyΓÇÖre the type of person who gesticulates with their hands, as this means the video should be able to keep up with the changes and run as smoothly as possible. The more movement there is in the video window, the more frames the computer will have to leave out in order to make the film run properly.
In terms of your computer, the main constraint is probably going to be hard drive space. Video is notoriously disk hungry, so a bit of clipping and pruning of your directory structure may be in order. If you only have a small hard drive you may as well forget about that feature film and stick to the shorts until you can get a chance of upgrading.
