So you want to shoot it yourself...

With the introduction of smaller, inexpensive video cameras, more and more clients are shooting their own video. They're not necessarily shooting entire productions, but grabbing quick interviews and getting a quick feel for an event.

These cameras (the Flip is one of the most popular) are great. They come in a small package and make good quality video. But great picture quality alone doesn't tell a great story. Composition, sound, continuity – the things that help to tell a compelling story – are the responsibility of the videographer.

Sometimes Flip video works. Sometimes it doesn't. I've put together a few quick tips that I've passed along to clients to help improve the video they supply to us for editing:

• Wait for 2 seconds before you ask your question. Often the beginning of an answer gets cut off because the camera wasn't recording before the person began to speak.
• Stay wide – wider shots are steadier. If you can brace your arms on a table top, or lean against a doorway that can help to steady the shot.
• Don't zoom or pan. Try to think about telling the story with a series of static shots rather than zooming or panning. Zooms and pans can work, but too much can be awful. I've seen videos that require dramamine... :)
• Try to get as close to the subject as possible when shooting. These cameras have built-in microphones and if there is a lot of ambient noise, they'll be difficult to hear. The same goes for a large room. The echoes can be distracting.
• Avoid windows. An interview subject against a window will show up as a silhouette.

If you have enough time, I'd recommend shooting something quickly and looking at it on a computer to see how it looks and sounds. Shoot someone in the type of environment you'll be in when doing your interviews to see how the lighting affects the image and the ambient sound interferes with what you're trying to record.