Making Better Movies with Your Camcorder

There will be times when you do nothing and the shot falls in your lap, and there will be times when you try everything and nothing seems to work. In moviemaking, less is often more. That means that the best way to get a shot is usually to do as little as you possibly can. Often you'll get a better performance from a subject by letting everything come naturally instead of trying to completely control it.

For example, instead of telling a person exactly what to say and how to say it, the performance will always be better if you allow the person to use their own words. This is not always easy to do, especially with non-professional actors. It might require a creative approach and some gentle psychological manipulation, but the indirect, less-is-more style of directing usually produces better results than the direct approach.

As the camera rolls, keep your eyes and ears open. Watch for the framing of the shot, facial expressions, mistakes, and serendipitous moments—when a twinkle of light happens at just the right time and adds magic to the shot. Put yourself in the place of the viewer; is the shot doing what it's supposed to do? Does it propel the story forward or slow the movie down? Imagine how the shot is going to work when edited together with scenes you've already shot or are about to shoot; will the edit be seamless or will there be discontinuities? Study the composition of the shot as well as the meaning of the shot. Does it look right? Is the meaning right?

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