Mindpsill - Technology

Needless to say while editing I found half a million wrong things with the actual video. I forgave myself for the first parts since I was too much of a newbie but I must now learn from mistakes. These are some tips I came up with after my first experience:-

1. Do not zoom at anything and everything. If you want to zoom on something also take a wide angle shot of the subject so you can decide which is best at editing stage. Although subjects may seem small in the view finder they get bigger on TV. I have too much zoomed footage.
2. Keep high zooms (x10+) very very low. Camera shake at this range is incredible.
3. Keep a consistent turning motion, don't turn too fast or too slow.
4. Get to use the tripod more often. Train how to turn the camera on the tripod without jittering the scene. It is also important to align the tripod well before shooting.
5. Dare! Record loads of footage even when you’d think it’s no good record just the same. At the caves in Mulu I though that the actual video was going to result in crap however it was good footage. Because I didn't continue shooting I lost the rest of the caves.
6. While editing sound and removing stupid clips is easy, editing poor lighting was a bit too complex for a start. Pay careful attention to light because it will finally make or break your footage.
7. It’s a good idea to video guides talking so that at least you can capture the sound and explanation even if the guide is not presentable.
8. When recording somebody talking pay attention to record close enough to the person to capture the audio correctly. Some good clips had to be discarded because the volume of the person talking was too low.
9. A week before the holiday spend some time video taking to remember the importance of these points and avoid trashing 90% of the first 3 days of footage.