When shooting video with a phone, point and shoot camera or mobile device:
Shooting tips:
- Hold your device horizontally, not vertically (if shooting with a phone, point and shoot camera or mobile device).
- Hold your device as steady as possible or use a holder, selfie stick, tripod, etc.
- Frame the shot with people’s heads in the upper third of the screen so there is not too much space above their heads.
- Avoid shooting with windows in the background, if shooting indoors
- Be sure that the lighting is predominantly coming from the front of the subject and not the back to avoid a silhouette look.
- Avoid excessive zooming in and out or panning (camera movement) while recording.
- When capturing audio interviews, speaking or music:
- Be close to your subject so that you pick up more direct sound versus ambient background noise.
- Avoid shooting next to a busy street or intersection
- If it is windy, move to an area shielded from the wind or move indoors away from noise.
- If you are capturing a speaker at a podium or stage be as close as possible to get more of their direct sound
- If you are holding the camera while asking questions of a person don’t be too loud because you are closer to your camera’s microphone than your subject. You don’t want your recorded voice to be too much louder than the person you are interviewing.
Editing Tip:
- When creating graphics with text (full slates or lower thirds) make sure the text is indented in from the edges by 15% so that it does not get cut off. This is called the “safe area.” Many televisions cut off the outer edges of video, you may not see this in your editing program.
- Avoid color visibility issues by selecting clear, contrasting colors for text on background (i.e. do not use yellow on white, or red on black). Text is best read on a solid background, free of busy patterns.
If you are shooting something you wish BCTV to edit, our preferred file format is .mov. If you are delivering a different file format, please give us a test file to make sure we can use it. Generally speaking .mp4 files are not preferred. Please allow two weeks for BCTV to edit your video due to staff scheduling requirements. (Other time frames can be arranged with approval, but are not guaranteed.)
If you are creating a video on your own that you do not need BCTV to edit, most formats are acceptable (the most common being .mov, .mp4, .avi). You may play those videos from our studio laptop during your program.
If the video you wish to play during your program needs to be streamed from the internet via YouTube, another website or service, please be aware that internet connections are not always stable. If for unforeseen reasons bandwidth is not available or the internet goes down your video may stutter or not play at all. The safest way to play a video during your program is to have the actual video file with you on a USB drive or DVD.
You may also deliver video files to us ahead of time, so that we can have it loaded onto our studio laptop in advance. This way we are sure it will play in advance. Getting video files to us in advance helps us to ensure your program starts on time considering the short 5 minute or less transition time between live programs.
Whenever possible please submit videos for programs at least two business days in advance. If you have any questions feel free to contact us. We are happy to help or give suggestions.
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