Basic Training: Camera Magic

Dr. Robert G. Nulph
January 2005

So you've read a few of the articles about using a tripod and you have actually tried a few lighting techniques, but you say your videos still lack pizzazz and finesse? You don't have a lot of money to spend on a more advanced editing system and the computer you do have has enough trouble delivering your e-mail. What's a person to do? The answer? In-camera effects: the secret to camera magic since the invention of film. In this column, we will describe ways to accomplish some pretty amazing effects, right in your camera. These techniques only require three things: a camera, some imagination and a dose of the most magic of all ingredients, good planning.

Today's camcorders have the ability to start and stop on a dime and digital camcorders are frame accurate. This wasn't always the case. However, we live in the twenty-first century so we should be able to take advantage of it. The first stop on our tour of camera magic begins with your camera. Make sure you know how to change the focus smoothly, slowly zoom in and out without stuttering, and pause and record precisely where you want.

With your camera on a tripod, make sure you can pan and tilt smoothly and at the same speed. Some of this is practice, but quality (expensive) tripods (especially the head) dramatically improve your ability to perform smooth camera moves. Counting or listening to music can help keep your camera movements consistent. As with any other type of magic, you have to know your equipment well to be able to perform flawlessly. Once you have practiced with your camera and know all of its bells and whistles, you are ready to learn the secret formulas for a little bit of in-camera magic.

By using the following camera techniques, you can actually condense time and space. In other words, turn something that usually takes hours, days or weeks into a series of believable shots that take seconds. While condensing time and space techniques usually use an editing system's dissolves and wipes, you can create very nice substitutes right in your camera.

To create a dissolve-type transition, tightly focus on your subject and slowly defocus. Then, pause the camera and change subjects. Now, hit record and slowly bring your new subject into focus. If you are careful to defocus your subjects so that nothing is readily recognizable, the resulting effect will seamlessly fit together. The closer the color, shape and lighting, the more seamless the transition will appear.

A variation of that same shot begins with a zoom in to the subject and defocusing the camera before you get to your desired close up. Then, pause your camera, set your next shot up, tightly zoomed in on your subject and defocused. Finally, hit the record button and slowly zoom out while refocusing the shot. This shot works extremely well if it is focused on the same object to create the sense of a passage of time.

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