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.

Another way to condense time and space is with well-planned cutaways. A cutaway is a shot that quickly takes you away from the subject, allowing them to jump ahead in time and space. For example, it might take you two minutes to walk from your car to the mailbox and into the house.

1. Shoot a shot of your subject opening the car door.
2. Cut away to her feet hitting the pavement.
3. Cut to a long shot of her closing the car door.
4. Cutaway to her dog barking and dancing in front of her (from her point of view).
5. Cut to a medium shot of her nearing the mailbox.
6. Cutaway to a close shot of her hand reaching inside and grabbing the mail (maybe even from inside the mailbox).
7. Cut to a medium shot as she walks and holds the mail up to the sun to peak at what's inside.
8. Cut to a shot of her dog going through the doggy door.
9. Finally, cut to her opening the door and walking in.

Nine shots that condense time and space and tell a story in half the time it would take to shoot one long shot. Moreover, the piece is much more interesting for the viewer. You don't even need to use all nine shots if you don't want to, depending on how important the scene is to your movie. The secret to making this work is to maintain screen direction by always shooting on the same side of your subject (shoot from just their right or left side). You can also use neutral shots without direction, like the extreme close-ups of the mail or shots of the subject walking directly towards the camera.

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