This document was developed by SERVE for the SouthEast Initiatives Regional Technology in Education Consortium (SEIRTEC) and is based on work sponsored wholly or in part by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), under grant number R302A000011-01A, CFDA 84.302A. Its contents do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U. S. Department of Education, or any other agency of the United States government.

1. Decide if your footage will be “edited” (scripted) or 

“unedited” (documentary or ad-hoc events). Either 

type of video needs the structure of a beginning, 

middle, and end.

2. Prepare a storyboard of shots prior to shooting to 

save time when editing.

3. When shooting footage that will be edited, shoot 

pre-roll footage; never immediately start shooting at 

the beginning of the tape.

4. When shooting footage to edit, cover a scene in 

wide shot, medium shot, and close-up shot.

5. Take notes of the time counter for the start of each 

sequence. This will save editing time.

6. Shoot some “scene-setting material” to be used to 

enhance your video, such as for transitions.

7. Start shooting a shot prior to “action” and continue 

shooting briefly after “cut.” This strategy will avoid 

losing a crucial second or two at the beginning or 

end and allow some overlap when editing.

8. When shooting footage that will be shown unedited, 

avoid going “zoom crazy.” The human eye sees 

scenes in separate shots.

9. When panning or zooming, do it slowly and do 

not reverse direction in the middle of the pan or 

zoom. Include a few seconds of steady shot at 

the beginning and the end of the pan or zoom.

10. Keep shots steady. Using a tripod with a consumer 

camera will help.

11. Good quality sound is crucial. Use a good external 

directional microphone rather than the built-in microphone on the camcorder.

12. The predominant sound should match the focus of 

the shot.

13. Re-takes and extra shots are worth the time and cost. 

Tape is cheap when compared to staging a reshoot 

or losing an entire sequence that cannot be reshot.

Sources: Bill Lovin of Marinegrafics (www.marinegrafics.com) 

and Ulead Learning Center-Digital Video-Shooting 

(www.ulead.com/learning/video4/page1.htm)

1. Review the storyboard of shots prior to editing.

2. Use the extra sound from the pre-action footage or 

the post-cut footage as overlap with transition shots.

3. Avoid cutting the sound track within a scene. Save 

sound track changes to imply a change of scene.

4. Use the notes of the time counter for the start of each 

sequence to avoid time-consuming searching for a 

sequence or shot.

5. If you use a second camera to record a scene from a 

different angle, but the cameras are not calibrated for 

color prior to the shot, then remember to do the calibration during editing.

6. If you need to incorporate print graphics into the video, 

you will need software that saves the graphic as a bitmap 

image. A bitmap image for video only needs 72 dpi.

 Software to convert to digital files if video is shot with 

analog camcorder

 Video capture card

 IEEE 1394 cables*

 Software to edit video and save in MPEG or MJPEG 

1. Save to VHS (reverting to analog format), VCD, or DVD for storage and playing.

 Save as MPEG-2 for storage on and playback by DVD drives. 

 Save as MPEG-1 for use in PowerPoint® presentations and on Web pages. Store on VCD or on the Web.

 Save as MJPEG for video storage and replay on VHS tape.

2. Remember ample computer capacity is needed: For each minute of MPEG-1 video, you need 16MB of disk space storage 

(at 2mbps), and for each minute of MPEG-2 video, you need 31MB to 46MB (at 1mbps to 6mbps).

3. Do not forget that video stills from the video are useful for reports, brochures, presentations, and Web posting. Freeze a 

frame to capture a still shot.

* Cable (e.g., IEEE 

1394, FirewireTM, 

i-LinkTM, or USB) 

to connect digital 

camcorder to 

computer port 

(IEEE 1394 port 

or USB port)

Computer with ample processor speed, RAM, and hard disk space, 

as well as installed USB or IEEE port or a free slot for IEEE 1394 

card. Video capture card or video capture feature on computer’s 

display adaptor. Examples: Open Host Controller Interface (OHCI) 

card, IEEE 1394 capture card, i-LinkTM (Sony), and FirewireTM

(Apple). Software to edit and enhance the video, and to output to 

digital format.