How do I shoot video that does not look amateur?

Almost every amateur video fails on the same handful of points, and none of them are about the camera. They are about deciding what a shot is before you start recording it.

Step by step

1. Think in shots, not in recordings.A shot is one framing of one idea. Press record, hold still, count to ten, stop. Then move and set up the next one. A single continuous recording of you wandering about cannot be edited into anything.
2. Shoot coverage.For any subject, take a wide shot establishing where you are, a medium shot of the action, and a close-up of the detail. Three shots of the same thing cut together into something watchable; one long shot does not.
3. Lock the exposure.Automatic exposure changes brightness whenever anything in the frame moves, and the shift is very visible on playback. Set it manually, or lock it, and let bright and dark areas fall where they fall.
4. Lock the focus and the white balance too.Autofocus hunting mid-shot, and white balance drifting from warm to cool as someone walks past a window, are both instantly recognisable amateur tells. Set both before you record.
5. Match shutter speed to frame rate.The convention is a shutter speed of roughly twice the frame rate — 1/50 at 25 frames per second. It gives the amount of motion blur film has accustomed everyone to. Much faster looks harsh and stuttery; much slower looks smeared.
6. Keep the camera still or move it with intent.A locked-off shot on a tripod is always acceptable. A slow deliberate pan or a smooth push in is good. Constant small movement, zooming while recording and swinging between subjects are the things that make footage unwatchable.
7. Get the sound right.Audiences forgive a soft or badly lit picture and will not sit through bad sound. Get a microphone close to whoever is speaking, record somewhere without echo, and monitor with headphones if you can.
8. Light the subject, not the room.One large soft source to one side of the camera — a window, a bounced lamp, a softbox — and something to lift the shadow side. Overhead room lighting puts shadows in eye sockets and under noses.
9. Compose with the frame's own conventions.Eyes about a third from the top, a little space in the direction the person is looking, and no more than a small gap above the head. Check the background before recording; a plant apparently growing out of somebody's head is as distracting in video as in a photograph.
10. Leave handles at both ends.Roll for three seconds before the action starts and three after it finishes. Editing without handles means every cut lands on the movement, and there is nothing to trim.

Tips

• Shoot far more coverage than you think you need. Editing is limited entirely by what you have, and a missing cutaway cannot be invented afterwards.
• Record thirty seconds of the room with nobody speaking. That room tone patches gaps and joins in the edit invisibly.
• If in doubt, put the camera on something and leave it. A static, well-framed, well-lit shot with good sound looks professional; a moving one rarely does.

Common mistakes

• Recording one long continuous take of everything — There is nothing to cut to, so every edit is a jump in the same frame. Separate shots with different framings are what make an edit possible.
• Leaving exposure and focus automatic — Both re-decide constantly, and both produce visible shifts within a shot that cannot be removed in editing. Manual or locked is the single biggest improvement available.
• Treating audio as secondary — Viewers tolerate a poor picture and stop watching bad sound within seconds. Budget and attention should go to the microphone before the camera.

If it doesn't work

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