Making woodworking video's

[dwacker]

Thought I might give this a shot. I have a iPhone, it does pretty good. Panasonic LX5 that is better than the iphone and a canon 5dmk2. The canon is perfect but it doesnt auto focus so pretty much worthless for a one man trying to be both actor and camera guy. I have another samsung little video camera but what they all have in common is poor audio. They pick up machine noise great but I feel like you have to yell to get voices that are audible. 

Do you shoot without audio so as not to have machine noise, then voice over?

When I cut a section out its pretty obvious. Is there a way to make the transition more smooth between cuts?

 

Im using I movie.

 

Thank you

[G S Haydon]

Look forward to the video PB, what you got in mind?

[bobcrosley]

For transitions, play with the transitions in iMovie to see what kind of transition gives you something smoother than what you get with an abrupt cut. The transitions are a matter of personal taste, so try a few out and see what you like.

 

I'd suggest filming a few seconds longer at the end of the segment and start the camera a few seconds before you start talking to give you some footage to throw away while playing with the edits. Better to get rid of some footage than not have enough once you put transitions in.

 

For audio while performing a machine operation, what I usually see people do is record the operation with the machine audio. Don't speak while doing that. Then, while editing, they usually turn the level of the machine audio down, and record a voiceover / narration to describe what you are doing.

 

For general audio while speaking to the camera, I'd suggest seeing what remote microphones are available for the camera you're using. No on-camera microphone is going to give you the kind of audio you're probably hoping for.

 

This one is a wired mic, but I've heard decent things about it: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002HJ9PTO/ref=cm_sw_su_dp

 

Here's some things about using wireless mics for recording with an iPhone in this article: http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/latest-gadgets/content/use-wireless-and-other-microphones-your-iphone-4

 

And I'm looking forward to seeing your video. 

[Bombarde16]

Ah, one of my other avocations.  Before you apologize for your camera gear, before you decide what project to build, before you decide what stock intro music to download, before anything!  Know this:  There is one thing that will make or break your production.

 

Lighting.

 

Video cameras (from the cheapest cell phone to a bank-busting Canon XHA1) are happiest with lots of light, typically vastly more than we would normally feel necessary in a room.  Beg, borrow, bodger or otherwise scrounge what you need, then practice placing your camera and lighting your shop as if it were a movie scene.  What are we looking at?  What's in the background?  How does the lighting reveal the focal object's shape and texture?  Is there a hard or soft transition between highlights and shadows?  If you've done any significant still photography, this will be second nature.  (It's often said that videography is nothing more than still photography at 30 fps.)  If not, go do some and see!

 

Beyond that, Bob is correct that, if you have something you want to say, you'll do best to record the voice-over separately.  In this sense, most of the action shots (pushing a workpiece through the saw, etc.) belong to the realm of B-roll.  Shoot as much as you have time so as to have a lot of interesting possibilities as you go into the editing room.  Doing it all by yourself obviously precludes genuine camera movements whenever you're in the frame; but shooting copious B-roll with a wide range of creative camera angles will help tremendously.

[ChetlovesMer]

Rob, you stole some of my thunder with your lighting information.

I too, have created my share of movies/videos and done a ton of editing.

 

Here's another tip that will instantly increase your video's quality. Buy and use a tripod.

 

Shakey camera is sort of in right now in Hollywood, but nearly all of the shakey cam in Hollywood is added in post production.

[dwacker]

Thanks all. Lighting is not an issue I have a few decent lights and soft boxes if needed. The biggest issue is choppy clipping or cutting. Seems like using a voice over hides the cutting by getting rid of the background tool noise that seems to skip for lack of a better word. Looks like a mic is really a necessity when not doing voice over.

Bob,

Am I just missing something. Is there a way in iMovie to see video as you do voice over?

[bobcrosley]

PB, unfortunately, I have almost 0 experience with iMovie. I can tell you how I did something similar a while back with some old software from Pinnacle. Don't see why it wouldn't work with something more modern.

 

I had my mic and was set up to record the VO into some recording software that would make an MP3 file. I played the video on my computer monitor (with the volume all the way down) and did my VO while watching the video I'd be voicing over. Did that until I was comfortable with the VO as it would sync to the video. Then I imported the resulting MP3 file of my VO into the Pinnacle software I was using and put that as an audio track over the section of video I was trying to voice over.

 

Does that make sense? It did in my head, but i'm not sure it does on paper.

 

There's likely an easier way in iMovie, but I've never tried it to find out.

[dwacker]

PB, unfortunately, I have almost 0 experience with iMovie. I can tell you how I did something similar a while back with some old software from Pinnacle. Don't see why it wouldn't work with something more modern.

 

I had my mic and was set up to record the VO into some recording software that would make an MP3 file. I played the video on my computer monitor (with the volume all the way down) and did my VO while watching the video I'd be voicing over. Did that until I was comfortable with the VO as it would sync to the video. Then I imported the resulting MP3 file of my VO into the Pinnacle software I was using and put that as an audio track over the section of video I was trying to voice over.

 

Does that make sense? It did in my head, but i'm not sure it does on paper.

 

There's likely an easier way in iMovie, but I've never tried it to find out.

Makes perfect sense. Seems I could watch on one screen and use iMovie built in voice over on another.

Thank you

[krtwood]

I would suggest having the tool noise at significantly reduced volume in the background of your voice over.  I don't know if you can do that in iMovie.

[Tpt life]

Easily done on iPhone. Double tap each individual audio clip in iMovie to view a volume control pop up.

[Rick A McQuay]

Just some perspective from someone who watches a lot of woodworking videos... two things that really ruin the enjoyment of a woodworking video are a presenter who monologues or punctuates his sentences with 'uh' or 'umm". Look forward to seeing your videos.