This section includes tips and articles on how to capture quality video for
Weekend Warrior Outdoors productions.
Video Quality
- Focus
- Use manual focus if your camera allows
- Auto focus should be used carefully to ensure the picture does not pulsate in and out of
focus.
- Filming Platform
Sound Quality
- Protect your on-camera microphone to ensure wind noise is reduced
- If using a wireless microphone, be sure it is unobstructed in order to avoid noises,
other than your voice, making it to the camera.
Pre-Hunt Dialogue and Interview
- Tell us things like:
- Where you’re hunting or where you’re going
- Date and time of day
- Temperature and conditions
- What are you hunting and how has the hunting been
- Who is filming and who is the shooter
- PLEASE NO FOUL LANGUAGE AT ANY TIME!!
During the Hunt Dialogue
- Tell us what is happening or has happened
- Provide commentary on what you have seen and filmed
- Updates on time and conditions
Capturing the kill
- Capture the hunter drawing the bow or turning off the safety.
- If the animal is slow to come in, capture the intensity/actions of the hunter when
possible.
- Make sure the animal is in the clear as much as possible
- Make sure the entire animal is centered where possible
- Be careful when zooming in to avoid having the animal consume the entire screen.
- Over the shoulder footage should be a priority as this angle gives the audience the best
view of what the hunter is seeing.
- Most importantly, COMMUNICATE with one another. Miscommunication will lead to poor
footage and missed opportunities
Post Harvest Footage
- NO staged sequences
- i.e. do not film from behind the recovered animal to show the hunter walking up on it as
if he is still following the blood trail.
- Tell us and show us exactly what is happening
- Roll the camera when you’re on the blood trail
- Show us what you are seeing
- If you don’t recover the animal promptly, say until the next day, then tell us
that. Explain what happened and how the viewers can learn from what you have gone through.
Post Recovery Footage and Interview
- Have a clean animal
- Wipe off noticeable blood
- Make sure your background is clear and clean
- Don’t set up next to a road or a house, or the back of a truck
- Do set up where the animal was found
- Pay attention to the sun and shadows
- Make sure you have sufficient light when filming at night
- Re-Cap the hunt for us
- Go through everything
- Shot placement
- How long was the shot
- Distance animal went
- Give us an idea of what you killed
- i.e. a mainframe 8 that will score in the 140’s, or a 6x6 bull that will score in
the 340’s.
- Be conservative with weight estimates or rack sizes unless you know for sure.
| We realize that there is no such thing as a
perfect hunt, so don’t try to manufacture one. Tips and techniques are nothing more
than a tool that should be used to gain some understanding of what it takes to make a
quality film. While in the field remember one thing......roll that camera and let the
events unfold because you cannot control what is about to happen! |
|
