Quick Guides...
Below are our articles on the subject of Quick Guides. If you can't see what you are looking for our other categories are displayed on the left under 'Our Quick Links'...
A Quick Guide to Burning DVDs of Your Home Videos
Having made your home video, you probably want to play it on a DVD player and share it with family and friends. Luckily, the process of burning a DVD is now remarkably simple....
A Quick Guide to Digital Video Capture
Having shot your footage, you must use digital video capture techniques to get it from your camera onto your computer....
A Quick Guide to Lighting Your Home Videos
Lighting home videos can be a difficult task. However, a quick look around the home can provide you with the tools you need to create great looking films....
A Quick Guide to Recording Sound in Your Home Videos
A soundtrack can make or break a video. As such, it is important to understand how to record the best possible sounds if you want to make the best possible home videos....
A Quick Guide to Steady Camera Techniques
Shaky hand syndrome can blight an otherwise excellent home video. However, there are numerous techniques by which you can minimise the effects of camera shake....
Adding Music to Your Videos
How music can dramatically improve a home video. How it’s quite an easy process to incorporate music into a video with just a basic understanding of digital editing and how it’s important to respect c...
Adding Text and Credits to Your Films
Adding credits and other text to your film can help to give it a professional and polished feel....
Advanced Editing for Your Home Video
How advanced editing techniques can add to the drama and amusement of a home video and help to make a home video more entertaining...
Basic Lighting for Your Video
How you need to pay close attention to lighting if you want your home video to look professional. The importance of familiarising yourself with the three-point lighting technique and how to improvise ...
Buying an External Hard Drive for Video Storage
The main considerations when looking to buy an external hard drive upon which to store your videos or movies. How size and speed of transfer are the most crucial determining factors in making your cho...
Camcorder Accessories and Extras
The kinds of basic camcorder extras and accessories which you might find useful or, in some cases, even vital when shooting on location in particular....
Capturing a Birthday Celebration on Video
Setting the scene for a birthday video, who and what to include and in what sequence you should capture events of the celebrations...
Cataloguing Your Digital Footage
Organising your home videos can be a laborious task, but cataloguing software makes the process easier....
Choose a Camcorder to Suit Your Needs
How buying a camcorder can seem confusing to the uninitiated. Why digital is usually the best option and the types of features you should be considering when deciding which camcorder to buy....
Common Mistakes With Home Videos
The more common mistakes that are made when filming a home video. Ways in which you can rectify these and learning from your blunders....
Converting Videos to DVD
How to get the files you’ve transferred from your camcorder to your PC converted and then burned onto DVD....
Film Nature and Wildlife
How filming nature and wildlife can be very unpredictable and will often involve a lot of patience and many hours spent filming until you get the perfect scenes. A couple of effective techniques you c...
Film The Birth of a Child
How it’s important you gain permission firstly to film the birth of a child. How the needs of the medical team and the mother must take priority and the kinds of things you might want to include in yo...
Film Your Baby Reaching Milestones
How a little bit of planning and recording prior to your baby’s arrival will help to establish the context of your baby home video. Importance of keeping your camcorder handy to capture any ‘firsts’ a...
Film Your Children at Play
The kinds of events and activities which you can film your children taking part in. How to come up with ideas for involving your children in a video shoot and the importance of obtaining permission wh...
Film Your Christmas
How you need to be quite selective in what you film over Christmas or you could end up editing hours of footage. Being aware of lighting considerations and how children can help you capture the essenc...
Film Your Pets
How pets are often difficult subjects to film on video as they can’t be trained to perform on demand for the camera for the most part. How you can encourage them to do so and other techniques for capt...
Filming On The Beach
How a good beach home movie will always be more effective if you make people and their activities the main focus of your film. Problems you may encounter with the sun and sound and how to combat them ...
Fixing DVD Burn Errors
What are the common causes of DVD burn errors. How you can sometimes fix the problem depending on the type of disk you’re burning to and things you should avoid doing....
Home Editing Software
How you can take advantage of free video editing software that already comes pre-installed on your PC or Mac and how you can trial more expensive software first before committing to buy...
How Do I Download Footage to My Laptop?
Transferring footage from camera to computer can be difficult unless you have the correct ports available....
How to Choose Background Music For Your Film
How a careful and considered selection of a particular piece of music can dramatically enhance a particular scene or scenes in a homemade film or video. How it can achieve that and the importance of u...
How to Conserve Camcorder Battery Power
The various things you can do and shouldn’t do to prolong the life of your camcorder’s battery and the importance of getting into the habit of always taking a spare along with you....
How to Develop Interesting Characters
How to develop interesting characters and why it’s important to do so in order that your audience can engage with them, whether the characters are likeable or not....
How to Edit Your Home Videos
How to get your camcorder footage onto your computer and then begin the process of choosing what you want to keep. Putting all the material you intend to keep into sequential order and using effects t...
How to Film an Interview
Filming interviews. Useful tips and techniques and how it’s important to understand how to film certain shots in a specific way to create the desired effect as well as the importance of putting the su...
How to Format a Screenplay
How to format a screenplay and why it’s useful to look at existing screenplays if you want your own to make sense and to leave a positive impression....
How to Shoot Your Video
Some important tips when shooting a home video. Techniques to try out and what to avoid. How planning and technical awareness will help you to create a decent home video....
How to Use a Zoom Lense
How overuse of the zoom lens can make your home videos look amateur and some tips and techniques for making them look more professional....
How Your Camcorder Works
How the basics of a camcorder work and how the latest formats have enabled people to watch audiovisual recordings when and where they like....
Intended Audience for Your Videos
Why a consideration for your audience is crucial if you want your film to receive good comments. How different techniques can be used to keep the audience engaged and the importance of having a progre...
Interesting Film Angles
How using different angles when filming not only helps to keep your audience interested but also adds to the dramatic effect of the mood or emotions you’re trying to convey....
Make the Most of Camcorder Special Features
How you may or may not need many of the special features contained within camcorders and the importance of deciding what camcorder to buy based on those features you need as opposed to paying for thos...
Making a Documentary
How documentaries can tend to be either thought provoking or a bit of an eye-opener in terms of the fly on the wall type. The importance of feeling passionate about the subject matter and the way in w...
Making a Video Blog
How to make a video blog and how to get it noticed. How it’s a good way to share thoughts and opinions with others around the world and other benefits....
Making a Wedding Video
How important planning and an understanding of the day’s events are crucial in the production of a wedding video. Things to consider and the importance of consultation with the bride and groom...
Making an Animated Film For Kids
How to create an animated film. Understanding the basics of working with plasticine or clay models and using that as a springboard to learn the basic skills before using specialist computer software p...
Moving With Your Camera
The six main aspects of moving with your camera to create a dramatic effect. How you should review what you film to establish what techniques ‘worked’ for you and why others didn’t....
Photo Capture From DVD
How you can use free software to capture still photographs from a DVD or video file. How these stills can then be used to promote and publicise your film or kept as candid and spontaneous photographs ...
Planning Your Home Video
The aspects you’ll need to consider if you want to plan your home video creatively. Looking at the length of the video, the actual story and ensuring that it flows and the importance of creating a sto...
Putting Your Video on the Web
The pros and cons of uploading your video onto the web and steps you can take to keep things private. Confidentiality and privacy issues and why people have got into uploading video in a big way....
Questionnaire: Digital or Traditional Video Camera?
The choice between digital and traditional film making can be a difficult one. In reality, each of the two mediums can suit specific circumstances....
Setting the Scene for Your Video
How it’s important to set each scene correctly for your home video using lighting, sound, narrative, location and music to convey the mood to suit the scene which you’re filming....
Shooting Underwater Videos
How filming underwater often causes a unreal sense of visual perception when filming and how getting up close to your subject and using a variety of shots as well as focusing on the behaviour of livin...
Shooting Video Outside
Things to consider when filming outdoors. How good weather as well as bad can affect filming and techniques you can adopt to make your videos look more professional...
Storing Videos to DVD and Your Computer
How to get the video files from your camcorder to your PC and preparing them to be converted and stored on a DVD disk or stored on your PC....
Storyline and Plot Development
Creating a storyline and plot development when writing a screenplay. How most filmmakers will follow a broad but common approach in how to develop a plot successfully....
Techniques and Effects For Creating A Scary Movie
Useful and simple techniques you can adopt when shooting a scary movie in order to heighten the dramatic effect and create intensity....
Telling a Story in Your Family Video
How you need to plan ahead before filming and create a visual concept of what your film is going to be about if you want to tell a good story. The importance of your film having a beginning, middle an...
The Importance Of Good Dialogue
The importance of good dialogue in movie making and things you should consider as a screenwriter....
The Main Components of a Screenplay
The main components of writing a screenplay and what you should be looking for when writing a screenplay....
Tips For Filming Family Holidays
Things to consider when shooting a family holiday video. The importance of trying to capture the mood and atmosphere of the place as well as candid fun shots. Using commentary and music interspersed t...
Tips For Filming Special Occasions
The importance of considering the location and format of an event alongside some knowledge of the participants and to create a scene-by-scene plan of what to film when producing a special occasion vid...
Tips on Filming Your Active Toddler
How to shoot home videos of toddlers. Scenes to incorporate and filming when they’re not hungry or tired. Useful techniques and the kinds of things you can do to provoke a worthwhile reaction....
Tips on Filming Your Teenagers
How the world of family videos tends to turn teenagers off from the traditional ways of making a family video yet, simultaneously, they tend to become even more enthusiastic for making videos for a mu...
Top Video Editing Effects
Some of the most popular effects used in editing home movies and how they are used to convey different emotions to the viewer....
Tripods and When Best to Use Them
Examples of when you should consider using a tripod. How tripods can avoid turning your film into a complete disaster and make your videos more professional to watch....
Types of Camcorder
The different types of camcorder and how technological advancements have made it easier to both carry and use the camcorder itself and to store greater amounts of filmed footage....
Using Your Camcorder: The Basics
What a camcorder consists of and what it is intended to do.The most common reasons people buy camcorders and the ways in which their films can be viewed, manipulated and stored....
Video Compression
The reasons why we need to use video compression. What it’s designed to achieve and how your own eyes and ears will ultimately serve to determine the best video compression format for your particular ...
Video CVs: Worthwhile or a Gimmick?
How technological developments have increased the popularity of a video CV but how there are several pros and cons to choosing this approach as opposed to the conventional printed CV....
Video: Digital Editing Basics
In this short video, filmmaker Steven Hutchinson gives some advice on lighting your video.
Video Transcript
Hi my name's Steven Hutchinson, I'm a filmmaker and on behalf of FamilyVideos.co.uk I am ...
Video: Lighting Your Video
In this short video film maker, Steven Hutchinson gives some advice on lighting your video.
Video Transcript
My name's Steven Hutchinson, I'm a film maker and on behalf of FamilyVideos.co.uk I am g...
Video: Mini DV Camcorder Basics
In this short video, film maker Steven Hutchinson demonstrates the basic functions of a mini DV camcorder.
Video Transcript
Hi I am Steven Hutchinson, I'm a film maker and on behalf of family vi...
Video: Using the Zoom
Hi, my names Steven Hutchinson, I'm a film maker and on behalf of FamilyVideos.co.uk I'm going to give you a bit of advice on how to use the zoom on your camcorder.
When you're shooting your video tr...
What Does High Definition Really Mean?
The technology of high definition and what impact that will make on home movie making and how, for the time being at least, only the real amateur movie maker is likely to fully embrace the technology ...
What is In Camera Editing?
How in-camera editing is an alternative method to editing your film in that you ‘edit’ it as you film not afterwards. How planning is essential and what you should be wary of....
What Makes a Good Romance?
Writing a romantic screenplay. How it’s important to make your characters realistic and to create obstacles and tensions that threaten to keep them apart....
What Makes a Good Thriller
The aspects of writing a successful thriller screenplay and what the writer should be striving towards when dealing with the opposing forces of good versus evil....
What Makes a Good Video Diary?
How a video diary is a great way of creating a home movie. How you don’t need to concern yourself too much with technique as it will be you (or your subject) and the narrative that will carry the movi...
What You Need To Know About Filming in Public Places
The rules surrounding shooting a home video in public places and what you might need to do and who to contact if you need to obtain permission....