One of the questions I am frequently asked is what equipment and software I use for making videos. So here’s a brief run-down of pretty much everything I use.
Obviously, we have to start with the camera. Actually, even the cheapest camera these days would do, and with smartphones now having pretty good built-in cameras, nearly everyone these days is equipped to make videos.
I currently use three cameras: a Panasonic HC-X1000 for vlogs, and a Panasonic HC-X2 and a GoPro 10 on location. It may seem like overkill to use something like an HC-X1000 just for vlogs, but it was my previous camera for location shoots and is now enjoying semi-retirement. Why throw away a camera in perfectly good working order?
The HC-X2 is basically a professional grade camera, and is a pretty big camcorder. I like it for its large sensor, big lens, and ability to shoot in Log profile (very helpful in tricky lighting situations). But it is big and bulky to carry around, and especially if you're starting out you’ll want to go with something a lot more compact. I prefer camcorders over DSLRs and similar types of camera, but here are the features I would advise you to look for if you want to buy a serious camera for video work:
The HC-X2 I currently use for location work is in the same series as the HC-X1000. Its size and weight do make it difficult to carry around, but it's actually slightly easier to hold a heavier camera reasonably steady, and people who see me filming tend to think I must know what I’m doing.
Here are some of the features a professional-grade camcorder has:
I would definitely recommend to anyone serious about videomaking to work their way up the “camera hierarchy”, starting with a decent phone, and then graduating to a high-end consumer device before investing in a professional camera. Only once you have mastered the camera you currently have and have practice in scriptwriting and editing should you start thinking about upgrading.
For ambient sound, particularly outdoors, my camera’s internal mics perform just fine. But for speech, I generally need an external mic.
Most often, I use a lapel mic. One of the things I have discovered is that at the cheap end of the market at least, price is no real guide: I’ve tried really cheap mics that have performed better than rival models twice the price.
I found particular success with the Vivanco EM35, a really cheap thing (although you do need to buy a battery for it) that delivered surprisingly good sound until it developed a loose contact somewhere. I was then unable to find another Vivanco EM35, but instead I found the Yoga EM106, which seemed to be the same mic under a different name. However, it didn’t deliver quite the same quality as the Vivanco. I was able to solve that, though, because on both models the microphone plugged into the battery box: I was able to simply swap the mics over and now I have a properly functioning decent quality lapel mic.
Since then, however, I have switched to the Comica BoomX-U. This is a radio mic, so there is no need for a long extension cord to plug it into the camera. It’s pretty decent, but like most radio mics has the issue of the sound occasionally dropping if the antenna is hidden under thick clothing.
Sometimes a shotgun mic is necessary, and so I splashed out on a Røde Videomic. This is very handy for those times when you want to record sound from in front of the camera without picking too much extraneous noise, but a lapel mic is impractical: vox pops, for example. But mounted on a desk stand and with the addition of a pop filter, it can usefully be pressed into action for voiceovers. Instead of using special sound recording equipment, I can plug it straight into my camera.
However, while that did serve me well for a long time, a more professional solution is a studio microphone; mine is the Auna CM001B, which comes with a shock mount to minimize unwanted vibrations and a pop filter to keep the sound free of unwanted “popping” sounds.
The Auna CM001B doesn’t plug directly into a computer; it has an XLR connection (which uses “balanced lines” to reduce interference), which is what the professionals use. So for this, I do need extra equipment: I have an old Behringer Xenyx 302USB mixer, which accepts an XLR input and sends it as a USB to the computer. You can, of course, avoid this by choosing a USB mic instead.
The one I usually use is a Hama Star 63. It’s actually meant for stills, not video, so smooth panning and tilting aren’t possible; but for those times when I have to film myself, or for when I really need to keep the camera steady, it does the job just fine. For special occasions I have a second-hand tripod by Cullmann, which can be persuaded to pan and tilt fairly smoothly. It has an extension arm which can be used to position the camera at odd angles: it’s most often in action, for example, to photograph the postcards for my “Fan Mail” videos.
Lighting is a challenge in the tiny space I have, but fortunately the modern world contains LEDs and other technology that makes life a little easier.
Originally I used two 400W halogen lights of the sort used by painters and decorators, and this worked very well in a variety of situations (and I would still recommend this setup for anyone on a budget that extends as far as a camera with a white balance setting, but not enough for proper studio lighting).
The Nanguang NG-455AB light is a nice, big light, which is always good for keeping the light even and the shadows relatively soft. It is colour-balanced to 5600 K, which is daylight, but the lights themselves are fluorescent tubes, so there is a noticeable green cast: this makes it unsuitable for greenscreen work, and I have now retired it.
The other lights are LED panels by Neewer and Boling. These are properly colour balanced, and come with filters to lower the colour temperature to that of tungsten, meaning I can also use them in conjunction with the halogen lights if necessary. The Neewer light a large 900 LED panel, while the Boling has approximately 600.
For a simple vlog, I simply light myself with both panels, one to my right and one to my left. In the background I have a practical light — that is, an ordinary table lamp that is in shot as a table lamp — and a cheap LED tube light by Yelangu to cast a blue light on the wall behind my monitor.
Currently, I’m using Adobe Premiere Pro to edit my videos. This is quite a pricey video editor, though: contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a really expensive editing program with lots of “cool” special effects to make compelling videos. The things you really need are the ability to have multiple tracks, colour correction, basic titles, keyframe animation, some audio cleanup and maybe chroma keying if you want to try your hand at greenscreen work. There are plenty of free or inexpensive options out there, and it’s a question of finding one you can work with.
As always, what’s way more important than glittery effects is basic storytelling. Begin with the elementary stuff, and then, once you’ve mastered that, consider whether you really need to upgrade to the next level.
My main motive for using Premiere Pro was that an automated update broke the software I was using previous, and Premiere Pro was the only one with the features I needed and that didn’t complain my system wasn’t good enough for it to run.
Corel Draw, which has Corel Photo Paint bundled with it, is what I use to create images and thumbnails. Photoshop is another mistake people sometimes make: Photoshop is really designed to manipulate photographs, not so much to create graphics from scratch (although, if you already have an Adobe account, a combination of Illustrator and Photoshop will serve you well). Corel Draw (or Illustrator) creates vector graphics, perfect for logos, maps, and the more “cartoony” images I sometimes have in my videos.
To clean up the audio on my videos, I use Adobe Audition (since I already have an Adobe account), in conjunction with a couple of plugins that use (or claim to use) AI to cut down on reverb and background noise: specifically, Waves Clarity Vx and Waves Clarity Vx DeReverb. These are VST plugins, so should in theory work on most audio editors, including Audacity, which is free. The aforementioned plugins do cost money, but Waves constantly has promotions running, so if you wait long enough you should be able to get a massive discount.
One of the cool features I discovered with Audition is the “spot-healing” tool which is a pretty effective method of getting rid of the annoying mouth clicks you get when recording voiceovers.
For a lot of the animations you see from time to time on my videos, I use Adobe After Effects. Generally speaking, if you see an animated route being drawn on a map, or something that’s motion-tracked to the video footage, it’s almost certainly After Effects.
Occasionally you might see some 3D images floating about. These are usually created in Blender, which is a completely free piece of professional grade software. It’s incredibly complicated to learn and use, but also great fun.
© 2011 – 2024 by Andrew Bossom rewboss@rewboss.com — all rights reserved.