When recording with a VCR or shooting with a camcorder, there are some basic Do's and Don'ts to follow that will make your editing much easier.
DO
Pre-roll and Post-roll the tape. Get the tape rolling at least 10 seconds
before the action starts. VCRs and camcorders take several seconds to stabilize
the head and tape speed. Until that happens, the video will not have good
synchronization and it will be difficult or impossible to capture the first
bit of video.
Another reason for Pre-roll is if your VCR or camcorder has an onscreen display that comes on for a few seconds when you press Play and the display cannot be disabled. You don't want over the first several seconds of your production!
Post-roll is important because many VCRs and camcorders take up the slack on the take-up reel instead of the supply reel when you Stop or turn them off. It's just like rewinding the tape several seconds. This leads to the ends of shots gettong recorded over.
When you Pause or Stop the tape, the last few frames can have synchronization problems, especially on consumer grade equipment. A "flying erase head" is a very good thing to have. There's not much more annoying than being unable to capture the last half of the last word someone spoke because the shooter hit Stop the instant the person was done speaking.
PAUSE the tape instead of Stopping between shots that will be made close in time to each other. This ensures continuity of timecodes on the tape for consumer grade equipment, which does not do Vertical Interval TimeCode (VITC), which is an individual code for every frame, counting up from zero from the beginning of the tape or when the counter is reset.
Use only NEW, best quality tapes to shoot with. The digital folks can often get away with reusing tapes many times, but us analog people live and die by the quality of signal recorded on the tape. The NuBus Media 100 system will choke and stop capturing at the drop of a single frame, which usually never happens in a spot where it's easy to cut right up to both sides of it and make a smooth transition.
Use smooth motions when moving the camera. Herky-jerky, tilted moves are great if you're doing "The Blair Witch Project", but not for business meetings or trade shows or weddings.
Use your head to solve tricky problems. Need a smooth pan or long zoom in but you don't even have a tripod? Find a tall person and a wheelchair or even an office desk chair for an instant camera dolly. Standing on desks or sturdy tables works for elevated shots. The objects around you can often be pressed into double duty for all sorts of things.
Read Notes on the Troubleshooting and Repair of Video Cassette Recorders to get familiar with the workings of videotape and how it's recorded. Then you'll know what the salesperson is talking about when you go shopping for a new camera, or possibly know more than the salesperson. ;)
If there is any suspicion or question about the accuracy and alignment of your VCR or camcorder, get it serviced BEFORE recording anything you intend to edit. There is very little worse than having your equipment serviced, only to find out that you have dozens or hundreds of tapes of footage you can no longer use because it was recorded with out of whack equipment.
Experiment! That is, when you have free time and it's not someone else's money involved. It's a good way to learn techniques and to develop your own style with the camera and the editing.
Lable your tapes, keep the description SHORT. Use sequential numbers for easy sorting and finding of tapes. When you need that certain shot NOW, it's much easier to find "CabbageHill-00054" than it is to scan a dozen tapes looking for the one with the shot you want.
DON'T
Don't try "camera cutting". Tape is cheap. Let it run and give your
editor, or yourself if you're both shooter and editor, plenty of material
to work with. Camera cutting worked great on the movie "Westworld"
(Where nothing can go worng.), but that cameraman was very good at it.
This was also the very first movie with real computer graphics, done laboriously
frame by frame for the Gunslinger POV "infrared" shots. Also see the sequel
"Futureworld" and six
episode TV series "Beyond
Westworld". (Hey, I like the movies, k?)
Don't use that tape of your 1985 office Christmas party you dug out of the box in the back of the closet. First, because it might be good blackmail material some day and second because you'll for certain not be able to get a good recording on it after all these years.
Don't abuse your equipment! If you bang your camera into a post or knock it off a chair, get it checked out before using it again. A tiny shift in the alignment of one mechanical component can cause you serious trouble when it's time to capture to the computer.
Don't go on a shoot without plenty of charged batteries AND a charger for your camcorder. There's very little worse than looking like a dolt because you forgot to bring charged batteries on a shoot.
Don't reset the tape counter in the middle of the tape. Your editor won't like it.
Send more Do's and Don'ts to gregg1 at ispwest dot com !