I started a thread of Filming Magic a LONG time ago. Here is what I wrote:
Angles/Positions
The angles really depend on the effect, if there is an effect with bad angles, the most logical thing to do is to have your camera in the right position so nothing is exposed. The camera shouldn't be able to pick up any flashes, so everything must be planned out in advance as it is hard to misdirect a camera.
The first thing you have to realize when filming a performance is that the cameraman will have to act like a spectator because the people who are going to be watching the performance on film, are spectators. You'll want your camera man to be positioned close to the spectator (behind or next to). But under no circumstance do you want to get in the spectator's way, because they are the main viewers, and the magician's job should be to entertain the audience, not the camera, so if at that moment it would be hard to get a good shot of the magician, don't worry, there will be plenty of other times to get a great shot.
Different tricks call for different angles and positions, I am going to show you an example of where the camera should be. (Photo's taken summer '06)
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...loridaedit.jpg
This picture is of me performing Stigmata by Wayne Houchin. The cameraman should be positioned to the left of the spectator (arrows) filming my arm. If possible, have the cameraman film everything (arm + bodies) to get a good view of facial expressions. If the cameraman was positioned on the right of the spectator, the spectator's arm would be in the way. The camera must have a good view of EVERYTHING so it benefits the viewers on the other side of the screen once filming is complete.
Attitude/Complexion
You have to make sure that the camera man is in the right attitude for filming. If not, things can go wrong during filming rendering the final copy useless.
Sit down with you camera man before going out to perform, and bring these points to his attention.
Stable Camera
You DON'T want the camera to be shakey, it takes away from the potential of the video. Almost nothing is worse than a shakey camera, make sure that the camera man is calm and cool so that the stability of the camera is normal. Throughout filming many things, I have noticed that there are two ways to eliminate shakeyness. Usually I see people holding cameras like this:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...ing_camera.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...ngPangMata.jpg
You DON'T want your cameraman to hold the camera like this, the camera wont be stable and it will shake. You want to have support at the bottom of the camera, so instead of hold both sides of the camera (or only one), simply put one hand into a fist, and rest the camera on top, the other hand will be at the side of the camera.
Another way to hold the camera is to hold it while looking down at it. To do this, instead of putting your hand up into the camera strap, put it downwards into the camera strap, I find this gets a lot more stability, but the angles are harder.
Quiet Cameraman
My biggest pet peeve and something that is totally unprofessional is your camera man talking while filming. You never see this in movies, short films, or TV shows, then what makes it right in a magic video? Even if it is your dad pointing out flaws, or saying where to move, HE SHOULDN'T beca-
**** WAIT STOP, let me emphasize on something...
"Even if it is your dad pointing out flaws, or saying where to move"
This should NEVER happen, your camera man shouldn't be the one telling YOU where to move, it should be vice versa, not to sound arrogant, but the MAGICIAN is in charge, the camera man should be taking orders from you, if your camera man is giving YOU orders, it makes you seem weak, you are the main act, you are the magician, the camera man should never be giving you tips. And if the camera man can't get into a good enough position, then it is his problem, your number one goal is to entertain your present spectator, not the camera. If
Now let's return to where we were. I know it might be hard to tell you friend, parent, or sibling to (lack of a better term) SHUT UP, but it is necessary for the sake of your video.
Lighting
I notice sometimes in people's videos, and even my own it is hard to see the face of certain cards, this is because of lighting. Cards are VERY VERY reflective and light just bounces off of it like there's no tomorrow. To avoid this, close your blinds so that no light can shine onto the cards, and turn the light off of your camera. Have the light shining behind you, not from in front of you, or the cards will reflect light.
"Your eyes and brain can quickly adapt to mixed lighting situations -- such as tungsten, daylight, and fluorescent -- but your camcorder has a much more difficult time. fluorescent lights often cause a greenish cast, while tungsten makes things orangish; even good ol' daylight can color your scene blue if you're in the shade or next to an open window.
How the heck do you deal with all of that?
The best solution is to try to limit your light sources, and then use your camcorder's white balance setting adjust for the dominate light source. So if you're indoors with lots of light streaming in the windows and bright fluorescents overhead, then either turn off the fluorescents and balance for the daylight, or pull down the window shades and adjust for the overhead lighting.
Once you start thinking about mixed lighting sources, you can take steps to avoid those situations. When you can't, try to limit the different types of illumination and adjust your white balance accordingly." (
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/ma.../dv_tips.html)
Sound
Sound is another very important issue, it is very unprofessional to hear background noise, and even the sound of the camera's mechanisms.
"Whenever possible, use an external microphone, either wireless or with a cord, to capture the audio during taping. Resist the urge to go the easy route and use your on board mic. Not only is it of less quality than a good external microphone, it will also pick up noise from the camcorder's drive mechanism." (MacDecCenter.com)
If you continue to hear background noise, I would pick up a good video editing software, or sound editing to eliminate the noise. I use Honestech Video Editor 7.0, it is free, simple, and comes with a ton of features.
EDITING
I am going to delve into the art of editing this time around, but I won't act like a spokesperson for specific editing programs (well maybe a couple) because all editing takes is time and patience. A good editor can make a masterpiece using Windows Movie Maker. It simply takes effort, don't think you can pop in a clip and edit it effortlessly. Editing takes practice.
I am studying Film in College right now, and we use every editing program. From Final Cut Pro to Adobe Premiere, but I ALWAYS eventually come back to Windows Movie Maker... why?... because it's what I'm most comfortable with. And I can say from experience, a lot can be done with a simple program like Windows Movie Maker. At home I use Adobe Premiere and WMM, but I use WMM 10X more than I use Premiere.
There are two vital features to editing, Splits and Cuts. Windows Movie Maker contains a split option and this option is the one needed the most. Using a split allows for a clip to be cut (or split) in any area of the clip. So let's say a split is need at 1:07, then stop the clip at 1:07 and click split. It's as simple as that. This will allow for cuts to different tricks, flourishes, and effects.
One thing I see in many magic videos is ridiculous special effects such as spinning or shaking of the film at the climax of the effect. You want the people watching the video to see what the spectator would see. The spectator wouldn't see a vivid complete colouration distortion of entire reality in front of their eyes, then why put those effects on film? It's O.K. to slow down the film at the climax because the person viewing the film will still see a clear shot of what is happening on screen. As long as the viewer can see the end or climax CLEARLY, then that part of the film should be fine.
If the editor wants to put sound, then it should be put at the right time. The film viewer wants to hear the patter, not the heavy death metal playing in the background. I am guilty of doing this and I have learned from my mistakes. It's O.K. to have music playing throughout the film but even with Windows Movie Maker it is possible to mute, lower, and raise the volume of a clip and/or song. So there are no excuses for not being able to hear patter.
I often hear many people complaining about compression, conversion, and the size of their files. (The size of my files are bigger than all of yours *Wink wink*). I found two VERY simple solutions to this problem. If your video is in finished editing in .AVI format, import it into Windows Movie Maker, put it into the time line and click "File -> Publish Movie" then click "Best format for playback on this computer". It will save it as a .WMV and a MUCH, MUCH smaller file. I also know many people complain about conversion, do not fret! Simply go to this site:
http://media-convert.com/
And choose the conversion file you want. If your file is ultra huge, I would recommend converting the file to .AVI and follow the previously mentioned steps for .AVI files. The site that I mentioned allows changes the quality of the video and sound. Simply choose the sound and video quality needed and the video should convert without any worries.
This is a very basic introduction to editing, but once again I would like to state, don't be angry if you don't have the highest quality video editing program. I use Windows Movie Maker daily because it is the most simple way to edit a video. It just takes time.
Happy filming and editing.
Mitchell
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