Tips and Tricks
Published by Graham Walker on 24 Aug 2005 at 7:45 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under Tips and Tricks.
Cut the Zoom.
There is a reason Hollywood movies use dollies instead of the zoom, it looks a 1000 times better. Nothing makes video look more like amateurish than the zoom function. Of course you can’t carry a dolly around in your pocket but you can at least, hold the camera firm and steady and use your arms/body to mimic a slight dolly movement.
Try this next time you are editing: Instead of showing a zoom from a wide shot to a close up try cutting out that zoom in the middle. Now, you have a nice one-two wide to close-up shot. Obviously, if you are doing dialogue this can be tricky but a well placed piece of b-roll (ie - that extra crap that you shoot) placed in-between can often fix that issue.
In reality, I find it pretty much impossible not to use the zoom (and yes they find their way into my videos all the time but I leave them out whenever I can). The main point is that even being conscious of this fact while you shoot and edit will go a long way if your goal is to make your videos look more professional.
Curt on 25 Aug 2005 at 10:30 pm: 1
Or, use a very slow and slight zoom. Just tighten up a tiny bit and do it very slooooowly. Looks like a nice dolly shot but much more classy.
Agreed, fast, extreme zooms are not cool.
phi. on 26 Aug 2005 at 9:15 am: 2
Sometimes I’ll do a zoom and when I watch it later I want to punch myself in the face. “Hold still, dammit.”
Chris on 9 Oct 2005 at 8:55 am: 3
Sergio Leone used zooms. Sometimes it’s in fashion, other times it’s not. It all depends on how it’s used.