TIPS FOR MAKING MOVIE

• Make sure you're well prepared before shooting your movie, as not being prepared might just waste your resources, such as your video tapes.
• Before shooting a scene, make sure that your video camera is charged up and is ready to run. Having a spare battery is a good idea.
• If you are bad at introductions and conclusions, then think of the end first, and begin the movie in the same place, or vice-versa.
• Add music, but not illegally. In other words, you can put music in, but don't give out copies. If you do, you will have to use non-copyrighted material or contact someone to get permission.No matter where you are there is always independent musicians that would love to have their songs in your movie.
• Sound and lighting are very important: Good sound (easily understanding the person speaking without hearing the photographer breathing, or street noise, for example) is critical. Good lighting makes the video/movie watchable. Excellent "budget lighting" include: Dusk or early morning, a foggy or overcast day, and shade (but only when there is a darker background.) A white poster board can be used to bounce light to the shaded side of the face
• Here are a few camera pointers to consider:
  • Vary the shots for interest, but vary the type of shots, between wide, medium and close-up. Too many close-ups in a row is disorienting. Start with a wide Establishing Shot (so the audience knows where the action is taking place and what time of day, year or millennium it is), then vary medium and close-up shots. Keep strange point of view (POV) shots to a minimum unless you are trying to startle the viewer.
  • Panning (moving the camera side to side): don't. But if you must, pan in wide angle, and have a reason for the pan (follow a person walking through scene or pan to what the actor on screen is looking at). End the pan on the object of the pan. If your pan is designed to show the Golden Gate bridge, that is then the reason for the pan. Don't pan back and forth.
  • First-person: Try to avoid filming a movie in first-person. These movies end up looking cheap and usually don't have much of a hit with the audience. Remember, this is a movie, not a video game.
  • Tilting: Just as if you're panning side to side, try to avoid it - but fine when used sparingly.
  • Don't do fancy camera movements without additional equipment such as a Steadicam.
• Make sure all of the cast know their cues and when a scene is being filmed, so they do not step into a shot unnecessarily.
• Be sure to add credits to your movie (to make it professional looking and to thank everyone who worked on the film).
• When you finish your movie, share it with the world. If it is a serious work, bring it to film festivals where it might be picked up. If it is a small, casual work, host it on the internet for the world to view freely. They're both paths to different kinds of fame.
• Have a lawyer read over any contracts before you sign them. You might be signing away the rights to your movie.
• Establishing shot - You can also, if allowed, stand on a building in a city and video the whole city,but the establishing shot does not have to be of a city it can be a building, sign or anything that establishes the location. This is known as an establishing shot. It will help if you're doing a video about crime or something.
• Make sure you have fun throughout the whole process!
• If you are using your friends as actors, be sure to have everything planned out. This way no one's time is wasted sitting around and getting nothing done.