You Be The Producer

production terminology and equipment

Automatic Level Control — Circuitry in the recorder that turns the audio level up when it is quiet and down when the sound is loud. It listens for the loudest sound and adjusts the audio to that level.

Audio — The sound that is recorded on the videotape.

Back Lighting — When there is stronger light behind the subject than in front of it. This causes silhouettes.

Focus — Adjusting the camera so that the picture isn’t fuzzy.
Auto focus — The camera needs no adjustment. However, it may not focus optimally.
Manual focus — You can zoom in on a subject, focus and zoom out to get the desired shot.

Macro — Lens adjustment used to focus for extreme close-ups.

Microphone (Mic) — A device used to pick up sound.
Internal — Mic attached to the camera.
External — Mic on a cable plugged into the camera or recorder.

Tripod — A good tripod will greatly enhance your video production. One of the principal rules of video production is camera steadiness. Shooting with the camera on the shoulder requires care and practice. A tripod lets the less experienced camera operator concentrate on other aspects of shooting.

Video — The picture that is recorded on the videotape.

White Balance — The white balance function adjusts the camera’s color range to the light illuminating the subject. Light from different sources has different color. Sunlight is blue. Incandescent light is red. Fluorescent light is green. For accurate color you must adjust the white balance every time the light changes.

Selection of Camcorder

The purpose of the camcorder is to record quality video that can be captured and edited on a Mac/PC. Your camera should have the following capabilities:

MiniDV camcorder with good quality lens mechanisim. Check to insure the camcorder is compatible with the computer software, and that the computer has a FireWire, iLink or iEEE.
One-hour battery (minimum)
Carrying case
Recharger device
Extended warranty
Audio in/out for headphones and external microphones.
FireWire, iLink or iEEE input to capture video to computer hard drive. A 4-pin to 6-pin FireWire cable to connect camera to computer.
Pass-through capability so you can record old VHS tapes through the camcorder onto your hard drive. The quality of VHS is not equal to original MiniDV video recorded from a MiniDV camcorder onto the hard drive.

Computer Requirements

Windows: XP (best), 2000 on PC with Pentium 4 processor.
OS X: 10.2 or higher on Macintosh G-4 or higher.

Large hard drive (7200 RPM preferred) or external Firewire hard drive to move videos to other workstations.

To burn a video CD (approximately 40-60 minutes at VHS quality), a CD burner and VCD software are required.

To create a DVD (approximately 60-90 minutes), a DVD burner and DVD authoring software are required.