So You Wanna Make A
Better Home Movie?


If you're like me, you can remember a time when the term "home movie" meant a badly edited, boring documentation of an otherwise perfectly enjoyable family event (like Thanksgiving or the time Uncle Leo fell in the pool with all his clothes on).  But, thanks to the advent of that scary thing we like to call technology, this is starting to change.  I don't mean that it's suddenly becoming more acceptable to treat your friends and family to home movies, but rather that the quality of said movies no longer has to be, let's face it, abysmal.  So how, you may be asking, do I (meaning you) make a better home movie?    Well I (meaning me) am glad you asked.  Basically, there are 4 steps: Equipment, Action, Editing, and Viewing.  Ready to start off?  Good.  Let's go.

Step 1: Equipment

When I was a kid, the big rage in video cameras was this thing called Hi-8.  It was a smaller tape than VHS and it offered somewhat better quality overall (you didn't feel like you were watching a bad family movie so much as a somewhat grainier version of a badly lit television show).  Well, camcorders have come a long way since then.  The current major player in the camcordering (which isn't really a word) world is something affectionately referred to as MiniDV.  This is partially because it is a smaller version of a slightly older format called DV (digital video) and partially because that is its name.  Why is MiniDV so popular?  Mostly this is because it allows the average person to record video that, in terms of quality, is much closer to broadcast than anything which came before it.  Another reason is that MiniDV is easily downloadable to a home computer, which allows for easy editing.

Now, while there are a large number of cameras available which will utilize the MiniDV format, they are not all created equal (big surprise, I'm sure).  There are many different features available in a camcorder and while most of them come down to personal preference (you can, for example find cameras with night vision, which is cool if you like that, but its not a neccessity), there is one that I feel is more important than the rest: CCD.  CCD stands for "charge-coupled device" and is, essentially, the part of the camera which takes in color information from what is being shot.  The CCD is not exactly the lens, but it's pretty close.  The majority of the less expensive cameras available on the market are 1 CCD, meaning that there is only one sensor for all the color data entering into the camera.  This is not a bad thing - it just makes the captured video less crisp.  If you are looking to find a camera with amazing resolution and color (approaching broadcast quality, remember), then you want to look for a camera with 3 CCDs.  The benefit here is that the color information is split between the CCDs (the red information goes to one, the blue to another, and the green to the third).  Essentially, this simply means that the color is much more vibrant and crisp, and the overall video is of a better quality.

There are, of course, numerous brands of video cameras out there.  I personally would recomend a Panasonic, but that's just because I've gotten very good results from the ones I have owned.  Whichever one you end buying, make sure that there is a Firewire port.  I know that probably doesn't make sense yet, but it will.  The only other thing I would say about the camera is that while it might be tempting to buy a rig with an attached boom mic, there is realistically no need to do so unless you are looking to make an actual film.  For the casual videographer, it is completely unnecessary.  So, to recap: MiniDV is a great format to use, 1CCD is good but 3CCD is better, Firewire is essential, and you don't really need a boom mic.

Try this search to help you out: 3CCD

Step 2: Action

All I'll say here is that when you're shooting video, if you want to be able to show it to people, try to think of what you would want to see if someone else made you watch their home movies.

Step 3: Editing

Remember how I told you to get a camcorder with a Firewire port?  Well, this is where it comes in.  Firewire is a data transport method similar to USB.  The difference is that while USB is alright for smaller chunks of data (ie: pictures or music or annoying ring tones), Firewire is the only real choice when it comes to huge chunks, and video is a very huge chunk.  So, you will need to purchase a Firewire cable.  The one thing you need to find out is the number of pins on each end of the connection.  That is, how many pins is your camera and how many pins is your computer.  This is something which will be mentioned in the book for the camera.  The cords will range anywhere from $10 (for bottom of the line, relatively questionable products) to well over $30 (for professionals).  You want to try and find one in the neighborhood of about $30 as that level generally strikes a nice balance between quality (which you need) and showiness (which you don't).  Once you have your cord, you'll need to plug it into the camera and the computer you will be using for editing.  This seems like a good time to mention that the computer you're using for editing probably needs to also have a Firewire port.  Once you're plugged in, all you need to do is open the editing software of your choice and get to work.  If you are using an Apple, then the software of choice is iMovie.  If you are using a PC, then the software of availability (since it comes with XP) is MovieMaker.  I personally prefer iMovie, but since all I own at the moment is a PC, I'm stuck with MovieMaker.

The nice thing about being able to edit your movies on the computer is that you have complete control over the content and flow of your project.  You can remove unwanted bits (like if someone said a naughty word or gave you bunny ears or something) and rearrange stuff (you can make people go backwards or go forward, but really fast) and you can even filter things to give them different looks (like changing the color to make everything look green, or making your video look like an old television show).  You can even add titles and credits!  Once your project is finished, you can either save it (generally as an avi, mpg, or mov file), export it (which means it would be recorded back onto the original DV tape) or, if you have a DVD burner, you could burn it onto a DVD.  If you exported the fild to the DV tape, then you can use the AV cables which came with your camcorder to hook the camera to your television and record the video onto a VHS tape.

Try this search to help you out: Firewire Cable

Step 4: Viewing

How you view your video is entirely up to you.  Some people prefer to watch their creations on televsion (DVd or VHS) while some prefer to format the video and watch it on their iPods.  Still others will leave the file on the camera and simply use the LCD screen.  As I said, it's up to you.

In Conclusion

And so, there you have it.  Better home movies in 4 easy steps: Equipment, Action, Editing, and Viewing.  Now if only you could get some friends to actually watch your creations...