Get Your Video Equipment
Video Planning—Step 2 of 6
Here's a quick guide to supplying your department with video equipment. We'll cover these five main items.
Video Equipment Categories
The tools you use to create your video will directly impact your final product. Talk to colleagues who work with video or in your agency's public relations department for recommendations. Ask if they have equipment you can borrow. As video equipment is a major purchase, it will take time (and probably some strategizing) to get ahold of these items.
Consider brands that will be around awhile, can be repaired, can obtain additional parts and accessories for, and won't become obsolete in a year.
The most important rule is to practice. Never use equipment for the first time at a shoot. Make home movies, interview your colleagues, try everything out until it feels familiar.
At the minimum, you will need the following four items to produce a video (and the fifth is strongly recommended)
1. Digital Camera
Digital cameras very in function from the basic point-and-shoot cameras or smartphones to the more sophisticated digital camcorders.
Before investing in a camera, figure out:
- Your budget
- How much control you want over the camera
- How often you will use the camera
- The learning curve involved.
A camera is a good investment, so consider spending a lot of your budget here. Whether it's a $400 low-end camcorder, or a $2,000 mid-range model, remember: a camera with a bigger lens will almost always take better video than a smaller lens.
Consider buying more than one camera if there are others who will help you create the videos. Having two cameras can also be useful during interviews, so you can shoot your subject simultaneously from multiple angles.
Suggested features:
- Flip–out LCD monitor (almost universal by now)
- Rechargeable built–in battery
- Multi–purpose camera—Most cameras can shoot video and take pictures. If you shoot a lot of video, get a digital camcorder that can also take pictures.
- Memory card support—Digital storage is the wave of the future (as opposed to storing on tape reels). A 4 GB flash memory card can hold about an hour of High–definition video.
- Compatibility with your computer and editing programs.
2. Microphones
Most digital video cameras have an on–board microphone, or mic, which is only good for the most basic tasks, like capturing room noise. To produce quality audio for interviews, you should use an external microphone (a microphone not built into your camcorder). Make sure your camera properly connects to your microphone. These three mics are most commonly used in shoots:
a. Lavalier: A small microphone normally pinned to the shirt. This microphone is most commonly used during an interview–style video because you’re talking to one person and it’s easily hidden. This is the best mic for interviews. They are often connected to a receiver, a small transmitter box with antennas.
b. Shotgun: This mic is usually mounted on the top of the camera and points forward along with the lens. Good for catching audio when you are a few feet away from your subject in a closed/silent room. These are also good for catching “natural sound,” such as a bus driving away or machines working, but very poor for auditoriums or for conversations with more than one person.
c. Handheld: The most easily recognizable type of microphone. Typically used for news–style reporting because the reporter can control where the microphone is directed. These are best used when the reporter is supported by a cameraman.
Note: Microphone input jack adaptors are very technical and confusing, and if you don’t have the right connection, your mic is useless. If you don’t know the difference between XLR and ⅛” adapters, compare the specs on your camera to whatever mic you are considering buying. Or call the vendor and ask.
Suggested features:
- The connecting jack/output must fit your camera. You may need adapters, small parts that help devices connect to each other.
- Protective gear—Microphones are easily damaged, but very valuable to your production set. Get a padded pouch or something else to store them in.
3. Tripod
A tripod can make shooting video easier and help achieve a more professional look. Having your camera on a tripod allows you to shoot with less help and eliminates the natural shaking of the camera from holding it. You don’t have to use the tripod for every shot but it should always be used for interviews.
- Light–weight for easy portability
- A tripod with a fluid or pan-tilt head is more expensive, but it will help you pan (turn the camera from left to right) and shoot video more smoothly.
4. Video Editing Software
While basic video editing practices are fairly standard, there are various software packages available. Most are expensive, at $1,000 or more. Some of the more common platforms are:
- iMovie—Free, less powerful, but easier to use than other packages. Comes pre-installed on Macs and is great for beginners.
- Avid Pro—Commonly used by professionals, especially in TV.
- Final Cut Pro—A very popular and powerful platform. A cheaper and less complex version is called Final Cut Express (discontinued, but you can still buy it online.)
- Adobe Premiere Elements—A newer program available for Macs and PCs
- YouTube Video Editor—YouTube allows very limited editing, including trimming, adding music and transitions for free.
- Others: Vegas Movie Studio, Pinnacle Studio, Roxio Creator, Magix Movie
Note:
- Computer Power—Make sure your machine is strong enough to run a video editor—they are very resource intensive. Macs have been considered to be the preferred workstation for multimedia editing for many years, although this has started to change.
- If you're a beginner, you may want to begin by using the free iMovie. It's the easiest and you'll be producing movies faster, even though it's limited in what it can do. You can graduate to other platforms when you're ready.
5. External Hard Drive
Video files can be very large (especially High–definition video) and the more video you shoot, the more hard–drive space your computer will require. You should back up your raw video footage onto an external hard drive (highly recommended), or at least perform regular back ups.
External drives are useful because:
-
They prevent hard drive crashes by allowing your operating system to be on one drive and your footage on another
-
They are good places to archive old video removed from web sites
-
They are great places to store and sort B–roll and other footage you may use in the future.
connection, make sure your computer does as well. 
- 1+ Terabyte (1,000 Gigabytes) of space
- Drives requiring a power source; they are larger, but cheaper
Resources
Next Step
Go to our Video Planning step 3: Create Your Video Plan.
Content Lead:
Jonathan Rubin
Page Reviewed/Updated: August 16, 2012
