In this tutorial, we’ll have a look at some of the basics of production, including camera work, set, lighting, editing, and colour grading. These really are the basics, but together can help you with the foundations of shooting professionally.

Set.

What’s in the back of your shots can have a big effect on how your content is perceived, so make sure it works with the vibe of what you are creating. Do you want your audience to be focused on the talent in front of the camera, or is the set itself where you want them to be looking?

For colour matching, try using this tool.

Cameras.

The first thing your viewer sees is what your camera is doing, even before they notice your talent and what they are doing or saying, so getting your shots and camera movement right will really help your content to stand out. Check out our Shot Sizes tutorial to see some more detail on how different framing affects what you make.

Camera movement is really important as well. A camera move which follows the movement of the action is much less distracting than a camera that moves independently.

Lighting.

In film there are many different ways to light a scene – in fact, there are at least seven different positions for a light. Here, we’ll keep it a bit simpler with 3-point lighting, which is great for lighting someone for an interview, or in a scene in a film.

3-point lighting involves a key light (which is the main light on your talent), a fill light (which deals with the shadows created by the key light), and a backlight (which helps to separate your talent from their background).

Camera & Lighting Settings.

The white balance settings you use in the camera will determine the temperature (cooler blues for daylight, warmer oranges for artificial lights) of your picture, depending on how you light your scene, so it is important to match your camera and lighting settings if you want people to look natural.

However, you can always play around with these settings to change up how your footage looks!

Audio.

In simple terms, you want to make sure your audience can hear what they need to. In this simple example we look at the sort of mic you might use in an interview or a conference setting.

Editing.

How you edit your footage together can really make or break your production. Do you want it to be funny, or serious? Action-packed? Maybe scary, or weird? The pace and style of your cuts will go a long way to creating these different moods. Some simple rules to follow are:

• Cut on an action
• Ensure your cuts are motivated
• Establish a rhythm
• Cut camera movement together

Colour Grading.

Colour Grading is an art all of itself, but here we’ll focus on making sure your highlights and your black levels are correct, so your footage isn’t over-exposed, or noisy.

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