Hollywood style for your home videos

	Tip 1: Use a homemade dolly
	Tip 2: Put together a budget-friendly light kit
	Tip 3: Stay focused

  Tip 1: Use a homemade dolly

Some of the smoothest, most cinematic moves you'll see are dolly shots, where the director mounts a camera on a wheeled tripod and moves it toward or away from a stationary subject.

 

How can you do it? Simple:

• Fake a dolly with a skateboard or a baby carriage (minus the baby, of course).
• How about a rolling office chair? You'd need a dolly driver to maneuver for you, but with a couple of rehearsals, you could get an interesting new shot.

  Tip 2: Put together a budget-friendly light kit

Camera-mounted lights, though easy to find and relatively inexpensive, may not be the best answer to your indoor lighting problems. You--and your subjects--will be happier with multiple light sources spread around the scene. Try these tips.

• Turn on a few more lamps.
• Replace some of the low-wattage bulbs in the room with some 75- or 100-watt ones.
• Bring in a desk light and position it close to the action.

Do whatever it takes to bring the overall light level of the room up to a decent range.

  Tip 3: Stay focused

Relax, find something interesting, and enjoy your subjects. You can always cut it short in the editing.

• Don't cut off the action too soon.
• Let the actions develop and play themselves out.
• Avoid changing your angle constantly as if you were a dog hunting for treats.

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