Tonight Lisa Melton gave a talk on the production of video presentations.
Lisa is an experienced videographer, having worked in that field in her native United States of America although she now devotes the majority of her professional time to post production and processing as well as pursuing her hobby of photography.
Lisa started off her presentation with a potted history of photography from the introduction of the Daguerreotype Camera in 1839 to the present day, including the development of motion picture cameras for the consumer from 8mm film cameras, the introduction of analogue VHS/Betamax formats on to the development of digital media storage.
She then gave a simple but informative illustration of her post production techniques, emphasizing the importance of matching the film to an appropriate soundtrack in both feel and editing.
It raised a few eyebrows when she explained that sound was the most important ingredient in any film and that her first priority in putting together any video, be it a wedding, a family get together or a holiday was to get the right soundtrack.
It was only when she was happy with that that she would start to edit the film, using the natural rhythm or beat of the music to dictate how the video was put together.
This point was admirably demonstrated when she played a film of coast to coast road trip across the USA condensed into 4 minutes against a driving Americana rock tune that suited the subject perfectly.
Lisa finished the evening by explaining how to get the best use of a video camera, pointing of the importance of movement, not just of the subject matter, but also by the movement of the camera by panning and tilting.
She demonstrated a number of techniques that she uses to ensure that camera shake is minimized and that and movement of that camera is smooth and fluid.
Finally, she urged everyone to give video recording a try, pointing out that it would cost little or nothing, since most modern cameras are video capable and there is a plethora of simple yet effective video editing suites available of the internet.