Getting Ready for Your Shoot
| Your sports movie begins with the right preparation, including both the technical and creative aspects of your shoot:
It's important that you bring the right stuff to your shoot. For sports events, you can use one camera and a tripod. Use your tripod. You won't be happy if all you bring home is jerky shots of the winning moment. If you're shooting an entire game, you'll get tired of holding the camera for that length of time. On the other hand, if you only want to capture a few minutes (a swim meet, for instance), you could probably get by without a tripodbut you might still be happier if you had one. Another great piece of equipment that will help you run around the field and get handheld action shots is a camcorder shoulder brace. Professional models are expensive (more than $600), but a few consumer models have come onto the market recently that sell for about $150. You can search online for suppliers. You can also consider bringing a second camera (or more) and cameraperson. The next time you watch a sports event on TV, see how many camera angles (and camera positions) a typical big game program has. If, for instance, you are shooting a big swim meet and others can help you shoot, ask someone else to bring his or her camcorder along and be a second cameraperson. If you're taping a school sports event, and other parents on your child's team show up with their camera every week, too, you could piggyback on each other's efforts and take different positions during events, trading footage afterward. Shooting with two cameras can add a lot to sports coverage. You need to think about your power supply ahead of time. Will you be shooting with batteries, or will you need to plug into the power on location? It's important to make sure your batteries are charged. You should also bring extra charged batteries so you can make it through the whole game. Another power alternative is to use your camera's power cord for indoor games. If you're using your power cord and an electric outlet at an event, you need to bring an extension cord and duct tape (to cover your cord to make sure no one trips over it). If you're going to be shooting a whole season of games and will be on the road, traveling to and from games, a car charger for your batteries might be a good investment. The audio for your shoot is another consideration. Shooting sports is usually an easy audio situation. For most of the event, the visual action is the main focus. However, in a basketball game or another indoor sport, or where there is an announcer, you may want to get the audio. Usually your camera-mounted mike will be enough to handle this. On the other hand, if you're in the stands at a football game, your camera mike is going to capture the sounds closest to you (like the people yelling and screaming when their team scores a touchdown). This may or may not be the sound you want. If it's someone buying popcorn from a vendor, or if you and a friend are gabbing away, that's the audio you'll be hearing when you edit your movie. (Of course, you can use music to cover ita common fix.) The point is that you need to be aware that the audio you hear while you're holding your camera is the audio you're going to get unless you edit it out. Here is a list of essentials you should bring with you to shoot the sporting event:
Here is a list of other equipment you should consider taking with you:
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