My friend and colleague Tom Everly is a both a master videographer and sound man, filming for network and cable television for over 15 years. He sat down with me to share a few of his best tips and tricks for filming your family gatherings.
DMB: People get so excited to film their family events, but once it gets going, most people aren't sure what to film first. Do you have any suggestions for how to order the shots you take?
Tom: When you're faced with so many things happening at one time and so quickly, the best thing you can do is to start with the medium shot. The medium shot makes use of the best focal length, where you can see the activity and people's faces grocery shopping tips to save money.
So you first want to film whatever main action is happening, whether it's kids playing or people grilling at the barbecue, and capture that with medium shots. Then you want to work backwards and go for the tight shots (close-ups of people's faces). The last thing is to get a wide shot of the event, so you have coverage for editing and a general establishing shot.
You almost never know what's going to happen at a big family gathering, so starting with the medium shots and going for the action is the best way to ensure that you get the most successful coverage of the event.
DMB: How about when trying to capture groups of people at one time? Too many big wide shots make it so you can't see anyone!
Tom: The best thing you can do to make sure you capture everyone is the pan. A pan is when you move the camera down the line of folks slowly, from one end to the other, so you get that dynamism of an establishing or static shot.
DMB: As a shooter and father of two young children, what mistakes do you see your friends and family make when attempting to shoot their own home movies?
Tom: There are two big mistakes I see people make and the first is not understanding how their camera works. People really need to take the time and work through their manual, and understand how all the functions of their camera work.
The second mistake people make is not understanding that reflected light is the best light. Most professionals, when they get together, they might talk about their cameras a little or about the event itself, but the majority of the time they're going to focus on talking about light. Light is so key and changing so constantly that the more you understand about light the better your shots will be.
DMB: Talk to me more about working with light. Most folks are baffled by it.
Tom: People need to understand a few things about light. The first is that if you're shooting inside, you want the windows to work for you, not against you.
That means never putting your subject in front of the window, where you are shooting directly in front of the window. You want to move so the window is behind or to the side of you, and shining onto your subject.
The second thing to understand is that if you're going for really beautiful pictures, there are really only two times of day to shoot outdoors. These are the times of day that photographers often call "the magic hour," (the Scottish call it the "Gloaming") which is early in the morning and late in the afternoon, just after the sun has risen or just as the sun has almost set. It's because all of that natural light is being reflected in the sky, making your shots have just the right amount of light.
DMB: Any final thoughts you want to share on capturing family gatherings?
Tom: The most important thing you can do is to interview your elders at a family reunion, and the most important thing you want to do with that is to hear what they say. I would recommend getting a quiet room somewhere away from the action and quietly bringing them to that location one by one to interview and tell their stories. Using an external microphone is best, and wearing headphones is even better, to ensure you get good audio. It's your family history and that's the most important in terms of having something for your archives.
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