How to Shoot Great Family Videos

By Steve Stockman

In the olden days, when you asked about somebody’s kids or grandkids, they’d pull out their wallet and show you an adorable snapshot of the child and a dog wearing identical cowboy hats and smiling at the camera. You’d nod, say, “Cute!” and be off to the next topic in about 18 seconds.

Now that everyone shoots video non-stop, this brief and civil ritual has vanished.

Today, if you accidentally seem too interested, you might end up watching an unending series of the most adorable videos of the child running, eating, or reading a seemingly 700-page picture book while the offending party leans over your shoulder and forces you to stare at their phone while saying things like, “Wait…wait…this next part is really cute!”

Or someone will text you a link that’s — and I am not exaggerating– an hour and a half long– so that you can watch a 4th-grader graduate to– you guessed it– 5th grade.

So what if you don’t want to bore people to death with your family video? What if you actually want them to WATCH it?

To get watched, family videos, like all videos, need to be shot with the audience in mind. Here’s how:

1) Shoot Short Shots

If you look carefully, you’ll notice that shots in films or TV shows generally last between 1 and 10 seconds before they cut to another person, place, or angle on the scene.

If you do nothing but keep your shots short, your video will instantly be more interesting to watch.

For the full tip and more, read the full article in Healthy Aging® Magazine:

Healthy Aging Magazine | How to Shoot Great Family Videos

Steve Stockman is the author of How to Shoot Video That Doesn’t Suck: Advice to Make Any Amateur Look Like a Pro