Being filmed can be a daunting experience, especially if you are not used to it. Maybe your boss has told you to make an introduction video for your company, or maybe you offered to help in a student film and they actually took you up on it. No matter what the scenario there are several ways you can look more confident in front of the camera, even if you don’t feel very confident. Here are our 10 tips for being in front of the camera.
DRESS FOR SUCCESS
Choose an outfit you are comfortable in, whether it is your everyday clothes or something dressy, make sure you feel comfortable and look reasonably tidy. If you have to wear a costume, make sure you get to try it on before shoot day so you can get a feel for it.
READING OUT LOUD
Start by simply reading the script out loud to get a feel for timing and the words. Running through it in your head will only get you so far, you will need to read it out loud to feel the rhythm of the sentences and help commit the script to memory.
KNOW THE MAIN POINTS
Familiarise yourself with the script but often you don’t need to know it word for word, make sure you know the main points and you can put it into your own words, which will sound more natural. Of course check with the director to ensure this is ok!
MAN IN THE MIRROR
Practice in the mirror once you are fairly confident you have the words down. You will be able to see exactly what you look like while you present and its a good way to get instant feedback without having someone else in the room.
FIDGETING CAN BE OK
If you are being filmed from the shoulders up, you may be able to fidget with your hands if you need to release some nervous energy. It can help to focus the energy into folding a scrap piece of paper or playing with some sort of silent fidget device, again talk to your director to see if this is appropriate.
SPEAK CLEARLY
Enunciate and try to take it slow, people tend to speed up when they are nervous so practise saying the words slowly and clearly.
EYE CONTACT
You will need to maintain eye contact with the camera. There is a fine line so don’t be creepy about it, you can look at it as if it was a person you were speaking to. Blink at a normal rate and smile with your eyes. You can practise by recording yourself on your phone if you need to.
DIVIDE AND CONQUER
Sometimes the script can be divided up so that you only have to remember a few sentences at a time. Again, this will be up to the director but if you don't ask you won't know. Sometimes scenes can be shot on multiple cameras meaning that they can edit seperate sentences together much easier than if there was just one camera.
BODY LANGUAGE
Check your body language while you present, the camera will pick up if you are stiff and don’t want to be there.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST
Have fun with it, if you feel relaxed and confident then that will come through in the video and make it much more enjoyable to watch.
That's our 10 tips for being on camera which we actually send to any new clients who have a video shoot coming up. Do you have any questions, or any advice we should add to the list? let us know in the comments! We would love to hear from you.
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Media Melt is a Video Production Company based in Dunedin, New Zealand. If you have any enquires, feel free to contact us here