To shoot a scene "verité", you have to get used to shooting without looking at the camera.
Learn to operate your camera by touch
Being able to turn on the camera and shoot without looking at the camera allows you to shoot verite or to blend into the environment in a way that you could not if you had to stop, open the viewfinder or LCD, focus and frame.
The ability to shoot “from the hip” is a good way to get an unexpected angle on a scene. You can often capture very interesting and revealing footage using this technique.
This skill is closely associated with the other steps in shooting fluently.
What you need for this exercise:
Camcorder with a fully charged battery
Blank media
Find an interesting place, somewhere you can tape safely and unobtrusively. It may be a park, a city street, or even your own back yard.
Use the viewfinder or LCD to frame a scene. Adjust the camcorder’s zoom, focus, shutter, iris and white balance.
Close the LCD, and hold the camera at waist level. Point the camera toward the scene.
Record the scene for a minute or longer. Do not peek at the viewfinder or LCD while you are recording.
Repeat 5 times in different locations.
Transfer the footage to your video editing program.
Select the most interesting footage and assemble a 2-3 minute movie.
Editor's Note: To read more about Tony's book here at MFM, be sure to check out our review of Digital Video Secrets.
Inspired by such available-light and low budget films like Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi and Jon Jost's Frameup, filmmaker Tony Levelle set out on a mission to learn how to do the same. He had the good fortune to attend a seminar by Dorothy Fadiman who not only finished all the films she started and got every film into distribution, but kept them there! He eventually worked with Fadiman and his co-authored book - PRODUCING WITH PASSION: Making Films That Change the World - is the result of their collaboration to share these techniques with others. The quality of this book so impressed the publisher (MWP) that even before it was finished they signed Tony to solo author DIGITAL VIDEO SECRETS: What the Pros Know and The Manuals Don't Tell You. Tony exemplifies the qualities all filmmakers need to survive: passion, persistence and vision.
