5 basics to shooting great video

From Allison King at Ragan's

When planning and shooting your video, these production basics will help you look like a pro and prevent potential disaster.

• Use the "rules of thirds." Divide the shot into thirds horizontally and thirds vertically (so you have 9 imaginary equal sections). The points of interest should occur at 1/3 or 2/3 of the way up or across the frame.
• Pay attention to lighting; it can make or break your video. Don't, for example, shoot video of someone indoors who is backlit by a window.
• Bad audio is worse than bad video. More people will tolerate a poor quality image in a video. But bad audio, says Wolcott, makes the video unviewable.
• Get a lot of close-ups. Use the 80:20 rule: 80 percent close-ups and 20 percent wide shots. Close-ups is how you are able to convey action and emotion.
• Test across devices, including mobile devices.