My World - Top Tips
The 大象传媒 wants you to send us your video on the theme of My World - a two-minute documentary on the story that you think the world should know about.
COMPETITION NOW CLOSED. Thank you for all your entries, winner to be announced here on 19th March 2010. Please check back for more selected films.
Here, Executive Producer Simon Pitts gives some thoughts on making your film great.
Keeping it simple is best.
Your 120 seconds is not a long time - so don't overstretch yourself. Keep films small-scale and achievable. Think about what you want to say in the beginning, middle and end, then allocate about 30-40 seconds to express the ideas for each section.
Use what's around you. We want to see stories about your world that everyone everywhere should know about.
Everything in your life can potentially be part of your film.
Films can be shot on any medium - mobile phone camera, webcam, stills cam, pro cam - all that is essential is that it must be a camera!
The small cameras work best in close-up for sound and vision purposes. You could make a film from a single shot or create a crafted piece with your own original music.
It can be animated, a montage of stills - any interpretation of the theme My World.
We want to see your world clearly. Keep your subjects in the light.
Also, for the best quality images, you could consider using a tripod to minimise camera shake. When people get hold of a camera they often move the camera about too much and zoom in and out a lot, trying to cover all of their surroundings in a short space of time.
This can look great in a music or horror film, but is usually all wrong in a factual piece.
Sound is one of the most difficult aspects of video production.
The most important thing is to get the microphone close to the person who is doing the talking. So if you use the camera's built-in microphone, it's best to get your camera close to the person speaking or the source of the sound.
Do a test of the sound and the sound levels before you start filming.
When thinking of the sound for your video remember that you may only use your original music composition - ie, you may only use music that you have written and performed yourself.
If you have a PC with Windows, you may have Windows Movie Maker pre-installed. It's a simple-to-use editing programme. Ditto Apple's iMovie.
These programmes are designed to make editing easy and straightforward. You can also buy some useful editing programmes or download trial versions for a limited period only. Try searching the web for them.
Remember that we want to see and understand your world. Editing can help here.
There are loads of types of edit: cuts, dissolves, fade-outs, fade-ins - check your editing software to see what kinds of cuts (sometimes called transitions) you have. Fast-cutting can give you a messy, almost blurred sequence of images that won't make any sense. Leave things on view for at least five seconds, then cutaway.
To enter your documentary to MyWorld you'll need to ensure that your film is entirely your original work, that it is under 120 seconds in duration and that it is not defamatory or obscene.
And there's also some paperwork that we'll need as well.
We need to know that you have obtained the consent of any featured contributors and there's more.
Please see the for details.