Shooting Video for the Web: Equipment

For the time being, anyway, the Web's a guerilla kind of place. From the fast-developing quality of streaming media to the experimental nature of Web revenue, things are in flux.

What this means to the person who wants to stream media is that the old model of producing professional video is not as rigid as it used to be, and you can get things done without a Dreamworks-sized equipment budget. While the ancient maxim--Garbage In, Garbage Out-still maintains, there's a lot more flexibility on the Web.

Undoubtedly the most Web-friendly video technology to come along is Digital Video (DV). DV camcorders costing as little as $1200 shoot beautiful video and lay it onto tape as digital information. Using a IEEE 1394 (aka FireWire) connection, you can move this data to any 200mHz-plus computer using an inexpensive 1394 card (~ $350) or the FireWire connector built into the newer Macintoshes, and edit it without affecting its quality. Only when you format the video for streaming does the quality suffer, but all the less, since you've started out with good stuff.

Lacking DV gear, you can shoot with literally any video camera you can lay your hands on, then play that video into a computer using an analog-to-digital video capture card. The conversion process does diminish the video image quality, and these cards usually cost more than a 1394 card. Still, it gets your footage into digital format, where you can edit and convert it, and depending on the vagaries of streaming, the differences may not even be noticeable.

The last piece of this particular puzzle is your software. A number of applications for both Windows and the Mac are available. All of them let you slice up and rearrange your raw footage, create transitions and effects, and process your audio. Most of these applications work either with DV or converted analog video, and are different enough to suit almost anyone's individual needs. Either your editor or a dedicated application will convert your video to a streamable format. There are also dedicated audio editors for fine-tuning or doing specialized sound work the video editors can't.

Though the action, as usual, is on the cyber side, you can only ignore the nuts and bolts of video at your own peril. Video in essence is about light, and no matter what quality-level you're shooting for, you need to consider how you light your subject. If you're shooting beaches in the Greek islands under the world's most stunning natural light, you have few worries a little sunscreen won't cure. But if you shoot a talking head in a flourescent-lit office, or a band on a stage rigged with a panoply of different colors and levels of lamps, you're going to spend thought and effort getting good footage.

Right up there with light is sound. Do you use the on-camera mic or a shotgun? Or a lavalier? Do you need wireless? And is one mic enough? How about using a mixer and an external audio recorder?

And not least of all: you have to consider how you mount your camera. You can hold it by hand or on your shoulder; you can use a 40-dollar or a thousand-dollar tripod; you may need a steadicam or just a beanbag, or even a waterproof bag.

As we cover each element of your streaming video equipment in the coming weeks we'll cover these questions and more, so stay tuned.