iTV Production produce many TV commercials and web videos featuring children. You know what they say, never work with animals or children! With our vast experience we would like to share our thoughts and help you film your children with style.
- Children like Games, so make their interaction with the video camera a game too: Anyone can get shy when posing or acting in front of a camera, but if you make it a fun eperience by turning it into a game, their walls will come down and they will feel at ease with the lens. Children love games and they will love you too if your more fun. It’s also a great way to get them to focus on the job at hand. If you’re filming a birthday party and there are lots of children present. Ask them to engage in a game where they are all involved. What you have is a natural and beautiful way of capturing the emotions and facial expressions of your children.
- Laughter is the best medicine: Children look best when they are smiling and laughing. Here are our tips to bring out their best! Pull a funny face; tell jokes; act like you don’t know how to do something; say something blatantly incorrect so they can laugh at you. This is also a chance for them to correct you. Children love it when they think they are smarter than adults. Also do some straightforward magic tricks like the ‘moving thumb’ or finding a coin behind their ears.
- Get a helping hand: if the child gets restless when you stop being interesting to them, ask the parents to help out . When you’re behind the camera and trying to frame the shot, sometimes kids will switch off and start doing something else, so some help from Mum and dad is always beneficial.
- Use the ‘Action’ setting on your camera: If you have been around children you will know they are often on the move! A fast lens or high shutter speed is the best setting for your video camera. If you have an advanced camera, it may have an ‘Action’ setting designed for this purpose.
- Framing the shot: Children are small. Set the tripod close to the ground or about head height to the children. Alternately, get down to their level for that hand held action feel. Towering above the child will only get you lovely hair shots. If you want your children to pop on screen, you’ll want to see their faces and that’s when you capture the best element, their emotions.