Ok, so you have an old camcorder that you got from one of your friends or relatives, or you recently bought a new or used one. Now you want to make your own movie - a funny video, a short film, a school project, or a documentary on a subject that's important to you. But after your big buy, you might not have much money leftover in that savings account to speak of - or perhaps you just don't have the budget to afford all the expensive things you think are required.



Don't worry, there are a lot of things you can do even if an old camcorder is the only thing you've got!

For the purposes of this quick tutorial, I'm going to assume that you don't have any cash, experience, or knowledge about how to make your own movie. I've written plenty of tips, advice, and information about more advanced techniques and procedures, so be sure to take a look at the ones that interest you after you've gotten the basics down.

Your Camera

Most likely you won't have a very hard time finding some type of basic camcorder, because of how commonplace and mass-produced they are. The trick is understanding how to handle it.

Let's take a moment to familiarize ourselves with the mechanisms of our camcorder and how to use them so we realize the capabilities of this important piece of equipment. If you've done this stuff already and have used your camcorder successfully prior to now, you can skip to the next section. If not, there are a couple of items we should cover before moving on.

The Media - How It Records

Every camcorder needs to take the video and audio information it receives and put it somewhere for storage. What kind of storage does your camera use? Does it capture on tape, an internal hard disk, mini discs, or another medium? With any camera except one with a hard drive inside it, you should be sure to have the correct blank media to store your footage on.

It sucks to run out of capture room right when you are about to make your own movie and you miss that perfect cinematic performance because you weren't prepared with extra storage. So make room on the internal hard drive, buy some tapes, or pick up some blank discs. Just make sure you have more than enough space to record onto.

Starting Up

Call me Captain O. (the O stands for Obvious), but do you know how to turn your camera on? Where the power button is and how to use it? Your camcorder might have a few different modes of operation to choose from. These could include not just On/Off, but also video record mode, video playback mode, and photo mode, among others.

What about the record button? I can't count the number of instances where I let someone use my camera and they accidentally left it powered on and recorded for several minutes without knowing it. Know when you are live and when you're on standby and you'll avoid ending up with twelve minutes of epic footage of your right leg.

Usually your camera will have some sort of indicative symbol or lettering on the viewfinder or LCD screen. A red dot, REC, or RECORD symbol means you're live, while a green dot, PAUSE, or STANDBY indicates that the camera is turned on but isn't recording.

Is This Thing On?

Some devices will automatically turn themselves off after a few minutes of inactivity. If your camera was on a few minutes ago and it's off now, and you haven't pressed anything, check the battery first and then see if the device has a power save function.

Why Can't I See Anything?

For as long as mankind has used recording devices to capture imagery, the lens cap has been the bane of his existence. Many magical moments have been forever lost to the sands of time because of lens caps being left over the very lens which might have captured them. For cryin' out loud, look through your viewfinder or pull out your LCD screen and take a glance at your framing before you start recording.

Making Things Happen

Now we're going to move forward with this, so I hope that if you needed to, you actually read and followed the instructions in the previous section so that you know exactly how your most important tool works. If you aren't already familiar with cerebral concepts like how to turn a camera on, I'd highly recommend reading through the text above.

Next we'll begin to talk about what movies and films are comprised of, so that you can learn how to make your own film. You need to know how to put together a cohesive scene using different camera angles and piecing them together.

You'll also find the study of different shooting styles helpful in learning to make your own movie, because there are several ways to use a camera and each one will give you a finished product with its own unique look and feel.

Framing your shots is very important, as is learning to use light correctly - on a very tight budget - and how to hold your camera to achieve a very smooth and professional look to your movie. Hopefully the tips you've found in this article will help you get started, but all the things we've talked about and more can be found on my expert filmmaking website, which teaches you how to make your own movie for free.