At some point you are going to think about a videotape record of your cruising. Video has the ability to bring to life scenes that simply cannot be captured with still film. But video brings with it a level of cost and complexity with which you may not want to deal.

Steve and I started using video gear in the early 1980s. We had purchased a VCR and tuner used, and for $100 the fellow from whom we purchased the unit tossed in a camera. The camera saw no use at all until one day, while we were sailing toward Panama in strong trades, Steve brought it on deck. When the family viewed the footage we were all hooked. From then on Elyse, Sarah, Steve, and I all took turns shooting.

At the time we had no thought of anything besides a record for ourselves and family. But that early footage, and lots that have followed, has been turned into a series of videos that we've sold through marine and book stores.

In a continually changing technical environment, here's what we've learned to date.

Camera Gear

The Hi-8 format is technically superior to anything else currently available on the consumer market. The ideal Hi-8 camera will have a wind-noise-suppression button, a slow power zoom (about eight to one is as much as you can use on a boat), optical image stabilization (digital costs you quality), and hopefully some form of moisture resistance. If the camera itself is not water-resistant, you can typically find a protective case for less than $250. Some form of portable light source will come in handy.

Batteries

Video batteries should be of the best quality, longest life you can purchase. You will want at least one spare battery. If your batteries have an indicator light for state of charge, that is helpful, too.

Twelve-volt chargers are available for video batteries. They are much more convenient to use then an inverter.

Videotape

Videotape quality varies. Purchase the best-quality professional tape, and ask about drop-out problems. (Videotapes occasionally lose magnetic particles in the surface, which causes blank spots in the image displayed on the the television monitor.) Some tapes have more difficulty than others. The tapes will be sealed. Keep them sealed until you are ready to use them. Tapes should be stored vertically. Never store them lying down. Once shot, keep them in a sealed air-tight container.

Before using a new tape, run it back and forth twice with the fast-forward/rewind control. This helps remove any loose magnetic particles, which reduces the drop-out problem later on.

The less you use the tape after shooting, the better it will maintain its quality. Every time you view the tape, some data will be lost. If you want to use the tape for commercial purposes you should make a copy of the tape, and view that.

Finally, resist the temptation to purchase long-play tapes. Tape that is longer than 60 minutes is typically made from thinner stock and does not stand up to the editing process as well as the shorter, thicker material.

Camera Work

The best way to learn to use a video camera is to shoot tape and then come back and edit it down to a story. During the editing process you will quickly discover camera angles that could be improved, if your pans are too fast or too slow, and how a zoom should be used.

We've learned a few basic rules. First, never use the first or last minute of the videotape, as this is the area where there is the highest probability of tape-quality problems.

Next, have the camera rolling for 5 seconds before and after the scene you want to capture. This allows the tape transport mechanism to come up to speed and also provides some editing space later on.

When shooting keep the horizon level, and try to minimize camera movement. Even tiny bobbles with your body will look like big moves on the TV screen.

We have found the zoom lens almost impossible to use aboard. The more you zoom in, the more the video image will jump around with any camera movement. If you zoom while ashore, do so at a controlled, slow rate.

Video lighting issues are similar to those of still photography, except that the video will function in much lower light levels than a still camera.

The Story Board

You will quickly find that video shot on a random basis is very difficult to edit into a comprehensible product. Your life will be easier if you work out an outline before you decide how you would like the story you are working on to be told. Steve and I make an outline and then check off the shots as we get them on tape.

Tape is Cheap

When you start to edit, you will find there are holes in your material. Shots will not have the right content, or will have camera bobbles right in the middle of a scene. With an hour of high-quality tape costing less than $12 (when bought in quantity), you can afford to shoot a bit extra to make sure you have what you need the first time around.

Vary Your Shots

A single long shot quickly becomes boring, so you will want to vary your camera angles. Say you want to show the hoisting of your mainsail as you prepare to start a passage. The first shot might be taken from the stern, looking forward at the crewmember hoisting the mainsail. The shot would be framed so all of the crew's body, and the head of the sail as it starts up the mast, are in the viewfinder.

On the next shot you would move in closer, perhaps now from the bow shooting aft, and focus on the winch showing the halyard being cranked up along with the winch handle and crewmembers hands. Then you would take a shot of the sail going up the mast.

If it was a calm day you might try for a partial zoom shot of the mainsail head just as it came to the masthead. Finally, you would want to have an overall shot of the boat with the sail hoisted.

These four or five shots would end up cut to maybe 3 seconds each. But instead of one visually boring 15-second-long image, you tell the story in a series of fast moving cuts - much more interesting.

Shoot the Cruising Lifestyle

Most video seems to end up being taken of the boat sailing. It is interesting, of course, but what really makes a video appealing are shots of people and the details of living aboard or ashore. Just about any event is interesting at least once. It could be a maintenance project, cooking, navigation, writing up the log, catching a fish, changing sails, or docking.

Shooting detail is easy (especially if you are working from a storyboard or outline). Take dinner -- you might start with an overall view of the saloon, then pan to the cook, and pick up some comments about what's for dinner. A series of detail shots would then follow of the dinner-making process -- close-ups of hands working, stove flame, items boiling or frying, etc. The same type of detail we discussed above for hoisting the main works below as well. Of course, the same applies when you go ashore.

Establishing Shots of the Boat

The hardest thing is to get good shots of the boat that show you under sail, powering, or at anchor.

If it is calm, at-anchor shots can be taken from the dink. But good video of sailing or powering needs a relatively stable platform. We usually look for someone with whom we can trade cameras. They shoot us, and we shoot them.

If you take this approach, it is a good idea to discuss in detail what sort of shots you want. A written checklist is even better.

On-Board Sailing Video

There are not that many camera angles on the deck of a sailing vessel. If you've watched one of our videos or someone else's, you will see that at the most there are a dozen basic shots you can take. Still, with weather conditions varying so much, coupled with changes in lighting, these same shots over and over can still be interesting. The conditions under which you can shoot will, of course, be limited by the tolerance of your camera for spray.

Here's a list of the shots we typically take on deck.

Rig: steady shots and pans showing the base of main and jib, up the leech of the main and leech of the jib, up the luffs off both sails. If a spinnaker is set, pan from top down and bottom up.

Astern: straight down, panning to the full wake astern. Down windward and lee sides, looking aft with camera held parallel to topsides.

From cockpit: looking aft, to windward, and to leeward. Looking forward. On the leeward deck shooting forward and aft as well as across the sea. Same from windward side.

From amidships: shooting under the boom showing water rushing past, looking aft, and forward.

From mainmast: shooting up, aft, forward, and under the boom.

From bow: shooting to leeward and aft, framing the whole boat, and to windward. Shots of lee and weather bow waves from just behind bow and from pulpit looking down. Camera can be held at arm's length off the hull in some of these shots.

Audio

You will be surprised to learn that the audio track is as important as the video. It comprises three basic elements. First there is ambient sound which is made up of wind, wave and voices. In the editing process this can be mixed with narration, and finally you may want to think about a music track.

It is much easier to get narration on tape when you are shooting the original material than it is to come back and add it later. The sound quality will be unique. The mixture of ambient background and human voices usually has a quality that a narration laid down later simple can't match. Of course, you need to be able to hear the person above the background sound, so the speaker needs to be close to the microphone and be speaking loudly!

Mixing in background music when shooting inside or on deck can also be very effective.

Local Music

One of the most effective ways you can add a music track to your sound mix is to use local musicians. It may be a couple of boys from the village working on your guitar with some spoons and a pan thrown in, but when you run that melody with your visual images the effect can be dramatic.

The Editing Process

Video-editing technology is moving very rapidly. You can buy editing gear today for very modest amounts of money that would have costs hundreds of thousands of dollars four or five years ago. This gives you the ability to do fades and wipes along with good-quality titling.

Most modern cameras have some editing capabilities built in, and if you have two cameras or a camera and an edit deck together with a controller you can generate dramatic effects.

If you are making home movies, don't be concerned with the technical editing issues. But if you plan to try and distribute your video commercially, there are several issues you need to keep in mind. The first is that each generation your tape is removed from the original costs you quality. If you start with your original, edit from it to an edit master, and then make what is called a "dub" master from which copies are made. The end product, which is played on your customer's VCR, is a fourth generation. The quality of everything that happens in the editing process degrades with each generation. Color is a good example. Reds tend to bleed on the screen. The original images may be fine, but by the time you get to the fourth generation, the edges of the image have become hazy. The same applies to the assembly of the various scenes. The accuracy of your edits becomes more critical with each generation of loss. When you view an edit the image should change smoothly before your eyes. If there are any blips, lines, or jumps, the edit has not been properly made. This is a technical issue having to do with how accurate your edit decks are aligned.

What may look okay on the edit master may be very jumpy on the final version that your customer watches. So you need to make sure your editing gear is capable of "frame-accurate editing."

Having started out this section telling you not to view your master, we'll now switch gears and suggest that before you leave a given area, put together at least a rough edit of your footage (and if you are serious about using your material commercially, do this from a copy of your master tapes). The rough edit is the only way to really tell what you are missing. And once you move on, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to recapture those missing scenes.