What Is Footage? Tips For You The Secret To Recording Quality Footage

What Is Footage? Tips For You The Secret To Recording Quality Footage

September 13, 2023

For those who are not too knowledgeable or just starting to learn about the field of television and film, surely the question "what is footage" is a common question of many people. This article by Viewfinder Media will help you gain a deeper understanding of your footage and equip you with the knowledge you need to create unique, impressive footage.

1. What is footage?

What is footage? The footage is a familiar term in the television and film industry, often used to refer to raw clips recorded with any device with a movie function. Besides, any type of video clip, image, illustration, sound clip, animation, or music after being cut and edited to form a video is also called footage.

post image

Learn what footage is

>>>> CLICK HERE: What is post-production? The role of post-production in film production, photo

2. How many types of footage video are there?

The footage is considered as small circuits connected together to create a complete long video. Each footage will have different characteristics and roles. Here's a breakdown of several types of footage and their importance in video production.

2.1. 3 RAW Footage

What is RAW footage? RAW footage is understood as videos, raw footage that has not been processed or edited. These footage are usually created from camcorders with sensor functionality. Because they are raw footage, most RAW footage has the highest quality, high sharpness, true color, and light. So this is the kind of footage that many filmmakers love.

post image

What is RAW Footage Classification?

2.2. A-Roll

A-Roll is used to refer to the main scenes throughout the filming of talk shows, reality shows, documentaries, newsletters,... A-Roll is used for the main purpose of make up the circuit of a video.

post image

The A-Roll classification is the main shot throughout the TV videos

Although playing a very important role, A-Roll scenes mostly focus on the main circuit, leading to boredom and monotony, difficult to attract viewers. Therefore, current programs often incorporate B-Roll to increase the smoothness and attractiveness of the video.

>>>> LEARN MORE: What is TVC 3D? Standard 3D TVC production process

2.3. B-Roll

B-Roll is simply understood as turning the scene. These are additional shots to aid in A-Roll's illustrations, making A-Roll shots look less monotonous. B-Roll often includes high-quality videos shot in each region but without the storyline.

post image

B-Rolls are used as transition shots

3. What are the benefits of video footage?

The footage is an indispensable element in the television and film industry. So what are the benefits of footage will be answered through the following two outstanding benefits.

3.1. Create the best quality product

The footage is considered an effective support tool to help you create quality television products. With video footage, even if you are not professional in shooting, you can still easily crop and edit to create extremely complete media products.

post image

Using footage makes it easy to create high-quality productions

3.2. Save money and time

Footage also helps filmmakers a lot in saving money and time. You can take advantage of previously used video footage, crop and edit them to create new publications with unique features and appeal. This will save you a lot of time and money having to do new footage.

post image

Footage helps you a lot in saving time and cost of filming.

4. Revealing 7 secrets to capturing beautiful and impressive footage

With the audience's growing demand for high-quality broadcast publications, it's important to know how to use and crop footage. Here are some tips that will help you create the best and most impressive footage.

4.1. Storyboard

Many people often do not attach too much importance to the storyboard in the video-making process. However, this is a very important factor to help you realize the ideas in your head through paper sketches. This will help you reduce the confusion of ideas and visualize the details more clearly.

post image

Need to use storyboard to better outline ideas for footage scenes

4.2. Do not use zoom

Many people use the zoom mode to be able to zoom in on images or capture moments from a distance. However, this will reduce the quality of the footage, making the resulting video look shoddy and unprofessional.

post image

Limited zoom mode when recording footage

4.3. Shoot at 24fps

24 fps movie recording is the common standard these days. Although most camcorders today are equipped with both 30fps and 24fps modes, video footage is still recommended to be set at 24fps to produce the most realistic footage with the viewer's perspective.

post image

You should shoot footage at 24fps

4.4. Device

You should invest in shooting equipment to be able to produce the clearest and best quality footage. Lighting equipment is also very important to help increase the smoothness and realism of the footage.

post image

Producers should invest in equipment to produce quality footage

4.5. Shoot RAW footage

RAW footage is usually of high quality, with good sharpness and smoothness, which helps create more realistic and lifelike footage. However, RAW Footage is often quite heavy to store, requiring the computer to have enough capacity and capacity to handle this footage.

post image

You should shoot RAW footage to produce sharp, realistic products

4.6. Using prime lens

Prime lens is a specialized lens in the field of videography, with a fixed focal length and a maximum aperture of f2.8 to f1.2. When using a Prime Lens, your angle of view will not change even if you move to a different camera angle. This lens also cannot zoom in or out, but the sharpness will be higher and the ability to remove fonts is also better.

post image

Use Prime Lens when shooting footage

4.7. Color edition

For impressive and beautiful footage, you can't skip editing and post-production. In particular, paying attention to the color elements in the video is also very important to make the footage more vivid and eye-catching.

post image

Don't forget to color correct to create more attractive, eye-catching footage

5. Footage editing software

It is undeniable that the process of editing video footage plays a huge role in creating attractiveness for television productions. However, to be able to create a complete video from a multitude of footage, what you need is a powerful enough editing program that provides all the necessary graphics editing features. Here are some suggestions for specialized footage editing software that you can refer to:

  • Adobe Premiere Pro: This is one of the most popular graphics editing software with tons of professional editing features. The software is available on all operating systems, so it can help you edit on any device. 
  • FinalCut Pro: This is a video editing tool designed specifically for the MacOS operating system. This software has many professional editing features, helping you create attractive movies that impress viewers.
post image

Some professional footage editing software

  • CyberLink PowerDirector 365: CyberLink has long been known as a brand that specializes in releasing extremely positive video editing tools. With PowerDirector 365 in hand, you can unleash your imagination through professional features to create a truly unique, exciting product.

In this article, Viewfinder Media helps you discover what is footage and provides important tips and advice to help you create quality footage. Do not hesitate to embark on expressing your rich creativity through beautiful footage.

what is footage
logo

Founded in 2008, we specialize in producing TV shows, ad videos, TV commercials, and other types of content. We have continuously improved our services to become one of the top production houses in Vietnam. We offer our clients the perfect service and deliver the most effective creativity.

Share this article

Rolling, Action!

Get In Touch