Tips to Becoming a Camcorder Pro

Videomaking and vlogging (video blogging) is all the rage these days. Just take a look at clips hosted on YouTube, Yahoo! Video, and Google Video to see how people are putting their camcorder to—ahem—good use. Whether it's lip syncing to a Jessica Simpson video or filming those crazy karaoke nights, Cnet put together these 10 tips to help you take your filmmaking skills to the next level.

1. Getting started: Simply put, just do it. Grab that camcorder, and shoot anything in sight. If you have a Mac, video editing just got a lot easier for you.
2. The dolly effect: If you have a dolly at home and can convince a friend to drag you along, you can shoot a tracking shot like the pros do.
3. Lighting: Use reflectors to bounce light back into shadowy areas. A lot more cost-effective than using lights everywhere.
4. White balance: Make sure your camera sees colors as you see them. You may have to consult your camcorder's manual to adjust these settings.
5. Microphones: You've seen those dangling mics before. The boom mic can be recreated by using a broom handle or a fishing pole. Wind the cable around the pole and gaffer-tape the mic to the end. Now you just have to worry about keeping the mic off the shot, as the pros do. If you're filming outside, invest in a mic cover to block out wind, or pull a woolly sock over it as an alternative.
6. Set the mood with color: This can be done with software like Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, or even iMovie. Find out if your video editing software has color filters available.
7. Cinema-like effects: Besides using software like CineLook or Magic Bullet Editors, you can also use lots of light to give your video a film-like effect. Using table lamps and sun streaming through windows are good alternatives.
8. Burn it: Mac users have iDVD in their filmmaking arsenal, while PC users can use Roxio's DVD Creator. Use digital photos you took during your shoot to spruce up the menu selection screen.
9. Promote it: It's time to let others see your creation. Post your work on YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo! Video, and see what the critics have to say.
10. Practice makes perfect: As with anything you do in life, you will only get better with practice. So get out there, and try different tricks in your shots.

Read the Cnet article in its entirety. Don't worry if you don't have a Mac, there is plenty of video editing software out there for PCs. You can also check out O'Reilly's article on Vlogging or FreeVlog's tutorial on how to start your own video blog so that you can post your videos on your own web site.

Any video bloggers out there? Share your videomaking tips with us.