Video recording advice
Video tips
Most YouTube flying videos are pretty boring - maybe mine, too. Imagine a one-hour flight with the camera looking diagonally at the instruments/over the nose from startup to shut down. Virtually no one will watch it all the way through.
Someone above mentioned music. Please go for subtle music. It should enhance, not overwhelm the experience. Voice and ambient should be audible over any music.
Someone else mentioned ten minutes. The average YouTube view is about three minutes. If you can keep it to three or four minutes people will be more inclined to watch through to the end.
I have done videos with the camera in a different location for each of several flights. I’ve done videos with three or four cameras at the same time. Both have challenges.
Audio – you get the best radio/intercom voices when you record directly from the headphone jack. There are expensive cables available that let you plug a microphone cable into the headphone jack and still plug the headphones in. If you are flying an airplane with headphone jacks in the back, you can use an inexpensive 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch attenuator cable to plug into the audio system.
Does your camera have a microphone jack? Not all camcorders do. Older GoPros use a 3.5mm (1/8 in) mini jack. Newer ones (Hero 3-4) use a USB-esque cable. The newest ones something else…
No microphone input on the camera? Record intercom audio on your phone (assuming…) and ambient audio on the camera. Mix the two in editing. This gives you clear voices and “authentic airplane sounds” at the same time.
Important – the output from the headphone jack is at what is called “line level.” This is a much stronger signal than “mic level” used by, uh, microphones. Hence the mention of an attenuating cable above. These are available online or through a local electronics store like Radio Shack or a local equivalent.
My videos range from a 14-second clip of a snap roll with bad sound to a too-long seven minutes of takeoff/landing and aerobatics. YouTube removed the sound from one video do to music issues living in Europe at the time. Search on LTCTerry2006 at YouTube if interested. (My train videos seem more popular than the airplane ones. Odd.)
I’ve not yet been able to include every one of these tips/ideas in one video, I’m working on it. I have two GoPro/intercom cables for my three GoPros. I have suction cup mounts, airplane and glider specific mounts, lots of batteries, and two camcorders. I'd like to do more videos, but it's time consuming and a bit daunting to reduce an hour of video from each three cameras into one good video.
I do plan to start commercial training soon. That should provide some opportunities to videos.
Hope some of this helps.
Terry
Someone above mentioned music. Please go for subtle music. It should enhance, not overwhelm the experience. Voice and ambient should be audible over any music.
Someone else mentioned ten minutes. The average YouTube view is about three minutes. If you can keep it to three or four minutes people will be more inclined to watch through to the end.
I have done videos with the camera in a different location for each of several flights. I’ve done videos with three or four cameras at the same time. Both have challenges.
Audio – you get the best radio/intercom voices when you record directly from the headphone jack. There are expensive cables available that let you plug a microphone cable into the headphone jack and still plug the headphones in. If you are flying an airplane with headphone jacks in the back, you can use an inexpensive 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch attenuator cable to plug into the audio system.
Does your camera have a microphone jack? Not all camcorders do. Older GoPros use a 3.5mm (1/8 in) mini jack. Newer ones (Hero 3-4) use a USB-esque cable. The newest ones something else…
No microphone input on the camera? Record intercom audio on your phone (assuming…) and ambient audio on the camera. Mix the two in editing. This gives you clear voices and “authentic airplane sounds” at the same time.
Important – the output from the headphone jack is at what is called “line level.” This is a much stronger signal than “mic level” used by, uh, microphones. Hence the mention of an attenuating cable above. These are available online or through a local electronics store like Radio Shack or a local equivalent.
My videos range from a 14-second clip of a snap roll with bad sound to a too-long seven minutes of takeoff/landing and aerobatics. YouTube removed the sound from one video do to music issues living in Europe at the time. Search on LTCTerry2006 at YouTube if interested. (My train videos seem more popular than the airplane ones. Odd.)
I’ve not yet been able to include every one of these tips/ideas in one video, I’m working on it. I have two GoPro/intercom cables for my three GoPros. I have suction cup mounts, airplane and glider specific mounts, lots of batteries, and two camcorders. I'd like to do more videos, but it's time consuming and a bit daunting to reduce an hour of video from each three cameras into one good video.
I do plan to start commercial training soon. That should provide some opportunities to videos.
Hope some of this helps.
Terry
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: adelaide australia
Posts: 272
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I have found the best results for sound are obtained by putting a "tie clip" microphone into the earpiece of my DCs.
Plugging direct into a spare headphone outlet had massively high levels of interference from the transponder (I think). Plus, when the mic is in your earpiece, the sound of the engine is attenuated nicely...
I use a "Fisheye lens" and it seems to capture the interior shots nicely, as well as letting the approach and landing shots turn out well.
Image stabilisation is a must.
In my experience, you tube videos must catch your attention in the first thirty seconds or they'll never get watched.
Plugging direct into a spare headphone outlet had massively high levels of interference from the transponder (I think). Plus, when the mic is in your earpiece, the sound of the engine is attenuated nicely...
I use a "Fisheye lens" and it seems to capture the interior shots nicely, as well as letting the approach and landing shots turn out well.
Image stabilisation is a must.
In my experience, you tube videos must catch your attention in the first thirty seconds or they'll never get watched.
