Make Better Holiday Family Videos

Those Christmas memories need to be immortalized and there is no better way to do it than with a video camera. With today’s video cameras, recording your family gatherings and events is a breeze. However creating ones that are fun to watch for any length of time requires more than just pressing a button. Thankfully it is
.A good video shot is often dictated by the direction and quality of light, and for most situations. A soft light looks best on a subject's face. One rule to remember is to always keep the light source behind your camera, even when shooting outdoors. Indoors, turn on all the lights or open all the shades. Natural light is always the best light, anytime you can get it.
Anyone who has a video camera knows that half the time you are recording your own voice while you are shooting. Stay quiet while that camera is on. The built in microphone in most cameras is multi-directional. What you really want is a directional microphone that is attached to the device.
If there is one big rule about improving your home videos, it’s stop jiggling. Brace your camera against your body or a solid object. For specific shots just try mounting the camera on a tripod. You can always edit the footage to make it more interesting later.
You also want your shots to look natural. When possible, frame your subjects off center. “When you shoot a movie, it’s rare to see a close-up dead center in the middle of the screen.
It also looks very amateur to keep zooming the camera in and out. It can also give your viewers motion sickness. It is better to get physically closer rather than zoom in and out like a maniac.
If you want it to be engaging then try to tell a bit of a story when shooting it. This is especially true if you are thinking of posting them on the web. Let events unfold unnaturally. The worst home Christmas videos result when you say try to force the action by dictating what should happen next.
Don't be afraid to perform a little magic in the editing room. Many home computers come with editing software that can easily help you do things like cut out long drawn scenes, add close ups and add music and even sound effects! You can also change the order of scenes, ad transition and create title and credits. Don't overdo any special effects unless the shot video is very trashy.
You should also strategically set up shots before Christmas begins. I personally have had enough of watching video of my kid's backs. You want to place yourself so you see the kids’ faces as they experience the joy of Christmas Day!

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The Mosquito Cell Phone Conspiracy

The Mosquito Cell Phone Conspiracy
Did you know your kid can now use their cell phone silently to text each other during class.
This one works with me because I am getting a little hard of hearing. Nowadays children are sending and receiving text messages and phone calls by using high-frequency tones that are inaudible to most people over thirty. These are called mosquito tones.
Mosquito tones were invented by geniuses in New Zealand who used them to discourage teenagers from hanging around in stores. The high pitched buzzing really gets on a kid's nerves after ten minutes or so and they leave. This helps decrease damage to store kids and also shoplifting. The whole thing was invented by Compound Security Systems and called the anti-loitering machine.
However the same mosquito tones are also now used to fool us old folks into thinking they are doing their homework when they are really talking with their friends. This is because most people over thirty suffer from presbucusis which is a general gradual age related hearing loss. Compound Security also developed these same ring tones for teenagers to download on their phones.
The fact is that as you grow older your ability to hear high pitched sounds deteriorates and the tones that you could hear at twenty become a distant member. The older you get the less higher tones you can hear. If you want to test this out you can go to different sites on the internet that will give a demonstration of how high you can hear by playing tones for you.
I found out that my daughter had these tones because I was sitting in a waiting room with her and my daughter who is eight years old. I noticed that my one daughter seemed to be playing with her cell phone but I was not too concerned because I believed she was obeying the sign in the doctor's office that commanded everyone to turn their cell phones off.
I clued into the whole thing when my younger daughter started complaining of hearing a high whining noise . It was then that I noticed that she never heard it unless my sixteen year old daughter was playing with that cell phone. When I demanded to see my older daughter's phone I was amazed to see she was texting on it. Neither myself or the receptionist could hear the tone very well at all and that is why she was allowed to get away with it. What a little secret agent she can be sometimes!
If you do have some hearing you may be able to hear mosquito tones. They sound exactly what they are named after – like a high whining mosquito buzzing.

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