Tips on taking shots for your Movie

I was reading a book on creating an iMovie, and it talked about a few things that beginners should take heed of when shooting their footage. Being an amateur myself, I found the tips to be quite useful and would like to share them with you. Here you go...

1. A few jargons - panning is shooting from side to side; tilting is shooting up and down, somewhat like scanning an image from top to bottom or vice versa; tracking is keeping the subject in the center of the frame while panning.
2. Different kinds of shots - A wide shot (WS) reveals where the scene is taking place. A medium shot (MS) shows half-body of your subject. Two shot put two subjects in the same frame (variation: over-the-shoulder shot has one subject's back closer to the camera than the other subject facing the camera. A close-up shot (CU) is a head shot. (If you get in closer, so that the actor's head fills most of the frame, you have a tight close-up. Going in even tighter, to a person's eyes or mouth, gives you an extreme close-up.)
3. Always take multiple shots when you are shooting, say 2-3 shots.
4. With your camcorder cap on, start roll your film for 10-15 seconds before you actually start.
5. Try not to zoom in and out while you are shooting. Think of the zoom feature on your camcoder as a chain of multiple lenses where you pick one to do multiple shots from a wide angle, then use another lens perhaps for medium close-up, then another for real close-up.
6. Try to find one unique detail of your shot as the focal point when zooming in.
7. Don't jump around to take your shots. Start from one location, take 2-3 shots; then move to another position and take additional shots.
8. Remember to take a focus shot, meaning a shot of the storefront logo or the shop entrance so that you can put it into your movie as an intro or outro.
9. Use tripods to shoot your movie. There are more expensive ones that have a fluid head that you can use to pan smoothly and steadily.
10. Practice to stablize your hand while holding on to the camera. To create tracking effect, try using a swiveling chair and have somebody push you.
11. Apply the 'Rule of Thirds' - one of the most popular rule in photography to create pleasing and balanced compositions. Place the subject about one third of the way into the frame from the left or right and about one third of the way into the frame from the top or bottom.
12. The light should always behind your back, not behind the subject's. In case your subject is lighted from the back and you want to see details, use flash to fill in the shadows.
13. Angles- you don't have to always take pictures from the eye level. Try to shoot lying down on your stomach (low angle), from an elevated plane looking down (high angle), or simply position your subject in an informal manner.

Well, so much for that....