How to make your own mountain biking videos
People seem to like the Trail Blasters mountain biking videos and I'm sure there are a few peeps out there who want to have a stab at it themselves. Therefore, here is a guide to getting started. Hope it helps, but makes sure you don't make your vids better than mine ;o)
Get a video camera
I'm using a Sony DCR-HC96, which is a mini DV camcorder. Any camcorder with AV-in can be used to capture your videos, but the advantage of DV cams is that they are light, compact and the picture quality is excellent. In addtion, it is very easy to connect your cam to a PC to edit your video (more on this later).
You now have 2 choices - you can buy a bracket to hold the actual cam to your helmet or you can carry the cam in your backpack and connect it to a helmet cam. I'd suggest the latter as it reduces the risk of damaging your cam and also keeps the added weight to your helmet to a minimum.
Buy a helmet cam
I'm sure there are many helmet cams available, but I would personally recommend one from www.actioncameras.co.uk. We use the ActionCamera 580 HQ Helmet Camera, which gives you everything you need to get started apart from batteries. These are Sony Hi Res Cams and they really are very good quality for such a small unit.
The main problem with using a helmet cam is wiring. There is a thick wire to connect the 2 cams together, a long mic wire, a power wire and then the battery pack too (8 AA's). Therefore you will need to spend a bit of time arranging the wires that suits you, some zip ties will do the trick.
Fit the helmet cam
If you buy Camera Package 3 it will come with a velcro strap. You can use the velcro strap on its own but I usually use a zip tie too for extra security. It is also worth using a zip tie to hold the wire to the pack of your helmet to avoid any strain on where it connects to the cam.
Shoot some interesting video
The tendency when using a helmet cam is to use it too much. To make a video that others will also like to watch you should also do some videoing off the bike with your DV cam. With some clever editing you can also mix this in with your helmet cam footage for variety. Also try the helemt cam and different angles such as facing backwards or attached to the bike. You obviously need to be very careful when mounting the helmet cam to your bike. Don't be afraid to shoot too much as any rubbish can be quickly edited out later.
Import the raw video into your computer
These days all you need is a firewire (IEEE1394) cable and a firewire port on your PC. If you don't have a firewire port then you can pick up a card to plug into a spare PCI slot from any good PC shop. Some up to date video software can then be used to capture the video ready for editing (see Step 6).
You will also need a hefty Hard Drive and a fast processor if you want to store and render you videos efficiently. I use a Western Digital 7200rpm 100GB hard drive and I've almost run out of space ;o) The faster the better, but the latest technology is certainly not essential.
Edit your video
The first thing to do is decide what software you would like to use. Adobe Premiere is a favourite for many but this may be too advanced if you are a beginner. I use Adobe Premiere Elements, which is quite powerful, very easy to use and intuitive. The software can be used to capture the raw footage from your cam and also render the final video in full quality, for internet use or even create menus and content for buring to DVD.
Once you've captured the video its down to your creativity to make a video to be proud off. All you need is a healthy balance of trimming, transitions, title and music.
Thats it! Burn your movies to CD, DVD or share them on the web.
If you would like anymore info, please email me simon@trailblasters.co.uk
