Tips to help you video your pet

Making funny videos of your pet is great fun, and nowhere near as hard as you might think. It is also a great way of getting people to vote for your pet in the petmillions.com pet contest - I should know! Don't be put off by the thought that this could be 'technical' - it isn't. If you have a digital camera nowadays, the chances are it can also take a few minutes of 'mpeg' motion footage. That's progress for you!

If you can point your digital camera at your pet and press 'record' the chances are you can film a funny 'pet moment' that will have everyone laughing their heads off. All you need to do is upload it to Youtube.com and let them do all the 'hard stuff'. You can even 'embed' it on the petmillions.com site to help your pet get votes (there's a million at stake, after all - like to win that prize???)

The golden rule is a bit like holiday footage - no one wants to see it unless it's funny! So keep filming till your pet does something silly, funny or weird. THAT'S the footage that will make our pet the international film star! The second rule is to practice a bit - you need a clear, steady video, or people won't bother watching. Bad videos don't get much airtime on the web. Even a pet video needs to not be 'wobbly cam'. It's easy to learn how to film steadily - just practice! For the same reason, camera phones are out - the quality just won't be high enough.

Personally, I use a Canon Ixus that allows me to record up to 10 minutes of footage, and boy, have I got some great video of Simba doing daft things! And that is the third rule - always carry your camera! If you don't have it on you, its odds on your pet will decide to do something amazing, and you won't capture it on film. Its also the reason why you should keep the camera charged at all times - nothing is more frustrating than running out of battery power in the middle of a great scene!

Once you have filmed a funny pet scene, what do you do? Plug the camera into your PC, then when it has loaded, head on over to youtube.com and follow the simple instructions there to upload it. After that, you can even add it to your entry at http://www.petmillions.com - it's bound to help you get votes!!!


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Mandy Patinkin

photo source