Avention meditation in Edison, NJ.

Today I went to a yoga meetup in Edison. The host, Manu, is a warm and welcoming person. I told him about my video hobby. He happened to have a camera laying around. So, we decided to do an impromptu video recording of his meditation routine. It took about 1,5 hours.

Manu was not camera shy at all. He did the exercises really well, maintained his focus and gave an excellent commentary of what he was doing.

After we were done, I reviewed the video. Here's my impression:

Position:
--------------
Somehow I got into a very good shooting spot in the room (on the staircase), from where I could capture the exercises he did on the yoga mat. He naturally appears in the very center of the frame and he is totally visible at all time and he is not too far away.


Steadiness:
-----------
Manu had a tripod, but it would not work on the stairs, from where I was shooting. Based on the video, I balance my hands pretty well, so there is minimal shaking.

Zoom/Pan
--------
My natural reaction is to zoom and pan all the time -- this would give me something to do, while filming basically stationary Manu. But, from past experience I know that a video with constant zooming/panning is not easy on the eye. So, the whole time I was able to restrain myself from close-ups. It worked really well. There is one point in the video, when Manu concentrates on an artificial bonsai tree. That's pretty much the only time a close-up was needed to show his hands covering the plant, so I zoomed them.

What's next?
---------------------
So, it came down to about 1 hour of video. I wanted to do it tonight, but I will get home really late. And between planning of the trip to Dallas, soccer on Monday night, going to Monroe for speeding ticket (40 mph arghh!) Tuesday, and hanging out with Erika's friends on Wednesday, I may not get to it for a few days.

Plus, Manu said he had someone with video editing skills. So, not to be the bottleneck, I'll give the camera back to Manu tonight.

With the right editing skills, this will make an excellent promotional video for his site: http://www.anvention.com