How to Film Birdfeeders and Pets

Where's easier to film than your own back garden? Nigel Marven gives a helpful guide to filming bird-life and your pets.

How to Film Birdfeeders and Pets

One of the easiest places to grab some footage of animals is if you film in your back garden.

Garden visitors such as birds habitually visit the same area - your bird tables - making it simple to grab some lovely sequences. Just set up a camera nearby and set it going. Make sure you leave out a bit of birdseed too though!

If you know where animals hang out you can record what they get up to

Pets also make easy subjects for films. Although you'll have to think hard about your subject to make sure that you have a good message about the wonder of nature!

Filming birds in your garden takes time and consideration.

Filming birds in your garden takes time and consideration.

Some techniques that you may want to include in your film are slow motion, differing camera angles and slow-motion.

Slow-motion makes fast-moving wildlife look more elegant and also means that your audience can appreciate the subtleties of their movement. However, you may want to make sure that your camera can run at a higher frames per second so that it doesn't effect the quality, but that may be a style choice!

It is very important to think about different kinds of shots to make a sequence. Long and mid-shots are good to set scenes, while close-ups allow the audience to get a better look at your subject. Shooting animals at their eye-level or below allows for a more personal sequence.

What hints and tips do you have to share? Stick them in the comments below.