A better way to approach this subject is to avoid shooting video footage that looks amateurish. If you have ever sat through Great Aunt Martha's home videos of the Bridge Club, you may have an idea of what -not- to do.

Erratic movements
Cameras today for the consumer are very small. Often, people will shoot their video hand held, with one eye on the flip-open LCD, then peering around it to follow the action every so often. Buy an inexpensive tripod or monopod and use it. Instead of looking at and around the LCD, look through the viewfinder, that's what the pros do. Inside, more often than not, are white reticles (lines) that border the area contained by the frame. Simply, the amount of picture that will be in the frame. Loosen the clamps on your tripod so that your movements are slowed, but it isn't hard to move the camera. The idea is to be able to follow the action, but not have the tightness in the clamps restrict a smooth pan (left and right) or tilt (up and down).

Get off the zoom button
Watch any professionally-produced video and you will see very few, limited zooms. This is because the pros shoot with fixed focus and stretch a tape out to measure the focus length exactly for each shot. For each new shot, a new measurement is taken. you can still use your auto-focus and zoom, but pause the recording before you zoom into a closeup head shot, or pan out for a wide view.

Concentrate on the auto-focus (AF)
Cameras choose an object and focus on it when in AF mode. So should you- or disable the AF. If your lens is fixed on Bobby and he is sharply in focus, when he moves, your camera struggles to compensate. Instead, keep your finger near the auto/manual focus selector. Get on your subject, and then click off the AF. Move your hand up to the lens (if you can) and adjust the focus manually thereafter until you end the shot. For cameras that cannot be easily manually focused, or where the action is fast, get on a subject and stay centered on the largest portion of it to avoid losing the focus. Edit out short segments when the focus gets soft or you lost the subject.

Frame your shot properly
If you are shooting two people talking, you need head and shoulders in sharp focus, and no more. Tighten the shot (zoom in) until their heads fill the frame. Then click off the AF and stay centered on the space between them. Don't hold back and get a lot of background and scenery. If you are shooting action, the same thing applies. Pick a subject, get tight

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