Inside Buildings

Helpful hints in capturing ghostly phenomena

The best places in the home or historical locations will be the traffic areas; these are the rooms or hallways that are often used. We also found that doorways are also an active spot, plenty of spirit activity happens here.

So where do I look?

The common mistake most have is they will film walls and closed doorways, the floor or the ceilings…. And this is done quickly, for one to capture all possibilities one must leave a camera there at all times on the area of your choice, move it every 15 minutes or so and only move it slightly in a different direction.

If its staircases… film from the bottom (tilted up ways) as you will want as much of the staircase as possible, then change direction….film down ways towards the floor from the top of the stair case, then move it to the floor area again and film through the banisters, you may be surprised at the possibilities… remember though not all areas will show results, it all comes down to how long you leave the camera still for. Ghosts are not going to show up as soon as you start filming (some do) but it could take hours or not at all for a ghostly image to appear on screen. Plus hours of the same viewing will be a strain on the mind, to look at the same view for 3 hours your eyes will start playing tricks, or you will get bored by the same view, so change view often but allow 15 to 30 minutes before changing… this is an example to try with each room. Take your time and don’t expect outrageous activity every time you put the camera on. Be patient and don’t expect too much.

When using a digital still camera, do not take only a handful of photos…. Go absolutely spastic, you have a memory card with plenty of space, take random shots and try and cover as much of the room in a handful of photos. There is one really important note: ghosts will not pose for you or wait until you’re ready to film it. This is why we go crazy and take 1000+ photos every investigation…. Because you never know what you may have missed is you only take a small amount of photos. Fill the whole memory card up to be safe.

How to capture ghosts on Video Camera

This is not as easy as it may seem, it all has to do with being at the right place at the right time. What you need first off is a video camera with a night vision built in… which most modern cameras come with now. Plus you may need a tri-pod as this also becomes an important tool, now you are ready to start filming.

Ok now that you’re at your location of choice and for argument sake it’s in a house, take note of possible places spirits may roam in a house… there’s hallways and stair cases, door ways… these should be your main focus area’s for the evening. What you have to allways keep in mind is how a spirit may react to your being there… you can simply point a camera straight down a hallway but are you going to see every thing, put a camera on a angle so that you can see in a door way and hallway at the same time… then walk away for small amounts of time like 20 minutes. Then change direction of the camera… point it from the opposite end of the hallway but do the same thing as before and walk away. We also found that filming between door ways also it can come as advantage. But what if the hallway has stairs, same rules apply… put the camera in to a corner of the hallway and tilt it so that the stairs are in view as well as the hallway, you can also put the camera at the bottom of the stairs and tilt it up ways to get all the stairs in view.

If your going to use it handheld then try and keep the camera steady and take you time in looking about… don’t rush as you may miss something or if you do get something its going to be blurry and it will be what we call “Wasted Footage”. So your standing in a room… if your in the centre then do a slow pan around the room, but allways go to each corner of the room, this will help capture as much of the room as possible.

If your out side… well there’s plenty of different places to film but the main important note is try and keep as much of the home in view… even if its just a small part.

Helpful hints in capturing ghostly phenomena

Well we have gone through the basics of filming and where to point the camera… now we look at areas in and around the home to film.

All the areas inside a house is filmable, but it comes down to where and how you want to film that particular part of the building, the main important factor to note is the more different angles you film the more coverage you will get. Never try to be to fancy with you filming, it doesn’t matter how nice the shot is lite or the angle has to be perfect… ghosts don’t care about this sort of stuff and they are certainly not going to pose for the camera or stay in one spot until you get the right shot. You must also film as a ghost would think… this is hard task to master (if one can) as no one really knows how a ghost thinks, so be prepared to move camera at all times and focus between doorways, try and get as much of the location in the shot… if a lounge room has two doors in and out of the room… film in one door but try and get the other door way in shot… because ghosts move quickly at times, moving past a door way maybe missed if your only film a small part of the room.

Ghosts observe us as much as we are trying to observe them, so film towards open doors, long extended hall, through windows or even at windows (as the reflection of ghost is common to capture)… even if your out side film as many of the windows as you can… up close to distant shots.

But don’t rush; take your time if filming as much of the room or other parts of the building.

What about if you’re in a cemetery or a large historical ruin (like Port Arthur) this can be a challenge but any ghost finder that is dedicated will enjoy this challenge, this is something that is going to test your patience.

With a large open area like cemeteries, you need to survey the area…. You need to find the places that spirits may be watching from, so film between headstones and if it’s a large row of headstones, try and get most of them into shot. You maybe lucky to capture something moving between them or appearing over them or even around the headstones. As there a plenty of pathways to film, try and get as many as you can on camera, leave a camera on a tri-pod and just let the camera film. It’s best to let the camera film for around 20 minutes, then switch direction and continue process. Once you have covered on pathway (this is by your choice) move on to the next pathway.

When you’re walking around it allways good to move camera slowly to any headstone you see, the only obstacle is bushes and trees as there are so many inside and around a cemetery or ruin. It’s still a good idea to walk around them and cover as much ground as you can… that’s the key right now coverage, to some 8/ 12 hours of investigating is a long time, in fact it’s not and you will be surprised at how fast time goes when you are investigating, so the most coverage you can get on one location can become very important. Now if your in a team and there are 4 cameras filming… it’s still not enough, even though you will have up to 40 hours of footage… you will never cover the whole area (unless it’s pint size locations). We have investigated Carr Villa cemetery over 20 times and we still have only covered a quarter of it.

Now if your filming a friend, then keep a gap of ten meters between you and your friend, so if anything moves past in front of your friend you know then it couldn’t be human or living. Plus you’re able to see more behind your friend and to the side of them, never have the screen covered with just your friends face… this is pointless and no one wants to see up your nose or the food still rolling around in their mouths, plus your there to film ghosts, you can’t do this if your friend is hogging the camera view.

So that’s basically it… it’s not like a Hollywood production in which everything has to be perfect, but as long as your vision on the camera is clear and non blurry, you filmed as much of the location as possible, then that’s all there is to filming.

Now comes the hard part… reviewing the footage. Most race through it as it can be a long and pain staking task, but it does have benefits if your take your time.

After you have loaded your footage on to the computer, the first thing you need to do is eat and have a cup of tea. Your going to need your focus for this, make sure your chair is comfortable and have the time to study as much of the footage as you can.

We (Team Strigoi) believe in taking our time for viewing, as many have missed some awesome phenomena due to rushing it. It takes an average of 4 hours to do a 1 and a half hour tape, so to do (lets just say 40 hours) will take up to 3 weeks. For one investigation we took 2 months to finish viewing 19 hours worth of footage… but we like to be very pain staking with some of our viewing times. But it’s only because we want to be sure that we found all the phenomena we can, in our early days we were a bit fleeting with our view, plus its not a good thing to watch your footage straight after the investigation, as you will fall asleep and miss every thing… it’s best to wait a few days before starting. Due to our first few times we missed so much stuff, that it forced us to take our time, especially if your doing this for someone… like our unnatural web show, it could take months before the finished product is ready. Just we do treat the editing process as a full t.v. production, but we want to make sure of a couple of things before we show the final product. Even though we do not get paid for this we still treat it as if we did, we want to be proud of the episode before showing it to those we help investigate, plus we want to find as much phenomena as we can… if there is any. Our show maybe raw, no graphic or animations, no erratic editing or camera shots, but its honest and it shows the truthful view on what its like to be a ghost finder.

There is another important factor we should mention, never do this by yourself… take a friend along or two or better still join with a team that has experience. This way you learn more, you become more adapt to the surroundings and you’re in a safer situation. But it does get addictive and it does get under your skin, in time you will notice you have become a junkie and ghost investigating is your only fix.

How to conduct ghostly investigations

Your going to need nerves of steel to become an investigator, there are more things to contend with than spirits, not a lot of investigators admit they have a fear of dark places or the darkness in general. One must over come the fear of being in a dark location sometime alone, plus there is wildlife to deal with, human interference can be a hassle, this normally happens when filming in cemeteries as some use it as a short cut and you may bang into one, but they may become more frightened of you being in there.

There are a few emotions or feelings one should have if you’re to become a successful investigator. You must have total respect for all around you and especially the ones you cannot see, you must have a soft heart as for some clients need a comforting ear as you must show signs of concern if the case is real bad, you must be generally interested in the subject, you must be able to laugh at oneself as moments will arise and you may say something strange and just plain laughable, but this helps you keep you ego in check.

When dealing with the public you must show that you know what you’re talking about, allways give as many answers to their one question, listen to their story and don’t be judgmental, offer other possible reason to the hauntings before classing it as a haunting. Let them know they can contact you anytime of the day or night if they need your help. Once you have completed the investigation then offer the honest truth in your findings, try and help them understand the spirits behaviour.

You don’t become a ghost finder for pointless and rubbish reasons, if your into it for money, fame and glory then your in the wrong profession, if you think your going to become famous and have every one banging down your door for an investigation… think again, this profession has no place for egotistical, fame seeking fanatics. All investigators should never charge one cent to do an investigation… it bloody insulting and your not doing it for the right reasons.