A movie about an adoption experience is a lifelong gift to you and your children.

We would like to offer some suggestions about how best to prepare to capture the experience as completely as possible.

Before your trip...

...take some footage of your home and your surroundings. Try to capture a slice of life that existed before your child arrived. This helps establish a context for the adoption experience itself.

While you are traveling, shoot as much as you can about the trip itself.

Get some scenes driving to the airport, waiting for your plane, and en route. Be sure to record a lot of the scenery you encounter when you arrive. A good rule to abide by is this: if you see a scene or sight that strikes your eye, get it on tape. Don't assume that you will be back to catch it another time.

Try to capture as much of the first meeting as you can.

It's great to have someone help you film that. Make sure they understand how to operate your camera. Tell them to keep the camera recording at all times, and to go easy on the zoom.

If no one can help you, park the camera on a tripod, tabletop, file cabinet, or any other useful object. Set the lens for a wide angle and simply let the camera run. Technique doesn't matter here.

Don't make yourself crazy. We have made plenty of great movies where that first meeting wasn't captured on camera. Experiencing the moment is far more important than filming it.

Be sure to get "establishing" shots.

These help later to set the scene. If something important or memorable is to happen in a certain building, be sure to record images of the building itself. You don't have to do it in sequence. If you forget to get the shot going in, get it going out. Or get it the next day. We can always put things in the right order in post production.

Ignore two camcorder gimmicks.

The first is special effects that are built into the camera. They are of no value and usually present ghastly results. Worse, they are destructive. A scene shot with a special effect is stuck with that effect. It is irreversible.

A second gimmick is digital zoom. This is a feature where, manufacturers claim, in-camera software enlarges the image to simulate an extremely powerful telephoto lens. What they don't mention is that the software can only simulate an extremely awful telephoto lens. The image produced by digital zoom is horrendous. If your camera has this feature, disable it. Put exactly no stock in this feature as a purchase criterion.

The only zoom-power that counts is optical zoom, and most cameras have about the same amount. Optical zoom is a function of the physical elements of the lens. Most video cameras have optical zoom lenses with somewhere between 10x and 20x power. More than 20x is largely unusable, because handheld shots get shaky, even with built-in image stabilization.

Other stuff you should buy...

...include spare batteries and, if you are shooting tape, plenty of blank tapes.

Consider buying and carrying a small table-top tripod. Also, if you can swing it, consider buying a backup camera. You could get a lesser model - perhaps even a used one - and tuck it away just in case of emergency. Don't assume you can buy a replacement wherever you going. (That advice applies even more to supplies like batteries and tapes.)

Most important, get to know your camera before the trip.

Don't think all you have to do is read the camera's user manual on the airplane. You have to work with it a bit, get to know it. A big event is no time to finally figure out how to use your camera. (Or to worry about whether it is working.)

This is a once in a lifetime trip, no matter how many times you do it.

Shoot a lot!

Don't let the best scene be the one that happened just after you stopped recording. Keep rolling. Don't try to edit your movie in-camera. Let us take care of that for you. You go get the raw footage. We will make it memorable.

Good shooting, and good luck.