Installing Webcam on Debian Linux Help Needed

I have two computers, one with a built in webcam and one with a plugin webcam. Both computers have Debian Wheezy running and I can't get the cameras working on either. 1st off, VLC is definitely not working for me so I downloaded Banshee. That works all fine and dandy...I have an interface where I can import music and movies and all that good stuff. I have the latest version of cheese and ran some checks to confirm both my machines were properly detecting my webcams....so now how do I run them? I can't put the pieces together. I'm totally confused, I've been working on this for hours. Has anyone installed a webcam on their Debian machine and if so, how'd you do it? Thanks in advance for help