This Quick Tip for Video concentrates on three interview setups for documentaries or video journalism.
Learn more at:
http://www.mikesdvp.com
Friday, July 30, 2010
Quick Tips for Video #3
This Quick Tip for Video is about staging and shooting a 2 person interview with one camera to make it look like a live, three camera shoot.
Everything you NEED to know to be a professional film maker at:
http://www.mikesdvp.com
Everything you NEED to know to be a professional film maker at:
http://www.mikesdvp.com
What's In Your Lighting Kit?
During the pre-production stage of your digital video production you should consider everything you can for the production and post-production stages. It’s not just a matter of writing a script and running out to shoot. There’s lots of peripheral equipment and supplies that might be needed on a regular basis.
One very important consideration is what your lighting kit should contain on
any given shooting day. Your lighting equipment requirements will likely be
different for each setup and location.
Obviously you’ll need extension cords and lights but different situations may require more fixtures, less fixtures, different wattage ratings for intensity, etc. You’ll have to figure out these variables on your own. When thinking about how to make videos, here are 6 important lighting tips:
1. Always Take Spare Bulbs for your lights in whatever wattage rating you need. Having a bulb go during the shoot with no backup can be a real pain. If you can’t get a replacement in a hurry it could mean you’re done for the day.
2. Bring Good, Heat Resistant Gloves. If your lights have been on for a while and you have to make an adjustment to the fixture, tweak the barn doors or change a bulb, you don’t want to burn your fingers. Good heat resistant gloves will also come in handy when putting in a fresh bulb. You shouldn’t touch the glass of the new bulb because skin oils can cause the bulb to heat up unevenly and it could explode.
3. Bring Lots of Diffusion Screens & Material and Gels. As well as standard color correction gels, a selection of “rock ‘n roll” colors, gels for enhancing skin tones, and neutral density gels can be very useful.
4. Use C-47s as Barn Doors. If the barn doors on your lights don’t have built in clips or frames for gels run down to the dollar store and pick up some C-47s (that’s industry talk for clothes pins). Always use wooden ones. The plastic ones tend to melt.
5. A Tool Kit Can be a Life Saver if the electrical connections in your light fixtures go hay wire. Make sure it has needle nosed and regular pliers, a wire stripper, a small soldering iron with solder, electrical tape and a small screw driver set. The electrical connections in a light fixture are pretty simple for anyone to figure out and fix.
6. Use a Light Meter to Balance Your Lights. An incident light meter is a handy device to make sure your lighting balance is correct. We usually don’t use a reflective meter for digital video production. Regardless of what you use, be sure your meter is capable of determining the amount of light from each fixture. By reading each light separately you can balance your lights for the proper key, fill and back light ratios.
If you aren’t up to snuff on lighting for television production or digital video production you might want to check out my eBook, “Mike’s Textbook of Digital Video Production” at http://www.mikesdvp.com. There’s a large chapter on lighting that covers all the basics and then some.
One very important consideration is what your lighting kit should contain on
any given shooting day. Your lighting equipment requirements will likely be
different for each setup and location.
Obviously you’ll need extension cords and lights but different situations may require more fixtures, less fixtures, different wattage ratings for intensity, etc. You’ll have to figure out these variables on your own. When thinking about how to make videos, here are 6 important lighting tips:
1. Always Take Spare Bulbs for your lights in whatever wattage rating you need. Having a bulb go during the shoot with no backup can be a real pain. If you can’t get a replacement in a hurry it could mean you’re done for the day.
2. Bring Good, Heat Resistant Gloves. If your lights have been on for a while and you have to make an adjustment to the fixture, tweak the barn doors or change a bulb, you don’t want to burn your fingers. Good heat resistant gloves will also come in handy when putting in a fresh bulb. You shouldn’t touch the glass of the new bulb because skin oils can cause the bulb to heat up unevenly and it could explode.
3. Bring Lots of Diffusion Screens & Material and Gels. As well as standard color correction gels, a selection of “rock ‘n roll” colors, gels for enhancing skin tones, and neutral density gels can be very useful.
4. Use C-47s as Barn Doors. If the barn doors on your lights don’t have built in clips or frames for gels run down to the dollar store and pick up some C-47s (that’s industry talk for clothes pins). Always use wooden ones. The plastic ones tend to melt.
5. A Tool Kit Can be a Life Saver if the electrical connections in your light fixtures go hay wire. Make sure it has needle nosed and regular pliers, a wire stripper, a small soldering iron with solder, electrical tape and a small screw driver set. The electrical connections in a light fixture are pretty simple for anyone to figure out and fix.
6. Use a Light Meter to Balance Your Lights. An incident light meter is a handy device to make sure your lighting balance is correct. We usually don’t use a reflective meter for digital video production. Regardless of what you use, be sure your meter is capable of determining the amount of light from each fixture. By reading each light separately you can balance your lights for the proper key, fill and back light ratios.
If you aren’t up to snuff on lighting for television production or digital video production you might want to check out my eBook, “Mike’s Textbook of Digital Video Production” at http://www.mikesdvp.com. There’s a large chapter on lighting that covers all the basics and then some.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
8 Techniques for getting great looking hand-held shots
I have used dozens of makes and models of cameras in my almost 40 years of film production, television production and digital video production. While I usually use a tripod or some other camera stabilizing equipment sometimes the hand-held shot is the best way to go - either because a tripod is unfeasible or you want the “point of view” style. OK, the hand-held look can be stylish but it still bothers me to see a dramatic television production or movie where the actors are standing still but the camera seems to be constantly moving and it looks like the camera operator is very nervous or very tired.
I’ve always encouraged my filmmaking school students to use a tripod or camera stabilizing equipment to keep it from bobbing around like flotsam on a restless ocean. However, there are times, especially during documentary shooting, when a tripod is just not efficient.
Today’s cameras have resulted in the loss of two of the best parts of the camera that can be used to steady the hand-held shot: the side mounted viewfinder pressing against your eye so your head helps steady the camera; and the extra support of the camera on your shoulder. Today’s lighter, smaller cameras and the fact that the diopter (eye piece) viewfinder is often on the rear of the camera have forced us to figure out other ways of keeping our shots from looking like they were shot by Mr. Jack In The Box. When thinking about how to make videos involving hand-held shots, here are eight methods:
1. Use the Diopter Viewfinder. Even if it’s mounted at the back of the camera, pressing it
against your eye will help to steady it.
2. Hold the Camera With Two Hands. One hand will do most of the movement while the other hand (usually holding the camera flat on your palm, just near the lens) will help to keep the camera steady and properly horizontal.
3. When Standing Still Keep Your Feet About 6 - 8 Inches Apart, Legs Straight. If you have to pan further than a few degrees, you can swivel at the waist then carefully use your feet to walk the rotation around.
4. Stand Against any Solid Structure. Interior support pillars, door frames, tall heavy furniture such as a filing cabinet or, when outside, a solid tree, building wall or sign post will help. Sometimes you can even press the camera itself against a solid object.
5. Stand With the Camera Held Under Your Arm Against Your Body. You can do this if the focal distance to the subject is far enough away that lowering your camera won’t be a problem. You’ll be able to see what’s going on in frame by rotating the LCD screen up.
6. Control Your Breath. If you’re breathing hard the motion will cause the camera to move. The opposite is true if you keep your breathing shallow. Often, if I must zoom in, I hold my breath, but only if I know that I’ll be able to zoom out before I’m gasping for air which will show up in the shot.
7. DO NOT ZOOM IN UNLESS NECESSARY. This is most important! As the lens becomes
more and more telephoto the shot will get shakier and shakier. Instead of standing 8 feet from your subject and zooming in for that nice head and shoulders shot, try standing 3 feet away using a wide lens. You’ll still get the shot with less chance of causing motion sickness.
8. Always be Aware of Horizontal and Vertical Lines. When shooting indoors and you can see where the wall meets the floor in your frame - and you’re standing perpendicular to the wall - the horizontal line where wall meets floor should cut across your frame without any discernible slope. If you can’t see the floor maybe you could use the vertical line where two walls meet. If it appears slanted you should correct your shot. Try to get in the habit of constantly checking this during the shot.
Hope this helps make your hand-held shots more professional looking. If you want to learn more, check out my eBook, “Mike’sTextbook of Digital Video Production” at http://www.mikesdvp.com.
I’ve always encouraged my filmmaking school students to use a tripod or camera stabilizing equipment to keep it from bobbing around like flotsam on a restless ocean. However, there are times, especially during documentary shooting, when a tripod is just not efficient.
Today’s cameras have resulted in the loss of two of the best parts of the camera that can be used to steady the hand-held shot: the side mounted viewfinder pressing against your eye so your head helps steady the camera; and the extra support of the camera on your shoulder. Today’s lighter, smaller cameras and the fact that the diopter (eye piece) viewfinder is often on the rear of the camera have forced us to figure out other ways of keeping our shots from looking like they were shot by Mr. Jack In The Box. When thinking about how to make videos involving hand-held shots, here are eight methods:
1. Use the Diopter Viewfinder. Even if it’s mounted at the back of the camera, pressing it
against your eye will help to steady it.
2. Hold the Camera With Two Hands. One hand will do most of the movement while the other hand (usually holding the camera flat on your palm, just near the lens) will help to keep the camera steady and properly horizontal.
3. When Standing Still Keep Your Feet About 6 - 8 Inches Apart, Legs Straight. If you have to pan further than a few degrees, you can swivel at the waist then carefully use your feet to walk the rotation around.
4. Stand Against any Solid Structure. Interior support pillars, door frames, tall heavy furniture such as a filing cabinet or, when outside, a solid tree, building wall or sign post will help. Sometimes you can even press the camera itself against a solid object.
5. Stand With the Camera Held Under Your Arm Against Your Body. You can do this if the focal distance to the subject is far enough away that lowering your camera won’t be a problem. You’ll be able to see what’s going on in frame by rotating the LCD screen up.
6. Control Your Breath. If you’re breathing hard the motion will cause the camera to move. The opposite is true if you keep your breathing shallow. Often, if I must zoom in, I hold my breath, but only if I know that I’ll be able to zoom out before I’m gasping for air which will show up in the shot.
7. DO NOT ZOOM IN UNLESS NECESSARY. This is most important! As the lens becomes
more and more telephoto the shot will get shakier and shakier. Instead of standing 8 feet from your subject and zooming in for that nice head and shoulders shot, try standing 3 feet away using a wide lens. You’ll still get the shot with less chance of causing motion sickness.
8. Always be Aware of Horizontal and Vertical Lines. When shooting indoors and you can see where the wall meets the floor in your frame - and you’re standing perpendicular to the wall - the horizontal line where wall meets floor should cut across your frame without any discernible slope. If you can’t see the floor maybe you could use the vertical line where two walls meet. If it appears slanted you should correct your shot. Try to get in the habit of constantly checking this during the shot.
Hope this helps make your hand-held shots more professional looking. If you want to learn more, check out my eBook, “Mike’sTextbook of Digital Video Production” at http://www.mikesdvp.com.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Quick Tips for Video #2
In this Quick Tip I list 6 steps you should take AFTER mounting the camera on the tripod to prepare for your shoot.
Want more great tips? Check out:
http://www.mikesdvp.com
Want more great tips? Check out:
http://www.mikesdvp.com
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Quick Tips for Video #1
A quick instructional video on how to make your hand held video shots steadier.
Learn more at:
http://www.mikesdvp.com
Learn more at:
http://www.mikesdvp.com
Thursday, July 15, 2010
5 Important Tips for Shooting Your Video
In digital video production, there are 5 key things you should consider while packing your camera gear and shooting your video. There are actually several hundred things I could cite, but I’ve chosen five that many people forget when thinking about how to make videos.
1. Pack a Separate Bag (usually called a “ditty bag”) of camera-related materials including:
2. Go Over the Shots you’re going to make to be sure you pack all the equipment you need, but not a bunch of gack you won’t require. It’s amazing how much equipment can be left in the truck all day because it isn’t needed. Conversely, you don’t want to leave the doorway dolly at home-base if you’re going to need it on location.
3. Identify a Staging Area. When you arrive at your location choose a “staging area” – a place where all your equipment can be safely stored. You take equipment from here when you use it and put it back when you don’t need it.
This area should be:
4. If you’re using only a small light kit (or two) at a location that only has standard power outlets you should be aware of some basic electrical theory. For example, if your kit includes two 1000 Watt lamps and one 600 Watt lamp, how many can you plug into the same circuit without blowing a breaker? Here’s an excerpt from my digital production textbook: North American power is 110 to 120 Volts and most outlets are 15 Amps. Since you already know the wattage of your lamps the formula is:
Total Wattage of Lamps / Voltage of Power Supply = Amperage Required
If the answer exceeds 20 amps then you cannot do it. For instance, two 1000 Watt lamps equals 2000 Watts. So, 2000/120 = 16.66 Amps. If you divide by 110 the answer is even worse (18.18 Amps). In short . . . you can’t plug two 1000 Watt lamps into the same receptacle without tripping a breaker. You’d be better off plugging one 1000 Watt and one 600 Watt into each receptacle (1600/110 = 14.54 Amps).
5. Pack Extra Light Bulbs. Always pack extra light bulbs for your fixtures. They seem to last forever, but are bound to blow when you need them most.
This is all basic filmmaking school stuff, but it’s amazing how easy it is for even seasoned professionals to forget these important things. I often do myself.
There are many more tips about how to make videos.
Check out my book of digital video production
In the meantime, I hope these tips help make your shoot easier.
1. Pack a Separate Bag (usually called a “ditty bag”) of camera-related materials including:
- A slate. I make mine out of a piece of stiff cardboard with a slate face printed on paper and glued to one side. I cover this with celluloid material and use a dry-erase marker to mark the slate and a paper towel to erase it. If the celluloid gets worn I can easily replace it. The slate doesn’t need a clapper stick on top if you’re recording audio only to your camera.
- A lens cleaning kit - lens cleaning fluid, lens cleaning tissue and a squeeze bulb with a soft brush attached to it to dust off the lens.
- A pen to write on the tape label. Hey, it’s easy to forget!
- rain jacket for your camera (not often needed in an indoor location unless the sprinkler system triggers).
- Perhaps some lens filters or a close-up attachment.
- Anything else you decide are camera-related necessities that won’t fit in the camera case itself.
2. Go Over the Shots you’re going to make to be sure you pack all the equipment you need, but not a bunch of gack you won’t require. It’s amazing how much equipment can be left in the truck all day because it isn’t needed. Conversely, you don’t want to leave the doorway dolly at home-base if you’re going to need it on location.
3. Identify a Staging Area. When you arrive at your location choose a “staging area” – a place where all your equipment can be safely stored. You take equipment from here when you use it and put it back when you don’t need it.
This area should be:
- On the floor. If you put things on tables, chairs or shelves eventually something will be knocked off and it’ll end up on the floor anyway . . . likely broken.
- Out of the way of general traffic. You don’t want people tripping over your stuff.
- Guarded in some way. If you can’t afford to leave a crew member with the equipment to guard it then your staging area should be as close to your shooting area as possible yet still on the floor and out of the way.
4. If you’re using only a small light kit (or two) at a location that only has standard power outlets you should be aware of some basic electrical theory. For example, if your kit includes two 1000 Watt lamps and one 600 Watt lamp, how many can you plug into the same circuit without blowing a breaker? Here’s an excerpt from my digital production textbook: North American power is 110 to 120 Volts and most outlets are 15 Amps. Since you already know the wattage of your lamps the formula is:
Total Wattage of Lamps / Voltage of Power Supply = Amperage Required
If the answer exceeds 20 amps then you cannot do it. For instance, two 1000 Watt lamps equals 2000 Watts. So, 2000/120 = 16.66 Amps. If you divide by 110 the answer is even worse (18.18 Amps). In short . . . you can’t plug two 1000 Watt lamps into the same receptacle without tripping a breaker. You’d be better off plugging one 1000 Watt and one 600 Watt into each receptacle (1600/110 = 14.54 Amps).
5. Pack Extra Light Bulbs. Always pack extra light bulbs for your fixtures. They seem to last forever, but are bound to blow when you need them most.
This is all basic filmmaking school stuff, but it’s amazing how easy it is for even seasoned professionals to forget these important things. I often do myself.
There are many more tips about how to make videos.
Check out my book of digital video production
In the meantime, I hope these tips help make your shoot easier.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Be a “Jack-Of-All-Trades” and master them all!
When I began my film production career I was only about 10 years old.
• Second, I think of my projects as artistic endeavors and myself as the artist. That just makes it darn fun!
• Third, I’m a cheap son-of-a-gun! Why pay someone else to do something I can do quite well?
Recently I produced a freebie documentary for the Richmond Artists Guild, documenting
their efforts to create large paintings of speed skaters to become part of a display at
Richmond City Hall during the 2010 Winter Olympics. It was my contribution to the Guild, the City of Richmond who hosted the display at City Hall, Speed Skating Canada and the Olympics themselves. Also - not bad for the old portfolio.
My job was to concoct a documentary showing the process from sketching through painting in the studio to the judging and final selection of paintings that would be part of the display, which also included antique and modern skates, skating suits and historical information.
To get back to the “Jack of All Trades” theme, here are all the hats I had to wear to
complete this project:
1. Production Coordinator - consulting with Speed Skating Canada and members of the
life drawing group, lining up shooting dates in artist’s studios, determining who needed to be interviewed on camera, getting
all those pesky release forms signed, etc.
2. Script Writer - because I was alone with this project and I’m experienced enough to do so, the script was never written down. I
designed the flow and kept that in mind while shooting.
3. Camera Operator - mostly hand-held at which I’m fortunately skilled. I did, however, use a tripod to interview artists in their
studios.
4. Interviewer - from behind the camera.
5. Lighting Technician - only one light was used in the artist’s studios - the rest was shot under available light, so this wasn’t
much of a challenge.
6. Sound Technician - not much of a challenge as most sound was recorded with the on-camera mic. and only a few interviews were
done with a single wireless lapel mic..
7. General Editing - including standard transitions, titles, lower thirds, etc. I don’t want to make this sound easy as this was
the lion’s share of the work and is where all the creative decisions are made.
8. Animation - key frame animations of still images and titles.
9. Music Composition and Production - OK, my mother was a musician and music teacher. With that advantage I often compose, arrange
and perform my own music (remember, I’m a cheap turkey who doesn’t like to pay anyone for things I can do myself.
10. Voice-Over Narrator - my father was a radio personality before he got into TV. He had a great voice and he taught me to use
mine when I entered radio as a young man. I’ve narrated literally thousands of programs and been MC for live events.
11. Designing Graphics for the DVD label.
12. Authoring the DVD - this one was fairly easy, but this often involves chapters, multiple programs and lots of menu links.
Boy, did my head get hot under all those hats. As this was a freebie I had no choice . . .
I had to do it all myself. But it was the most fun I’ve had in years!
I’m currently learning all I can about 3D illustration and animation, the creation of motion
backgrounds and other special effects and expanding my knowledge of the documentary genre. If you really want to become a consummate filmmaker you must learn all you can about every aspect of the art of film production.
To that end, I’ve spent a year and a half writing a textbook that contains all of the course
material I’ve used teaching at filmmaking school over the last 30+ years. If you’re interested in learning to be a true indy filmmaker check out my book on digital video production at:
http://www.mikesdvp.com
My father saw to it that I had an 8mm movie camera, a film splicer/viewer and access to his projector. He made film commercials for the television station he worked for and taught me a lot about the film production and television production processes. But I had to learn a lot of it on my own since I never had the opportunity to go to a filmmaking school or film and television school. That’s why I call myself a “Jack Of All Trades” in the audio visual and film production business. I’ve also mastered a great many of the associated skills.
A lot of things changed over the years. The technologies changed - Power Point presentations instead of slide shows and overheads, for example. The main difference today is we now do digital video production instead of film and video editing production on a computer with non-linear editing software. Client’s needs have changed too so I decided to specialize in my first love – film production.
While I do hire crew as needed from time to time, over the years I honed some very specific skills that allow me to take on all or most of the roles involved in digital video production. I usually try to do as much of the technical work myself as I can. The reason for this is three-fold.
• First, it allows me creative control of the whole project (within my client’s guidelines of course).
A lot of things changed over the years. The technologies changed - Power Point presentations instead of slide shows and overheads, for example. The main difference today is we now do digital video production instead of film and video editing production on a computer with non-linear editing software. Client’s needs have changed too so I decided to specialize in my first love – film production.
While I do hire crew as needed from time to time, over the years I honed some very specific skills that allow me to take on all or most of the roles involved in digital video production. I usually try to do as much of the technical work myself as I can. The reason for this is three-fold.
• First, it allows me creative control of the whole project (within my client’s guidelines of course).
• Second, I think of my projects as artistic endeavors and myself as the artist. That just makes it darn fun!
• Third, I’m a cheap son-of-a-gun! Why pay someone else to do something I can do quite well?
Recently I produced a freebie documentary for the Richmond Artists Guild, documenting
their efforts to create large paintings of speed skaters to become part of a display at
Richmond City Hall during the 2010 Winter Olympics. It was my contribution to the Guild, the City of Richmond who hosted the display at City Hall, Speed Skating Canada and the Olympics themselves. Also - not bad for the old portfolio.
My job was to concoct a documentary showing the process from sketching through painting in the studio to the judging and final selection of paintings that would be part of the display, which also included antique and modern skates, skating suits and historical information.
To get back to the “Jack of All Trades” theme, here are all the hats I had to wear to
complete this project:
1. Production Coordinator - consulting with Speed Skating Canada and members of the
life drawing group, lining up shooting dates in artist’s studios, determining who needed to be interviewed on camera, getting
all those pesky release forms signed, etc.
2. Script Writer - because I was alone with this project and I’m experienced enough to do so, the script was never written down. I
designed the flow and kept that in mind while shooting.
3. Camera Operator - mostly hand-held at which I’m fortunately skilled. I did, however, use a tripod to interview artists in their
studios.
4. Interviewer - from behind the camera.
5. Lighting Technician - only one light was used in the artist’s studios - the rest was shot under available light, so this wasn’t
much of a challenge.
6. Sound Technician - not much of a challenge as most sound was recorded with the on-camera mic. and only a few interviews were
done with a single wireless lapel mic..
7. General Editing - including standard transitions, titles, lower thirds, etc. I don’t want to make this sound easy as this was
the lion’s share of the work and is where all the creative decisions are made.
8. Animation - key frame animations of still images and titles.
9. Music Composition and Production - OK, my mother was a musician and music teacher. With that advantage I often compose, arrange
and perform my own music (remember, I’m a cheap turkey who doesn’t like to pay anyone for things I can do myself.
10. Voice-Over Narrator - my father was a radio personality before he got into TV. He had a great voice and he taught me to use
mine when I entered radio as a young man. I’ve narrated literally thousands of programs and been MC for live events.
11. Designing Graphics for the DVD label.
12. Authoring the DVD - this one was fairly easy, but this often involves chapters, multiple programs and lots of menu links.
Boy, did my head get hot under all those hats. As this was a freebie I had no choice . . .
I had to do it all myself. But it was the most fun I’ve had in years!
I’m currently learning all I can about 3D illustration and animation, the creation of motion
backgrounds and other special effects and expanding my knowledge of the documentary genre. If you really want to become a consummate filmmaker you must learn all you can about every aspect of the art of film production.
To that end, I’ve spent a year and a half writing a textbook that contains all of the course
material I’ve used teaching at filmmaking school over the last 30+ years. If you’re interested in learning to be a true indy filmmaker check out my book on digital video production at:
http://www.mikesdvp.com
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