Video StudentGuy

In this show, proposal creation and the review process, developing your pitch and getting started.

I forgot to mention a conversation we had during class about the

documentary - narrative continuum, so let me talk about it now.. We

looked a a variety of documentaries that range from straight talking

head to what appears to be a narrative feature.

Errol Morris has long

used the technique of dramatizing reality in order to advance his

narrative arc. It's very different from something like the History

channel where they dramatize a scene within a documentary. And of

course there are a lot of feature films that try very hard to represent

an event as meticulously and accurately as possible, not only in the

look and feel, but also in staying very close to documented record. Zodiac

is a good example of that. Certainly there are fictional elements, but

the story revolves around the written record of the events as they

happened. As a result it has more of a fictionalized documentary feel

to it

There is a divisive sentiment in filmmaking, as there seems to be in

all things where people get passionate, of choosing sides over

either/or - better/worse. Either you are a narrative sell out feature

filmmaker, or a libertarian socially conscious documentarian.

Of course there is a middle ground, and it isn't a separated from

either extreme . There are documentaries that have strong narrative

arcs and there are narrative films that have a cinema verité character.

The reality is that there is no best, truest form of filmmaking; you

choose to do what you like. Cinematic storytelling is a continuum. How

you tell a story, either through fiction or documentary is a matter of

degree. Each has components of the other and the polar opposites are

just in a different location along the same path.

To me, that means I can at least mentally escape the label of being one

kind of filmmaker and be free to tell a story in the way that best

suits it.

Lots of loose tangents of thought this week. I'm continuing the

refining process for my documentary proposal. We didn't spend much time

talking about scriptwriting since it was covered in previous modules.

You can review previous episodes for more information about that

practice. Check out the Grim Reader podcast (be aware that this link will open iTunes) for quick, but insightful advice about preparing your script.

Here a link once more to some video that I produced on my company's website.

Some

of the topics this week are about creating a proposal; a written

document that describes the film's goals and outlines production

responsibilities. Others topics are more personal, illuminative. Such

as,

You, the client and the film - always choose the film first.

There's always going to be conflict, and the client is going to think

they can add just one more thing, or they'll insist you act on a really

bad idea. Instead of coming back with what you, IYHO as a

"professional" would do and further alienate the relationship, take the

middle ground. Come in on the side of the film. When you advocate

what's best for the film, you demonstrate that you care about the

product. That gains you a lot of respect and keeps the focus off what

individuals want.

I've included some ideas about interviewing

people. Lots of places on the web give advice about interviewing

people. I like to listen to podcasts on the subject, they give me

insight into different approaches and as well as something to compare

my own skills against.

Relax and ask a lot of questions. Listen

to the person and instead of running down a bullet list of unrelated

questions. Tie each answer to the following question, or ask them a

question that expands what they're saying. Find subtle ways to direct

the speaker along paths you want to explore, so it feels as though they

are a part of the conversation.

It continues to surprise me how willing people can be to talk if you demonstrate you're interested.

A

brief note about the minimum for producing video for the web. Don't go

too bare bones in production or post if it's going to reflect poorly on

the client.

Finally, I'm going to NAB.

It's a great training conference and a chance to see the latest and

greatest hardware and software for digital film and video. I'd love to

meet up, if anyone listening is going to be there. If you're not, you

can send in requests for information I can report on. Let me know

either way.

I posted a couple shows last year, #21 and #22. I plan on posting a show each day this year.

Once again I'm starting another module. This one is called Cinematic

Storytelling and its about using visuals to tell the story. The final

product for this class is either a script, if we're creating a

narrative film, or a documentary proposal.

I just got a Zoom H4 and I have few things to say about it. I'm using it for the next few episodes, so you can expect me to update my impressions.

We've

learned some important details about the requirements for our final

project. More importantly the class is given a couple of writing

exercises that, for me at least, releases me from writer's block. It

all comes down to collecting ideas and then refining them until they're

in sharp focus.

Grammar Girl has a great episode on writing tips and dealing with writer's block. Check out episode 56. I like this show because it's interesting and practical. I learn a lot about writing clearly and it's pretty painless.

I also heard on a recent episode of Digital Production Buzz a link to an HD Production Workflow Tips.

This is a great show to listen to if you want to know what other people

are doing in digital video production right now. I haven't had a chance

to review the tips yet, but the guy who produced it sounded experienced

and knowledgeable.

Strapped onto a log, riding the sluice of learning

Check out the links to some interviews and B-roll

I produced for a conference put on by the company I work for. It may

not look like a lot, but I did it all on my own and it represents most

of my life during January. It feels so good when it stops.

I

recorded this episode in pieces at different times. Once I met the

deadline for my day job I was freed up to complete The Killer edit. At

the end of the show I talk about the critique and the different ways

other people in the class approached their edit of the story.

I

wanted to recommend student screenings to anyone interested in learning

more about filmmaking. Your response to the weaknesses of the film

provides good insight into what you already know about filmmaking.

They're a good source of insight into potential errors and oversights

when producing your own film. A cautionary resource, particularly for a

student filmmaker like you and I.

The entire experience of

producing The Killers has given me a lot of thoughts about getting the

coverage you need to tell a story. The fastest path to success is

planning through preproduction. Pre-visualization tools like

storyboards and shot lists are valuable tools as well. It doesn't

matter how you do it, what matters is that you create the edit before

you begin shooting.

I'm having difficulty hunkering down on the edit for our third major

film project which we call The Killer.  Ambivalence, apathy and fatigue

I've made some comments about HDV again. Thanks to Mike Jones at Digital Basin for his comments, posted in the show notes of VSG #68 about the viability of editing HDV native in FCP.

I'm realizing the importance of pre prod and especially previz in

preparing for shoots. Getting enough coverage is increasingly a

concern. We just never seem to get enough. It's not the quantity, but

the quality, the number of different types and the exact type. FrameForge 3D is a previz tool that I have and I need to get to know it better.

Take a look at the book, In the Blink of an Eye, by Walter Murch. It's a great read and a good introduction to editing.

Doug Plante is instructor for this module, Edit Lab II. He is an ex-Avid employee - Avid is in Tewksbury Massachussets. He is also, according to Howard Phillips, the programs associate director, a FCP god.

This week Doug spoke about the fine points of the rough cut and fine cut

He

was all business and was there to see we got to the fine cut done.

There's not going to be a lot of instruction in this class. It's all

going to come as he works with us individually as we massage our edits.

I

had a heck of a time working with Avid, lost a whole class before I

moved on to FCP 6. Now I have a problem where I upgraded to 6.02 and

the school is at 6.0. and guess what, the file types are not

compatible. Can you believe it?

I know, Avid files created

between a long list of revisions in that software don't cause a hiccup

for Avid users, but FCP apparently is very touchy. But a x.0.2 release?

It's enough to make you a hater.

But I don't hate FCP, I just

feel I would benefit from continuing using Avid. I know FCP well enough

to learn the rest on my own. But Avid, I'm surrounded by Avid gurus and

I want to take advantage of that knowledge.


I know I tend to

treat this like a dog with a sock monkey, but I once again discuss the

archival problems with P2 footage. You can't keep it on the card, it's

too expensive. And the life of the solid state card is unknown for long

term storage. Drives are a problem for long term storage. What are we

going to do once we have to give up tape forever?

Part II of the story of the two weekend shoot of our little film, The Killers. I'm talking about both weekends here, including how much the quality of communication depends on the the amount of time you make for preproduction, my
Communication depends on preproduction likes and dislikes regarding lighting and sound recording on set and a little problem we had with the talent

There is a very odd relationship between the crew and the talent on set. I have  a few words to say about actors in general and the difficult but critical role the Assistant Director plays.

Get ready for a slew of episodes this week. I'm finally catching up.

I'd like to thank Mike Jones from Digital Basin for leaving a comment in show #68. Check out his thoughts there and on his site. Also Brian from Galway left a comment in show #69. Thanks for the encouraging words Brian. I'll be around for a while. Let me know what you're doing and interested in doing.

Check out the song on Coverville.com - Itchycoo Park, covered in show #393. It was one of the first two podcasts I subscribed to and continues to be in my top 5.

After

a brief rundown of my adventures over two weeks of shooting on location

I update you on the type of work that's starting to come to me at my

day job. It may be a small dream, but it's my dream all the same to

become the video go-to guy at my day job. That's the point of going to

school in the first place.

Right now I'm working on a project for both web and tape delivery using video I shot here in Massachusetts and footage shot in other places in the world where the standard broadcast TV format is PAL. Quite an adventure figuring the conversion process for that. Thank God for the internet eh?

I've been very busy this month and it's put me behind a few episodes. They're in the works, so stay tuned.

This week we spent preparing for our first weekend of shooting.

I've got some comments to pass along about how to work with the talent,

especially if you're crew. We've also made our lives more difficult by

not having put more time into preproduction. Everything is connected,

from Producer to production assistant. Things go all bass ackward if

you don't communicate .

We're going to be using a Panasonic HVX200, which is an HD camera that

has many benefits over the camera we've been using up to now, the

Panasonic DVX100.

The first thing is that the menu controls and switches on the outside

are mostly the same, so the learning curve is limited to working with

the media. The HVX can record to tape, but only standard definition. To

record high definition you record to solid state memory cards, called

P2 cards. Here are a few reasons on why HD is a better format:

Disadvantages include:

In this episode I take a shot at explaining the difference between HD

format and HDV format and frankly I don't think I made anything clear.

It's useful to know, but not critical, so I'm going to lay it out here.

If you need to know more, do some research on your own, otherwise, skip

the next three paragraphs.

HD and HDV are capture formats. They're good formats for compressing

data so you can fit as much data as possible on what ever medium they

require, HD requires P2 cards, HDV can use MiniDV tapes, same as for

standard definition. Both HD and HDV record the same resolution, and

for all I've been told, the same 4.2.2 color space. Standard definition

video records in 4.1.1 color. What qualifies as  high end digital

video, approaching film quality, is 4.4.4 color. I don't need to

explain how it works, it's enough to understand that the capacity to

capture all the available color is limited as you move from film, to

HD, to SD. By the way, film is a poor second to the color capture

capability of our own eyes.

HDV cameras are less expensive than HD cameras for the reasons already

mentioned in the advantage list above, real slow motion, etc. HD is

easier to edit immediately after capture compared to HDV due to the

different compression formats they each use. HDV captures footage in

groups of 15 frames, called GOP - Group Of Pictures. The first frame

contains all the picture information inside the frame, then each frame

following that contains only those pixels that have changed. Take a

picture of a wall with HDV and the first frame contains all the info,

each of the following frames have no new information and so have no

additional data. That keeps the file size down so it will fit on the

the tape. If a person or even a fly moves through the frame every frame

that records changed information has to record it, because it's not on

the first frame. But only the pixels that changed need to be recorded.

And thats fine until you need to edit the video. Then you find you

can't cut inside the GOP sections, they're like a single unit. To get

past this problem you need to convert the digital video to an

intermediate codec that reconstitutes each frame, completely restoring

the data to each frame. This of course makes the files larger, but

that's the price you pay for editing this format on a digital nonlinear

editor like Avid or Final Cut Pro.

Next week we shoot the bar scene Saturday and Sunday.