I have learned several crucial lessons about video making this week. Allow me to share them with you:
1. Oven mitts are a great (and necessary) investment when working with lighting.
2. No-name polysporin does not facilitate healing as quickly as the real thing.
3. When you tell your star actor that it will only take an hour to record, make sure it will actually only take an hour.
4. Being a good baker is a guarantee for good bribery of video talent.
5. 9" chocolate chip cookies take almost two-thirds longer to cook than regular-sized cookies.
6. Kids are terrible secret keepers.
7. If you decide it would be a good idea to stand on a homemade trolley and race down the hallway in the dark with a video camera attached to your arm, wear a helmet. And consider providing wrapping your camera in bubble wrap.
8. When trying to get a great high angle shot, thoroughly consider the stability of the item you are standing on to get above the video subject. Four milk crates stacked one on top of the other is not recommended. Removing ceiling tiles and hooking your arm through the open grid while standing on said milk crates is also ill-advised.
9. Stroyboarding is way harder than you'd think. How do you account for spur of the moment inspiration?
10. It is really difficult to separate some of the 33 production shots. How is a medium shot that different from a head-on or a flat angle? How do you create a shot specifically showcasing balance or the rule of thirds. Shouldn't those be included in every shot?
11. Jane Fonda has got nothing on 875. Between the running, climbing, and excessive laughter, we could make a killing on a fitness video. 50 sit-ups? No thanks. Laughing so hard you FEEL like you did 50 sit-ups? Yes indeed!
I definitely feel like I have gotten my tuition worth of educational moments this week and we are only a month into the class!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
In the beginning...
I feel one thing about this class and video designing in general - overwhelemed. I have about a million 'great ideas' for videos whirling around my head at any given moment but can I bring those ideas to reality? I doubt it. I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I am a perfectionist - a type-A personality - and nothing bothers me more than working like a mad fool on something only to have reality pale in comparison to the image I had in my head. I just don't feel like I have the expertise to accomplish something awesome and less than awesome just isn't good enough for me.
Current ideas keeping me up at night:
A touchy-feely commercially feeling video about teachers. Why they teach, how they make a difference, who cares, etc. Basically what I wish the STF would produce to ramp up the positive ideas about teachers.
Problem - I think I'm too emotionally involved to make sense of the whole thing.
Day in the life of a dog. After reading Garth Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain, I often find myself wondering what my dog, Monty, is thinking. I'd like to think he has some incredibly insightful thoughts on the world he lives in. Plus, I think it would be a neat perspective to see my world from 5 inches off the ground.
Problem - Can I convincingly make it seem like a dog's perspective? Do I really want to crawl around on the floor, in the yard, etc.?
A spoof on Behind the Music for a teacher who is retiring this year. Interviews with colleagues and students who have been part of her career, exploring some of the ups and down of her experiences, etc. Lots of opportunity for hilarity - my favourite thing!
Problem - Content. How do I create video from the past that doesn't exist? Working with kids on video is a pain. Who knows if I'll get anything I can actually use in the final production.
There are others as well. I could type for days and still not have all the ideas out. I think I'm meant to be the creative genius in this process...not the videographer/editor. So who is willing to pay me for good ideas? Not to sell myself short, but from experience, a lot of my 'good' ideas turn out to require an obscene amount of work. Just putting that out there in advance.
Current ideas keeping me up at night:
A touchy-feely commercially feeling video about teachers. Why they teach, how they make a difference, who cares, etc. Basically what I wish the STF would produce to ramp up the positive ideas about teachers.
Problem - I think I'm too emotionally involved to make sense of the whole thing.
Day in the life of a dog. After reading Garth Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain, I often find myself wondering what my dog, Monty, is thinking. I'd like to think he has some incredibly insightful thoughts on the world he lives in. Plus, I think it would be a neat perspective to see my world from 5 inches off the ground.
Problem - Can I convincingly make it seem like a dog's perspective? Do I really want to crawl around on the floor, in the yard, etc.?
A spoof on Behind the Music for a teacher who is retiring this year. Interviews with colleagues and students who have been part of her career, exploring some of the ups and down of her experiences, etc. Lots of opportunity for hilarity - my favourite thing!
Problem - Content. How do I create video from the past that doesn't exist? Working with kids on video is a pain. Who knows if I'll get anything I can actually use in the final production.
There are others as well. I could type for days and still not have all the ideas out. I think I'm meant to be the creative genius in this process...not the videographer/editor. So who is willing to pay me for good ideas? Not to sell myself short, but from experience, a lot of my 'good' ideas turn out to require an obscene amount of work. Just putting that out there in advance.
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