Video Studentguy

This week is another installment of my review of CDIA, the school where I'm enrolled as a film student, where I'm grading the film program using the points presented in a filmmaking manifesto written by blogger and educator, Mike Jones, who writes the Digital Basin. By the way, Mike is in Australia and I make reference in the podcast to a presentation he delivered on Sound and Space at the University of New South Wales. I'm afraid it came out as South Wales, and I don't want you looking for Mike in Great Britain. Here are the topics for this week: •    Multi-channel and Spatial sound •    Screen studies •    Working with clearly defined obstructions •    Working Lo-Fi but High-Concept These episodes are independent of my weekly journal and it's been exhausting and enjoyable putting out two each week. There's one more post about the Manifesto and then I'll do a follow up show with my personal thoughts about this topic and how it's impacted doing this podcast. Do some reading on Neil Postman, he has lots of

This week we focus on using the wireless mic and placing the mic so that it is hidden. How to work with people so you can do your job efficiently and professionally.The big shoot in Thursday's class involved running multiple mics through separate mixers to 3 cameras. It was a real pressure cooker. Impressions were mixed, but I think we learned a great deal about our deficiencies in this area.Begin prepared and displaying confidence are key assets of sound production people. There's a lot to think about and nothing can be overlooked.

This episode is the second in a series about the current state of filmmaking education, specifically certain concepts which are already a part of the filmmaking landscape, but which are not on the map of most schools.I'm using Mike Jones' Filmmaking Manifesto as the model for measuring how well schools are keeping current with evolving trends in the real world. Specifically, I'm using the school I'm attending, Center for Digital Imagining Arts at Boson University as a stand in for every school.Check out Mike's blog, Digital Basin, for lots information about a wide range of topics regarding the production filmmaking world. You should check out the Manifesto on his site, since I'm not going through it in as much detail as him. He also has a number of mp3 files of presentations he's made on subjects covered in the Manifesto.Finally, check out the comment he left following the previous podcast.Production note: I'm aware that there is a distinct difference between my introductory section commenting on the last epi

Production audio, hands on, boot camp like. Lots of opportunity to run and trip, and learn. Frank DeAngelis is the instructor. Providing us with real world experience with a run and gun edge. Just another example of the variety of resources the school provides for our benefit. So relieved, I'm really tapped, energy wise. Not afraid to work at learning, but between stress and tight deadlines I needed to use a different part of my brain. It was like someone knew we needed a breather. In this module we get practical information about handling equipment, bringing to the set what you need to get the job done and working with what you got (not always the same) to get the job done. Often during class we came up short when we went through the kits. Something was missing, batteries, clips, connectors were bad. The motto of the class was "pack your own parachute" because if you only find out on set that something is missing, it's too late and no one gets the blame but you. The focus was on using a boom and wireles

I recently discovered a blog about filmmaking and filmmaking education called Digital Basin. The author, Mike Jones has written a number of posts about 13 issues that he feels are critical to the success of a film student in today's world, but which aren't getting the attention they deserve in the curriculum at most film schools. He calls it his Filmmaking Manifesto. Read the posts, he makes a lot of valid points. I've always felt that CDIA was quite progressive and I thought it would be interesting to measure my school using his ruler. I'm not interested in bashing the school, or promoting anyone’s agenda, but I feel his blogs have given me an external perspective on how well CDIA is preparing me for my future. I'll continue my weekly journal shows, these will run alongside as a special topic. I hope your find the ideas interesting and more importantly, it gives you your own ideas. Submit a comment or drop me a line at videostudentguy@gmail.com

This week it all ends, at least for the current film project. I'm talking about last minute deadlines and the mixed feelings that result. There's always some vague unsatisfied feeling when you finish an all consuming project, as this one was. For me, I'm so glad to get this off my back, but also I realize that even though my mind an nerves are refilling with a sense of ease, there's still a sense of lack. Just putting a name to it is difficult, I still can't articulate it. I know that I'm looking for a response, feedback, realization, something that I wasn't looking for when I started. Not affirmation, not the satisfaction of a job well done. All those things are welcome, for sure. I think it has something to do with purpose. Either the purpose of this project wasn't realized in the finished project, or it was too small a goal. I'm just going to sound stupid trying to figure this out in a blog, so just leave it at this, that gnawing unfulfilled feeling you get when you're full, but you're still hungry. So

I've played around with a different recording device, the Mbox 2 plus a Sennheiser mic. I think the quality is vastly improved, but now I have to deal with keeping my head in one position so that you don't get dizzy listening to my voice move  back and forth. Isn't learning fun? This week is the middle of the module on creating a non-fiction 2 minute film. I've tried to describe how we organized ourselves, developed the story and set up the shots. I think the biggest issue during our shoot was the pressure of trying to get the shooting done in time. Also still a big concern is the confidence of knowing how much coverage was necessary. Our footage ratio was 1:25, which is 25 minutes of footage for every minute of the final cut. I think that's acceptable. The best part is how well we all worked together. It was a real pleasure to be part of a focused, dynamic team. Considering how little time we had, it was a necessity.

I'm back after a week on the road and on vacation.In the musing department I reflect briefly on the differences between the highways in the US and Canada and the filmic charms of upstate New York.It's the beginning of a new module, this time I'm working with some guys on a 2 minute film that would be used as a warm up for a live presenter. The client is a film distribution company called Enterprise Media. You can see more examples of what we're trying to accomplish at John Cleese's video training site. There's 3 weeks to complete this, so there's lots to cover in a short amount of time.Not in this episode, but coming soon, I'm going to talk about a site that has sparked my imagination and prompted me to create a series podcasts about the future of filmmaking education. Mike J0nes at Digital Basin created a manifesto for filmmaking educators a few weeks ago. I thought he was on target regarding the changes that dynamic media schools will have to make in order to adequately prepare their students for the rapidl

I'm on vacation, talk to you in a week.Still fuzzy sounding in the background, I gotta get a new mic.

condita , succurro , eruditioLots of last minute editing to reach Thursday's deadline. In the end, as is always the case, I had to stop before I was satisfied. I will continue to edit and incorporate the comments gleaned from the critique.I've definitely learned to give myself more time for editing, video doesn't edit itself. And don't put it off, things come up that steal your time, use every spare minute you can. Do I sound spastic? Editing, I've learned, can do that to you.But the critique was great. We saw everything everyone had to show. Not everyone delivered both the profile and the how to. I just squeezed by with a rough cut of the profile. I'll talk about a bunch about things I've learned form editing and the critique.Finally, following a listener's email I've decided to tear the veil and give up a little information about myself.

Crunch TimeI've been really busy editing stories to meet a deadline so I've got a short episode this time.Just an update on the editing process - things that can go wrong and ways to cope with stress, or not, you can decide if I'm coping well.We're going to use iDVD for final output so I've listed all the steps for exporting from FCP and creating a finished DVD in iDVD.Next week I'll give you the highlights from the final critique.

Episode 28 begins with comments from episode 27 regarding the idea of contextI offer my Ballpark view philosophy and consider some ideas for adding variety to the podcast thruInterviewsEditorials Audio MixerWe get a quick introduction to the audio mixer in FCP including how to organize the tracks in the mixer environment without changing the order of the audio tracks in the timeline recording on the fly mixing changes using keyframes adding Audio Mixer buttons to the timeline axporting audio to Pro Tools and Soundtrack ProFirewire Firewire FirewireI note a couple pitfalls to avoid when dealing with external drivesNo USB capture in FCP Reformat your drive when you get it out of the boxUse the Disk Utility in Applications/UtilitiesIt's simple and fast Finally, I mention visiting the Bison and Alpaca ranches of New England for some B-roll

I've included some musings on taking time to think and putting things in context.Check out this book by Edward Dmytryk, On Film Editing    I've included some musings on taking time to think and putting things in context.Despite my interest in putting things in a thoughtful way, I manage to run through a bunch of processes like a kid running through the woods during a thunderstorm. So I quickly explain how to, among other things, different kinds of cuts, using the motion feature in FCP, working with filters and compositing.Most of the week was spent editing a rough cut of our projects. We have to get them done in 3 weeks. In-between editing Federico likes to show us some student films and discuss how successful they are. That's been really instructive.

Continuing with the Final Cut module, for the second weekI was looking for some new production video and audio podcasts on iTunes and was reading the comments when I got curious about this podcast's page. I checked it out and was surprised that there was a comment. The writer was very generous and encouraging and indicated that while he hoped one day he would be able to do some filmmaking, this podcast gave him a look inside the process of learning filmmaking. Just one comment, but I was both humbled and gratified. It doesn't take a lot of encouragement to lift your spirits.I haven't done much since I began to promote the podcast and I know of several things I could do. Frankly getting an episode out each week is often a struggle in time and effort. I have yet to check my stats on Libsyn, my hosting site, to see what, if any number of downloads there have been. Occasionally I check the blogs to see if there are any comments and even rarely do I check my email. I think that's the least I could do. Already I'm

This is the first week of the Final Cut Pro module. Tuesday night was a special topic class, separate form the module.Our speaker was Robert Patton Spruill, director of Squeeze and a documentary on Public Enemy which is in final production.He brought some fresh perspective on how to live your life as an independent filmmaker. I also appreciated his perspective on the program at CDIA versus, Emerson College, where he teaches as well.Federico Muchnik, the video program director is our instructor for the Final Cut Pro module. He has an easygoing style that he uses effectively to cut through all the mucky details and focuses specifically on the need-to-know stuff for filmmakers. We're covering a lot of ground in a short time, the point is that we'll do the real learning once we start cutting. I cover the things I think are most important to the editing workflow.Somehow I got into a rant about archiving files. It's definitely something you need to consider before you get to far into a project. Finally I bring up

After a review of our footage from last week's shoot we returned to New Hampshire and spent the morning at the Jackson Estuarine Lab. We filmed the steps that will ultimately be a movie on how to make a genetic fingerprint.This module has been an excellent learning opportunity. I have learned to check equipment before I leave the equipment room, to make a shooting list before going on locaiton and most importantly, I learned a valuable lesson about setting the white balance on a DVX100.Finally I end with an insider's description of the Pixelcorps. This is an online community that serves video professionals through training, mentoring and job postings. There's a summer special of $50 for 3 months membership. It's a good deal.Go to Pixelcorp.tv for a good source for production video podcasts.

Our team chose to shoot both projects at the same location. In the How To, our guest biologist, Steve, who works at the Jackson Estuarine Laboratory, demonstrates how to devine the genetic fingerprint of bacteria The profile is on the very same lab which monitors  marine biology on the coast of New Hampshire.We had a number of temporary setbacks because we didn't check our equipment but we end up with quite a bit of usable footage.I'm still recording using the built-in  mic on my Mac Powerbook. I've discovered you can do some decent audio correction using the Channel EQ. I'll talk about that in the next post.

This episode includes a wrap up of NAB. I focus on Apple and Adobe's new products and a little bit about the Red Camera. Although I didn't attend the first week of the new Module, "Film Project 1",  I lay out the details: get coverage for two 5 minute videos, one  demonstrating how to do something, the other is a profile of an individual. Check out these podcasts that provided a lot of live coverage of the NAB event: This Week in Media, FX Podcast and Digital Production Buzz.

There's lots of training on Flash video, HD cameras and workflow, Audio production, compression and color correction in FCP. I'll give you the highlights.Of course theres classes on After Effects, 3D software, Adobe suite, Final Cut Pro suite, Avid, HD DVD production. There's tons of stuff to learn and hard choices to make.Once the exhibition show opened on Monday April 15 I fought the crowds to find out stuff about Apple and Adobes new offerings. I've got a little news, more to come in the next episode.

The night before I took off for Las Vegas, which I know you're really tired of hearing about. I promise. I'll stop mentioning that soon. Anyway, on Wednesday April 11 I joined some of my classmates for a screening at Brandeis University by Errol Morris of a work in progress film about Abu Graib. He showed pieces of the film, rough cuts, talked briefly about the genesis of the project and that because of previous visits to the campus, felt the University community would have provide some valuable feedback to what he presented.He was a quiet unassuming personality who took his work seriously, but in a self deprecating way. I was surprised by his demeanor. Considering the seriousness of the works I've seen, not everything certainly, I expected him to be more severe. Not complaining. Really, it's one of the reasons I attended. There were a lot of interesting questions about the source material, how it was available, how he got the people who took the photos to be interviewed and whether they were being honest or