Video Studentguy

Another show recorded at Logan Airport, complete with guest ambient speakers. Any suggestions on how to eliminate them would be greatly appreciated. By the way, I did finally get to Vegas, about 1am local time. I got to my room and collapsed at 3:30. Maybe I'll fill you in on my exciting trip in another episode. I was very happy to stop.  So this episode covers Tuesday nights class. Howard Phillips, who taught a previous class on lighting, filled in for Franco who was out sick. We reviewed some video people shot the previous week using the camera handheld. As I mention in the podcast I appreciate having multiple teachers in a single class, although not at the expense of the health of anyone. Even if they recover information or techniques, I feel I can benefit from their differing experiences and perspectives. Currently I'm attending seminars. I'll be posting episodes shortly. The trade show hasn't started yet. I'm really loving all the information. There are about 8 different tracks on video production, softw

You going to hear the cuts in this episode. I recorded this podcast from Logan Airport in Boston, waiting for my plane to Las Vegas. Lots of background noise. There just doesn't seem to be quiet rooms at this airport. I thought the Men's room would be a little obvious. I'm also editing in Adobe Audition instead of Soundtrack pro and Garageband, so the production values are going to suffer from my limited experience with that program. I think it's quite the capable piece of software, I'm just unfamiliar with it. We watched the first 15 minutes of an excellent documentary called Children Underground, by  Edet Belzberg about the lives of a group of children who live in the subways of Bucharest Roumania. From that we took a number of lessons about shooting cinema verite with a handheld camera. The assignment for the class was to take multiple shots of an individual working at a computer. All different angles and perspectives, from above, over the shoulder, in front, close-ups of hands on keyboards and mou

The ummm, ah episode. I'm trying really hard to streamline and shorten the production process for podcasting. That means working off of short notes, instead of a finished script and not spending so much time editing, removing annoying ahs and spaces. And as much as I've tried, I've still spent too much time editing the audio. I can't stand listening to me stumbling along, why should you. Still it's a little rougher that usual. Let me know what you think.This episode includes notes about a documentary preview, So Much | So Fast,  and Q&A with the filmmaker, Steven Asher. His comments on how to make a living as a documentary filmmaker were interesting.Thursday and Saturday we prepared and shot an interview which I describe as well as give up some pointers on how to conduct an interview.Finally I talk about the RED One camera. It's the one to watch at NAB this year.

Another quick set of notes for this podcast.This week begins the class on documentary and interview. This podcast is only about Tuesday night's class. I'm going to put out a second podcast covering Thursday nights special topic where we screen a just released documentary and get to question the filmmaker, and then Saturday's class where we set up lighting for an interview and then interview someone we don't know.I also take the time to bleed all the humor out of David Brenner's jokes with my sad deliveryI discuss the sad lot of Julie AmeroCheck out Errol Morris' films, and the commercials on his site. He's the one who did the original Apple ads about switchers.

Just a brief note, hopefully I can update the show notes on the blog soon. This podcast closes the last classes of the Filmmaking Fundamentals module. I also give a run down of things to see at the National Association of Broadcaster's show in Las Vegas, coming up in April.I'll see you there.

I'm talking about a variety of shoots this week. We're shooting an action scene using a dolly and shooting a dialog scene with a variety of OTS (over the shoulder) angles, including dirty and clean singles. Once all the camera work is done we'll be editing it into rough cuts next week.I also discuss a number of Filmmaking events taking place in the next couple months. In Boston the Independent Film Festival will be taking place, April 25 - 30. They're looking for volunteers. Another film festival is online, called the One Minute Film Festival.The 48 hour film project is closed in Boston, but it's a wicked cool event you should look into to get a complete tour of the video production experience.I will be attending  NAB  mid April and while I talk a little bit about the things I plan to see and learn at the show, including training by FMC, I'll talk about at more length in the next podcast.Some of the updated announcements I expect to see  are Adobe CS and Production suite, Apple FCP and an update to  Avid for

Creating a Short NarrativeThis module is all about putting into action what we've been taught to date about light, camera work and sound. After a brief introduction by our instructor Tom Robothan we were thrust into the preproduction process. Our goal was to shoot five scenes from interviews to action and dialog and then cut it together. It's an excellent example of the team-orientated learning that is a big part of CDIA's curriculum. This week is all about planning and next week we'll do the bulk of the shooting. The last week is for editing.

I'm way behind so I'm posting this fast and short. This show is less than 5 minutes long.This week we finished the lighting module. We did an exercise with 3 point lighting on 2 people and another exercise outside using daylight and reflectors.Saturday and Sunday I shot video of a reception and awards ceremony at Brandeis University for their annual film festival, Sundeis.Here are some links mentioned in the audio:Matters of Light and DepthAmerican Film InstituteVision of LightCinematographer's StyleAll That JazzRoy Scheider

Practical LightingTuesday night's class began with how to set up 3 Point lighting, the classic TV news lighting. 3 point lighting consists of the main light, Key; secondary light, Fill; Backlight or Kicker, which separates the subject from the background and Background light. 3 points of light, 4 lights, an amazing paradox. I describe our efforts setting up the scene. By the way, I mistakenly used the term "baffle" when referring to a fabric grid we use on the Rifa to direct light forward. I don't know what it is called and I couldn't find it on the Lowel site. Thursday night we used the same lighting techniques to recreate a night scene and I include pointers on how to do that.Podcasts for filmmakersFinally, I introduce a new segment, reviewing podcasts that I feel are valuable learning tools for anyone interested in working in the motion graphics field. Tonight I'm profiling the VFX Show. Mentioned briefly is episode 5 where the hosts talk about their favorite DVD extras that include helpful movies on produ

This is a special mid week episode of the Video StudentGuy podcast. Thursday night we had a special topic presentation by Franco Sacchi, a filmmaker and instructor at CDIA. He presented his documentary, American Eunuch, as an example of how to create a documentary.     The class covered every step of the production process beginning with finding the idea, preproduction, the shoot, post and promotion. Check out IFP.org for help marketing your film. Franco briefly referred to the Long Tail marketing concept which I try to explain in a nutshell. This was a term popularized by Chris Anderson of Wired and he went on to write a book about it as well. He also has a blog on it. I believe this business model has significant impact on all content producers and will continue to gain mind-share over the next several years.    Everything about the film should be rolled up into a website for promotional purposes. Include budget, proposal and treatment to demonstrate your organizational skills. You should contrast the earli

Light up everybody In this episode there's a lot of information about the character of light and lighting hardware. To our eyes light is white, but light is always changing color and knowing how to describe it and measure it is very important to filmmaking.   Measuring light Two ways of measuring light is CRI, the Color Rendering Index and the Kelvin color temperature. CRI measures the strength of light and how consistent it is. CRI values are on each piece of professional lighting equipment and the best piece of information you can learn is to never buy a lamp that has a CRI below 90%. You can find useful information about CRI on GE's site, including graphs displaying the color consistency.   Kelvin measures the color of light. The two lights used most frequently in filmmaking are tungsten and daylight. Tungsten, which is a red/orange color, is about 3200 degrees Kelvin, Daylight, which is bluish is about 5600 degrees Kelvin. These values are not heat temperatures, they measure  color in a range

The Sound and the FrustrationThis is the last week for the Camera and Sound module. The class broke up into 2 teams of 5 and continued to use the boom mic and lavalier mic. Tuesday we recorded an interview, and a narrative short on Thursday. I spend a few moments explaining the advantages of a Boom over a lav mic.We're also using a sound mixer which provides more control than is available through the camera alone. I explain why it is both simple and hardWe experienced difficulties working with the audio that put us under a lot of pressure to meet our end of class deadline. The big lesson is that no matter what the source of your equipment, it makes sense and can really save your butt if you check the working status before you begin setting up the shot.Of course all the preparation in the world won't save you if you don't pay attention to details. Despite my best efforts to avoid problems, by coming into class an hour early to prep the equipment, I still managed to miss the fact that the video gain was turned

We shot a little video, experimenting with the various controls of the camera and framing techniques. During critiques Greg referred to framing conventions as the Grammar of Cinema. Every shot serves a purpose in advancing the story. The composition of the shot communicates on an unconscious and emotional level, as well as visually. During each critique he would use the rule of thirds to identify the impact of the scene visually.He referred to a book on cinematic grammar, Shot by Shot. If I get my hands this book I'll write a brief review.The rule of thirds is a way of composing your scene and arranging the relationship between subjects and subject and the background. It is used in all areas of design. Here's a link to a site that has a good explanation from a photographer's point of view, but applies to cinema as well.Saturday was the first all day class and it was all about recording audio. We used a number of different microphones and looked at ways to control sound that you don't want to record.Chapter Ti

I'm posting a really brief show note so I can get this out the door. I should have posted this Monday. If I have the time I'll revise it this weekend.Week 1: Getting familiar with the hardwareThe next three weeks the class will be covering how to setup and use essential camera and sound equipment. This week we set up tripods, calibrated the monitor, adjusted the frame rate and set the white balance on the DVX100.Next week we finish the Preroll checklist and shoot some video.Here is a link to a pdf of the manual for the DVX100. I had to hunt to find this. Despite the fact that it's a common occurrence, I always find it amazing when manufacturers bury their most useful and sought after information. Sure, choke me with 4 color slicks that convey almost no useful information, but hide what I really need. Sometimes it seems web sites are nothing more than the web equivalent of a phone system where you spend half an hour on hold just so you can be rewarded with a dropped line.

Making meaningThis is an honest effort on my part to talk about the process of creating work that says what you mean, or to put it another way, keeping your work within the boundaries you've set according to your personal values and goals.The book that sparked this introspective podcast is Darkroom to Digital, by Eddie Ephraums. The supplied link takes you to the Amazon page. Eddie's home page is still under construction.I spend a few moments talking about Socrates and his statement "the unexamined life is not worth living" because it encapsulates the need of the creative individual, if not every individual, to consider the meaning and purpose of their life. You can read a concise summary of his trial here.On page 26 Eddie’s book I look at 5 questions he asks himself as an artist, to clarify his goals. I highly recommend it, regardless of what medium you work in. His writing style is straight forward and concise. It’s the kind of writing that brings new understanding each time you read them.Taking chancesI fe

The first half of the show I'm recapping the reasons why I'm taking the classes at the CDIA, the 2nd part I go over what I want to accomplish professionally. Chapter TimesReview of personal goals  :20The joy of learning  2:14Exploring ideas  2:41Challenging my limitations  4:48Networking  5:44Being open to alternate visions  6:51Using video for learning  7:48Video as entertainment  10:21Working on a team  12:03What's ahead  12:29

There's a number of ways you can hear this episode. You can listen to it through a Flash player on the host site or subscribe to it using the RSS feed. I will be registering it on the directories, including iTunes, over the next couple days.This very lengthy episode has me reviewing most, but not all the classes I'll be taking at the Center for Digital Imaging Arts. I discuss my expectations as well as what my personal interests. In a nutshell I'm looking forward to everything.My gung ho attitude is due to my expectation that I will never get another opportunity to attend classes in such a lengthy, structured manner. I believe in lifelong learning, but that constitutes fitting the learning in between large chunks of life. For the next 18 months that equation will be reversed, where, wherever I can help it, the classes take precedence.I've done my homework, checked out the school, the instructors, the program, the content of the classes, interviewed students, clocked the commute, calculated how many hours of s

In this episode I go into some depth about the things I want this show to be about: production video software and hardware, production workflows, video editing and distribution, reviews of the classes, the school, the workshops and visiting artists.Yeah, I've got dreams as big as the sky, but there's a lot of time to cover all this stuff, maybe. Boiled down to it's tar-like essence I would like to extend my classroom experience into this podcast. I want to let you know what I'm learning, how it's helping me create a better podcast and ultimately become a better video producer.Chapter timesPodcast goals 1:21Audio 1:40Avid 2:20Managing my time 3:38Applications of Video 4:24Topics of discussion 5:58Interviews 7:53Production Skills 9:20Workflow and problem solving 11:34Podcast schedule 12:10Combining different media 13:02Distribution 13:34Community 14:53Advertising 16:33Close 17:54Enhancing this podcast 18:27

In this first podcast I talk about what led me to think about production video and how I discovered the Center for Digital Imaging Arts at Boston University.There's a little bit about me, my video class experience at Clark University and how I have been using video. Finally, I describe who I think might be interested in listening, or at the very least, who I think I may be talking to.Chapter timesAbout the show  :07About me  :30About the Center for Digital Imaging Arts (CDIA)  1:02Previous classes in video editing  1:51The impact of Final Cut Pro on professional video  2:42CDIA culture and programs  3:37Who should listen to this podcast  5:49Close 9:03The first 5 episodes of this podcast, that I post over the next two weeks, will cover different aspects of being a video student, such as the school, the classes in the program and personal goals.Once my classes begin January 23, 2007, I'll deliver this podcast on a weekly basis. Initially you'll hear me talking about what's being covered in class and my impress