T3i/600D

So what is your work-flow?

My question to you is this, are you thinking of making the move to putting your camcorder aside (Keeping it real close, of course.) and jumping into shooting documentary interviews with a HDSLR camera?

These cameras are great for shooting still pictures that look awesome, and that is what these cameras are made for, first and foremost. But, the off shoot of that is they do shoot moving pictures with the same wonderful look, in HD.

Remembering that this is not a ‘camcorder,’  you need to understand what kind of work-flow you may have to create. One of the first thing that come to mind is, there is no moving tape inside the camera. So, when you normally capture or digitize (copy) your tape into your computer for editing, and when you are done, you put away the tape. Archiving!

Not the same with these cameras. Your still pictures and moving pictures (video) are recorded to a flash card (SD/CF) that you ingest (copy) into your computer. You now have video files and still images of your shoot for you to look at and go through. You could conceivable have over 100 video files in various time length.

Okay it is time to edit your documentary. Your editor (or you) finished your wonderful documentary.

So what do you do with the footage files that are sitting on the computer? What do you think is the best way to get it off your computer? (You are doing another doc, and you don’t have room on your hard-drive) How do you archive or store this footage for safety or maybe to use sometime in the far future?

What is or would be your flow?

(Give me a comment below.)

Film Style Look

The question I always ask my students is, are you taking your video camera and filming (you don’t have film in a video camera), or are you videotaping?

It seems that the term “filming” is now the generic term for shooting with a non-film camera. It is kind of like the number “zero.” I watched a commercial the other day and the phone number to call was laced across the bottom of the screen with two zeros in it.  The voiceover announcer used the letter “O” to describe the numeral zero. It is actually easier to say; it’s only one syllable.

So today, things that were once tried and true are now open to new interpretation.

Today you can make a film with a video camera. There are so many out there today that that it makes it easy to get one. In 2010, if you look on Craigslist, people looking for videographers are asking them to show up with  HD cameras, and asking what experience you have as of last Thursday.

Light it Like a Film Shoot

Now back to the subject at hand. You should all know that when a videographer brings a high end HD camera to shoot, he brings a light with it. When you bring your low end Pro-sumer camera to shoot, why won’t you bring a light with it? That is the first step in trying to make your video look like film, or look less like video.

The best lighting for you to think about is using three lights and making a four-point lighting scheme. Ah, how do you get to four from three? Use a bounce, and that is your fourth source of light. Now, when you are on a budget, you may only have one light. If that is what you have, then so be it. Having a light on your subject will always enhance the look of your interview, and there should not be any tip-off that this is a low quality production. Remember, a film shoot may not do this style of lighting; this is for interviewing.

24p

A film camera shoots in 24 frames per-second and this is what a lot of us have grown up watching in the movies and on television. This is what are our eyes are used to seeing. Video is shot at 30 frames (actually 29.97 frames) per-second and I guess you know that. So today even low end cameras will allow you to shoot at 24 frames, progressive. That is like one solid frame of picture, similar to one on a strip of film.

Video Like Film

Filters

These are round glass-like items that you physically screw on to the front of your lens, according to its size. Think of them like shades for your eyes, where the light that comes into your eyes is altered. These are to help you get your film look even more like film. You should have a plain glass one to protect your camera lens;. if something flies at your lens, it is protected. Replacing the filter is a lot cheaper than replacing the lens. Tiffen has a “film look” kit of filters that you can use. There are others, but that one comes to mind.

Shutter Speed 1/48

Your camera has a shutter speed dial. This is when you need to read your camera manual. If you set up your dial on the camera or make adjustments in the menu to 1/48, then you may be on your way to getting that film-style look for your shoot. Experiment with settings if you want. If you are going to shoot action stuff or moving fast stuff, then you need to watch out for “Judder.” Check out YouTube or Google for more instructions on this topic; just search for “make your video look like film.”

Adapters

You can buy film adapters for your video lens to help give you that out-of-focus look behind the person like a close-up in the movies. These can be a little costly.

Another cheap way is to go on a “long lens.” That is a term one hears working around movie sets. The idea is to take your video camera and tripod (you will need a tripod) and get as far away from your subject as possible and then zoom in to them. Be careful about camera movements. Practice, practice, practice, and if you’re lucky, you may notice that the background is out of focus. Neat huh?

Post Productions

In the editing room with your edited footage you have another chance at adding another type of filter to your video. This is a digital filter.

You can get software that you add to your editing software, that will help you achieve the “Film Look.” You can get 30 filters or more to give you different film looks, as each filter may emulate the look of certain film stock that people make movies with. Some will pull out certain colors from your video, or give it that old film look with the scratches, or highlight a certain color so you get that same look of your favorite film.

Remember that if you apply a filter to just 30 seconds of video in your editing program, it can take up to five minutes or more to render it out for you. The longer the video, the longer it will take. The faster computer you have, the better.

There’s a lot of information out there to search for, if you need more clarification on any of the topics above. This is just to give you a sense of items available to you. I hope you enjoy this brief entry into making your video look like film. If you have any questions, just drop me a line.

Andre Campbell

139 West Prods.

There were the days of “Pitman or Gregg,” not documentary makers, but transcribing styles that secretaries used heavily back in the day. Ask your Mom. Today, if you have a couple of bucks to go with making a documentary, then you could be okay. All you have to do is send a copy of your footage to transcribers and pay the rate by word, by line, by paragraph, by page, or by job.

If you are funded or are working for a company, then that is all part of their budget. But, if you are working from your own pocket or your parents’ pockets, then what can you do? You can do it yourself and do your own homework.

I recently introduced a friend of mine to a DVD stand-alone recorder. What that means is that it is not attached to the computer, but next to the television. The DVD recorder is now taking the place of the VCR deck.  So it stands alone next to the television, but not in my house, because it has 8 cousins around it (tuner, cassette player etc.)

Let’s say you shoot a 45 minute interview, and you are using tape. (If you use a tapeless camera, then it is a different flow.) You may have your own editing equipment and come home and capture it and watch it being captured like I do after a shoot. Sometimes I don’t; sometimes I do a spot check. Now you have the opportunity to watch it over and over from your computer, in your computer chair. The time code is there.

Now suppose you don’t own the camera and you have to take it back the next day. Or if you don’t have editing equipment of your own and you are looking for somebody to do that for you. It is a good idea to use an editor. (See “Finding an Editor” article on Badwest.org.) They have the expertise that you may need.

The assumption here is that you have no editing system, and no camera. So the thing that I like to do is plug the camera’s video outputs to the DVD video inputs and the DVD output to the input of the television. Put the television on the right channel; tell the DVD that there is a signal coming into it through input #1 or #2. That is the easy part.

Documentation is a Must

As for the camera, you have to go into the menu most of the time — well, all of the time today with the new cameras. You look for the video section in the menu. (I can’t help you here; menus are all over the place.) You should have the manual with you. Never rent or borrow a camera without the manual or other documentation in the bag. That can be a life-saver if the person before you tweaked and tinkered with the menu inputs. Sometimes you have to find the reset button, and send everything back to the factory settings.

Now that you have found the right menu button for sending the video signal to the DVD/television, remember the television is seeing what the DVD is recording. You have an opportunity here to send the camera’s screen display with the running time code to the television. That may require a little fiddling about in the menu video area. But once you get it, then you are ready to go.

If you record the time code from the tape in the camera onto the DVD, then you will know where everything on the tape is in terms of time. She/he says this at; 23:07 and ends at 24:35. Now you will be able to tell your editor what is where and where is what. Not bad.

When everything is working, you will see the display on the television. The tape in the camera has been rewound to the beginning, and you have a disk in the DVD recorder Then hit record on the DVD, let it run for five seconds, and hit play on the camera. So when you reach the end of the interview press the stop button. Don’t forget to finalize the DVD or you can’t play it anywhere else except in the same style DVD recorder. Label your DVD to match what is on your interview tape.

Pencil and Paper vs. Laptop

What I like to do is get my “legal pad,” and my favorite beverage. Some of you will be using your laptops, I guess. I pop in the DVD and stretch out on the couch and hit play. The idea is to write down what the person you interviewed is saying, (Or describe b-roll) (what is b-roll?) for time’s sake. You don’t have to write your questions down unless you want to.

I always try to write down word-for-word, but most of the time I will “paraphrase” what they are saying. I will be the only to one see this transcription, as I edited my own productions. I have it like that. On the left hand side of my legal pad I put the time code that is on the screen, so that everything matches. (On some cameras you can minimize what’s on the display.) If I miss something, I just pause and go back. So once I’m done, I will come back on another day, watch it all over again to check my time code and when they speak, and to get the gist of what is being said in this DVD of the tape. Learn your footage

This could be the poor man’s (or woman’s) version of doing this. If you are working for somebody, you will have to be more precise in wording and time coding, because of time limits and exactly how long something (a statement) is going to be. Or if you are lucky, it will go out to a transcriber and you will get it printed out for you. Sweet!

The nice thing about transcribed work is that you can cut out the parts you want and lay them end-to-end and you got your documentary coming to life right in front of you. This is a time-saver when you are in an editing room; you and your editor have a map to sort of work with, and things can go a lot faster. This is because you did your homework.

Need a transcriber email us.

That is all.

Andre Campbell

139 West Productions

Kickstarter.com

Post your film’s trailer and set a goal of monies to raise and an end date.  Your friends, family and hopefully their friends will sign on and pledge.  If you don’t meet the goal by the due date, kickstarter keeps the funds.  Consider it motivation.

IndieGoGo.com

“Let those who love your idea the most get behind you early.”  Here you keep all the money you raise regardless of meeting the goal.  Also, here you’re awarded a 5% bonus for every dollar you raise if you meet your goal.

It’s common for filmmakers to combine these online methods with traditional fund raising from investors and grant funding.  Use everything in your arsenal!

Frames ‘R Us

You have your camera setup on a tripod, you may have lights pointing at a chair or couch and your tape is queued up and ready to go. What’s next? You bring in the person you are going to interview for your amazing fist time documentary. Or you’ve done several and you’re still feeling your way around your shooting style.

How close do you zoom into your interviewee? I hope you have done your homework and have watched a bunch of TV show documentaries, and have been looking at the styles they have used, and writing down what you think you like about them.

If you are producing and or directing your own documentary film or video, then you need to know what you are going to want. Also, if you hire or get somebody to work for free, then you need to know what his idea of a close-up is in comparison to what you think a close-up should be.

Many producers/directors have come home to look at their videos, and were not a happy camper with the way it was shot.

It is a good idea to get a reel (Samples of work.) of your shooter. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, especially if you are paying for his work. Sit down together and map out what you have in mind. You should also talk about B-roll (Non-interview shots of things associated with the interview like pictures, or people doing things, etc.) So plan your shoot.

What makes the best framing with your video camera? This framing eventually becomes esthetic and your style. But to start off there are some rules, but they are not written in stone today. Starting with them gives you a nice place to go from and the sky is the limit or maybe the roof for now.

The Rule of Thirds

The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.

Wow, what the heck does that mean? It means you draw a tick-tack-toe (imaginary) drawing on your viewfinder or monitor. The idea is that the person’s head splits one of the lines drawn from top to bottom. The person is now in one third of your picture, left side or right. Ok, that is a start, and wait there’s more.

The TV screen has always been a 3:4 aspect ratio. Now with the advent of HDTV, we are seeing 16:9 TV framing with a lot more room from left to right. And the thought is; do we still work with the Rule of Thirds. Sure why not.

The thing to come up with is how close to the top of the screen do I put a person’s head? Movies will do an extreme close-up where the top frame of the screen cuts the head just above the eyebrows. On TV some documentaries will zoom in to that when they feel that a question will elicit an emotion or possible crying on camera. Just for effect or as some may say, real emotional shooting.

Ok, so how should I frame my shot? I used to use the REC word on my view finder. I would put the top of the head line up with the top of the REC word. That would give me some headroom. I would also place their arm/shoulder against the side of my viewfinder. I keep the same framing for the whole shoot. That is just my style, but I’m ready to zoom in/out if I have to. Or I hope my camera person is. Remember, you want a camera person who is listening to the interview, and you may want him to change framing when needed if that is the style you want. Of course you did have that talk with him.

When I first started shooting, we use to change framing every third questions to help in post with jump cuts. Today that is a thing of the past. Jump cutting is done on purpose. What use to be a no-no for videographer years ago is now common ground today for making documentaries?

All in all, these ideas are just a point to start from, and then you make all the adjustments that eventually become comfortable for you, and eventually your style. You will find videographers that may not agree with what I have to say. But this is just my opinion and a jumping off point for starting out. You got to start somewhere, right?

What say you?

Andre Campbell
139WestProductions.com

Are you sleeping with your equipment?

Get familiar with your equipment!

I know that is a strange title, but what it means is that you need to know your equipment. Now your equipment can mean something that you own, borrow or rent.

At an afternoon wedding shoot long time ago, I rented and picked up a wireless handheld mic and receiver. It had a digital display, OMG, my first. At the wedding I had a heck of a time trying to make heads or tails of how to make the wireless system work. I really didn’t ask the man at the counter for a quick once over. That was a mistake and could have been costly if I didn’t also have my own lavaliere mic (Or lapel mic for you young wiper snappers.) with a long cord to record the ceremony. When I brought it back and told the guy at the counter that I couldn’t make it work, he gave me credit. I was lucky.

If you are going to do a shoot, you should be familiar with how your equipment works. Get what information you need at least the night before your next day shoot. Set it up at home as if it is a shoot and pretend to shoot. You may get lucky and have the manual with you or it is early enough to call somebody if you have a problem with any part of your equipment.

Cameras are the thing I want to focus on today. The choice at one time was only analog and tape. Now you have digital and no tape cameras. You have the choice of shooting on a camera with a hard-drive in it or you can shoot with one (Expensive) with small removable flash drives, no moving parts. So the camera most people shoot today with, the recorded video is laid off to a tape system which will one day go the way of the tight leather pants.

Recently I was put into a position of showing up at a shoot to help shoot and ended up the shooter. I was christen with the role of making a digital camera work that I never held in my hand before. Just a reminder, I’ve shot on other digital cameras before. But this one had a lot more buttons and the menu was like a small novel. Damn you Sony.

Some may say it is like driving a car. I say what if you get into that car, (yours is 4-speeds) it has 8-speeds and two reverses with a double clutch. And the guy out side of the car says, “On your marks, set, go.” Yes, you have to fiddle and find.

Most cameras come with an “automatic mode” and it has a green square to show that. Because of time, that is the mode I went with. Good thing I had my glasses.

I’m familiarize with menus on cameras but using this one is like being a good cook and going into somebody’s kitchen and trying to figure out where are all the pots and pan are stashed. The sound menu is a chore. This camera had XLR inputs (Don’t know what that is, email Me.) and a hidden min-mic input.

The menus says, channel one in, channel two in, one out ext, two in int., ext/int both, mini? I don’t know, it was hidden. I don’t know! So I had to roll the roll the dice and thank goodness we were shooting at an old folks home and somebody was playing monopoly at the time.

I found a channel, put a lavaliere into it and we got sound.

You want your equipment to be your “BFF.” So it is very important to familiarize yourself with all equipment you are going to use for a shoot. If you are going to produce shoots, you should have a little idea of what is going on. Especially if you are a crew of one, two or three.

So why stress yourself the day of and maybe miss shooting and have to return the money from your client. So sleeping (A metaphor.) with your equipment and taking care of it as well as learn what it can do for you, is a good thing. Together, you could end up producing some good work.

Little tip: When I rent cameras, because there were other renters with this camera before me, I make sure I reset all the functions in the camera to “Factory Default.” Then I make my changes. This way I don’t end up with a camera that the last guys tweak to show a lot of extra reddish tint everywhere in my video. Ohhh that sure would suck.

Is there anything you’d like us to talk about?
We become better when you make comments. So help us help you.

That’s just me.
Andre Campbell
139 West Prod.

You wake up one morning and it hits you, you get and an epiphany. Something you saw or was stewing in your mind comes to a boil, and the cream has risen to the top, you now know what your documentary is going to be about. Yes, it is going to be the best thing since slice bread.

You look into your wallet, got money, now need a crew. You write notes on your traveling legal pad about the direction you are going with your documentary. You line up interviews, you set up B-roll days and you find great events to go onto your video tape. Hey, maybe you get  luck enough to use high definition tape or even better, you get to record to a hard drive in your camera or to flash drive type inserted card.

You’re thinking and you’re thinking about all your shoot. That should include pre-productions and principal photography production. These are some terms you should at least know of and what they exactly represent.  Most of you do. But most of you always forget about post-production. Or you wait till you are finished shooting. That is something that should be brought up in pre-production.

“All mistakes are made in Pre-Production.”

This is a credo that is written and hangs out in my office. Working in film and video, but mostly film, and then mostly video, there are terms that are used there that has filtered into the video tape shooting world. They seem to be coming interchangeable at the moment. Like filming with video tape. We will leave it there for now.

Anyway what that means at least to me is that in pre-productions when you are hammering out the details of what your documentary is going to be, the things you need, the how and when of shooting – you also need to think of about how you are going to finish your documentary.

And with who?

You need to think also about a person to edit your documentary. Unless you are lucky enough to know how to edit already, you should look for somebody to be your editor. This is somebody that will be spending sometime with you. You’ll be chained at the ankle. You better like them. If you pay them or not. (Do a good interview.)

I’ve known of people who’ve had their documentary shot and decided to edit it them-self. But, they were learning to first time edit at the same time as they were editing their own documentary. This is like hunting and pecking. Remember that this can slow down your creative process as you try to master the cut and dissolve of the time-line. Always go with creativity.

With an editor and I’m not talking about your 15-year old nephew with the newest release bootleg copy of one of the top 5 editing software. You need somebody on the same page as you. You need to find and talk to the editor about the direction ‘YOU’ want to go in. And that it will be a pleasant experience of sitting with this person for the possibility of months. Somebody who has insight is what you want.

Be careful of editors who have an agenda and want to make your documentary sing in their direction, so they can use it for their own video reel to show off.

This is your baby, you should know how you want it to grow. Don’t be stupid and cut off the directions of your editor, when having the right one who is thinking as symbiotic as possible, then the life of your documentary can grow to meet the creative idea you started with.

It is up to you to learn to think about everything, especially if you are going to learn to produce your own documentary or in-tandem with others. Ask questions of other people who do documentaries, take their answers, mold them together and come up with your own direction. It is like a recipe for making a cake. Now it is up to you to decide how many layers you want it to be.

Is there anything you’d like us to talk about?
We become better when you make comments. So help us help you.

I remain,
Andre Campbell
139 West Productions