Some Production and Post-Production Tips

Here are a few tips I have made note of from my wonderful textbook for 304 (studio video production):
Shooting video:
-Zoom slowly
-Zooming in to a close-up shot reates/increases tension
-Zooming out releases tension
-Zooming in/out: the event seems to move toward/away from the viewer
-Dollying in/out: the viewer seems to move toward/away from the event
-add object(s) to foreground to increase the depth of field to the z-axis
-adjust focus to emphasize subject
-be aware of vectors (graphic, index and motion)

Shooting outdoors:
-overcast/fog act as diffuser to provide good lighting
(in bright sunlight)
-use a diffuser (white foamboard or crinkled tinfoil) as reflector to reduce shadow intensity or as a backlight to separate subject from background

Shooting indoors:
-windows generate outside light (a different intensity than indoor lighting)
-to compensate, add a light-blue gel to the indoor light to help match the lighting
-keep window out of shot (use as backlight by keeping it off camera to side of subject)

Editing (Intensifying an event):
-Cross the vector line
-Use jump cuts
-Jogging
-Use soundtrack (faster beats and louder volume at tense moments...)

I think the zoom/dolly notes and lighting tips are most practical. I know some people have not taken 304 or it has been a long time, so I hope this helps.

Short Shot Progress: Idea #3

Last I posted, I was planning on burning someone at the stake for my video. Leaping from that last step, I have decided to tell the same story from the perspective of wood.

The idea is that trees, representing humans, grow up dreaming of what they will become. Some dream of becoming a guitar and touring the world, rock-star style, while others are content to become a bench or some other type of furniture. The sad truth, however, is that most just get pissed on by animals or chopped up by humans for firewood and roasting wieners. The latter being every tree's worst nightmare.

I have listed my collection requirements:

WS of Trees (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles (some still and some motion)
MS of Trees (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles
CU of Trees (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles
*Vertical elements

MS of Guitar being played (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles
CU of Guitar being played (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles
MS to CU of Guitar being played (:10-:20) zoom and pan to finer details (wood grains)

MS of Furniture (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles
CU of Furniture (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles

MS of Outdoor Bench (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles (some still and some motion)
CU of Outdoor Bench (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles
*Wood planks are horizontal (I can juxtapose these with the vertical trees)

ECU to MS of Hatchet w/ Wood Handle (:10-:20) zoom out from grain to see hatchet (tree killer)

WS of Man w/ Hatchet walking toward trees (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles
MS of Man w/ Hatchet walking toward trees (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles
CU of Man w/ Hatchet walking toward trees (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles

WS to ECU of Man w/ Hatchet walking toward camera (:10-:20) from high and low angles
*The object is to create drama by using slow motion and music crescendo to build tension (the tree fearing that it will be chopped for firewood)

WS of Man w/ Hatchet chopping tree (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles
MS of Man w/ Hatchet chopping tree (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles
CU of Hatchet striking tree (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles
ECU of Hatchet striking tree (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles

WS of chopped pieces of firewood (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles
MS of chopped pieces of firewood (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles
CU of chopped pieces of firewood (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles

WS of fire burning (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles
MS of fire burning (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles
CU of fire burning (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles

CU of ashes (:10-:20) from at least 2 different angles

I started shooting footage Monday and continued on Tuesday, but my camera acted like a real bastard and did not work, so I have to try again tomorrow to finish collecting these shots. I'm hoping for clear skies... at least no rain... and preferably above-freezing temperatures.

I plan to not only mix my shots, but I'd like to juxtapose elements in the shots, such as placing a shot of the vertical trees next to a shot of an outdoor wooden bench with horizontal planks. I would also like to learn some time-shifting techniques, so I can use this feature to add drama. When the trees see the man approaching with the hatchet, I can use slow-motion to build up the tension. The climax is the hatchet striking the tree and the resolution is everything the tree feared... not becoming a guitar or other cool utility, but burning to ashes.

It is a sad story. It also shows the process of how a tree becomes firewood... and eventually ashes.

Short Film Idea #2: Burning

OK. I am creating a short film with no dialogue for my interactive media production class. My first idea was to do a cycle of life story that answers the question What happens when we die? from the perspective of dog food. Although I can envision great video, I am reluctant to include this in my portfolio. Since I do not have time to create several new productions for my portfolio, I have decided to explore a new idea, inspired by some really depressing lyrics.

My life is endless burning
on a thousand dead desires.

It means that when we are kids we say "I want to be a firemen," or "I want to be a baseball player," and a million other things. Throughout life, we change and someday we look back and see all the dreams and desires we left on a shelf unachieved. Sometimes we even feel like we are dying a slow, painful death fueled by our failures or our lack of ever chasing those dreams. In these lyrics, even death refrains from ending your misery... it simply allows you to suffer endlessly. If we had only pursued more of them, the fire might not be so miserable.

I have an idea of what I want to do to visually represent this, but before I do the first thing that comes to mind, I am going to sit down with a pen and paper and create a cluster of words that come to mind when I think of the words burning and dreams. I will link these words and create a visual map of interrelated ideas that I may be able to use when determining what kind of shots I want to capture and use. I may end up doing what I thought of first, but a least I will have explored more options.

My first idea is to capture shots of some of the dreams or desires I left behind, either in symbolic form or literal. Then I'd like to represent them on something I can burn, like a piece of paper (perhaps a ripped paper on which I write the dream/desire) or a photo. I can build a small-scale pyre of toothpicks surrounding a stake to which a representation of me (my life) is attached. Then I will set it on fire and watch it burn. It would be great if I could use something that doesn't burn up, so the fire burns, but doesn't destroy me. I also thought about using my kids to demonstrate all the desires and dreams by dressing up in all the costumes and outfits of the things they want to be... then burning representations of them at the stake.

To try and fail is at least to learn; to fail to try is to suffer the inestimable loss of what might have been.
— Chester Barnard