Connor's Film Blog

I have learned how to operate a FS5, EX3, tripod dolly, slider, and lighting board. The practical tests are necessary in this class to prepare ourselves for our future career because they make sure that we fully know our equipment, and that when we are out on the field we will be prepared to operate our equipment properly and swiftly. Being able to operate the camera equipment properly is very important because you don't want to mess any of your settings (Such as resolution and frame rate) up, or else you might ruin the whole project up and your client will be very disappointed. Being able to operate equipment safely is also important because if you can't handle it safely and you break it, congratulations you just lost thousands of dollars just like that. Taking the practicals on many different types of equipment is very necessary because if someone needs help with operating something, you can figure out what to do and how to work it right away, since you have a knowledge of ...

When creating a PSA, you need to research your topic, know who you are targeting, and grab your audiences attention. Being knowledgable on the topic you are teaching others on is very important, because how are you going to educate others on something if you aren't educated yourself? If you know who you are targeting, you can more effectively reach your audience and appeal to their likings. Grabbing your viewers' attention is very important, because if they aren't interested from the start, how are they going to want to watch the rest of the PSA when they can just skip over it? An interesting hook is a great way to snatch up their attention.

Three key pieces of advice is to have a good first meeting with your client, give your client more than what they paid for, and don't show a client a rough cut that's too rough. The first meeting with a client is essential because it determines what your client wants, when they want it by, and how much you are going to get paid. It also helps you get to know the client better, meaning if you follow through with your work, then you might get more gigs from them. Underselling what you do is a great way to pleasantly surprise your clients. Don't undersell too much though, or else they won't like what your pitching from the start and won't hire you. When a client wants to see a rough cut, show them one that is more finished than most other rough cuts. If you show them a really bad piece of video, they're not going to know that you will actually make it good when you are finished with editing, and your client will not be satisfied with your work.

What I've learned in this article is that when giving a pitch, you ned to make sure that you are well prepared going into the meeting, you should be comfortable with your story and know every part of it. Just because you know every part of it, doesn't mean that you should tell every part of it. You should only put in the important parts and make the audience be in suspense for a little bit. Being respectful to who you are pitching to is also very important, no one wants to hire someone that is disrespectful. The main difficulty I've had with pitching so far is making sure that my idea is fully developed and knowing everything I am going to say and how to respond to any question asked.

Having a career in video production does not only mean that you have to be creative in your work, but you have to also be creative in how you find your work. The only way to get paid in the video production field, like almost every other profession, is to have someone hire you. However, it is easier said than done; with the creative video production field constantly growing due to the lower prices in equipment, competition is very prevalent. To find work you have to be willing to do all types of video production. You're not going to get into a feature film position right away, so make sure you are ready to do work such as weddings, non profits, and legacy videos. Using an ex-videographer's  old clients is also a smart idea to get a job easier. Sticking your neck out as much as you possibly can is very important to get a job in this industry.

Know everything about the timing (when crew and talent comes and goes, how long scenes will take, and respect others time), keep restrooms in mind, and bring food for cast and crew. It is important to know all about the timing because you need to understand when people are coming and going so you can plan around those times and not be surprised when someone either randomly shows up or leaves. The important part about restrooms is that everyone needs to be able to "relieve" themselves at times, and most people would rather have an actual bathroom to go to rather than a bush or a tree. Food is especially important, because just like going to the bathroom, everyone needs it, and without it, people just won't work as well, wasting your time and hampering the quality of the video.

This video says that everyone learns differently, whether it's from seeing, hearing, or reading. You can choose how to guide the audience in how they are going to learn, but you should try to follow his guidelines. In my future videos, I will keep in mind how people learn and try to include at least two of his guidelines, like showing and saying something at the same time.

The hook, the introduction, the body, and the call to action. The hook is to show what the video is about and is supposed to grab the viewers' attention. The intro gives information on who you are and any additional information for the video. The body of the video is the content of the video, it is what the viewer was intending to see. A call to action is to tell your viewers what you want them to do. All of these parts will make your video complete and have an engaging structure.

Not all televisions are set up equally. Some TVs have a weird crop effect added to them. The title safe areas helps prevent the titles from getting cut off on those TVs. Title safes also help create balance in the shot, making sure you don't push stuff all the way to the outside corner and completely mess up the composition.

Long shot - LS, medium shot - MS, and close up - CU. Extreme long shot - ELS/XLS, medium long shot - MLS, medium close up - MCU, extreme close up - ECU/XCU. Original film - b roll, already shot video - archive video, something that someone made with titles or effects - graphics, something that is drawn up on a computer - animation, and talent video - on camera narrator or actor performing a scene. Voice over - VO, voice on camera(can see narrator) - VOC, sound on tape (by interview) - SOT. Natural Sound - NATS. All of these script abbreviations are used to make the process of creating a script a whole lot faster, and saves time so you can get to shooting faster. 

A video script should be able to convey what exactly the scriptwriter's vision is and what should be shot and said. A proper video script should have two columns with video on the left and audio on the right. Two important factors are to make sure you label what is being said by who and what is being shot where, and to make sure that the audio and visual column guidelines are followed.

1 inch margins on each side and the font is Courier New 12 point, a serif, fixed-width font of 10 characters per inch; one page number in the top right corner, and the video column is on the right while the audio column is on the left.

I have learned why pre production is so important, what a DIT does, and the different parts of film in media one can go in to. The pre production process is very important because it makes sure that you can get your shooting done as fast as possible and not have to worry about as much. The DIT is the camera technician and makes sure all the cameras are working and will sometimes help color grade. The different types of media include news, sports, single cam tv shows, multi cam tv shows, etc. All of these are so important because they all are a part of the necessary production process and make filmmaking possible.