As mentioned in a previous post, our short film, A Changed Man, has been accepted into this year’s Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival. A Changed Man will screen in the Local Shorts #2 block on Saturday, August 27th at 7:20pm at the Hill Event Center. Many wonderful people donated their time and effort to produce this film, which is a testament to the love the people of Birmingham have toward the film production industry. Enjoy the teaser trailer for our film. We hope to see you at this year’s Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival.
A few months ago I was working on a video shoot for a client. As we moved our equipment inside and started setting up, my client said, “I had no idea this much was involved in producing a video.” This is a remark I often hear when producing videos. People will comment on the amount of gear we have to carry around with us and at the amount of time it takes to set up and shoot each scene. They talk about our attention to detail when it comes to lighting and blocking camera movements. They marvel at how much footage we shoot just for a thirty-second TV commercial or a three-minute corporate video. Producing high-quality videos is something we take great pride in, but it’s also something that demands a lot of our time and resources.
Even before we roll onto the location for the first day of shooting, our work has been going on, behind the scenes, for a few weeks. There is so much that has to be accomplished during pre-production to ensure that the actual shoot runs smoothly and efficiently. For articles on the importance of pre-production, you can browse through these articles, “Preparing for a Video Shoot,” “Scheduling Your Production,” and “If Only the Flux Capacitor Was Working.” Some of the tasks that demand our time and attention during pre-production include:
Creative meetings with the client to go over conceptual ideas
Writing a script
Revising the script
Scheduling the shoot
Location scouting
Securing locations
Casting (if necessary)
Hiring the crew
Prepping and loading the gear
Depending on the size and complexity of the project, our time spent in pre-production may last as little as five hours, all the way up to forty hours. Once the shooting date arrives and we arrive on location, we have to:
Unload the gear
Conduct one final walk-through
Move furniture to make room for the gear
Set up and light
Set up the camera
Block camera movements
Tweak background elements that are in each shot
Direct the talent
Prep the talent for audio
Slate, shoot, and log each take
And this process will repeat itself for every location. Again, our time in production will vary depending on the size and scope of each video project. We might spend as little as 1/2 day on location, but we might spend as much as five to seven days to capture all the footage necessary for the final video.
Once the shoot wraps, we take all the assets back to our office to begin editing. This is a process that largely goes unnoticed, but here are some action items that we must accomplish throughout post-production:
Transfer all footage from tapes or external hard drive to the editing system
Set up the project and import all assets
Go through all the raw footage, shot by shot, and make notes on what’s happening in each scene
Mark shots as usable or unusable
Begin rough assembly of the video to formulate the narrative structure
Record a scratch track of the voice-over to be used temporarily throughout this initial phase
Listen to any and all on-camera interviews for relevant and usable sound bites; mark these for use later
Insert the interview segments and compile them with the b-roll segments
Present the rough edit to the client for notes
Make revisions; tighten the edit
Make music selections
Insert the music
Direct the voice-over talent during the recording session
Insert the voice-over
Mix all audio
Create and insert all graphics and titles
Present to the client for notes
Make additional revisions if necessary
Color correct every shot to ensure optimum quality and color accuracy
Render and export the final video
Deliver to the client
Post-production can, by far, be the most time-consuming aspect of the production process. It’s not uncommon to spend as much as 40 hours on a 3-5 minute video for a client. To date, I believe, the most we have spent in post-production on a project has been 80 hours for a 7-minute promotional video.
I believe that video production is an artistic medium, and, as with all art, doing it well requires a certain amount of time and effort. So, the next time you want to work with a professional video production company, just know that the cameras, the lights, and the familiar call of “Action!” is only the tip of the iceberg.
I’m pleased to announce that our short film A Changed Man will screen at this year’s Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival in Birmingham, AL. Our film is part of the “Local Shorts #2″ block, which starts at 7:20pm on Saturday, August 27. The film will be shown at the Hill Event Center, located at 1811 3rd Avenue North. A Changed Man tells the story of an emotionally-broken woman trying to put her troubled past behind her and regain a sense of normalcy in her life.
Thanks to everyone who volunteered their time, efforts, and energy to produce this film. I definitely couldn’t have done it alone.
Crew
Written & Directed By Clint Till
Director of Photography – Michael Praytor
Producer – Todd Hornsby
Editor – Sam McDavid
Audio – Chris Burns & Jeremy Burns
Music – Paul Merryman
Art Director – Kimberly Johnson
Gaffer – Chris Hilleke
Hair & Make-up – Tara Merryman
Script Supervisor – George Smyly
Grip – Troy Wagner
Production Assistants – Tyler Dawson & J. Neil Bloomer
Starring
Kendra Fuller
Kevin Watts
Tammy White
Nicole Hernandez
Jana Harris
Gabrielle Metz
The 2011 Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival runs from August 26-28, 2011. Visit the festival website to see the full weekend schedule and learn more about each film.
File-based work flows in video production have presented an incredible amount of benefits to the overall production process, but they have also demanded that video producers/directors reshape the way they move from production into post-production, and finally, to delivery. One of the key members of a tapeless video crew is the DIT, or Digital Imaging Technician. This individual, depending on the size of the shoot, is responsible for many things, but in my opinion, the most important function of the DIT is managing all of the assets while on location. This means taking the memory cards from the DP or camera assistant and transferring them over to hard drives. Once on the hard drives, a DIT will usually back up those files to a redundant drive and ensure that everything transferred correctly before re-formatting the cards for use again on the set. In addition, a DIT will prep each file for use in post-production and will prepare dailies for the director and the client to review.
For projects with smaller budgets, it may be tempting to forego the services of a DIT and simply let the director, DP, or a production assistant handle the duties of a DIT. Although this approach works, consider the side effects of this approach:
Using the director and/or DP to handle this job could slow down the pace of the shoot considerably. Once the cards are full, the director or DP must stop work, start transferring footage, wait for that footage to be transferred, confirm the transfer, reformat the cards, then return to the set. A DIT can handle all of this while the director and/or DP continue their work of shooting, setting up for the next shot, or working with the client and/or talent. This maintains a good work flow throughout the day and ensures that everything stays on schedule.
Using a production assistant as a DIT means assigning a less experienced person to do the job. An experienced DIT knows the equipment, knows exactly what he/she is doing, and can properly communicate with the director/DP.
So, even for those shoots that have smaller crews, a good DIT is a valuable asset to the team. However, with the ever-increasing capacity of memory cards, and the ever-decreasing cost of those memory cards, it will become easier for small ENG crews to spend an entire day shooting to memory cards, without ever having the need to transfer and reformat. All of the cards can simply be stored until the end of the day, then transferred at night, and used again the following day. But if the production turn-around is extremely tight, it may be in the producer’s best interest to hire a DIT and allow him/her to transfer all the footage during the course of the day, start prepping for post, and begin work on a rough edit. This will save a lot of time and will allow the producer to get the final video out to the client much quicker.
Ultimately, the use of the DIT depends on the situation, but don’t underestimate the value of that position in the ever-increasing world of tapeless video production.
I received an email recently from one of our blog readers in regards to our article on the Art of Storytelling. He had a question regarding the role music plays in telling a story, which I feel is a very important topic to discuss when it comes to video production. I have always supported the use of music throughout a short film, feature film, TV commercial, corporate video, etc. The right music, used in just the right way, can really enhance the mood and emotion of a scene. In other words, music should compliment the story. However, I am against relying solely on the music to encourage an emotional response. If the story is structured well through the writing, cinematography, direction, and the editing, then the audience will feel the appropriate emotion. Leaning on the music to elicit an emotional response that otherwise can’t be earned by the story is manipulative. Concentrate first and foremost on telling a good story by the way you edit the video. Then find the right piece of music to fit the mood you have already established. The video will be stronger as a result.
