Frame Rate

When a company looks at their existing marketing materials (logo, brochures, website, videos, etc.) they might wonder why they should invest the time and money to re-brand their image. After all, the existing brand has worked for several years now. Here are some things to consider regarding the need for an updated brand:

1.       Re-branding is a part of a company’s life cycle.Usually, existing marketing materials, logos, etc. are good for 5-10 years. After that time period, businesses evaluate existing materials and will re-brand…

·           to reflect current design themes

·           to embrace current marketing strategies

·           to announce the transition into a new phase of their company

·           to communicate the company’s vision for its future

 

Think of how quickly our world is advancing, especially in the technological realm. A computer you purchase today will be obsolete within the year. A corporate video produced with today’s technology will look a lot different from one produced in 1995. And so it’s important for businesses to assess their brand and its effectiveness every 5-10 years in an effort to remain competitive and current.

 

2.       Re-branding tells your audience that you are committed. A business that takes the time to update its marketing materials is a business committed to the long haul. You want your clients and potential clients to feel safe and secure, knowing that you will be around for years to come. When the public sees that a company has taken the time and invested the money to re-brand, they understand that this is a company that is looking to the future and plans to increase its strength and position in the marketplace.

 

3.       Re-branding is about looking your best. A company’s credibility among audiences depends on the image they put forth for public consumption. Presentation is everything.

a.       When a candidate walks in for a job interview, the way he/she looks is important.

b.       When your employees show up for work, how they present themselves is important.

c.       When company representatives go out for sales or service calls, the way they look and act is important.

d.       When customers, clients, or potential clients come into your office building, how it looks is important.

Everything reflects back onto your business, either positively or negatively. It’s easy to overlook the current status of your brand with other daily tasks filling your calendar, but it’s important to take the time to review that brand on an annual basis. Updating that brand communicates two things…

·        Your company is growing, and

·        You are concerned for its reputation.

 

An updated brand can positively affect public perception about your company encourage them to do business with you.

I had the opportunity yesterday to speak before a group of young actors and share with them some important things about acting in front of the camera. The class was very productive and I think I left them with some valuable information.. So, if you are a young actor, new to the world of film production, allow me to share with you some of the things I shared with the students yesterday.

Getting Started

If you want to work in film and you live in a smaller market, be prepared to work for free. This is especially true if the project is a short film. However, you will gain some great experience and will be able to start building a reel. If you’re looking for paid work, I would suggest getting involved with a local agency. They will help you find commercial work that will pay.

As a young actor, it may be tempting to jump in with both feet when you read the words “Film Auditions.” After all, who doesn’t want to be in a movie? But I would suggest taking the time to find out more about the production company before you get involved. Look at their work. How’s the production quality? Would you be proud to have your name associated with the kind of work they produce? Maintain a sense of pride about yourself and your craft.

Consider being an extra in a production. This will give you valuable on-set experience and will help you get introduced to some important people.

Preparing for the Audition

Always have a headshot ready to go. It should be a single image with your resume stapled to the back. Your resume should be a single sheet and it should be attached so that a casting director can flip the headshot over read your resume. Don’t add on extra photos or extra sheets. Don’t paper clip items together, because your resume could get separated from your headshot. This means a casting director could have your picture without having any idea who you are or how to get in contact with you.

If you pride yourself on being a character actor and can offer a director a wide range of looks, you can always create a composite headshot. The composite would contain your main headshot and then two or three other images (on the same sheet) of you portraying particular character.

Auditioning

Every audition can be a little different, but you need to be prepared for the following:

1. On-camera introduction
2. Cold read
3. Informal interview
4. Improvisation

On-Camera Reminders

When you are on camera shooting a scene, remember that continuity is very important. This means that you have to do the exact same blocking in the exact same way for every take. This is to help the editor match footage together when the film is being assembled.

You also want to think subtle. In the theatre everything is big, because you have to project to the back row. Film is a much more intimate medium. The slightest change in facial expression can be read by the audience. If you play it up too big, you will be over-acting.

Finally, continue acting until the director says, “Cut.” Many directors want their actors to continue the scene and improv additional dialogue and action just to see what happens. Sometimes the best material can be found in these moments. So, don’t break character until you here the “Cut” command.

We went over a lot more material in yesterday’s class, so I might post a series of notes on acting for the camera in the next few days.

In my previous post I mentioned that I recently had the opportunity to work as a consultant with a new client, teaching her the basics of the video production process. Training others in my profession is fairly new to me, and this was the first time I had done it in a formal setting. In retrospect I think everything went very well. Allow me to run down a few of the things I learned. The lessons gained might help you with similar projects, or with client relations in general.

1. BE PREPARED - Two days before my client was to arrive I sat down with a co-worker and we went over all the things we needed to cover in our two day session. Not only did we discuss the important topics, but we also discussed how we would apply the technical skills to the practicality of producing a video. This is a lot better than waiting until the client shows up and saying something like, “Um… let’s see… where would you like to start?”
2. PROVIDE AN OUTLINE - Much like a syllabus from Algebra 101, the outline will allow the client to know exactly what will be covered and will give him or her space to take notes when necessary.
3. KEEP THINGS FLUID - My client came in with certain expectations and a certain knowledge before we even got started. There may be things your client already understands. Give them the opportunity to tell you what they’re looking for. This may take you off topic a little, but don’t worry. Listen to their thoughts and questions. Address them if a simple answer is required. If more groundwork needs to be laid first, then gradually come back to your outline and lay the foundation.
4. ALLOW THE CONCEPTS TO SINK IN - This is where I made one of my mistakes. While discussing the topic “Depth of Field” I moved too quickly into the next subject before giving my client time to absorb the information. Plus, I had neglected to let her handle the camera herself. Don’t move too quickly. Give the client time to go over the material another time if need be. And definitely let him or her get their hands dirty by using the equipment.
5. DON’T JUST TELL, DEMONSTRATE - It’s one thing to listen to someone talk about working with cameras, lighting, or grip equipment. It’s another thing entirely to listen as you watch them work with that equipment. If you find yourself training someone in any skill, whether it be cinematography, drawing, painting, photography, sculpting, etc. show your client by demonstrating techniques yourself. This is where it may be helpful to have an assistant with you. My co-worker and I worked in tandem during our two-day training sessions - I would instruct while he demonstrated. I would instruct while he set up equipment for the next lesson. Or he would instruct while I sat in during a lighting demonstration.

When we concluded, I felt that the training was a success, but did feel that we fell short in certain areas. However, the main goal here is to give your client, student, etc. the information he/she needs to go out and start developing his/her own craft.

In these tough economic times, there’s a fine line that businesses walk. They must continue to market themselves or watch as competitors gain a stronger footing. Tough decisions have to be made when income is on the decline. So what should be done? In my experiences many people try to pull all video production work in-house. Most feel that all they need is a decent camera and some editing software, but they neglect to learn the video production basics. The result is a flat, uninteresting piece that fails to convey the message adequately. If you feel that you need to move more production work in-house, allow me to make some suggestions:

1. Make a slow transition. Don’t hand over a consumer grade camera to your intern and say, “Good luck.” Take the time to equip your department with everything it needs to produce a high-quality video.
2. Hire a production company to serve as a consultant. I was recently approached by a potential client who needed to produce some projects in-house. My company was hired to provide training sessions to a company representative so that she could be better prepared to produce her own videos. We will also serve as on-going consultants for future projects.
3. Allow the production company to produce the first piece. This will give you an opportunity to view first-hand how everything works, so that you will feel more secure about handling everything yourself in subsequent projects.
4. Continue to educate yourself. Take the time to learn your gear. Get out and practice. Look at demo reels to get an idea of what others are doing. Read about the production process.

These suggestions will serve as a good starting point, but remember that mastering the production business takes a lot of time and requires great expense. Sometimes, in the long-run, it’s more cost-effective to hire a production company than to invest the time, effort, and money to train your staff and to accumulate everything you will need to make it happen.

I’m currently working on a video project containing a lot of still images. It’s important to know how to prep stills for use in your NLE timeline so that they come out looking their best. First, I always like to use TIFFs rather than JPEGs, because the TIFFs are less compressed and provide better quality.

Second, I look for images that are oriented horizontally, not vertically. A vertical image won’t fill up the entire screen and you’ll be forced to look at empty space on either side of the picture. An image that’s oriented horizontally will be much easier to work with in a 4:3 or 16:9 viewing area. Granted, I have worked with vertical images before and I’ve been able to work around the problem of empty space on either side. One way of doing this is enlarging the image, focusing on the most important part of the image. Bear in mind that you will lose some of the picture by doing this. You can also bring your image into Photoshop and use the pen tool to extract the portion of the image you want to see. You can then import that extracted portion into your editing system (I use Premiere Pro). Doing this enables you to create some nice composite shots, where the extracted portion of the image sits in front of a nice background.

Third, I always look at the dpi of each image. For print work you should always work with images at 300 dpi or greater. However, a still frame of video is 72 dpi - much lower resolution. So, what dpi setting works best when bringing still images into your video project? There’s no hard and fast rule here, but I like to work with stills that are at least 150 dpi. This gives me enough resolution to work with, in case I need to enlarge the image on screen, but it’s not so big that it chokes up the processor when rendering effects.

Fourth, it’s always good to add a little gaussian blur to your images. When you first import still images, they can look very sharp - too sharp, in fact. You might see slight flickering on the screen, and hard edges all around. I slight gaussian blur will soften the entire image, making it appear more natural.

Fifth, I like to use what’s now referred to as the “Ken Burns Effect” where the images move across the screen ever so slightly. This prevents your video from having a static, slide show look.

Last, I always like to create composites with the images (this is for the more advanced users and takes considerable more time to set up). I start with a nice textured background and apply two or three different images on top. By extracting portions of an image (see number 2 above) or softening the edges of an image with an image matte key, you can utilize a few different pictures in one frame and create a nice, layered look.

Here’s an example of a spot I created using this layered, composited look. It incorporates the use of stills and video.

If you looked at video footage side by side with footage shot on film, the average viewer would probably tell you that film just looks better. They may not be able to tell you why, but most will be able to tell that there’s a difference between the two mediums. That’s why videographers have employed techniques to make their footage look more like film, including shooting at 24 frames per second.

Shooting at 24fps is the film standard, while the video standard is 30fps. A few years ago, companies like Panasonic introduced 24p into their video cameras — a setting which allowed video cameras (for the first time) to shoot at 24fps, just like a film camera. The letter “p” in “24p” stands for “progressive,” meaning that an entire frame of video is captured at once, just like it would be in a film camera or a still camera. Before the introduction of 24p, interlaced video was the standard. Interlaced video means that two “fields” are blended together to create one frame. First, the odd numbered lines in a video field are scanned, then the even numbered lines. Put them together and you have an entire picture.

Making 24p available to videographers was a step toward making video look more like film, but there are many more techniques that must be employed besides 24p, like proper lighting, camera movement, and depth-of-field. Now with the rise of HD, 60p is not too far away. 60p means that 60 progressive frames are captured, not just 24. Now there’s a debate on the rise as to whether 24p is a limitation in the face of higher res HD video. Take a look at this article from Videographer and leave your comments.

How can I be a better cinematographer? That’s the big question among many production enthusiasts as they try to hone their skills and improve their craft. It’s a question I constantly ask myself, which is why I have books on lighting and cinematography. One can never grow complancent with where they are professionally. When you start out, you may not have any idea what your style is, but the more you shoot, the more your style will develop. Your camera style is influenced by two major factors — 1. Practice and 2. Immulation. As you continue to shoot you will also seek out other cinematographers whose style you appreciate. Then you will ask yourself, “I wonder how he did that?” which will lead you on a quest to figure it out and perhaps adopt certain facets into your own camera work.

One of the things I really like to do when I’m shooting is to capture the little details in close-ups and extreme close-ups. And I always offset those details to one side of the frame. Sometimes the beauty of a scene is found in those details that, from a wide shot, wouldn’t be all that impressive. It could be the worn edges of an old book, a tree limb swaying in the breeze, or the wrinkled hand of an elderly person. Shooting the small details focuses your viewer’s attention on what you want them to look at. It gives you control of the scene. How many times have you watched a video where everything was shot wide or in medium shots? Not very interesting. Why? Because this is how we view life through our own eyes. When you are shooting for video, the most interesting shots are from different and unique angles. Show your viewer the world in ways they they don’t ordinarily consider. That makes for more interesting footage. Good luck as you continue to work on your own projects, and keep shooting.

Back in the day when I was first starting out, friends asked me to produce their wedding videos. I was happy to do it. After all, I went to high school with these people. They were good friends. I didn’t worry about contracts in those days. Life was carefree and full of gumdrops, and flowery meadows, and unicorns… and then, reality hit. I was filming a wedding for a good high school friend. She was getting married in Georgia, and my biggest mistake was forgetting to account for the time difference. Georgia is one hour ahead of Birmingham. Compund that problem with the fact that the directions we received were bad and we show up just as the wedding is starting. After I delivered the final video my friend called and asked for an additional discount because she expected more professionalism. I honestly was hurt, because she and I had been great friends in high school. By the time the situation had been resolved her attitude toward me was different.

We don’t live in a perfect world where a handshake seals the deal. Long gone are the days of “A man’s word is his bond.” Today, contracts have to be air-tight so that your backside is covered. And if you are a freelancer, or the owner of a small business, it’s especially important, because there are a lot of unethical people out there who don’t care that you’re trying to make a living. They’ll try to cut you down regardless.

I’ve learned through tough experience not to move a muscle until a contract is in place - not even if you’re doing production work for “good ‘ole Uncle Bob.” Here are a few simple, but important rules.

1. Clearly define ALL expectations up front. Make sure you understand what your client wants and make sure the client understands what they will be receiving. And make sure ALL decision-makers are in on the discussion. Otherwise you could be facing a LOT of changes in post-production; changes that you didn’t budget for.
2. Put EVERYTHING into a contract. Give your client time to review.
3. Have both parties sign the contract. Make sure you and your client initial next to important revisions.
4. Get your deposit.
5. Then, get to work.

Don’t ever start any job with the promise of a contract. Five years ago, when I first started Parc Entertainment, I did some work for a non-profit group. A couple of years later the CEO started hinting at the fact that they would like to re-do the video to update some important information in the script. Fast-forward to last fall and I finally sent them a contract to review. Fast forward to last Friday. The CEO emails me and asks if I could schedule an interview with a particular individual for the following day. I responded and said that I could, but unfortunately did not have a contract in hand.

Now I trust this particular client. They have been good to me and I appreciate that relationship. I also know they are serious about proceeding with the video. Some of you may have clients with whom you feel comfortable and in whom you have the utmost confidence. But you and your clients must understand that this is business. The contract with my client (which I’m still waiting on) has a very specific clause about the number of shooting days I am alotting them. I am giving them one shooting day to capture any additional interviews and/or b-roll they might need. This is because I am primarily re-editing existing footage. I simply want them to use that day wisely. I didn’t want to proceed with the interview, then have them return and ask me to shoot more footage on an additional day, when I didn’t budget for it. That’s why it’s important to have a contract in hand before proceeding, regardless of the client, regardless of the job. It may seem harsh when you’re forcing dear-ole-dad to put his John Hancock on paper, but it will help protect you and your business.

In case you are having Frame Rate withdrawals, let me relieve your anxiety by telling you that I was on vacation all last week. So, no, I haven’t forgotten about my little corner of the web. To kick off my return to blogging after a little hiatus I would like to speak to all the freelancers out there (and aspiring freelancers). Recently I received a call from a company in New York interested in hiring me for brief shoot and edit for a client here in Birmingham. After letting them know I was available I discovered that the rate being offered was quite a bit lower from my usual 1/2 day rate. And that’s what brought me to the crossroad that all freelancers and entrepreneurs face at one time or another. So what do you do when you are offered a job at less your normal rate?

The knee-jerk reaction is to take it. After all, work is work, right? Well, yes and no. Sometimes it is good to take a job at a lower rate if it means gaining a long-term client and some repeat work. After some time you can increase your rates to your standard. But then you have to examine the work itself. Is it something you would be proud to include in your portfolio or demo reel? Repeat work is one thing; sacrificing artistic integrity is something else. Also, will the type of work under consideration cheapen the marketplace? For example, my goal as the owner of a video production company is to help clients realize that they can have incredible production values with a reasonable investment. When someone else comes into the market and offers low-end, quick turnaround videos that were slapped together in an afternoon, it lowers the standard for all who work in the industry and cheapens the quality.

If you are just starting out as a freelancer, then by all means, take the job. When you are first starting out you must do what you can to get your name out into the business community. When I first started I was doing everything from dance recitals to weddings to church services; even legal depositions. Now I am able to be a little more selective in the jobs I take and I can feel comfortable turning down work that falls below my day rates, because I now know what I am worth in the marketplace. I know that by taking a low-paying job, I’m really hurting my profit margin. So as you venture into the world of freelancing and work on building your career, you have to know what your worth. Then, from that number you can offer your clients an accurate budget. Arriving at a price will ultimately be the result of trial and error. In the past I have completely underestimated how much time I would spend on a particular project. But I learned from those experiences and they only helped me in future projects.

Here’s a good rule of thirds: 1/3 of your budget should be for you; 1/3 for overhead expenses; and 1/3 should go back into your company. That one I learned from my dad, an excellent CPA at Till, Hester, Eyer, & Brown.

I came across this video while surfing through my usual blogs. It’s a great little tutorial on how to get professional-looking dolly shots for your video without the use of a dolly. I just might utilize this technique the next time I’m shooting in a tight location and don’t have the space for a dolly and/or track.

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