HD DSLR – Page 9 – Journeys of a Hybrid

March 14, 2011

Editing Tips From Kurt Vonnegut

Recently I came across a blog article entitled “Writing Tips from Kurt Vonnegut” which was posted on Melody Godfred’s blog “Write in Color”. It was short and sweet and to the point, listing 8 great tips. Two of those tips really resonated with me because at the time I read them, I was entrenched in editing my documentary and I was struggling with a couple of story issues.

Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
Start as close to the end as possible.

For the most part when I write I’m usually writing with someone in mind. But I realized when I was editing the 11 stories of this documentary, I was getting caught up in trying to tell too many stories for too many people with their needs in mind. And in the process, I wasn’t getting anywhere in telling the central story of the film. After reading these words of wisdom from Vonnegut, the master of storytelling, I stepped back and envisioned myself with a friend, telling the story of my film and it became clear what I needed to do.

One thing I’ve always done when editing video is to create the beginning and the end first and then fill in the middle. So when I read the tip about starting as close to the end as possible, it reinforced the idea that I needed to have a very clear idea on how I was going to end this film. I had already decided that I wanted to contrast the beginning and the ending visuals so I applied this thinking to the story itself.

I get a lot of questions from people about the mechanics of editing video – like how to do certain things in Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere – and I answer the best I can. But I also point out that it’s easy to get caught up in what the software can do and forget about the story that you’re trying to tell. My advice is to read as much as you can about the craft of storytelling. I learned a lot about story structure from Blake Snyder’s book Save the Cat. I learned that every good story has a few key ingredients – irony, conflict, resolution, a hero, change – all basic universal themes. Tutorials on Final Cut aren’t going to help your storytelling skills and without a good story – you might just have some “eye candy” to music.

There is just one more tip from Vonnegut that I’ll leave you with – make sure you check out the other 5 tips.

Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

March 9, 2011

I Must Have Been Crazy to Think I Could Do It

….But I did. Last night I shipped 3 hard drives with almost 5 terabytes of media to my editor. After 2 very long months of extremely long days – every day – I got through the “first edit” of my documentary. It’s by no means finished, there’s a lot more editing needed to cut it down by half, there’s music to be composed and a narrative that has to be written, but I take great joy in the fact that I got through this part of the process – because it damn near killed me.

When shooting a documentary, you don’t work with a script or a storyboard – or at least I don’t. I have a pretty solid idea of the “story” when I set out to shoot, but there’s always twists and turns with every situation and every interview. But I love surprises and I make room for serendipity to happen. What results is a lot of content that needs to be crafted and arced into a story. And I’ve just finished defining that story and laying the foundation.

It hasn’t been easy. In fact there have been times when I’ve wanted to walk away from this because it was so overwhelming. Trying to tie 11 different stories into one, and looking through 150 hours of footage multiple times can be overwhelming for a team of editors, let alone one individual. I’ve also had my share of low moments these past few months with a grant application rejected and a broken promise by a friend, but somehow I got through it. I got through it because I had desire.

Having a strong desire for whatever it is one wants to achieve is essential. Many times we say we really want something, but that is far different than having a true desire to make something happen. In order to stick to something (anything) and follow through with it – no matter what – that desire must be strong and come from within. It’s something that can’t be copied, taught or faked – you either have it or you don’t. It comes when you are true to yourself.

It’s hard to stay true to yourself. Many times, well meaning friends or spouses try to distract you from your purpose. I see this happen a lot when a significant other, who may not understand that in the creative world, the line between work and pleasure is quite blurred and sometimes may feel somewhat resentful of all the time their partner spends on “work”. I’m lucky in that my husband is also my business partner and has a full understanding of those blurred lines between work and pleasure. He also knows that when I have such a strong desire to do something, that he shouldn’t get in the way of me following that desire. That is truly selfless and well meaning.

Since beginning this lofty project, I’ve gotten a lot of calls from people who are in a slump for one reason or another. They look to me for some kind of guidance. I don’t really know what to say, other than to tell them to listen to their true self – the one underneath the clutter of the ego – and to trust what it tells you. If I get one of those calls during one of those low moments in my life, I try really hard to stay positive even though I feel like a big fake, because I’ve temporarily succumbed to my own self doubts. At those times, I try to be utterly honest, relaying the bitter with the sweet and say that bad times don’t last forever. But you have to let your spirit shine.

I wrote a blog once about the human spirit. I feel that the spirit inside me is ageless. I know when people come up to me and say “you look good” – what they really see is my spirit – which never gets old because I keep it alive. When I’m true to myself, my spirit soars and I look back at my defeats and rejections with a different understanding and acceptance.

So today, with my spirit in tact and my desire ever so strong, I rejoice in the fact that I accomplished something – something that’s really meaningful. That brings a big smile to my face and great joy in my heart. What a feeling – it’s priceless.

February 24, 2011February 24, 2011

Revisiting the Frozen Waves

There they were again, exactly a year ago but in another part of the state. Frozen waves. We had taken a quick drive up to Grosse Pointe, MI, just outside Detroit and were driving by the frozen waves on Lake Huron. Last year about this time, I wrote a blog entitled Standing on a 10 Foot Frozen Wave. I had been shooting up at Whitefish Point on the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. It was February and I was in one of the most remote places in the United States and I was standing on a 10 foot frozen wave on Lake Superior at sunset. It was an amazing – almost spiritual experience. I had never heard silence like that before in my life – nor since. No sounds at all – but even silence has its own sound.

Last Sunday I arrived back in Michigan during the height of a big snow storm. This time I was in the city of
Detroit. I was there to film the last subject(s) of my documentary – two African American women fighting for the rights of the disadvantaged. God knows that Detroit has its share of disadvantaged people.

Because of the storm and the fact that Monday was a holiday, the next morning the streets were deserted in downtown Detroit. Not only were they deserted but they weren’t plowed. My subjects couldn’t get plowed out until early afternoon so that left me with the morning free. So, my daughter, husband and I decided to take a tour and do some b-roll shooting at the same time. We had the streets to ourselves, sometimes going the wrong way down one way streets or cruising very slowly, shooting out the window, but we handled it just fine in our 4 wheel drive. As we drove out of downtown, away from the glitz of the GM building and crossed over the highway, the landscape changed to vacant lots and abandoned buildings. Urban blight. I felt like I was shooting a winter version of the new Eminem commercial.

We eventually, rendezvoused with our subjects, shot interviews and b-roll at their offices and then planned to shoot a big demonstration in Lansing. This morning, six busloads of protesters headed to Lansing from Detroit to speak up against the city of Detroit selling off their water assets to private companies. It was cold, but sunny and energizing as various speakers came up to the podium, our subjects among them. Hundreds of students, teachers, mothers, fathers, children, seniors, gathered on the steps of the capitol with signs of protest just like in Wisconsin. Just like in Egypt. These people were here to make a difference and it was energizing.

So, now we’re facing that long 10 hour drive back to New Jersey, but I’m energized and I’m feeling very satisfied with finishing the shoot part of our film. I’m grateful I got to spend time with my daughter. This trip to Michigan was vastly different from when I was standing on those frozen waves surrounded by silence. This time I was surrounded by people fighting for their rights. It made me feel young again. I’m not sure which experience was best for my soul – perhaps both equally.

February 21, 2011

Editing 150 Hours of Footage From a DSLR

As I roll away the miles, driving the ten hour trip to Michigan to rendezvous with my daughter Erin to film the last of our subjects for our documentary Opening Our Eyes, I realize how desperately I needed a long road trip – just cruising down the highway. I have been in utter isolation for the past month, editing over 150 hours of footage that we had shot over our ultimate road trip around the world this past summer. Little did I know that the 99-day journey would be the easy part of this project.

This past month there have been many times that I became so overwhelmed with the process of editing that I wanted to throw my hands up in surrender and just give up. But somehow I plowed through it, many days putting in 14 plus hours. I was on a mission and listening to the words of my subjects got me through it. After all these were some of the most inspirational people I had every met, so revisiting them through their interviews was a constant reminder of the goal of this film which is to create awareness and inspire and motivate others to make a difference and create change.

Ultimately, my challenge is to take ten (soon to be eleven) different stories of people across the globe who are making a positive difference in the world. After finally getting the tedious tasks finished, of transcoding files and sorting through the good from the bad clips, I arrived at a point where I needed to start telling “THE” story. Meaning I needed to determine how I could best structure the film to convey the common themes between my subjects.

In order to see the story clearly – I needed to get away from the technology. So as the miles roll by, the story becomes more vivid in my head. I see the hero(s), the themes, the commonality and the arc of the story as the stories intertwine. I won’t give away too much information other than to say that the solution is simple. They aren’t eleven different stories after all. It’s really a global story about the power of one. How one individual can create positive change and not only effect generations to come but change themselves as well. It’s a basic human story that resonates with all of us.

When I started writing this blog I was going to talk about editing tech tips. Somehow as the miles rolled by and my head became clear of the intense electronic input from the past month, I not only saw the story, but I felt it. I had gotten back on track and gotten to the heart of the story.

February 2, 2011

Telling the Story with the DSLR

The sub-title should read…”or with any camera for that matter”. For those of you not new to this blog, you know that my mantra is “it’s not about the tool”. And my other mantra is “embrace collaboration”.

But back to the thought behind this blog entry and that is “telling the story”. I recently read a great book that a dear friend had given me about screenwriting called “Save the Cat” by Blake Snyder. Snyder’s book is geared more toward writing a fictional screenplay, as opposed to writing a narrative for a documentary, but I thought it would be helpful for me as far as learning more about the dynamics of story telling – and indeed it was.

Snyder talks about the different genres that most movies fall into. The category that my documentary came closest to if I was writing a fictional piece was what he referred to as The Golden Fleece. Blake writes:

“The name comes from the myth of Jason and the Argonauts and yet it’s always about the same thing: A hero goes “on the road” in search of one thing and winds up discovering something else – himself.”

“Like the twists of any story, the milestones of The Golden Fleece are the people and incidents that our hero or heroes encounter along the way. The theme of every Golden Fleece movie is internal growth, how the incidents affect the hero is, in fact, the plot.

“It’s not the mileage we’re racking up that makes a good Golden Fleece, it’s the way the hero changes as he goes”.

Wow, I thought as Snyder’s words resonated with me and how I “saw” the documentary that I was in the midst of editing. In my case, I had many heroes who in setting out to make a positive difference in the world had also experienced intense and rewarding personal growth. I too had changed and grown, along with my daughter who journeyed with me to tell our subjects’ stories.

As I read more of Snyder’s book, my vision of our film became much clearer in my head. This week, I had a meeting with the editor who will be collaborating with me on this film. I’m thankful that I was able to have a face to face meeting with him where we could both get a better feel for each other and more importantly – the story. We had a wonderful conversation about the story that I wanted to tell – the heroes – the conflicts – all those things that are part of a good story. I knew we were on the same page when he said: “It’s not about the trip – it’s about the journey”.

Or as Snyder writes:
“It’s not the incidents encountered. It’s what the hero(es) learn about himself from the incidents that make the story work.”

We’ll see if I can do my heroes justice in telling their stories, but I’m not alone in this task. I’ll be collaborating with an editor who not only has an understanding of “the story” but the skills and ability to make it come to life. What joy.

January 31, 2011

Being Authentic

There are certain words and phrases that tend to become over used just because they seem to express the idea so well. Ironically, the word authentic is becoming over used now in our culture and in a weird way is on the brink of becoming a contradiction to what it means. So, I cautiously use the word “authentic” in the real sense to say – be who you are meant to be. Be authentic.

When I returned from my round the world adventure this past Fall after completing the shooting aspect of a personal project, I discovered that people were responding to me in a different way. Perhaps they sensed there was something inside of me that they wanted to connect with. It’s a very difficult thing to explain but I think what they were sensing, was my contentment. I was content and feeling a sense of “satisfaction” because I was following “my purpose”, both personally and creatively and in the process I was discovering many other people, all over the world, who were doing the same.

On the outside what may have seemed like just a very long, exotic “trip”, was really more of a journey. It was a journey that I had begun a long time ago when I became an explorer, through my eyes and through my camera. I use the word explorer in a literal and figurative sense. Throughout my life, in my never-ending nomadic need to explore the world and its peoples, I was finding my own vision and how I “saw” and I was sharing that with others.

Ethan G. Salwen expressed it beautifully in a recent post on his After Capture blog:

“We always say that learning photography is really learning to see, and this is true. But we tend to express this sentiment in relation to a very limited sense of seeing — the visual sense. Older photographers seem to continue to learn to see on a much deeper level, in terms of what it is to be a working artist and, most important, how this relates to their continual growth and satisfaction as an individual.”

I think Ethan nailed it by talking about “learning and seeing on a much deeper level and how this brings growth and satisfaction as an individual.” I use the words “ being on purpose” to describe “satisfaction” within oneself. I believe that as creative individuals, when we begin to find meaning in who we are and how that fits into the world, it will shine through our work. Some use the word “vision” to describe that certain something that they see in someone’s creative work. Maybe that’s what was in the back of my mind when I came up with the title of my project and film, Opening Our Eyes.

In a way, I use my “eyes” and my camera to do what I do best – to share and connect with others. When I travel, it is not to assimilate with a culture, but rather to learn and exchange our cultural uniqueness, embrace that and share it with others. When I’m being authentic and true to myself, that happens in a magical way. When someone tells me that I’m the “real deal”, that is one of the highest compliments they can give me.

I think Susana Esmoris, one of the subjects of my documentary said it best. “Live life intensely. Wear the color that you want in life. Dance what you want to dance.”

January 11, 2011

SB3 – Get Inspired

If you haven’t registered for the ASMP Strictly Business 3 conference yet, I would highly suggest that you do so. They will be held in three locations starting next week: January 21-23 in Los Angeles; February 25-27 in Philadelphia; and April 1-3 in Chicago.

There’s an incredible line up of speakers presenting workshops on pricing, estimating, copyright, workflow, strategic career planning, successful portfolios and branding and video production. I’ll be presenting two workshops: “Thinking in Motion” and “Shooting Video with the DSLR”.

Branding expert Colleen Wainwright will deliver her keynote “Making People Love You Madly: Selling Yourself in a Postmodern Marketplace”. Tom Kennedy, whom I’ve know since his days at the National Geographic Magazine will give a keynote “Learning New Skills for the Changing Media Landscape”.

This conference series is meant for everyone, not just photographers who are beginning their careers. In fact, I think that photographers who have been in business for many years will benefit equally, if not more than a shooter who is new to the business.

I have been in business for over 30 years and I have found that one of the most dangerous things that can happen to a creative person, is for them to become complacent, especially in a business like photography. It’s even more deadly to become complacent these days in our fast changing world of technology. We not only need to stay current with our skills, we need to keep our vision fresh.

When I got into video and motion more than a decade ago, I was looking for something to excite me. I felt that even though my business was successful and that I had accomplished many of my creative goals, the spark was getting dim inside me and at times I felt like I was reinventing the wheel. So, I set out on a learning curve and have been soaking up information ever since.

I love to learn and I have found that the more I wonder and grow, the better off I am creatively and the more successful I am in business. I’ve also found that networking and collaborating with my peers has opened my eyes to all sorts of possibilities that I never knew existed. I think that’s what makes the SB3 conference so powerful – the sharing of information with our peers. You don’t get that from online learning.

We live in a time where anything is possible. Come to SB3 in LA, Philadelphia and Chicago and be prepared to be inspired.

December 20, 2010

Listen Up – Audio is Everything

Audio is everything in video. I can’t stress this enough. Most times “capturing audio” is a skill that still photographers don’t have. If your job is on the line – my suggestion is hire a good sound guy. If you’re doing a personal project and want to learn more about getting good sound, here are some tips.

• Don’t use the camera’s internal microphones, except for reference.
• Never use “auto” when recording audio. Turn off the AGC (automatic gain control) on the DSLR cameras.
• Get your microphones in close. For b-roll situations, you can get away with a shotgun mic mounted on the camera. But microphones mounted on cameras can pick up camera noises.
• Use a good wind screen or dead cat when outside. Even if you’re inside, on a windy day, with windows open, you can pick up wind noise.
• Use a good set of headphones. Over the ear is best but earbuds can be used in a pinch. Your audio meters tell you that you’re getting sound, but not if the sound is any good.
• Use shotgun microphones for your interviews. Get them in close to your subject – no more than 1-3 feet away.
• Lav microphones, attached to lapels can be used wired or wirelessly. Be careful with your positioning to avoid unnecessary noise from hair or jewelry.
• Go wired whenever you can. Resort to wireless solution if wired isn’t possible.
• Use an omni-directional or cardiod microphone when you are in more acontrolled situation and you want your sound coming from more directions.
• Don’t cross your audio cords with your electrical cords. This causes a hum that you will detect if you are wearing headphones.

Pay attention to audio. Start letting your ears do more of the work. Every room and situation has its own sound. Listen up.

December 13, 2010

Editing Tips for Multimedia and Video

A few days ago, I wrote a blog about “having a point” – or telling a story when you create multimedia pieces. Of course you have to have an overall idea and focus to start with, but below are some editing tips on how to make it come together in the editing room.

Edit with a purpose. Why are you making the “cut” where you are? Are you cutting on the action? Are you cutting on the beat of the music? What’s the reason behind your cut?
Set a pace or rhythm. Just like writing, where you have pauses in sentences with commas, edit your visuals to your narrative or interview soundbites, cutting after words and phrases.
Use image sequences to transition between different ideas and themes.
Let your images linger on the screen, giving time to breathe between them.
Cut on the beat or against the beat of music. Edit the music and let it become part of your piece, rather than just a background soundtrack.
Adjust the volume of your music – lowering it during interviews and raising it when there is no narrative or dialog.
Use audio fades between music cuts to soften the cut.
Insert room tone between cuts in interview soundbites, making the cuts less apparent.
Use interview footage sparingly – when introducing someone or when someone is expressing emotion on the screen.
Identify interview subject with name and title text in lower third.
Use text that’s easy to read and break it up over many slates. Leave the slate on the screen long enough to read twice.
Always start with your strongest images.
Don’t “move” all your still images – leave some static on the screen.
Don’t use dissolves.
When working with media from DSLR cameras, keep the media in the DCIM folders for logging and transferring into Final Cut Pro with the plug-in. If you have taken your media out of the DCIM folders – then create a new DCIM folder for the purposes of importing the media into FCP.

Remember to keep the story in mind at all times. When you think you have the story laid down in a rough cut – have friends over to watch it. Ask them what the story was. If they don’t know or can’t tell you, then you have more work to do.

December 11, 2010December 11, 2010

“Here’s an Idea – Have a Point”

One of my favorite holiday movies is “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” with Steve Martin and John Candy. There’s a great scene in the movie where Steve Martin loses it and starts a rant directed toward Candy’s character, Del Griffith. Del, is a “nice guy” who talks incessantly. Martin’s character, Neal Page, an uptight ad man, frustrated by the day’s travel mishaps, finally explodes at his travel companion Del after one too many stories and says – “here’s an idea – when you tell a story, have a point!”

Am I the only one who has been oversaturated with multimedia and video pieces that are little more than pretty visuals to music? Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of pieces that I do like, but there are far too many where I get bored and bail mid-way through because there is no point – there is no story.

Worse yet, the audio or music track many times feels like it has no connection to the visuals. It may be a great piece of music and provide pacing for the video, but it doesn’t complement the story. And there are times that the music is the most interesting part about the piece – if you take it away, what do you have? Most likely a pagination of moving and/or still images – like pages in a magazine or prints on a gallery wall. Independent and isolated vignettes with a music track – but no story- just eye candy.

What holds my interest is a story, where all the elements of audio, music, video clips, stills, text and narrative are parts of the whole and each one is integral in telling the story. I don’t think I’m alone in being interested in the story. Humans have enjoyed “the story” since the beginning of time. It doesn’t matter if it’s told verbally in a one on one conversation, in a multimedia piece, or in a major motion picture – a good story is a key ingredient for human interest. We all love a good story.

Personally, there is so much out there to watch these days on any given site that hosts videos, if I’m going to invest time in viewing something – I want it to have a point. If it doesn’t when I get to the end – I feel somehow let down.

I’m sure some of you will disagree with me on these thoughts and many of you may get loads of satisfaction from watching pretty visuals laid down to music and that’s OK. I’ve just had my fill of pretty content splashed before me, becoming a blurred palette in my head.

So, here’s an idea – have a point.