Fort Lauderdale Video Production

Film-style editing

admin — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 06:22:01 +0000

When I edit a video, I limit the use of cross-dissolves and other transitional effects. Instead, I use hard cuts. Since I mostly edit what I shoot, I can plan better for this type of editing, but sometimes you may not be able to use just hard cuts, when the footage you need just isn’t available. Most of what I edit ends up on the internet, so using hard cuts is the best way to go in this situation. Dissolves tend to really break-up when compressed for the web. To get a fluid transition when making a cut, I find the start, or part of an action to lead me to the next clip, rather than just cutting together two clips that have no action. It can be someone walking, opening a door, picking up an object, or any other action. It gives the video a natural sort of transition. Watch movies with action sequences to see what I mean. Of course, to get different moods, this is not always the best technique.

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New Use For Those Old VHS Cases

admin — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 02:05:01 +0000

When’s the last time you shipped out or shot on VHS? Those heavy duty plastic VHS cases that are probably just sitting around your studio don’t have to be useless. They make excellent shipping containers for small portable drives. These cases are sturdy and actually double walled, providing good protection to the contents inside. Most likely there will even be room for extra packing material, since portable drives are so small.

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1-chip cameras VS 3-chip

admin — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 10:30:01 +0000

One measure of the video quality of different cameras is whether the camera is 1-chip or 3-chip.

The 1-chip camera uses a single computer chip to process the colors the camera sees. The more expensive professional 3-chip camera has three separate computer chips. Each chip processes a separate primary color – red, green or blue. Because of this, the video quality is much better.

Professioinal cameras are often labeled as 3-CCD or 3-CMOS (CCD stands for “Charge Coupled Device, and CMOS stands for “complementary metal oxide semiconductor.”

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Great Sound is not an Accident

admin — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 18:40:01 +0000

Good sound design is as important to video production as good camera work. It brings texture to a video production, a richness that music alone can’t provide. Sound design begins with the assumption that what we hear enhances our appreciation of what we see. Like poetry, sound design is evocative: we may not actually see the source of a sound, but the presence of the sound evokes strong memories and images. Clever mic placement and solid audio editing skills can dramatically enhance a production.

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Buying Video Equipment

admin — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 05:16:01 +0000

When looking for new equipment such as high priced video cameras or editing work stations, be careful who you buy from online, if you choose not to go to a traditional brick and mortar store. There are many online retailers that offer equipment such as new cameras at half the price of other reputable retailers. If the price is too good to be true, it should be a warning sign. You may get a camera missing a bunch of accessories that would normally be included such as the LCD screen, or you may not even get your order at all. A quick Google search of an online store can yield some customer reviews if you’re weary. In my opinion, stick with the reputable guys, like B&H.

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Add Interest to your Videos

admin — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 16:37:01 +0000

For a more dynamic video, try getting out of the habit of putting the camera at eye level. Today’s lightweight video cameras can be easily placed up high (like on a ladder), way down low and a variety of other places that much larger cameras of yesteryear just wouldn’t fit.

Also, there’s no rule that says your horizon has to be level. Try tilting your camera, and moving angles quickly. Or try a slow tilt from one side to the other. These simple things can add drama, and a sense of forboding in tense scenes and can add interest in shots with lots of action.

By considering an innovative and unusual camera angle to shoot your scene, you’ll engage and entertain your audience while telling your story.

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Need An Animated Bar Graph?

admin — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 09:31:01 +0000

I recently produced some graphics for an annual report video. I needed to produce 3 bar graphs. I found keynote from Apple’s iWork suite very helpful. I was able to quickly produce a 3-D bar graph, that grew and rotated. I then imported a quicktime of the animation into After Effects and used expressions to add a running numbers effect to complement the graph. A great solution to add interest to any chart or bar graph.

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DELL UltraSharp LCD Monitor Review

admin — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 03:38:01 +0000

If you’re looking for a great LCD monitor on a budget, then check out Dell’s line of UltraSharp LCD’s. These monitors are as good as the Apple Cinema Displays in my opinion, and they’re half the price. I also prefer Dell’s black front beveled edge to Apple’s aluminum casing. Much easier on the eyes.

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Life of a MacBook Pro Battery

admin — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 13:19:01 +0000

I do most of my computing on my trusty MacBook Pro. It’s a power house fast enough to replace my old G5 powerPC, and it gives me the flexibility to take my work with me when I travel to a production location. It also acts as an external monitor when I have Adobe’s On Location running. However, I’ve kept it plugged in most of the time. I’m not good at, and don’t want to worry about checking the battery levels throughout the day. A year has gone by, and now my laptop just shuts down after a few minutes of use when it’s not plugged in. It turns out it’s a good idea to routinely “exercise” your battery, draining & charging it, so that this doesn’t happen to you. Hopefully I can get my battery back into shape.

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“Obama Girl” creator to speak at our NYU workshop

admin — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 14:49:01 +0000

Remember the viral video hit “Obama Girl”? Of course you do! It has received almost 20 million YouTube views by now. And how about “Fred” – THE internet sensation right now? Well guess what: the creator of these videos (AKA Kevin Arbouet) is one of the speakers at our viral video workshop this month. You should sign up! Like NOW. Go to: http://www.indigoprod.com/ViralVideoWorkshop

To refresh your memory:

Tags: arbouet, girl, hit, kevin, obama, video, viral, workshop, youtube

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 at 11:37 am and is filed under Video Production, Video Production News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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