Hopefully your Thanksgiving gathering will be near-normal this year– at least from a Covid perspective (I mean, whose family is normal?) — and that means you’ll need these five tips to make your Thanksgiving video kick butt.
“Is there a checklist or cheat sheet you go over before you start shooting to make sure production goes smoothly?
I’m shooting my first short in 12 days, and I’ve been stressing that I’m going to mess something up. The last thing I want is to delay the shooting process and rack up unnecessary expenses.
–Carrie, Charlotte NC”
“Reading your book for a college video course. The book talks about movies all the time. I like videos, but I hate watching movies. They seem incredibly boring to me. Is there another way to get better at making videos?–Anika, Chicago”
“I’m about to shoot a marketing video for my company. It’s just two people talking to each other in the office.
I want the rhythm of the dialogue to be pretty fast, so I’m wondering if I should do it with one or two cameras. I’m mostly worried about editing dialogue together with multiple angles coming from different takes since the dialogue is very fast and often has people talking over and interrupting each other.
–Shania, New York”
“I’m making a short documentary for my college doc course. My idea is to document my thought process while experimenting with sound design. The documentary would end with me having created a new and out-of-the-box piece of music.
Two questions:
What makes a documentary valid? I’m afraid my idea could be perceived as a random youtube video about music production.
Does my documentary need to have a message?
–Johnna”
“I’m 18 and second year in junior college. I live in a town where there aren’t many opportunities for indie filmmaking or related jobs. I am financially dependent on my parents and they think filmmaking is pie in the sky, and they discourage it. I’ve written short stories and scripts for years, and dreamed of being a director and screenwriter. Recently, I also started branching into cinematography, video editing and color grading.
Are my parents right? Where do I start?
–TD, Colorado”
Reader SARAH asks: “I work in-house for law enforcement and was given a pretty big video to shoot that explains what our Probation Department does. The video committee decided that it’d be “funny” to start the video off with “here’s what you think Probation is” showing our staff being aggressive, dismissive, and generally dicks to clients.
I might be crazy, but I think it’s not funny, and it won’t do what they want it to do. How do I fix this?”
I just finished my first screenplay, and I know it is really good. I just need a chance to get in front of someone to prove it. I’ve tried to contact agencies, but got no response. I don’t want to give up my dream of being a Hollywood screenwriter! Any advice? –Jim S., New York The stock answers to the career screenwriter question tend to be variations on “you have to pay your dues” or “you have to know someone.” I’m not a fan of either piece of advice, so let’s start by reframing those two old bromides into solid…
**Spoilers here** There are many reasons to be disappointed in Wonder Woman 1984. To name a few: The rules of the no-good-very-bad wishing stone are, shall we say, fluid, and seem to change scene by scene. Anachronisms abound (Starbucks-style coffee sleeves! Full-color CRT monitors!) The bad guy looks much better when he’s wearing a suit of armor, but they don’t give him one. The hero does not, but they do. And worst of all: the filmmakers saw Cats and thought “Purr-fect! We must have those special effects for our next blockbuster!” None of these disappointments would have mattered nearly as much if the movie didn’t…
Sometimes you’re teaching about an app or other content that lives on a screen. Traditional screencasts are visually dull. But it it possible to make an interesting screencast?
I love answering questions about creating video. I get to help you, and it saves me from having to come up with blog topics. Win-win, right?
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