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Steve Stockman
In Tips and Tricks, Better Home Video, For Pros, Your Questions Answered

Wedding Video Blues: 5 Tips for Better Wedding Videos

I’ve never used a video camera, however my daughter will be getting married this October and I will be filming for the VERY first time. I’m scared stiff ! ! !

Can you please advise me on the best way to capture this special moment.? I would be so very grateful to you.
Thank You,
Lucy Wilson

Wait, you’re shooting video at your daughter’s wedding?

First piece of advice:  please re-consider.

Weddings are an emotional ride for any parent-of-the-bride, and whether you wind up blubbering like a 2-year old, dancing on tables or falling-down drunk, holding a video camera will … Read the rest

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Steve Stockman
In Video Marketing, For Pros, Your Questions Answered

How to make a How-To Video, Part II: The Journey

In Part I of this post, we laid down the basics for How-To Video. Now lets go for mastery.  The key to which, as with so many other elements of video, is story.

Think about your video as a real film, with real story elements. The simplest story in any how-to video is the journey, where the hero takes us from not-done to overcoming-obstacles to done. The more challenging the journey, the better the video.

How much journeying you can do in your how-to video depends on your audience’s needs. If people will watch while they do … Read the rest

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Steve Stockman
In Tips and Tricks, If you’re new to video, Better Home Video, For Pros, Your Questions Answered

Shooting a Boxing Match Three Ways

I’m new to video recording/ photography and just bought your book…ITS GREAT!

How would you shoot a live amateur boxing event if there is only one videographer and his DSLR? I read that you should not keep the camera continuously recording the whole time.  Should I record 5-10 sec of footage…stop  and move to another position, then hit record again? Or should I keep recording as I’m moving to another position so I don’t miss anything important during the move– like, say, the knockout!

–Eric Hernandez

Thanks for reading the book, Eric. Shameless flattery will get you nowhere, if you … Read the rest

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Steve Stockman
In Video Marketing, For Pros, Your Questions Answered

How to Make a How-To Video that Works: Part I

How do I create a series of online class videos that are How-to’s, but creative and interesting, while also teaching?

My upholstery course videos are pretty wide shot/closeup. I know I can do better.  I’ve asked every video and film maker I know if they can think of a clever technique for doing these classes. They’re all going to get back to me on that. (ha!)

–Shelly Leer
modhomeec.com

Before we get to the “creative” how-to video, let’s look at the basics- the marks a how-to video must hit.

How-to videos helped me save $200 replacing my own sump pump, … Read the rest

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Steve Stockman
In Feature Film, For Pros

Story Structure and “Arrival”

The Story Structure of "Arrival" (2016)

William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, Princess Bride) wrote in his classic book Adventures in the Screen Trade that “screenplays are structure.” Because Goldman is a writing god, people listened.

They listened, but they may not have heard well. Goldman was saying that structure was necessary to a screenplay, but he wasn’t saying it was sufficient.  Yet many took Goldman’s point, misunderstood, and ran with it, pitching structure-first as the key to writing film.  Luckily, it mostly worked anyway, because most film beginners– and many professionals– fail to focus on a hero and a … Read the rest

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Steve Stockman
In Video Marketing, For Pros, Your Questions Answered

Should You Be a Film Major?

… Read the rest
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Steve Stockman
In Tips and Tricks, Video Marketing, For Pros

Just Don’t: 6 Ways NOT to Shoot Video Interviews

I’ve written a lot about how to shoot video interviews (here, here and here, for example) but not a lot about how NOT to shoot video interviews. Here are some advanced “don’t do this” tips for you to go out and not do immediately:

1.  Don’t tell them what to say.  In commercial focus groups a few years back, we showed two different sets of “testimonial” type spots.  One set featured absolutely real people, who said real things about the product.  The other featured people saying more positive things about the product, but they were actors, and … Read the rest

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Steve Stockman
In Teaching and Training, Feature Film, Television, For Pros, Your Questions Answered

Video as a Collaborative Art

I just shot my first video ever, and had some trouble getting the actors to do what I wanted.

When you’re directing, how much of the performance is up to you, and how much do you let the actor come up with?

-Nick

How much do I let the actor come up with?  All of it.  As much as I’d sometimes (fortunately rarely) like to climb inside an actor’s head and push all the buttons myself, I can’t.  Nobody can.  The actor has to do all the work.  I may try to help guide or manage, but you really can’t … Read the rest

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