Perfect Holiday Video in 10 Easy Steps

A frame from Bob Rivers "I am Santa Claus"

**Shameless Plug: Of course you’re buying a dozen print copies of How to Shoot Video that Doesn’t Suck for the video people in your family– but did you know there’s an audio version too? 

Special bonus: Scroll down for a Christmas music video parody called “I am Santa Claus” that I created and directed for Atlantic Records and my friend Bob Rivers. There are at least 900 stupid Christmas jokes in its 4 minute run-time. And yes, I’m proud of that.  

End Shameless Plug**

Ah, the Holidays!

Chestnuts roasting, noses being nipped, and hours of incomprehensible video being shot … Read the rest

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5 Killer Halloween Video Tips

Halloween Princess

Halloween PrincessGoing out to shoot memorable video of your kids?  Here are five Halloween Video tips that will help:

1) It’s dark out at night.  I know you knew that, so let me be more specific:  outside at night away from any light, it will be too dark to see your kids.  The obvious solutions: use your phone’s built-in light, position the kids under streetlights, or shoot at the pre-show party indoors.

Less obviously- have another parent light the kids with their cellphones from off to the side. You’ll get much prettier looking footage. Above all, remember– if you can’t … Read the rest

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Better Call Saul: The Devil is in the Details

There is no better show on television than AMC’s Better Call Saul, from Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, ex of Breaking Bad. All four seasons are spectacular, but if you haven’t watched (or even if you have) it’s worth considering what makes it great.  Great writing and acting, sure, but for me the best part of Better Call Saul is that every shot, every sequence, every episode is about intrigue- built by lensing in to the details.

Season 1, Episode 1 doesn’t start with anything as obvious as an establishing shot of a shopping mall, or a freeway sign … Read the rest

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How to Shoot Vacation Video that Won’t Bore People to Death

Vacation videos suck, unless you follow these tips.

How to shoot vacation video

When I was a kid, the Armbrusters had a slide projector.  Which meant that after every vacation they took, we’d troop dutifully to their house for endless carousels of badly-shot Kodachrome slides, narrated  live.  The slide show always seemed longer than the vacation itself.  Washed-out, badly composed views of Disneyland or Paris—dotted here and there with the back of the head of someone we knew.

Today technology has changed everything.  People can record hours of vacation video on a single chip. But they don’t trap you in their living rooms anymore. Instead they find you at work, at parties, on … Read the rest

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