Preparing For the Next Day - A filmmaker's quick thoughts on shoot prep.
Be Prepared.
The Boy Scout motto is "Be Prepared". I'm not a Boy Scout, but I did go to a few meetings as a kid. As a filmmaker, I find myself on early morning shoots more often than my body would like. It's currently 11 p.m. on Sunday and I have a commercial shoot at 8:30 a.m. Not too early, but early enough that now is the time to make sure everything is prepped.
Typically, I like to keep my work hours as traditional as possible. Work 8-5, Monday through Friday. However, this past weekend involved moving office furniture, a quick out-of-town birthday trip, and Father's Day. So here we are, Sunday night prep!
I could easily wake up early to get prepared --and I will -- but there's a few quick things I can do tonight to make tomorrow morning easier, and help me sleep better tonight.
Prep Starts During the Last Shoot.
I'm a firm believer in having solid systems in place. For example, I always pack my camera and gear cases the exact same way before and after a shoot. A quick glance of my camera case tells me that everything is in it's place and I don't have to worry about anything missing. During the last commercial shoot, my assistant kept spent batteries charged, ensured that every piece of lighting and grip gear was packed away carefully and everything was in it's place.
Having a good system for how and wear each item is stored makes prep quick and reliable. My camera prep before a shoot involves a quick inventory of the camera case, and charging one or two batteries that were being used at the end of the last shoot. I double check my case full of memory cards to ensure that all are formatted and we are ready to go.
Since it's Father's Day for another hour, I will say that my dad was a firm believer in always putting things in their place. That way you would always know where they were when you needed them. I have adopted this with my camera case, as well as the storage of my lighting and grip gear.
Plan the shoot. Shoot the plan.
One of the things I like to do right before a shoot (whether that is the night before, or morning of) is to review my shoot plan. Beyond having a solid script or treatment prior to filming, I typically come up with a shoot schedule and plan. This may be some simple notes on a short commercial script, or something far more detailed. The goal is to arrive at the shoot with clear ideas of how the day will go.
Often I am shooting some rather simple 30 second TV ads for local businesses, but the process remains. Plan the shoot, then shoot the plan. I always leave the options open to get creative and seize an opportunity for an unplanned shot or simply capturing the moment, but as a professional I am expected to deliver a quality product and that means always having a solid foundation to work from. One of the things I do prior to a shoot is review scripts, review shot-lists and any schedules, plans, directions or other information that will need to be fresh in my mind for the next day.
Check the weather.
One of the final things I do before a shoot is a quick check of the weather. If the shoot is outside this can make or break a shoot. If it's indoors, it still matters. Sometimes we are using window light and the weather can affect that. Or, if we are recording sound and it's pouring rain we have to consider how that will impact our ability to get good audio. If it's super hot, I may simply bring a change of clothes if we have to load out gear in 100+ degree heat. Weather matters.
Water. Quiet. Sleep.
The most important thing I do the night before a shoot is to make sure I get good sleep. That means being well hydrated, having some quiet time to wind-down, and getting a good night's rest. The best thing you can do for your work is to arrive rested, alert and fully prepared to give it your all.
I'll still be getting up early to pack for the shoot and give myself plenty of time to arrive early. But these simple, and relatively easy things have me a few steps ahead of the game.
Goodnight.
Movi M5 Review for VideoMaker
The Movi M5 by Freely Systems
In the summer of 2014 I had the chance to review the Movi M5 for the nice folks over at VideoMaker magazine. The Movi M5 is a gimbal stabilized camera support that offers completely smooth handheld camera shot. Unlike the industry standard Steadicam, the Movi stabilizers are lightweight and much easier to use. Read the article here.
The best way to review a product is to USE it. The timing with the Movi M5 worked out great because I was just going into production on a short film written and directed by my cousin, Adam Chollet for which I was the DP as well as the editor. This film has a great chase sequence that was shot entirely on the Movi M5. You can watch it below.
Movi M5 on set of "The Find"
Another opportunity to use the Movi came about on a commercial project for Black Bear Diner. The Movi M5 was used as the exclusive camera support for this "Spelunking Bear" TV ad.
Calguns Foundation - 3D Identity Design
I love motion graphic design. I spend countless hours in Adobe After Effects learning and creating. When VideoCopilot came out with Element 3D...I was hooked.
A while ago I was contacted by the Calguns Foundation in Sacramento, CA for some assistance building an identity piece for their web video content. They needed a branding piece that would lead into their short web videos that they create on a regular basis. This had to be impactful and as they requested "really cool looking".
After some discussion I suggested we build their logo in 3D and make it look like a large structure that is being revealed. After some hard work and lots of caffeine, this was the outcome:
The client is really happy with the result...as was I.
This is a perfect example of great creative telling a bigger story. After some work identifying the brand archetype that best represents the Calguns Foundation (they are a hero / defender), it was much easier to make creative decisions that would not only deliver an identity, but help to build their brand. From the lighting, to the music and sound design choices, everything is intentional and supports their brand story.
Building the Logo in 3D
The images below showcase a few steps in the process of taking an existing logo from the client and building a 3D animated piece. A great thing to consider when having a logo designed is if the designer can build it out for use in other mediums (like being converted to 3D). A lot of designers only work in print, and this creates a lot of work when it needs to be translated into 3D.
The steps it took to get this logo from Adobe Illustrator into Adobe After Effects in a 3D friendly format were extensive. My experience with Adobe and their cross-product compatibility really comes in handy on projects like this. It took some work to rebuild the logo, but it certainly paid off!
The original logo as supplied by the client in Adobe Illustrator.
The logo now in After Effects, broken down into 3D friendly components.
Extruding the individual objects and adding surfaces and textures.
Wireframe version of the logo, showing relationships and conflicts between elements.
Composite version of the 3D logo. Ready for animation.
Adding camera moves, lighting, and depth-of-field to give the logo mass and realism.
The final logo, as it appears at the end of the video.
iPhone Screen Replacements and Animation
Pick up your mobile phone. Go ahead, pick it up. Take a look at it. It's pretty remarkable, isn't it? Whether it's an iPhone or (some other phone that I'm not interested in)...it can do some really amazing things.
Just a few years ago, when someone mentioned a phone in a commercial or corporate video, it usually involved giving someone a phone number to call. Phones were just that, phones. Now they are so much more. I remember when Steve Jobs first introduced the iPhone, it was nothing short of amazing. Nowadays, when we talk about typing a message, or browsing the internet - we often pantomime the action of using a touch-screen smartphone. The paradigm has shifted.
We see a lot of products that involve devices like the iPhone. Businesses have mobile apps, or a great new feature via text message or mobile browsing. More and more, they want to feature these in commercials and videos. There are a lot of solutions, and plenty of challenges. Let's look at a few of them.
Method 1: Shoot it Live.
Shooting it live is hands down the easiest to execute. All you need is a camera and a phone. There are some challenges, like trying to reduce the glare and making sure the timing of the actions will work with your script, but overall it is a rather simple solution. It does have some drawbacks, however, like not being able to make any changes to the content after the shoot. What you shoot is what you get (WYSIWYG).
Method 2: Replace the Screen
Screen replacement is probably the most common solution. It involves filming the phone with none of the final content on the screen. The phone's screen is then tracked using tracking software (like Mocha for After Effects), and the screen content is generated entirely in post-production. Anything interacting with the screen has to be carefully planned out ahead of time and plenty of work is required for everything to look natural.
This commercial produced for Tri Counties Bank's mobile banking is a great example of screen replacement.
The advantages of screen replacement are the ability to change the content at any time. If the look of the mobile app changes there is nothing to re-shoot, it all happens in the editing. Of course, it is more time consuming and requires a more advanced skill set, which costs more money.
Method 3: Full 3D Animation
Sometimes what you want to do goes beyond the bounds or reality. When you want a phone to be spinning alone in 3D space with the clients content on the screen, there is only one solution: full 3D animation. 3D animating a phone with content is labor intensive, but the results can be incredible.
Here is an example of 3D animation in a commercial produced for B-Line Transit. In this example we not only have the phone existing alone in 3D space, but it starts in the hands of the user. This required additional camera tracking to match the 3D movements of the phone to the 3 dimensional characteristics of the live shot.
Everything about that phone is fake.
The reflections of trees in the screen: fake.
The reflection of his finger in the glass: fake.
What makes it great, is that you don't notice the effects...that's the key to great compositing and animation. It should go unnoticed until you want the viewer to see it.
Conclusion
Each project has it's own unique challenges. Choosing the right solution for a project requires examining the needs laid out in the script, the overall desired impact, and budget. No single solution is better than the other, they all have a time and place for use. If you need this kind of work completed, hire the professionals. Contact me.
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