Jargon and good practices with Video Video Basics Jargon and good practices with Video

Overview Writing a Treatment Overview of Script Writing Storyboarding Shot Planning Shot Sequence Good Videography Practices Intro to White Balancing

Intro to Treatments When preparing to pitch your show or film idea, we normally use treatments These documents are overviews to give your potential buyer an idea of: What is the show about What will be needed in terms of costs Layouts & Example script The writing style of treatments is to the point – these are short and sweet as folks will not want to spend a lot of time on them so you have to make an impression as quickly as possible! example

Treatments .  . basically a two to five page document that tells the whole story focusing on the highlights and costs

Intro to Treatments Treatments can change depending on the medium you are pursuing. These are a little longer than the old ‘elevator pitch’ but you still want to keep it short Writing a treatment is much different than writing a paper for your English prose class. Time is money and many folks in industry don’t want to waste it

Overview of Script Writing Scripts differ depending upon which medium you are working in Changes with Film, Television, Animation, Radio, Etc. Still with all scripts it remains the same – You want to make sure all aspects are written down and when they should happen This includes audio, sound effects, music, shot changes, and so on There are special script writing programs – however to get started Microsoft Office works fine Note: If you want to get REALLY fancy – you could even use InDesign to do the layout of the document as well!

Overview of Scriptwriting Video, Television and Animation scripts at their basic level have two sides We note both Video shots and the audio occurring at the time of the shot Again – EVERYTHING is documented When reading a script and as you become more comfortable with the acronyms, you should be able to visualize what is happening.

Storyboards Before filming, recording or designing (animation) – a storyboard is laid out to give a more visual idea of how the script is flowing These do not need to be the set in stone final idea – but close enough that small edits can be made but not extreme changes This is your road map – Take it seriously when creating one!

Storyboards Storyboard documents come in all shapes and sizes, but the consistent aspects include: Shot, Panel, Dialogue, Actions and sound FX notes You do not need to be an artist to create the storyboard Stick figures are fine! The storyboard should sync up with the script but don’t re-write the script on the storyboard

Rule of Thirds Great Video Discussion if Interested: https://vimeo.com/14315821 This is the imaginary grid we following in many different areas including: Photography, Videography, Graphic Design The Rule of thirds assists with making the designs/layout of a space more interesting Can be interesting with Videography – we are dealing with moving pictures now – so we have to plan through the process

Headroom How we position the subject matter in frames – This refers specifically to the space from the subject’s head to the top of the frame. We want to focus on the subject’s eyes – normally spaced 1/3 the distance from the top of the frame Note: Often this term is used as an umbrella term for other shooting guidelines including: Lead Room/Nose Room/ Looking Room – The space in front of a subject’s face. From: http://tinyurl.com/ppf56m7

Shot Types Extreme Wide shot – useful to establish setting, subject very small portion of frame; subject is not the main point of shot, location is. We feel emotionally distanced from subject Wide shot – Establish subject’s orientation in location Medium shot – moving to subject and his/her activity. Roughly equivalent to how we see people “in the flesh”. Emotionally neutral, allows gestures to be captured…wasit shot Medium close-up – shows face/talking, good to cycle through wide and close-ups Close-up – show detail and emotion of subject, probably during intense speech, emotional reaction, or focus of activity Extreme close-up – extraordinary action or emotion – typically, too close on people

shots Extreme long shot Show entire body

Shot Sequences Generally, we switch between shots to provide interest, while guiding viewer towards what the focus is Typical sequence: Wide or Extreme Wide – establish location Medium – establish subject in location Medium close-up – observe subject or conversation Medium Close-up Medium close-up on other part of interest or close-up Wide We should avoid cutting from wide to wide, close-up to close-up – this is jarring, and the viewer can lose their perspective on the scene – they get lost on “where am I” relative to action

Shot Planning Shoot a variety of shots from different locations, different angles, different distances, etc. For everything that you see and want to record, try to shoot a the exact same scene from multiple angles (with multiple cameras) if possible – provides flexibility in editing Shot type ratio - A common rule of thumb is 25:25:50 - the number of shots for a single shooting session should be 25% wide shots, 25% medium shots, and 50% close-up shots. 5 shot rule – for any basic recording, remember to get a minimum of five different shots, which will make for a video sequence with visual variety.

B-Roll Background, supplemental material, perhaps involving topic but not actors Useful in allowing us to pad/replace portions of a clip Can cut to b-roll when you need to pad a video clip to support a longer audio narration during a story Can use to inject between switching of scenes, or overwrite a flaw in the video (can “cut to B” to overwrite flawed video)

Camera Movement – Tilting & Panning Tilting - Where we rotate the camera up / down or down/up movement Where we rotate the camera in a left to right or right to left movement. Be careful to have stability when panning or tilting a view – our breathing, movement, etc. can all have effects on the stability of the shot. (See the Tri-pod Section)

Camera Movement – Tracking, Trucking, Dollying Dolly is a rigid frame, usually with tracks or rails, with a tripod mounted on these rails for mobility Can be used for a few types of mobile shots: Tracking or trucking – camera moves side-to-side to provide change of perspective of stationary subject, or following a moving subject Dollying – moving in-and-out on subject

Camera “Movement” - Zoom Using camera lens (or digital “trick”) to give illusion that the camera has been moved closer or further away, somewhat like dolly effect Digital zoom (like that used in phones) typically produces noise in the image – grain effect Overused – typically better to reposition camera using dollying. An “on-tape” zoom unnatural (as our eyes can’t do it) and is therefore best used for dramatic emphasis If you must zoom due to logistics, generally done “off-tape” between shots

Zoom? Zooming on a subject makes movement of the camera – even with a tripod – much more noticable Difficulty with tripods, shaking of your hands, etc will be emphasized In some situations it may be impossible to move the camera closer to the subject, but moving closer (rather than zooming) is usually preferable

180 Rule Viewer’s perspective is provided by camera angles You must stay within a 180 degree plane when shooting subjects, otherwise, actors/elements seem to “flip” – person on the left will suddenly be on right, visually disorienting If shooting from left, and you want to reverse camera angle, must rotate to “head on” shot, then to other side, to provide viewer with context on camera movement

Extreme - Fill the Frame Have the subject/focal point fill the entire frame when filming We achieve this by getting closer to the subject/focal point, not zooming in If you aren’t sure if you have filled the frame: Take a few steps closer to the subject, sometimes the mind can trick us into thinking we did This is also how we achieve what is called the Close-Up Shot or Extreme Close-Up Shot

Cropping Avoid cropping or filming where you are cutting through a joint on a person This throws off our view of the scene – It feels wrong to our eyes

Use a Tripod! Tons of stability – even our breathing can have ramifications on the shot. What if you don’t have a tripod? Find a sturdy object to lean against or put your camera on to stable the camera. Even if you are using a cellphone – plenty of tripods out there for you to utilize!

Intro to White Balance White Balance is the process of telling the camera what is considered white Note: Cameras do not know colors Videographers have to take into consideration the temperature of lights in the environment to reach the white balance – What you are seeing as white you want the camera to film as white! Although many programs offer an Auto-White Balance option (i.e. Photoshop and Premiere) there is only so much they can do If your video is not white balanced, then the overall best option is to reshoot the video