Very early on in my video production career I did a few personal projects to better learn my craft and also to capture some of the stories of the people in my life for future generations.
My grandmother made a meat, potato, and vegetable filled pastry dish called pasties that have been a family favorite since as long as I can remember. Over Thanksgiving dinner I talked her and my grandfather (he owned the camera) into coming over the next day and shooting the video.
My grandfather is the person who taught me all about photography which sparked my love of film, so this was a great chance for the both of us to work on something that also featured my grandmother too.
The next day, grandma showed up at the house with a bag of groceries and her hair and makeup done. We transformed my mom’s kitchen into a video set and spent the next 8 hours making pasties.
This fun little project really captured a feeling of who my grandparents were. Since they’ve passed on, it is the only way my children will get to know them as they grow up. It’s also a great way for my extended family to remember her and pass along at least one family tradition.
The sub-heading of this DVD training video is “using a light kit that costs under $1500.” Vortex Media (www.VortexMedia.com) has produced this excellent training video focused on the craft of shooting interviews.
I do a lot of corporate video production and interviews are the number one requested shot by a wide margin. As much as I like to think of myself as an ‘artist’, interviews are very much about craft. Doug Jensen, the host of this DVD, lays out a very organized process for evaluating a location, arranging furniture, and setting up lights and camera.
Doug also goes step-by-step through each piece of gear in the lighting kit he uses in the video. He clearly explains every item and it is all professional gear that you would be confident using in front of a paying client (the best kind!) His $1500 price tag is accurate, and you will be able to recreate every technique he demonstrates with the gear on his list.
I highly recommend this DVD. It delivers on its promise and is also extremely well made. The menus are attractive and well layed out. And, not surprisingly, the video is well lit!
If you find youself shooting a lot of interviews, check out this DVD. You’ll be cranking out top quality material in no time and fighting off the hordes of new clients begging for your services.
I came across a great podcast site today called the VideoGrunt. There are a couple of videos on the site that explain what aspect ratios are, the history of them, and why we use the ones we have. This topic took 2 weeks in the aesthetics class I had at film school and I think you get as much information from these videos as I remember from that class.
I was also impressed with the quality of the video podcast. This guy knows how to produce an excellent video. He also seems to have some instructions for video podcasting (I didn’t explore that, but his work speaks for itself.)
