archived-videos First Atempt At Short Doc

G

gshiver

Hello all. This is my first atempt at a short documentary or any filmmaking. I posted a rough draft in the Newbie forum and was able to get some great advice from Cracker Funk. The advice was " Content first, visuals second." It really helped a lot in editing. I understand now that I am telling a story, visually. So if I have a good understanding of the story then I should be able to match the visuals to the content.

I plan on making longer docs starting at 5 minutes getting all the way to an hour. I am looking for general feedback on how this was done and did I get the message out. The message was to convey why people choose to work and vollunteer at the Bever Creek Reserve.

Thanks all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5VQPSJDF9Q
 
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Anna is hot. :)

I think you conveyed your intended message effectively. I think my next tidbit of advice would be that perhaps you can move it along faster, by breaking both the visuals, and the soundbites, into smaller chunks. Like, most soundbites aren't even a full sentence, and you whip back-and-forth, from one to the other. You can have many related soundbites grouped together, and they're all from different people, but closely related in content. Ditto for images. Keep a brisk pace, don't let your audience catch up with you. Let them keep their minds active, constantly focusing on what they're seeing, to keep up with the movie.

Nice work! I look forward to seeing your next one.
 
The dialog felt natural to me and the last bit of dialog closed out the message nicely. Some things that could have made it better - give Anna less headroom and move her off-center. There was some panning and zooming (0:33-36) that distracted my attention from the message. I've almost given up on my ability to pan and zoom well with the equipment I have. At this point I usually use the pan/crop utility in my editor instead.

Amber was backlit by the window at 0:27. I think that natural window light would have looked great as a key light.

Here is one of my favorite interview-style documentaries I found a while back:
http://www.vimeo.com/17759381

I like it for many reasons, great light, composition, well-paced, etc...
 
Thanks for the info guys. I am going to be Mr. Static Shot for awhile panning and zooming are off the table:). I totally forgot about using pan/crop to focus in on a subject. Thanks for that. I am also waiting to see your documentary tutorial Cracker Funk and a preview to your feature length. Congrats on that btw.

The video is great Yasha. Do you think the used any color corection or was the natural light just that good? Also it seemed like all the shots were off center. It looked good.
 
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Hey Gregg,

It would serve you and future productions well if you hit Radio Shack and picked up an inexpensive lapel mic LINK HERE and a 10 or 15' extension. Probably run you about $35 or so, but your audio quality and the quality of the on-camera subjects would be vastly improved.

For something like this project, if you needed to steady a shot, just export a frame and use that. You can do a very gradual zoom in or out on it which makes for a fake camera move. I've had to do this on several occasions and it can save a shaky shot that needs to be in the piece.

Also might be nice to get a few more close ups of the people. Always good to see smiles and it brings us, the viewer, closer to the action and emotions.

I'll shoot you a link to a short bit I did on a wildlife rescue operation back in New England. Might give you a few ideas.

Good luck with this!
 
Thanks Flicker. I do hane an Audiotechnica shotgun mic on a boompole that hooks to an M Audio Microtrack 2. My JVC Evario 300HD does not have a external mic. Its kind of a bit much for me to try to handle audio and video. My 15 year old son said he'll be my audio guy from now on, so that will help. the lapel mics are next on the list. Im not savy enough yet to sync audio with video.Its seems like its very confusing. Any ideas on that?

I've read lots of post about timecode but is there any easier way. I was trying to match the wave peaks in the seperate audio with the wave peaks from the mic on the camera. Does that work pretty good?
 
Syncing audio and video is actually really easy when your camera is capturing audio too. Just clap at the beginning of each video/audio clip, put both of them on your timeline in your editor and slide them around until the clap peaks line up. Then mute the audio track from your camera when you're ready to render.

In Vegas you can group multiple objects on the timeline so your editing operations apply to them together so you don't move them out of sync. Once you get the 2nd audio track synced, group it with the video.
 
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I'm definitely not the syncing expert here, but yeah, a mini-jack extension cable and a lapel mic would be one of those "set it and forget it" deals. Mic the talent, plug in, check levels. Done. At least that's my experience with them.

Good luck!
 
Hey guys I hae Vegas 9 and Adobe Premiere Pro CS3. My camera captures in .mts files. Vegas plays them fine. I have to covert the files in order to use Premiere. Its time consuming so I just use Vegas. Is Adobe that much better to get a coverter and spend that much more time rendering or is Vegas good enough?

Also does anyone know of a free video converter thats pretty good, or a good priced one?
 
i tried vegas and premiere, vegas was more responsive and stable for me. i liked it better in every category. premiere seemed to expect tight integration with all the other adobe products too, which i don't have.

i love vegas and have no reason or desire to try premiere again. i'm using "vegas movie studio hd platinum 10" and i love it. i found a boxed copy on amazon for $69. worth every penny.
 
also, if you decide you need dedicated audio editing software "reaper" is an awesome deal and a great piece of software too. you don't even have to pay for it if you're willing to put up with a 20 second delay when you start it up after the trial expires. if you buy the license it is effectively good for indefinite free upgrades too.
 
On the audio...

You may want to consider adding some music or sound FX to your logo; too much dead air. Also, start the music under the "title card". With the opening interview a ramp up on the volume would have been less intrusive than a hard cut. Ricks interview was louder and much more prominent tonally than the other interviews, mostly because of the BG noise problems.

The biggest issue that you have is the extraneous background noise. This is where a dedicated sound mixer/boom-op comes in. And yes, even an inexpensive hard-wired lav can be a big help. Surprisingly decent quality lav kits for sit-down interviews are relatively inexpensive; for around $200 there are some very solid systems (Audio-Technica AT803B lav w/ the AT8531 power module, for example).

In audio post there are also things you can do to minimize the distracting background noises. Vegas started out as an audio and MIDI program, and the audio implementation is better than what is incorporated into most NLEs. A high-pass filter can control rumbles, a low pass filter can tame hiss. Hums, buzzes and even some BG sounds can be somewhat reduced with judicious use of notch filters. And, of course, copious use of volume automation can also be a big help. If you decide to seriously invest in audio post there numerous noise reduction softwares out there. SoundSoap for $100 is a good place to start.

Having your son help you with the production audio will be a step forward. If he's just a helping hand that's fine. If he really wants to "get into it" there are a lot of things that he can do, videos he can watch and forums he can join. Sound for picture can be a lot of fun.
 
Hey Alcove thanks for the info. You gave me some sound information in the past that I have been trying to follow. I have the Adobe Soundbooth CS3. With somuch software I forget what I have. I opened it up and watched a few tutorials and you are right there is a lot I can do even with the basics. My next project will sound a lot better.
 
That's a good first attempt.

Just remember, that even in docs, when you're doing a 'talking head' interview...you need to light it. I totally realize you don't have the gear and this is your first attempt...I'm just making sure this is clear.

One thing I noticed also is you centered your talking heads...and put their names to the side. Before doing this, think about the rule of thirds and balance. You may want to put the person in the third quadrant and the name elsewhere. Not that a centered talking head is bad...just be aware of balance and text placement. Just a thought.

Please allow me to use my brother's doc samples as an example: http://vimeo.com/15059520

Cheers.
 
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Thanks for the info M1chae1. Your brothers video is great. I do have lights, 2 softbox lights and two clip-on cans i would use for indoors. From other posts it looks like I need a bounce board for outdoors and should try to do interviews when the sun is up to get good light. I think. When I did those interviews it was going to be like a 100 degrees out and the mesquitos were having a buffet. I learned a lot that day aout pre-planning.
 
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