Archives for June 2012

Video Editing. How Hard Could It Be?

June 24, 2012 By admin

Video Editing. How Hard Could It Be?

[by Barry Schwartz]

OK, not a good question, with more than one answer. I’ve looked at a lot of videos in recent years done by still photographers. Early efforts can show a couple of classic problems.

Falling in love with a picture. With still images, no one is forcing the viewer to look at it, and you can move onto the next picture easily. Video, not so much – the viewer is at the mercy of pacing and content: editing. If an image is not compelling and you don’t move away from it in time, you’ve begun to lose the viewer. Not every sequence needs to be edited like an ADHD-like MTV spot, but it does need to step right along.

Where a single image can tell a story, a video develops into a compelling story over time; each image supports the video by relating what came before to what’s coming after: editing again. Ideally, as they say, the viewer shouldn’t even notice the editing; the analog is of a great still image where the viewer doesn’t particularly think about how it got done, but reacts viscerally to what they see. In video, you shouldn’t notice the editing, it should be a seamless part of the experience.

Then there’s sound. By now it’s axiomatic that video without good audio is worthless. What is good audio? Could be music, a voiceover, ambient sound, talking heads, all of the above and more. Those choices – and how they are edited – are crucial.

For instance, I’ve seen any number of videos containing long pans of beautiful landscapes with a soundtrack seemingly gotten from a website that provides nondescript music for videos, thereby helping turn good video into nondescript video. It’s also axiomatic that you get what you pay for. There’s a reason that “music supervisor” is a professional category; not to mention editing – sound editing.

On the other hand, what a good still photographer brings to video is the ability to skillfully frame and light a picture – it’s no accident that many fine cinematographers and videographers began as (and remain) still photographers, and that’s a good place to start.

via Video Editing. How Hard Could It Be? at Strictly Business.

Make It Your Own

June 24, 2012 By admin

Make It Your Own

[by Judy Herrmann]

One of the biggest challenges I faced as an emerging still photographer was finding my own voice as a visual communicator. I would look at the work of established professionals and become so lost in my admiration for their vision that I couldn’t find my own.

Eventually, I gained enough confidence to split from the herd and start producing creative work that showed a unique visual style, aesthetic and approach. First by using experimental lighting and darkroom techniques, then by adopting digital imaging tools as soon as we could get our hands on the technology, my partner, Mike, and I were able to craft the images we’d always imagined creating.

Two years ago, we started seriously exploring the possibility of incorporating digital video into the mix of services we offer. We knew that it would be a profitable addition but a part of me resented the idea of having to adapt my vision to this new medium.

The fact that our first exposure to shooting video came in the form of a workshop where documentary approaches were emphasized just made matters worse. After decades of refining a visual style that manipulated reality, we were back to working within the same limitations as film – only this time without experimental darkroom techniques.

I feared that we were setting ourselves up to compete with every DV camera operator out there for work that we were less than passionate about doing. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned in 23 years of working as a photographer – you can’t compete with people who are more passionate about getting the job than you are.

After feeling very dissatisfied with the video footage we were producing, it finally hit me. Instead of adapting to this new medium, I needed to make it adapt to me. We started experimenting with new approaches and techniques and now that we’re finding our voice using a variety of motion imagery tools, it’s clear the effort was worthwhile.

By taking control over our role in the process – the same way we did with stills – we’ve discovered an enthusiasm for this type of image making that we didn’t know we had. Along the way, we’ve realized that digital video isn’t the only motion imagery tool we want to use. CGI, Augmented Reality and Interactive Media all offer opportunities for us to express our vision in new and exciting ways.

Placing these tools in the service of our vision was the critical step to creating imagery that we’re passionate about and identifying new markets that need the kind of imagery we excel at producing.

via Make It Your Own at Strictly Business.