Christian Video速 Magazine
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Sept / Oct 2012 VOL. 5, NO. 5
7 Article
The Way - choosing a life, living a life by MARTIN BAGGS
10 Article
The Rules of Design by DAN STEVERS
13 Greg’s Toolkit
Easy Green Screening by GREGORY FISH
15 Article
Top Tools for Problems in Post by RYAN GEESAMAN
17 Article
Basic Composition
Cover Story 4
Inside the Mind of a Writer-Director by GREGORY FISH
Editorial 3 Coming Up...
by GREGORY FISH
by KEN ERICKSON
Christian Video® Magazine
Sept/Oct 2012
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from the desk of the editor
by GREGORY FISH
Coming Up... We’ve got some exciting things coming up, starting with this very issue. This month’s cover story is my conversation with a writerdirector of a new movie that just came out in theaters last month. We’ve got Ken Erickson continuing his series for beginners. Ryan Geesaman and I write with a little more advanced users in mind. Martin Baggs covers another intriguing film from a Christian perspective. A special treat this month is an article from the one and only Dan Stevers on his Rules of Design. Don’t miss any of the great content in this month’s issue. Coming up in December’s issue we’re cooking up some good stuff. I will write about my experience creating and completing my featurelength documentary, Steadfast. We also may have a couple of little Christmas presents, for you. By that I mean freebies, exclusively for CVMag readers! So stay tuned and share CVMag with a friend. Stay blessed!
Gregory Fish Editor-in-Chief fish.gregory@gmail.com Follow cv_mag on Twitter @cv_mag
Christian Video® Magazine
Christian Video Magazine is published bimonthly by Christian Video Magazine, Inc. Editor-in-Chief Gregory Fish – fish.gregory@gmail.com Contributing Editors George Temple Stewart H. Redwine Mark Carroll Jay M. Delp Martin Baggs Robert Kramer Ryan Geesaman Copy Editor Emily Fish
Corporate Home Office Mailing Address: PO Box 319 Belton, MO 64012 Phone: (417) 316-2552 Fax: 800-456-1868 Copyright 2012 by Christian Video Magazine, Inc. All Rights Reserved Written materials submitted to Christian Video Magazine become the property of Christian Video Magazine, Inc., upon receipt and may not necessarily be returned. Christian Video Magazine reserves the right to make any changes to materials submitted for publication that are deemed necessary for editorial purposes. The content of this publication is the sole property of Christian Video Magazine. Copy or distribution of articles or content can be done so on an individual basis. Multiple copies or distribution may not be done without the express permission of Christian Video Magazine. Views expressed in the articles and reviews printed within are not necessarily the views of the editor, publisher, or employees of Christian Video Magazine, or Christian Video Magazine, Inc.
Sept/Oct 2012
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Cover Story by GREGORY FISH
Inside the Mind of a Writer-Director
I
An Interview with Darrel Campbell
remember watching the film The Pistol about Pete Maravich. I did not ever think that I would meet the writer, but I did. I’ve seen a lot of his work on various shows, including his newly released film Last Ounce of Courage. Both of us being tucked away in the rolling hills of the Ozarks, we got together to chat over coffee. I had to drive 45 minutes to get to the closest theater, but was able to walk two blocks to meet Darrel at my favorite coffee shop. GF: You’re not only the director, but also the writer. So what do you think is essential in telling a good story?
Aristotle’s poetics. I love going back to the ancients to find out the beginnings of story structure.
GF: When it came to directing your last film, DC: Beginning, Middle and End. The best thing to what are some things that came really easily for a good story is to me a subject matter that compels you? me to watch and read. People in peril is always fun for me. Somebody that has to accomplish some- DC: Directing the actors, because I was an actor. thing to make their life count and be significant. I studied as an actor long before I was a writer. I Like in The Pistol, he was only 13, he didn’t fit felt like I could match the words to the voice. If in. He was little, he was skinny and terrifically you’re ever watching television and you’re like, talented, but he had no outlet. So in the movie, he “People don’t talk like that”. It’s typically because finds his outlet by making the high school team as the writer isn’t in touch with human beings. He’s an 8th grader. With Last Ounce of Courage, I have just trying to show off as a writer. Especially with a man who basically in the first act of the story children. If you watch Home Improvement, those discovers that he’s no different than anybody else kids talk like real kids. They weren’t doing the “set who’s not doing anything to preserve freedom and up and punch” jokes. They were just doing behavso he doesn’t want to be that guy. Good stories ioral jokes. So that’s very key to me-- that whatare made up of good characters. I actually read ever I direct be very natural. So that came easy.
Christian Video® Magazine
Sept/Oct 2012
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Cover Story
by GREGORY FISH
GF: On the flip side, what were some of your greatest challenges?
it was nice to have him. He was always getting me things that I need. So I tried to discipline myself as the director, because I was still working 15-16 hours DC: Well, we had very little budget-- almost no a day as a director, but loving the acting at the same budget. It started off as a video project and the time. Fortunately I’m not in every scene but I had executive producer said, “Look, can you make this to direct the entire picture. But when it came to the into a movie?” and I said, “I think I can.” And they acting thing, directing myself was really a lot of fun. gave me a shot at developing a much bigger story. So, to try to carry out 246 scenes with no money GF: A lot of our readers on the magazine are kind is a pretty big challenge. That’s probably the big- of like me-- a one man crew. So besides, “get a gest challenge to take a 100 member crew some- crew”, what advice would you have for indie folks where and try to function on a shoestring. But I’ve trying to do it all? done it so many times. Yes, you do get spoiled on Home Improvement where everything is paid for, DC: Well, you wake up in the morning with your pasbut you still have your limitations because you’ll sion. Let your passion continue to motivate and drive have a cap on what you can do. For instance, as a you. I’ve done independent films. I mean, it’s what I writer, I had used some pretty famous music when I do. There’s nobody else that is going to push you. Alworked for Carol Burnett, we’d use something like low your passion to grow in you and exist in you and “Do Wah Diddy Diddy” and you can’t just throw don’t feel guilty about it. Just get out and do what you that out there because it costs you money. So as know you are called to do. The reason there is indea director you say, “Can we get that song?”, well, pendent filmmaking is twofold. One is because often no, not unless you negotiate with the publisher. So times an independent producer cannot get the attention you do find limitations, but then you work with- of a studio. The other reason is because you have crein them. To me, it’s hard to find the down side ative control. You can tell the story you want to tell. really because I just enjoy the process so much. And in many cases, the studio would never tell that story. They don’t have the courage. They’re not going GF: So you acted and provided comic relief in the to make Last Ounce of Courage. You have to make it film as well! Was it a challenge to wear all those and then get the attention of somebody and then they hats? go, “Oh ok, we can get behind that.” But my advice is, never give up. Never surrender. Just like Galaxy Quest. DC: Well, one of the biggest challenges I had was to not produce, because producing is really what I do as GF: How important is it for Christians to be well. I just kept telling my producer, “I don’t want perfecting their craft in the arts? to make decisions that are out of my purview as a director. I just want to direct the movie. I need to di- DC: Truly, it’s no different. Sinner or saint, you rect people and I need to know everything is going should strive for excellence. There’s a little more to be there when we start the scene. It comes very pressure on Christians, because we are the light of natural for me to produce. Rodney Stone was my on the world. If that light is lost, we are really of no set producer and he and I did The Pistol together. So heavenly good. I don’t really think about it. I think
Christian Video® Magazine
Sept/Oct 2012
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Cover Story
by GREGORY FISH
about doing good work and I know there’s scripture like “doing your work as unto the Lord” will set the bar pretty high. You don’t get any higher that doing your work for God. My advice is not to be a Christian filmmaker. Be a filmmaker that has Christian principles and is a Christian. Do film and do it with excellence and with no apologies. Do the subject matter you want to do, what God has told you to do.
less money if they are good. I had a guy come lay tile in my house. I didn’t go out and get a guy who was pretty good at roofing, I got a good tile guy.
GF: You’ve already mentioned Aristotle. Where else do you go for inspiration?
GF: Thank you so much, Darrel, for sharing with us at Christian Video Magazine!
GF: Is coffee the secret to your success? DC: No, it isn’t actually. It’s actually tea. I’m a tea drinker. I can tell you where all the best tea is in any town.
DC: I watch a lot of movies and read what I can about Find out more about Darrel at: cinematography. I’m not a big reader to be honest. http://www.alrcnewskitchen.com/looc/docs/Bio%20 But I watch human behavior and I read probably Darrel%20Campbell.pdf more popular culture, whether it’s on the internet or magazines. If I want to get serious, I read Tolken or C.S.Lewis. But more of my inspiration comes from watching people and hearing stories. And then of course, from God. Most of my ideas, I’ll get in the morning and really during my shower. Typically they are pretty good. One of my biggest films that I’m writing now-- it’s going to be a book first-- but I dreamed it. I’d never had that experience, but I woke up excited. “Good grief, did I just watch that movie, or did I just dream that?” I pitched the dream to a friend of mine in Los Angeles and she said, “I will drop everything I am doing to do this movie”. That was a year ago and I still haven’t finished writing it ‘cause I got a little involved with Last Ounce of Courage. GF: What is your greatest tip to produce more excellent Christian media? DC: Strive to be excellent. Why aren’t you hiring better actors? Don’t cut all the corners so hard that you cut out a great story and actors that can act. Actors can’t act a bad script better. The script has to be good. Actors will take smaller roles for
Christian Video® Magazine
Sept/Oct 2012
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Article
by MARTIN BAGGS
The WAY-
choosing a life, living a life
O
ne person embarks on a 500 mile trek and meets up with three others along the way. They form a love-hate relationship and share some of their personal struggles along the journey. This sounds like a slow and boring movie, especially given the frequent shots of silent striding. Yet, under the sensitive helm of writer-directorproducer (and even actor) Emilio Estevez, The Way is actually a poignant and moving (pun intended) film that engages those who want to think about their movies. The story centers on Tom Avery (Martin Sheen, Daniel died in a storm barely out from the start Emilio’s real-life father), an ophthalmologist liv- of his trek. Cancelling his appointments, he goes ing in California. His wife dead, his estranged to France to claim the body, and while there deson Daniel (Emilio Estevez in more of a cameo cides to walk the camino with the cremated rerole) has gone to France to walk the Camino de mains of his son. Wearing his son’s gear, Tom Santiago, or the Way of St James the Apostle. begins an unplanned trek to complete what DanThis 500 mile trek is iel started. He is bearone of the most faing not only the box Remember, before showing clips from mous Christian (or of Daniel’s ashes, but movies, be sure you have a license to do Catholic) pilgrimgrief and the bitterso. Check out Church Video License to ages, going from St. ness of estrangement. be sure you are legal. www.cvli.com Jean Pied de Port in Estevez shows up in a the French Pyrenees few scenes, notably at to Camino in Spain. the beginning when Tom is driving Daniel to the Daniel has turned his back on his PhD program airport, to establish the difference between father to seek real-world adventure and to live life, and son. He shows up later along the journey but to travel and gain experience he can use later. only in Tom’s imagination, to either challenge or encourage Tom in his progress along the way. When Tom gets a call from France, he is informed Christian Video® Magazine
Sept/Oct 2012
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Article
by MARTIN BAGGS
And along the way Tom picks up a rag-tag trio of misfits. First there is Joost from Amsterdam (Yorick van Wagenngen). Carrying a portly beer belly, he is ostensibly traversing the camino to lose weight. His collegial congeniality and constant patter is diametrically opposite to Tom’s no-nonsense and purposeful manner. They are chalk and cheese. Then there is Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger), an acid-tongued Canadian with an attitude. She is walking the way to give up smoking, seemingly ready to put her last cancer-sticks at the feet of the statue of St. James in Camino. Finally, they meet Jack from Ireland (James Nesbitt), a high-strung writer suffering from writer’s block. He is along to find inspiration and unplug his writing. These comprise the main players in this tale.
One obvious theme is grief. Although not dwelling on this, it is evident that Tom is processing his grief and his loss through finishing up Daniel’s project. He deals with this through solitude and inner reflection, pushing people away with his gruff and determined manner. But he eventually opens up and shares with those around him.
Some have compared this film to The Wizard of Oz, with Tom taking the part of Dorothy, finding himself in a land that is clearly not California. The way of Saint James becomes the yellow brick road. The three trekkers parallel the cowardly lion (Sarah), the tin man (Joost) and the scarecrow (Jack). But unlike that earlier classic, when Tom gets to Spain he finds no Wizard, just a church with a statue. But the journey does enable them to attain personal transformation, just like Dorothy’s friends.
Christian Video® Magazine
Sept/Oct 2012
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Article
by MARTIN BAGGS
Bereavement is sadly a fact of life. We all deal with grief differently. Some process alone; others need to talk it out with family and friends. All need to walk through it. And walking is what Tom does. Allowing himself to feel the pain of the lost relationship, he finally comes to terms with how he pushed Daniel aside while he was alive.
were smokescreens (literally for Sarah) that were hiding their real problems and fears. Ultimately, the closing scenes point out that they had to walk this path to face their fears, verbalizing them in some cases. By facing them, they came to accept themselves. This did not necessarily result in external transformation, but the change within was profound.
The second theme emanates from this point. In the early scene of Tom driving with Daniel, Daniel tells him, “You don’t choose a life, dad. You live one.” This is the core of the movie, as is clear from the tag line. There is a difference between choosing a life and living a life. The former is more passive, putting the person on the outside and letting life take control. The latter is much more active, engaging with life and all its facets both positive and negative. Tom was choosing his life, playing golf, treating patients, but not making time to do things he wanted to do, like spend time with Daniel.
Accepting ourselves is a powerful concept. We can berate ourselves, punishing ourselves for our mistakes and our sins. We can put our inner critical voice on loop-mode, and constantly listen to this negative, demanding and demeaning talk that brings us down and leads us to defeat. On the other hand, when we accept who we are, turn our sins and ourselves over to God, and embrace his loving acceptance, self-acceptance will follow. God already knows all our sins (Psa. 69:5). God already knows our inner secrets (Psa. 44:21). If he can love us (Jn. 3:16), if he has already paid the penalty for our sins in the death of Jesus (1 Pet. 2:24), we can experiHow often do we put up the excuse of not do- ence the freeing power of forgiveness (1 Jn. 1:9). ing something now because we are too busy, or Then accepting ourselves allows us to live life now, saving up for something in the future? If events instead of seeking punishment and self-immolation. conspire to throw us a curve ball, like an acci- Jesus is indeed our sacrifice, and now he is our life. dent or a tragedy, we lose that future opportunity and lose the gift of life in the immediate. Interestingly, none of these four travelers is seeking God. None finds him in an outwardly saving sense Jesus told us that he is the life we need (Jn. 14:6). with traditional fanfare. But they seem to find a sense He also told us he came to offer us an abundant of the divine. At the climax in the church, all four stand and full life (Jn. 10:10). But he warned us that the and ponder the worship service and one breaks down, person who focuses on the present can find it all weeping. He clearly has a divine encounter. I think the taken away in an instant (Lk. 12:20). James told others do too, though in their own way, just like us. us the same thing, that we don’t know what tomorrow will bring (Jas. 4:14). Although there is a place Copyright ©2012, Martin Baggs for planning for the future, there is a clear calling to enjoy life in the present, as there are no guaran- Martin works as a manager in the high tech intees. This is living life, rather than choosing life. dustry. He leads a monthly film review group at Mosaic Church in Portland, Oregon. He writes film At the end of the journey, these four peregri- responses from a biblical perspective on his blog: nos, pilgrims of the way, actually find themselves www.mosaicmovieconnectgroup.blogspot.com transformed, but not in the way they spoke about. Their change is all internal. The outward behaviors
Christian Video® Magazine
Contact: martinbaggs@gmail.com
Sept/Oct 2012
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Article
by DAN STEVERS
The Rules of Design
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here is no silver bullet to great design, and you should avoid anyone who claims to have “Ten Secrets to Face-Melting Designs”. But as with all disciplines, the fundamentals must be fully understood before they can be tinkered with and at times disregarded altogether. Setting design boundaries is one of the fundamentals of great design. The goal of design is communication. When there’s too much going on in a design the message is lost. It’s like trying to have a conversation in the middle of a hurricane. Without constraints, things can get crazy; this is why limitations are helpful because they help clarify and amplify the message. After seven years of creating church media for my company, DanStevers.com (shameless plug), I thought I’d share some tips that I’ve learned along the way. These are guidelines to help communicate a message or idea more effectively by stripping off the excess. My field of design is motion graphics so these guidelines come from my experience in that particular discipline but they apply to all kinds of design. FONTS There is a feat that virtually no designer can pull off well and that is using more than three fonts in a design. For every design you can
Christian Video® Magazine
find that works well with many fonts, I can show you a hundred train wrecks. The reason for this is that our brains are trained to identify patterns, and limiting the number of fonts helps our brains make sense of things quickly. In my work I rarely use more than one font but I overcome the visual monotony of a single font by using fonts that contain a number of different weights (thin, medium, heavy) and styles (italic, bold, semi-bold). These are called font families and they are a designer’s best friend. Font families let a designer get a variety of looks while remaining visually cohesive. My current “go to” font families are Avenir and Futura because they are clean, modern, and easily read. Here’s a helpful tip about those free font sites like DaFont.com: use them sparingly because though their fonts may look great, those free fonts are never complete font families with multiple styles so you may run into a dead-end in
Sept/Oct 2012
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Article
by DAN STEVERS
your design when you need a new look for your connect seemingly unrelated elements in a detype and have to use a completely different font. sign. By consistently using shapes that are either organic or geometric, simple or complex, round There is no definitive rule to how many fonts or angular, a designer can bring all of the forms one should use but remember, less is of- in the design into harmony with one another. ten more when it comes to communicating. A great example of harmony through shape is COLOR found in Disney’s finest masterpiece, Sleeping When it comes to color, the more the mer- Beauty. The lead designer, Eyvind Earle, crerier, right? Not usually. A skilled designer ated a unified style throughout all of the forms knows how to use a limited palette to achieve in the film by imbuing them with a strong sense maximum impact. Color is something that of verticality. The trees, the architecture, even should be used sparingly and intentionally. the characters, both good and evil, are all slender and elongated which has a unifying effect on A powerful example of how color can be used the whole look of the movie. All of the objects in a small but powerful way comes from the in the film bear the same family resemblance. movie Schindler’s List. The entire movie is in black and white except for a few shots. Towards Shape can also be used to create contrast. In the beginning of the movie we see a little girl The Nightmare Before Christmas, the main in a bright red dress walking through the street character is Jack, king of Halloween town, and as death and mayhem erupt around her. To- he discovers a portal to Christmas town. As he wards the end of the movie in a brief but pow- enters Christmas town we see a stark contrast erful scene we see amongst a pile of bodies a between the characters and scenery from each bright red dress, letting us know that the little town through the use of shape. The shapes in girl from the beginning of the movie had in fact Halloween town are angular, gnarled, and combeen murdered in the concentration camp. The plex whereas the shapes in Christmas town are use of color in these scenes serves two purpos- round, smooth, and simple. You could take a es; it draws our eye to the focal point (the little single object from either town, be it a tree or girl) and it also serves an emotional purpose a lamppost, and instantly be able to tell which as the color red signifies a death of innocence. town it belongs to because of the type of shapes used. Through a limited an intentional use of Designers should always be thinking about shapes a designer can create harmony or contrast. two factors when it comes to color: How can I use color to lead the eye through BREAKING THE RULES my design, and how can I get the biggest No doubt you’ve seen great designs that break all emotional impact out of my color choices? the rules listed above; designs that use a smorgasbord of fonts, a rainbow of colors, or a variety of SHAPE shapes. But often if you take a closer look you see The type of shapes a designer chooses can help that the rules are being used but in a very clever way. Christian Video® Magazine
Sept/Oct 2012
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Article
by DAN STEVERS
One of the keys to great design is knowing how to create a balance between unity and variety. When a design is all variety you get a visual mess; multiple shape types clash with each other, colors are all over the map, and font choices abound. On the other hand, when a design is all unity you get a monotonous and uninspiring design- a single simple shape, one color, and one font. The trick is to pick an area of the design to create variety and balance it out by having an area of the design that is harmonious and united.
must wait for his or her turn to play a solo. If everyone hit a solo at the same time the result would be a cacophony of sound. Good designs let certain aspects come to the forefront while others take a back seat.
Rules in art are broken all the time (and often with great success), but to be able to successfully break them one needs to fully understand their purpose. Self-imposed limitations are meant to cut down on visual clutter and clarify the message. Regardless of the awesomeness of your design, Let’s look at some practical examples. A design if it isn’t communicating quickly and effectivewith fifteen different fonts could be balanced out ly, then you aren’t doing your job as a designer. by using a single color and no shapes. The variety of the fonts are balanced by the unity of Now go forth and design! the single color. A design with a rainbow of colors could be balanced out by using all rectilinear shapes like squares and rectangles and a consistent font. A design with complex shapes, such as an architectural drawing, could use muted earth tones and a single font. The point is to let one area of the design speak louder than the others. It’s sort of like a jazz band- each musician
Christian Video® Magazine
Sept/Oct 2012
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Greg’s Toolkit by GREGORY FISH
Easy Green Screening
S
ometimes green screening is abused-- done in the wrong way, for the wrong reason, etc. I’ve been guilty of that, of trying a green screen just because it’s cool. But other times, it’s exactly what it needed to give a nice subtle background, texture, or even a clean solid color or gradient behind a subject. Before I moved from Texas, I took video of a little boy who recited Ephesians 6, the armor of God- http://www.worshiphousekids.com/minimovies/31540/Armor-Of-God. This had to be a green screen project, and you can see in the photo the stages in this composition. I really had problems with this color key, though. This was due to my own rushing to get him filmed before my last Wednesday night at the church. I didn’t set up any lights. It was sadly a less than ideal situation of my own making. I ended up doing multiple color keys to get it as good as I could get it.
“advanced” but I found the first tip and the process in the first 3 minutes to be different from many of the other tutorials out there, and extremely easy to implement. In fact, this is how I keyed out my subject and did so in almost no time. It was really pretty easy and gave me very good results with almost no effort. We, who are always busy, like that part, right? I encourage you to watch this tutorial, bookmark it and reference it next time you want to pull a key. As you can see in photo 2, though conditions were better than the last time, my green fabric was not wrinkle and shadow free. That’s what I like about this tutorial’s technique. It shows you how to make your green screen more green and naturally smooth out wrinkles and shadows. It’s brilliant in that way, and I would’ve never thought about doing that.
I knew that the next time I did a green screen I would do it right and have an easier time. Well, I did. I was asked to make this promo for a friend- https://vimeo.com/49595327, so I decided to try my hand at green screening again. This time I was able to set up lights and I decided to watch So let me just put some of this some more tutorials on some other down on “paper”, then. You can rekeying techniques. One that I saw fer to this as you watch and listen to that I really got a lot out of was this one: these guys from 8-bit Digital TV. For this we http://youtu.be/woZflhiwJ6Y . The title says will be using After Effects and the Keylight Christian Video® Magazine
Sept/Oct 2012
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Greg’s Toolkit
by GREGORY FISH effect. Hopefully the principles laid out here and White how the key is working. Click on the would cross over to other platforms as well. swatch for the green color we just set and move it down slightly to be darker and to the left a bit to The first tip given is to create a solid color, like desaturate it some. You should see some of those a bold red, to check and see how good your shadows disappear. They recommend that you can key is as you work. Use this under your green push the Screen Gain up a little, but not beyond 115. screen footage as a temporary background un- The Screen Balance can be tweaked somewhere til you’re ready to put in your real background. between 40 and 60. Under Screen Matte toggle the Clip Black property but no more than 15. You can This next tip is my own. If your subject doesn’t lower Clip White until most of the whiteish (semimove around much you can take the pen tool transparent) areas are gone, but no less than 85. and mask out most of the green screen, except You can raise Screen Despot White a little, somewhat is immediately around your subject (see where around 5, to fill in holes. When you are happhoto 2). Just ensure that you check the footage py with these edits, change the View from Comfor movements in arms, for example, that would bined Matte to Final Result and see how it looks. extend outside of your mask. They would be cut off if extended beyond the mask. If so, move I think you’ll be pretty content with this result. the points of the mask until everything is inside. If not, the tutorial goes on with more advanced These points can also be keyframed and animat- tricks to get even better/ cleaner keys. For my ed if needed to adjust to a certain point in time. promo video, I pretty much did this and left it at that. Since I had masked out most of the green Back to the youtube video. The best part comes screen, the area left to key was pretty small and around 1:30 where it goes through making a more easily keyed out without going into the other vibrant green screen as a starting point to edit. advanced steps. I hope this helps speed up your Type in the effects panel until you find “selective next green screen project or even helps some of color”. Apply the effect to your footage. On the you try green screen for the first time ever. Just colors dropdown in this effect’s properties select remember to use this effect tactfully and in“Greens”. Bring Cyan up to 100 and Magenta to tentionally for a good reason. Happy Keying! -100. Black and Yellow both also go up to 100. You can even duplicate this effect using Ctrl+D or Cmd+D if needed. Just don’t overdo it, or they warn that you might turn other things green on accident. I believe this step is so helpful in taking my dull green fabric and making it a very bright green area. This would have made my life easier on the armor of God video, if I were to do it over again! Now you’re ready for the Keylight effect. There are some interesting tips here too that give great results starting around 2:22. Take the eyedropper tool next to the Screen Colour setting and click on a green area that is not a shadow. Change the View to Combined Matte temporarily to see in Black Christian Video® Magazine
Sept/Oct 2012
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Article
by RYAN GEESAMAN
Top Tools for Problems in Post
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f there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that we can’t all agree on anything. I use a Mac; you may use a PC. I use Final Cut Pro 7; you may use Adobe Premiere (although I may soon too). I use 30 frames per second; you may use 24 or 60 or 120. No matter what our preferred method, we all have tools that we cannot live without. What follows is a list of some of the tools that I have come to know and love. At LCBC, we shoot with Canon DSLRs and therefore are working with solid-state recording. The default filenames given to the video clips are practically useless for organizing footage. And while Canon’s updates to their camera settings have allowed for custom naming, I do not find it particularly efficient to try to spell with a dial and a single button. So we stick with the default naming on the camera and then do batch renaming once the files have been transferred to our SAN. For batch renaming on the Mac, we use a free utility called NameChanger. NameChanger allows you to drop a group of files into its interface and then rename them using a custom template. It even allows you to save those templates for later use. We have set up a template with the form, YYYY-MM-DD_Ministry_Project_Camera_ID. When we drop video files from a shoot into NameChanger and apply the template, we can change the pertinent information and allow NameChanger to automatically increment the ID. Suddenly we have well-organized footage with pertinent metadata in the filename through quick and easy batch renaming.
Christian Video® Magazine
As stated, we do most of our shooting with Canon DSLRs and edit with Final Cut Pro 7. FCP7 requires us to transcode the H.264 video files into something a bit easier for it to chew on. We use MPEG Streamclip to make that conversion for us. MPEG Streamclip is a free video converter utility for both Windows and Mac. It can basically open, play, and convert to and from any codec you have installed on your system. It is honestly the most powerful video player on my system in terms of what formats it supports. It can open VOB files from a DVD, Flash video files from YouTube, H.264 files from a camcorder, and any Quicktime file known to mankind. It has a Batch List function, which allows us to drop all of the files in at once, adjust the output settings, hit “Start,” and head to lunch. I know, I know: if we changed to a new Non-Linear Editing package, we would not need to convert the files. We are working on that as well, but for now, this is our workflow. More and more, I find pastors are asking to use YouTube clips as sermon illustrations. My old ar-
Sept/Oct 2012
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Article
by RYAN GEESAMAN
gument against this practice was that the quality was not very good, but that has changed as HD uploads have become more prevalent. Now my only caution is that permission should be obtained from the creator of the media before using it. That being said, my favorite utility for downloading video files from YouTube is the website, Keep-Tube.com. There are many sites and programs that allow a user to download videos from YouTube. I prefer Keep-Tube because it does not require the download and installation of a program, it offers all of the available versions of a video, including HD, and best of all, it’s free. The files generally come as either Flash video or H.264 files that need to be transcoded. Luckily, heeding my advice, you’ve already downloaded MPEG Streamclip for that job. But before you go off to start downloading like crazy, allow me to reiterate: get permission from the content creator before using their media. YouTube makes it very easy to contact the owner of the video, so there is no excuse not to ask permission. And if you do, make sure whoever posted the YouTube video in the first place is the true owner of the video. That’s enough of the free stuff. Sometimes you have to pay for what you want to do. This next program is very inexpensive at $7, yet indispensable. Timecode Calculator from Netmedia-Software allows you to do math with time. By setting the frame rate with which you are working, you can get accurate calculations to make timing and pacing edits a breeze. Are you trying to figure out how long each photo needs to be on the screen to fill the background track on your montage? Done. Do you want to know how much additional time you will need if you add a one second transition to each of your edits? Easy. They also have an iOS version if you need to have this ability at your fingertips at all times.
version is certainly reasonably priced at $249 for the number of times it will save your audio. There’s also a much more expensive advanced version, but I have not found a need for it. As the RX indicates, this a prescription to heal everything that’s wrong with your recorded audio: hum, noise, clicks, unwanted sounds, and even clipping. You may already have an audio editing program that allows you to do some of these repairs, but if your program works anything like the ones I have used, you generally come away disappointed by the results. Noise removal often makes your audio sound like it was recorded under water: not in RX. You can generally remove a constant and consistent background noise without overly affecting the audio you want to save. Clipping repair in Soundtrack Pro often makes no difference whatsoever: RX can make occasional clipping sound like it never happened. I have been on a set where one of the production staff had an insulin pump that beeped in the middle of a take. With RX’s Spectral Repair, I was able to locate and remove the beep without losing any of the pertinent audio information. It was nothing short of amazing. Of course, there is no substitute for well-recorded audio, but we all make mistakes. RX has saved me from having to reshoot countless times, and it’s hard to put a price on that. These are some of my favorite tools. I’m sure you have your favorites as well. Please drop by christianvideomag. com and let me know what tools you can’t live without. Links: NameChanger – http://www.mrrsoftware.com MPEG Streamclip – http://www.squared5.com Keep-Tube – http://www.keep-tube.com Timecode Calculator – http://netmedia-software.com RX – http://www.izotope.com
I may lose some of you on the next one, as iZotope RX is not an inexpensive program, but the standard
Christian Video® Magazine
Sept/Oct 2012
16
Article
by KEN ERICKSON
I
Basic Composition
f you’ve watched TV as long as I have, you might notice trends changing over time. What were hard and fast rules in the ‘70s and ‘80s are no longer rules, “they’re more like guidelines,” to steal a phrase from one of my favorite films. Getting any equipment or crew in the shot used to be unprofessional. Now news shows will start and end the production or come back from a commercial with a wide shot showing the lighting rig, cameras, and floor director. Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs habitually asks for shots of the camera guys in precarious positions, pulling the crew into the show. We need to study styles of the types of videos we are making, and discern what is visually appealing and relevant to the audience today. And, while the adage that “rules are made to be broken” is bad advice in general (using expired mayonnaise, for example), in the photography/videography world any rule can be broken if it’s done on purpose and the result accomplishes what we intend. That has to be balanced against doing something radical that will make the audience uncomfortable. This article will deal primarily with composing video shots with people in them. These principles are the same for photography and videography, so you can apply them to both. A person in a video is often referred to as “talent,” regardless if they possess any, and we will use that term here. The Frame Today, I hope you are filming in 16:9 aspect ratio (widescreen). The only reason you shouldn’t is if your end product will be shown in 4:3 format. Even if that’s the case, it’s easier to make a 16:9 shot into a 4:3 than the other way around. And, if you find you need it in widescreen format for a different purpose, then you’re already set up. It may be as easy as typing in the new numbers in the project settings.
Christian Video® Magazine
Rule of Thirds The rule of thirds divides the screen into three parts, both vertically and horizontally, making nine squares or rectangles (photo 1). Part one of the Rule of Thirds is that if you break your frame into three equal parts vertically, the talent’s eyes should be around the bottom of the upper third of the frame. Somehow, though, our natural tendency and the rules of good composition don’t always match. Many want to place the eyes or face in the middle of the frame. When people come back from mission trips I get to see lots of sky from all over the world. The shots are framed with the head in the center of the frame, their feet at the bottom, sky occupying much of the frame. So far, at least to me, the sky looks pretty much the same all over the world and is a waste of half a frame. I’d rather they got in closer to see more details in the faces. If there were a lot of people, then they should be centered in the frame, so there is an equal amount of ground in the foreground and sky in the background. Unless, of course, there are spectacular mountains, a fountain, or something worth looking at. Minimize Headroom Headroom is the space between the top of the talent’s head
Sept/Oct 2012
17
Article
by KEN ERICKSON
Background Don’t have your talent stand against or near the background. Whether it’s a brick wall, bushes, or a backdrop, being placed significantly in front of it (at least 10 feet) will help place the attention on the talent. Avoid using busy or cluttered backgrounds. I usually shoot with the aperture as wide as it will go (a low f-stop) which will produce a shallow depth of field (the subject in focus, anything in front and behind it blurry). Just make sure your talent is in sharp focus.
and the top of the frame. It didn’t used to be proper to cut off people’s heads. It still isn’t good form to completely cut it off, but you can cut the top off (see photo 2), maximizing the emphasis on the facial features, especially the eyes. Noseroom Noseroom is the space between the talent’s nose (or side of the face in the direction they are looking) and the edge of the frame. The eyes should be around the one-third mark, with about two-thirds of the frame in front of them. In photo 2, since you can see the talent’s left ear the nose room is the left side of the frame, to his right. You can even have the talent all the way to the left or right, and cut off part of their body (or even head or face). It’s a popular look these days. Centering a shot If you have a full body shot, head to foot, then center the talent in the frame vertically (maintain the rule of thirds horizontally). If you have most of the person in the shot it’s best not to cut off the feet. A better composition is to back up a little and get the whole person in or move in and shoot it from the waist up.
Christian Video® Magazine
On my cameras I have the thirds grid turned on to remind me to compose my shots properly. I shoot in full HD (1080 vertical pixels), even though my projects are typically rendered at 480 (for DVD) or 720 pixels (for projection). That gives me some room in editing to adjust my composition. While it’s best to shoot correctly in the first place, sometimes you need to make some adjustments, and I like having the flexibility to move it around in the frame a little. In my last article I advocated watching TV for ideas on recording testimonies (I call my TV watching “research,” which I do quite a bit of). Look for the composition technique in the movies and TV shows you watch. Or, you can enjoy a movie on DVD and analyze the extra features. In experimenting with composition that is unconventional, keep your audience in mind. If your video techniques distract from the message, then it’s best to lean more toward the traditional. Our videos should never direct attention to our creativity, ability, or techniques, but keep the message as the focus. That is always a good thing to keep in mind!
Sept/Oct 2012
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