Blog « IN[FOCUS]

09.02.10

Supporting Your Films with *Sound* Music Choices

Have you had amazing imagery for your highlight but still felt something’s not quite sitting right?

This may sound obvious, but when setting the mood for a scene, music is absolutely key to conveying the atmosphere/mood.

Duh? Right?

So why do we not always NAIL it? For two reasons, mainly. (1) We are dying to use a cool song we heard in StillMotion’s latest SDE – somewhere, anywhere, we just don’t care! (2) We have promised the client to use a song that they love, but it just doesn’t seem to fit. Blech!

Editor – meet me at camera #3, let’s talk. Here’s a few quick tips:

Shoe-horning a song in just because you like it doesn’t mean it’s going to be a good fit. I’ll cover that more in my Philosophy below.
If you get music from the couple, get a LOT of it and promise LITTLE TO NONE of it. It is a time waster trying to make something work in the edit when it naturally doesn’t. It may please the client, but if you put it on your blog, others might think you DO NOT KNOW what you are doing.

Philosophy 101

Now that you’re ok not using the latest hit by Ben Rector, open your mind to a few things: Ohmmmmmm:

Take note of how the wedding day played out, the overall mood and pace of the day can help you in determining your music choice. A rainy day with a relaxed and compassionate bridal party might yield a music choice that’s slower and on the airy side, as opposed to a bright sunny day with a boisterous funny and happy bridal party, which could yield something faster and upbeat.

Music also helps reflect the emotions of the characters/subjects onto the viewers, so that they might connect with the film emotionally. A happy and joyful bride, would be better suited for music that is equally upbeat and joyful, than a contemplative and quiet bride.

***Be sure that a subject’s emotions do not conflict with the music, or viewers may experience an emotional disconnect from the subjects and film.***

Lastly, well planned music choices will help capture the audiences attention and draw their interest into a film, and YOU WANT to draw an audience in, because IN THAT AUDIENCE might be your next gig.

Make a choice that is also something the bride and groom will appreciate. Base your music choices on the bride and groom’s music preferences (what are they playing at the reception) and branch out from there. Use Pandora. Easy Peasy!

Music can connect or disconnect viewers from your films. Be sure to make decisions based on the events and pace of the wedding day as well as the bride and grooms preferences. This will help create a stronger emotional connection between your viewers and your films.

They will think you quite the Maestro!
Dusty, Northernlight Filmworks

Posted in Blog, Music

(1)

Jeff Brewer says:

09/02/2010 at 8:07 am

You failed to mention looking for royalty free music and the many sites that you can find excellent, LEGAL music. I find these songs to be better in most cases because the viewer has no pre-concieved ideas about the music.

08.31.10

Writing off Vacation Time by Mixing in Work (but still relaxing, too!)

If you’re like me, it’s hard to get away from filming when on vacation, and as Jen Moon has encouraged in past posts, you’ve got to have your down time.

But did you know that there are tax advantages in mixing work and pleasure?

Working on Vacation

Disclaimer: I am not a licensed tax accountant, so I encourage you to meet with yours to find out how you can write off a portion of your travel, meals, and other expenses.

According to this article and this article, as long as the majority of the trip is primarily business, if you spend a few days vacationing as well, then you can still write off the travel (but not the expenses of the non-business days). For example, if you attend IN[FOCUS] 2011 in New Orleans (wink wink) for 4 days and build in your yearly vacation for another 3 days, then you still get to write off your travel expenses.

The ultimate work-cation would be like my trip to Panama shooting for Lonely Planet. If you do some pre-planning and find businesses or organizations that need video, or if you are building your own stock footage library (for sale), or if you need B-roll for a documentary you are creating, then you can spend your days working (and really enjoying the scenery) and your nights relaxing knowing that you can write off a goodly portion of it.

My best advice – save all your receipts from a vacation and document how you spend your time. Present this info to your tax professional and see what you can write off. Imagine!

Relaxing on Vacation

On the other hand, we work enough, and we need to be able to separate work from rest and recreation. If you’ve got your “play days” and “work days abroad” laid out, then stick to that plan. With facebook and personal blogs, I find the pressure to turn vacation into an all out film fest unnecessarily.

You understand.

For years I felt pressure to capture my travel time as I would a paying gig. Looking back, I do have some great footage, but I also know I didn’t always take the opportunity to just live in the moment. People always tell me when I’m on vacation, “Meg! Live it! Don’t film it!”

I want to travel light, but also to give myself the opportunity to capture B-roll footage that can be used in a paying project if I see something on the fly.

My solution has been my Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3. I’ve trekked this around Patagonia on multi-day overnights, floated around the coast of Panama, shussed down the Austrian Alps, all while barely feeling the presense of the camera in my pocket. It’s great because it shoots RAW and HD 1280 x 720. It’s there when I can’t resist capturing the moment, and it’s tucked away when I want to just sit with my parents and friends and enjoy their presence.

Enjoy your vacation however you so choose, and on the days you choose to work, make it feel like the vacation is working for you!

:-) Meg

Posted in Blog, Money Matters

(0)

08.26.10

Pixel Madness!

Bad Pixels, bad pixels, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come to you??

A few thoughts, here in that call to action.

Also, are you familiar with CPS?

Linguistically, the acronym could be conceived of as a cross between CPR and PMS – but, it’s not!

View on, listen in – and forgive in advance the closing music track that simply signifies a proud father.

Happy August!!

Tags: Canon 5d, Canon Professional Services, CPR, Frozen Pixels, Pixel Pops, PMS, The 3:27s, Whit Wales
Posted in Blog

(1)

Jon Bufkin says:

08/27/2010 at 12:25 pm

Best $100 we have ever spent!

08.24.10

The Power of the Close-up (not forgetting the toasts)

Wedding filmmakers have a big job on their hands. It is up to us to capture a couple’s day in a way that it packed full of emotion.

I believe raw emotion comes directly from the subject’s eyes. We’ve all heard the expression “Eyes are the window to the soul” and in the bible (Luke 11:34), “The eye is the lamp of your body.” I believe you can control the intensity of that emotion by placing the camera close or far away from those eyes. A good close-up will fill the screen with emotion, and pulling away to a wide angle shot will often disperse that emotion.

It’s rather simple to gather beautiful close-ups during prep. It seems acceptable at times to break through someone’s personal space and get a close-up during prep. What about the rest of the day when we can’t get a camera right in someone’s face? What about the ceremony, or the dances, and of course…the toasts?

While shooting the toasts, we need to strive to capture good close-ups as well. The closer the subject’s face is to the viewer, the closer you feel to the subject. Any emotion that the speaker is experiencing will be amplified dramatically. I love seeing dad’s watery eyes as he talks about letting his little princess go or a sister who is overwhelmed with joy to see her older sister make that big move. A close-up shot will highlight the emotions of these speakers into a super-emotional spectacular!

Getting good toast close-ups requires good planning. You need to already know where you’re going to stand, what lens to use and on which camera. Lighting is important as well. Even a little side lighting with highlight the persons eyes especially when they are fighting back the tears.

Remember, get those cameras in there, get those zoom lenses on because there are tons of wonderful emotions ready to be captured. And it’s your job to do so.

Jet Kaiser
Jet Kaiser Films

Tags: close-ups, jet kaiser, toasts
Posted in Blog, Shooting

(3)

JJ Kim says:

08/25/2010 at 12:23 pm

Hey, Jet.
Awesome video and writeup.
I have one question, though.
Do you use any kind of lighting for the toasts, say like “reception light” or “on camera light” facing the subject? Thanks again so much for great info!

JJ
Jet says:

08/26/2010 at 9:20 pm

Thanks so much for taking the time to watch. Yes, we definitely use lighting during toasts. Preferably, we use a fill & hair light. I love seeing if we can pop them out of the background. We do use a reception light along with some other smaller off camera lights. Thanks again, JJ!
Jeff Brewer says:

09/02/2010 at 8:17 am

Hey Jet, definitely agree with you in this video. We try to get as close as possible without stepping on toes. If you can get into the eyes like you said, then some real magic happens on screen.

08.19.10

Creating The Perfect Ring Shot

THIS TUTORIAL IS FOR THOSE THAT ARE USING CANON EOS DSLR’s

Essential to a perfect ring shot:

MACRO LENS (EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro, EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro, EF 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro)
LIGHTING (any small, off-camera light will do)
MOTION (whether it be camera motion or light motion)

Creating the perfect ring shot:

Plan out the setting, lighting & ring position
Gather the rings from the bride & groom
- Shooting the ring shot towards the end of the reception usually allows for more time to unleash your creativity.
- Avoid possession of rings for extended periods of time. Some couples get antsy when you don’t hurry back with them, not to mention the longer you have the rings the more time you have to misplace them :(
Set them up
- There isn’t a right or wrong way to do this.
- Using some sticky tack sometimes helps support a ring in an awkward position.
Light the rings
- Add enough light to shoot at a low ISO/gain. This is one part of the day where YOU are in total control of the lighting conditions so take advantage.
- Backlight the rings to highlight the jewels,
- Candles can be used for some out-of-focus flicker and they add motion.
Use tripod or slider
- Don’t try to shoot a ring shot handheld, you’ll wish you didn’t when you get back and review your shaky footage.
Reverse clip in post if you use camera motion.
- Start your ring shot where you want the shot to end later and then add your motion (tripod pan/tilt or a slide). Simply reverse the clip’s speed in post and your ring shot will have a nice, even flow to the perfectly framed ending shot.

Thanks for watching/reading. I’ll be on the look out for your perfect ring shots!
Jet Kaiser
Jet Kaiser Films

Tags: Canon 5d, canon 7d, jet kaiser, ring shot, wedding film, wedding videography
Posted in Behind the Scenes, Blog, Shooting

(3)

Kaipo says:

08/29/2010 at 3:59 pm

Great video, Jet! I’ve always sucked at shooting these, so I’m gonna try some of these tips and see what I get at my next wedding.
Awesome seeing you and Danielle at WEVA. See y’all in New Orleans.
Kaipo
Jet says:

08/30/2010 at 12:16 am

Sweet! Thanks for watching & much luck!
Jeff Brewer says:

09/02/2010 at 8:18 am

Very cool idea for running the clip in reverse. I don’t know why that hadn’t dawned on me until now.

The Invisible Man	Jeffrey Haney	Ryan Koral	Eric Kmetz	Jet Kaiser
Whit Wales	John and Jennifer Moon	Meg Simone	Dave and Corbin Baxter	Matt Davis

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