At NAB 2013, we were able to chat with Daniel McCarthy about the new app created for filmmakers to listen to license-able music on-the-go from The Music Bed.  You can check out our original post detailing the features of the app, and click here to find it on itunes.  Some filmmakers do their music research during administrative tasks throughout a work day via the TMB website’s streaming feature, and this app is a valuable tool that allows those filmmakers to continue to do that same research while on the go.

Inspiration doesn’t always happen at a desk behind a computer screen, and we’re glad that TMB recognizes that. They have worked hard to make this amazing tool available to filmmakers. 

Let the licensing begin!

Dave Williams (entrepreneur and President of Cinemacake filmmakers) always has great things to share when it comes to developing a productive and effective team.  Whether you’ve just started your business or you’re a veteran entrepreneur, you probably understand by now that filmmaking is fully a team oriented task, and films benefit from being produced by groups rather than by sole minds.

The challenge for most small businesses is finding the time to invest in finding talent, training employees, reviewing quality of work, and setting goals for growth.  At his presentation at In[Focus]2012, Williams shared tips about scheduling and maintaining a team.  His team has a weekly meeting to review footage from the previous weekend and to talk about how to be prepared for specific shooting scenarios.  They keep a detailed calendar with information about projects and product shipments.   He also spoke about training employees by always praising them in public and keeping any discipline issues dealt with in private in order to develop trust and pride in the team. Williams is also a big proponent of transparency in his business–the editing schedule is kept online for clients to log in and see what stage of post-production their film is currently in, and on their blog, he gives credit for each portion of projects that his team members participate in.  This not only gives praise and credit to his employees, but it helps a client to understand that the quality of their films\ does not hinge on Dave’s presence at a shoot.  This, in turn, allows him to continue to grow his business.

Click here to view the embedded video.

At IF2013, Williams’ presentation was a continuation from last year’s lesson, and he discussed not only training, but turnover.  “We had quite a bit of turnover….my employees have gone on to bigger and better things….it was challenging and heartbreaking for us, and I thought, man, I just did this talk about team-building and loyalty….But now, I can say it was a great experience, and we learn from these challenges.”  During the 2013 In[Focus] presentation, Williams shares an inside look into his team’s interaction and how he builds a network of talent. He also talks about utilizing the strengths of different team-members in a way that allows them to fully complement each others’ abilities.

The presentation from IF2013 is available for purchase and download online with Focus Point Central.  If you’d like to learn more about team building, you’d probably be interested in these blog articles from the past:

Dave Williams: Basecamp Demo

Dave Williams: Empower Your Team

Andrew Sorlie: Communication during a shoot

Alex Karas: Training your team effectively

Dave Williams: Growing Your Business through Team Building

Epic Motion’s livestream on Team Building

Your gopro and iphone video has never looked so smooth.  Tiffen showed off some toys– a miniature steadicam for the go pro called the Steadicam Curve, which features a no fuss, no learning curve weight and gimbal system.  The Steadicam Smoothee, on the other hand, can handle ipods, iphones, go pros, and more, and the separate mounts for those cameras make them pre-balanced.  No word yet on compatibility with the Samsung Galaxy note.

TIME SENSITIVE: If you sign up with Tiffen to be notified of when the Steadicam Curve for GoPro will be available, you will automatically be entered into their competition giving away a Steadicam Curve to 3 lucky winners! Sign up at: http://www.steadicamcurve.com/

Here’s the promo clip from the website:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Eugene and Heather are a VERY dynamic couple with fun personalities. They have been running a successful filmmaking business for several years, and their advice concerning social media comes directly from experience.  They’re the first to confess that their successful careers in video production largely started because of their social connections and an ability to deliver what clients are asking for.  They picked up video production because their clients were asking for it.  They deliver a killer product, and they have killer personalities, too.  They also know how to use their social interactions online to act as advertisement for their business, and they treat each one of their clients with respect, kindness, and friendliness.  In fact, I guarantee you that once you meet them, you’ll think to yourself, “when can I hang out with them again?”   If you’re floundering to decide how to best represent your personality through social media and to interact with your clients in an engaging way, you won’t go wrong listening to the advice from these two:

Click here to view the embedded video.

You can watch their full presentation through Focus Point Central.  Some key takeaways that we thought were great ideas included:

-Keep Your online interactions positive, fun, and purposeful.  Negativity and empty content only pushes people away.

-Make sure your images show your face(s)!  An image of a photographer with your face hidden behind a lens doesn’t tell your prospective clients much about who you are–so let images that you share of yourself be prominent and have continuity in artistic style.

Here’s what other people took away from Eugene & Heather’s presentation:

“If we weren’t doing same-day-edits, our business wouldn’t be where it is today.” -Jeff Brouillet

Meet Jeff & Amanda, the geniuses behind Jeff Brouillet Films.  They have been working together for several years now, and they started doing same-day-edits at their 5th client’s event.  Pretty brave, right?  Well, we knew they must be doing it right–not only are their films consistently well-edited and great examples of story-telling, but they also shared that the majority of the work that they do now IS same day edits (or same day films, as they’ve also been called).   They have a workflow system in place that works really well for them, and they presented about the topic at In[Focus]2013.  During their presentation, Jeff & Amanda cover the entire process, including the initial preparations before the wedding, the team’s workflow the day of, the presentation of the film during the wedding reception, and how they deliver the film after the wedding. Jeff has written, “Our presentation will provide filmmakers who create all different types of films with plenty of great nuggets to expedite their editing process while focusing on telling a great story that will move your audience.”

You can download the video of their presentation at Focus Point Central’s educational website   and check out more of their work online at http://www.hdjeff.com/

Click here to view the embedded video.

So–what’s the “front door” of a business?  What are the first impressions that a client will get from her first interaction with your product and your brand?  Jessica has taken care to ensure that her website, logo, her wardrobe, and her films reflect the same sensibilities:

Jessica’s signature style is pretty easily recognizable–from the way she dresses on a shoot, to the way her images are color-graded, every font and color speaks to her style–emotional, uniquely hand-designed, soft & romantic. 

I had the privilege of chatting with Jessica about her business before we all headed out to Los Angeles for the convention, so I was pretty excited to hear her presentation.  She is a well-known filmmaker along the west coast, she has a beautiful family, she has a creative mind that plans for the future growth of her business, and her resume is enviable by any standards:  her handmade wedding films have become the choice of some of the most distinguished clients, including Hollywood celebrities, celebrity event designers, film producers, Olympic athletes and fashion magazine editors.    Something else you should know about Jessica is that she has had all this recognition from high profile clients without a heavy reliance on what we consider to be tricks of the trade–glidecam, sliders, etc.  In fact, she has mentioned that in some cases when her team has been to a shoot with a glidecam, she will refrain from using the footage in the edit because it just doesn’t fit with her style.

Wow.  When I learned that, I had to ask myself if I was that confident in my story-telling to exclude a certain kind of shot because it didn’t reflect the flow of the stories we normally create.  Are the identity of my films tied up in whether I use a certain slider shot or glidecam shot? 

Here’s a sample of Jessica’s work.  I doubt you’ll even have a second to be wondering why there’s not a glidecam shot in there.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Even Jessica’s packaging is a reflection of her branding style.  At every interaction with her company, Jessica’s clients are certainly going to enjoy her attention to detail.

When I tried to think of another person with this kind of attention to detail in his/her personal style, the one that came to my mind as 0ne great example of this in wedding filmmaking is Ray Estrada, whose cinematic eye always points toward creating intense drama and deep focus on emotion between a couple through his use of lighting, camera movement, and editing rhythms.  His style is certainly unique, and any bride who hires him will know exactly what creative vein of film she can expect from watching his online samples.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thoughts to consider:

Who is your favorite Hollywood auteur?  What kind of things do you concentrate on in your films to create a unique, unifying style?  How does your style expand across your branding?

——————

The videos from IF2013, including Jessica’s, are now officially all available for purchase on the Focus Point Central site. With options to purchase single presentations (8 total) at $39/ea or all 8 presentations for $279! You’ll be able to watch intros with the option to then purchase the entire presentation.

Available are videos from the following presenters:

Sarah Pendergraft – Editing
Matt Scott – Coloring
Jet Kaiser – Working with Clients
Jessica Ringor – Branding
Jeff and Amanda – Same Day Edits
Eugene and Heather – Social Media Marketing
Dave Williams – Team Building
Brett Culp – Vision

1. How will this product fit into your workflow?  Will it require hiring an additional camera operator, or can it be integrated into production without increasing the size of the team or distracting from current footage acquisition needs?

2. What is the learning curve to using it well? (For example, in the case of a copter, your clients are paying you to make beautiful films for them, not distract from their event by having an unpracticed camera op crash a copter into a tree, or worse, hurt a guest–so, practice up, kids.)

3. What will the footage bring to my final product?  How does it add to production value? Is it enough production value to warrant an increase in profit?  Can this cost offset the purchase of the product?

4.  Is this item an asset to our company in other ways? Does it open up any other possible product lines for our filmmaking business to create?  For example, with a DJI Quadcopter, perhaps you would be able to create videos showing overhead views of race paths, golf courses, work with home realtors to create “walkarounds” of a larger property, etc.  Could you rent the product out to other nearby film companies?

5. Is this a product you will use regularly enough to warrant a purchase rather than renting it on an as needed basis?  For example, companies like LensProToGo are already renting out Blackmagic’s new cinema 4K camera.

There were a ton of great product releases this past year at NAB–so lastly, ask yourself  Will I miss out on an adventure if I don’t find a way to purchase this?  While you may operate a filmmaking business, remember–creativity is about freedom, experimentation, and pushing boundaries.  I’m not saying to throw caution to the wind, but be confident to walk in a place of balance between risk and dependability.  Being overly cautious about buying new gear may eventually hinder your ability to keep up with technology and stand out from the crowd.

Pictured here:

Cinevate Axis Jib
Steadicam Curve
Freefly Movi
DJI Phantom
Quadcopter

Those who attended In[Focus]2013 can tell you that Jet Kaiser  is a masterful orator.  His showmanship on stage will slowly, calculatingly bring you to tears and laughter in the span of seconds.  From the moment he stepped on stage, he began weaving a narrative about story-telling that was as much film-making therapy as it was educational–he reminded attendees that filmmakers are people who tell the stories of other humans, and that every artistic choice we make during a documentary-style shoot is to intentionally tell the stories of other lives. 

Beyond getting beautiful and artistic shots, films should grab the heart in a way that will stand the test of time as the stories are watched for generations to come.  Cinema is said to make what is absent become present–”it is also about a temporal illusion in that the film’s narrative unfolds in the present ” (Hayward, 2000).  Documenting the life events of a person in a meaningful way allows that person and viewers to relive the moments with more than just iconic imagery, but with the story of how it unfolded.  The fact that Jet was able to drive this point home by contrasting audience reactions to slider shots of dog poo with a deeply over-emotional short film that was ultimately a commercial selling rice shows just how well Jet knows the science of emotion and how it applies to story-telling. As Jet said, a slider can make anything look epic, but what does it mean? The rice commercial didn’t use anything especially “tricky” in terms of camera movement, and yet it had everyone in tears because of its attention to story-telling.

Jet has been making films in the event-documentary industry since 2006, and as a fan of Jimmy Stewart and classic films, he has an eye for details that reveal emotion rather than music-video style punchy editing. His website reminds wedding clients of his filming philosophy: “Everyone deserves to pass on something great to their future family. Our goal is to allow you to relive all your special wedding moments with a keepsake that will live on forever. Our films are driven by story, true stories. Sometimes pieces of this story are hidden within the secret glances or holding hands under the table[....]What’s a movie without story? We desire for your film to reflect who you are instead of trying to fit your story into some type of template.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

In the clip below, you’ll see Jet introduce his own story a little–how he met his wife and fell in love.  His personal story of love is one that has helped him to appreciate the need for films to have enough attention to emotion so that they will have playing power to last a lifetime.  You’ll also see just a snippet of how Jet began his presentation–with a personalized version of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood that left us all laughing and ready for more of whatever Jet would teach us that day.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Luckily, our friends at Focus Point Central recorded many of the presentations at In[Focus]2013, so if you missed out, you can still order this masterful presentation that will take you on a journey to improve your interpretation of emotions in documentary story-telling.

—

Hayward, Susan. Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts. 3rd ed. London: Routledge, 2000. Print.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Stay inspired anywhere with access to The Music Bed catalog right at your fingertips! As new music is released, you’ll be able to effortlessly keep up to date with their most recent library additions right on the app. Instantly update your wishlists with the newest hand-picked tracks.

Many of you have praised how the streaming capabilities of the TMB site have helped you to multi-task (for example, conducting music research while doing administrative tasks).  The release of this app is taking the TMB quality of customer service perks to a whole new level.  I took this app for a spin this past weekend on both the ipad and the iphone.  The ipad version is extremely sleek and visual, and the iphone version has the same functionality, but it simplifies the amount of things on the screen to make up for the smaller amount of screen real estate.  The app launches with an opening page feature that highlights recently added artists, top selling artists, and recommended playlists.  There’s also easy access to the traditional “get music” search, your wishlists and personalized playlists, and an account settings page.  It was easy to add songs to different playlists, and those of you who are already familiar with the TMB website will find the app just as easy to navigate through. 

If you’ve never purchased music before, (as of right now) you’ll only be allowed to listen to 30-second previews of the songs. Once you’ve made an initial purchase through your account on the site, your account is approved for the streaming of full-length previews through the app (as far as I know, the website still offers full length previews to those who haven’t purchased music before).  This could affect you if you’re on a team of filmmakers where one filmmaker might do music research through a personal account, and the music purchases are made through a company account.  I recently spoke with the staff at TMB and they’re happy to approve accounts of music researchers for studios so that they can have full-length previews through the app, too.  Nice!

An added bonus in the app is an alphabetical listing of each artist.  In the past, I’ve always searched their site by instrument type, music genre, or speed for a song that I was looking for.  Having the bands also listed alphabetically in the app allowed me to systematically listen through each artist to get to know their catalog better.  And isn’t that what this is app is really all about? 

The easier it is for you as an filmmaker and editor to become familiar with their music, the better it will go for you as you plan out your films.  You’ll already know the songs you want because you’ll have had the luxury of becoming truly familiar with the music in the same way that you’ve become familiar with your personal music collections–through repetition in the natural flow of your work day.   Filmmakers are not always seated at a computer, so having the ability to do research as you’re on the go is has an incalculable value.  Wait, why am I telling you this? You already know how awesome this is going to be. So, scroll on down and get to the extra fun info about the give-away!

To celebrate the release of your new favorite app, they’ve got 30 Days of Giveaways where you could win $1,500 in song licenses + an iPad Retina from TMB, PLUS tons of insane prizes from the likes of Kessler, Rode, Zacuto, LensProToGo and MORE worth thousands of dollars! It’s too good… but it’s so true.

Click HERE to enter for your chance at 30 Days of Giveaways!
Click HERE for your very own download of The Music Bed App in the App Store!

About The Music Bed
The Music Bed licenses relevant music for your media projects — Empowering you to tell your story as the visual creative and properly supporting the musicians who make your art what it is. You can use their music in corporate productions, promo videos, slideshows, non-profit media, and more! Find us at www.themusicbed.com  

At InFocus 2013, Matt had a lot to say about training your creative thought process and perfecting the imagery you produce in every project.  If you have a big goal in life (Matt wants to direct a James Bond film), you’ve got to take this perfectionism into each project and push your skills to increase your talent.

Matt has a wide variety of tutorials available for free on his website, and you can watch his presentation from IF2013 online as well, too.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you’d like to watch the entire presentation, it is available for purchase through our friends at Focus Point Central.  Just follow this link:  http://focuspointcentral.com/infocus/

You can watch more of Matt’s wicked skills and films at http://vimeo.com/matthewtscott/videos

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