Shoot the plan We’ve all said those words. We set up our shot schedules, have our prop lists handy and make sure our talent is well briefed. But none of these tools – essential as they may be – has the visceral impact of a single storyboard panel. Thanks to the ubiquitous DVD e

Whether it’s shooting a wedding, baseball game, church service or two-person interview, shooting it with more than one camera can be a time-saving and very creative endeavor. While the director has a lot to contend with, the shooter also has to keep some very important techniques in mind when

Even ten or fifteen years ago, if you wanted to make a feature film, at the very least you had to shoot it on 16mm, like Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies and Videotape, and then have it carefully blown up (transferred) to 35mm if you got a major theater release. All of this cost thousands and tho

On business or on vacation, here’s how to ensure your gear makes the round trip. Traveling with your best gear can be nerve-racking. Toss in a few young children, a plane trip, a boat ride and tropical shower or two and you’ve got the makings of a category-four ulcer. You can lessen yo

Deep shadows, rustling leaves, the soft tense giggle of children dressed in bright colors and masks making their way past the local cemetery. The headstones throw long dense shadows across the dark fall grass and the children shiver as they rush past the iron fence, casting glances back over their

Plan the shoot, shoot the plan, edit the planned shoot. That’s the mantra we introduced in our article on production planning. We rejoin the discussion now with the amazing new idea that when production starts you should shoot what you planned to shoot. Talk about obvious! Not so fast. If that

$250 Final Draft 26707 W. Agoura Rd. Suite 205 Building B, 2nd Floor Calabasas, CA 91302 (800) 231-4055 www.finaldraft.com The King of Drafts Are formatting headaches forever gone? Professional scriptwriters and aspiring writers have one of the best tools available at their fin

If you haven't heard, there's a new video contest coming to a town near you. It's called the 48 Hour Film Project. Unlike traditional contests where you spend weeks, maybe months, crafting your story before submitting it for competition, this one challenges you to condense the enti

Looking Good: Tips for the Director There are those who say that Richard Nixon lost the 1960 presidential election because of his five o'clock shadow. For want of a little pancake concealer and a lot of translucent powder, Mr. Nixon appeared in his third and final televised debate with John F.

Every successful shoot starts with a good plan If you want to expand your creative horizons and add new and exciting production elements to your videos, start by developing a plan for your production. Selecting the appropriate format, style and production elements will set you up for success. As Cre

You don’t need puffy pants and a megaphone to be an assertive, successful director. But you do need to take control. Many readers tell us they want to direct but they don’t want to be a director, whom they see as an egomaniac dictator wearing riding pants and yelling through a bullhorn.

Houses of worship of every size, denomination and faith are discovering something you and I already know – video is a powerful communication tool. This may open a new area of participation for you. There are many opportunities to use video in the various areas of public religious life. There&#

Why bother with shot lists and storyboards? Simple: storyboards and shot lists are the most cost-effective ways to improve both the quality and efficiency of your next video project. Hollywood directors like Steven Speilberg, George Lucas and the legendary Alfred Hitchcock have all relied heavily on

The worst cause of video disasters is bad planning — not just during the Pre-production phase, but right through to the end of Post-production. Professionals don’t just make plans; they implement them and then they follow through on them. When you plan like a pro, you: Plan the shoot in

Some DVDs (Shrek and The Matrix, for example) now include sample storyboards shot-by-shot sketches drawn to visualize the action of key sequences as bonus material. As you study these slick drawings, you’ll notice that most frames are remarkably close to the actual shots they predict. Back in

You already know that you need good lighting and a flattering camera angle in order to look great on camera. But it’s easy to focus so much on these production skills that they overlook another simple step that can make you or your talent look even better. That step? Properly applying makeup

Most home video involves no planning at all, except to remember to bring along the camcorder. As Tom Lehrer memorably sang, "You just stand there lookin’ cute, and when something moves, you shoot." That works OK for video snapshots, but sometimes a special occasion–a party, a h

Ahhh, your wedding. While memories of the ceremony undoubtedly conjure up at least a smile, the memory of dealing with all the minute details that went into planning the event probably causes an involuntary shudder. (Oh, come on, admit it.) Yet it’s those very factors that made your wedding t

Whether you appear on-camera or direct those that do, the quickest way to communicate the secrets of on-screen success is by addressing them directly to you. Once you’ve internalized these professional tricks, it’ll be easier to pass them on to the talent you’re directing. So let&#

We’ve all had that unforgettably disastrous shoot, where the SD card filled up or the battery died at exactly the wrong moment, and we vowed never to let it happen again. But there’s one kind of readiness you might not have thought of, and it’s as essential as spare SD cards and b