People in the video production world have a variety of motivations for making video.  Some are striving for a unique voice or to explore a particular facet of an artistic vision.  Others are in the video production business, recording events for paying customers.  Others are just starting out with ambitions to become accomplished directors, videographers, and producers in the film industry.  Still others are educators utilizing video in the classroom to enhance student learning and to get kids jazzed about the topic at hand.  The bottom line for everyone in the video production world is to reach as large an audience as possible.

Last week the Federal Communications Commission announced a program that will help, on multiple fronts: the “Connect to Compete” initiative.

Expected to hit the ground in the spring of 2012, this private and public partnership, coordinated by the FCC, will bring affordable broadband internet service to millions of households where there is none today.  As described on the Connect2compete.org website, “Connect to Compete is a national private and nonprofit sector partnership created to increase broadband adoption and digital literacy training in disadvantaged communities throughout the United States. The initiative is designed to help residents improve outcomes in education, health, and employment through broadband opportunities and technology solutions.”

In a world of hyper-connectivity and ever-faster devices providing instant access to information and near instant recording and sharing of the events of our lives through video, it’s startling to realize how many people are being left out. According to the Pew Research Center, fully a third of all Americans are currently without broadband internet service.  Of course, some of these households are opting out as conscientious objectors to the ubiquity of communications channels.  Clearly for many, many others, though, it’s a simple matter of economics.  Hard choices are being made about what to put in the shopping cart and broadband Internet connectivity just isn’t always at the top of the list, or on the list at all.  And when these households include school-age children eligible for free school lunch programs, for instance, or the poorer elderly, it means that the lack of affordable Internet access is just one more way in which many people are being left behind.  What used to be a non-essential luxury, a fast Internet connection at home, is increasingly an integral tool for education, employment, community action, and political engagement.

Connect to Compete, with the full participation and support of the cable industry, computer suppliers like Microsoft and Redemtech, and finance institutions like Morgan Stanley, will make broadband internet connections available to any household with a student currently eligible for free school lunches for about $10 per month.

And why should we in the video technology world be paying attention?  It goes back to who’s making and sharing video and, importantly, who’s watching.  We all benefit from a broader and more diverse audience for the work of videographers, short film producers, and those exploring the capabilities of the expanding field of video.  Connect to Compete will help to enable more and more of us to participate in the coming years.

(For another take on the importance of high-speed internet connectivity for sharing video, see Daniel Bruns’ “Internet at the Speed of Light: How Faster Connections Affect the Video World.”)

How have other videographers made use of green screens for special effects? 

What one “trick” in pre-production planning do others find most important? 

What’s the coolest music video ever made and what lighting techniques can be gleaned from it? 

You have questions and Videomaker.com has answers. Well, Videomaker.com and Videomaker readers. The editors and experts at Videomaker field questions every day on shooting, lighting, special effects, gear, editing, and every aspect of video production. And we always do our best to answer these questions either on-line or through high-value content in our magazine. And here at Videomaker we have the luxury of working day in and day out with our peers, fellow video enthusiasts just like our readers. But what if you’re working independently or are just starting out or otherwise need the help of your peers in the field in addition to your peers here at Videomaker? 

Sometimes direct, peer-to-peer interaction is the only way to go. That’s where Videomaker Forums come into play. Have a technical question and just haven’t found the answer yet? Think you have a question but aren’t even sure how to ask it? Join the Videomaker Forums. It’s a friendly, robust community of fellow videographers, from the beginners choosing their first cameras to the pros who discuss technical setup and who know the business side of video. 

Recent forum conversations have included a thread on the “Aesthetic side of video production” in which one of our moderators (the famous “birdcat”) suggested reading the excellent “In the Blink of an Eye” by Walter Murch. Another very recent thread centered on an extensive discussion of the best songs to use in wedding videos. And nearly every day a forum member offers their latest video project up for review by fellow members. And the replies are consistently professional, constructive, and encouraging. Clearly this is a community of video producers, from experts to hobbyists, who care equally about their craft and their fellow craftspeople. 

If you are a member of Videomaker forums but haven’t visited in a while, come on back, the water’s fine! And if you are not yet a forum participant, you NEED to become one. There’s nearly no better way to connect with other video enthusiasts.

Will Work for Free: Shooting Charity Video

Every once in a while a charity video shooting project comes along that piques my interest, even though I know I won’t get a dime out of the job.

Most video producers, at some time in their career, are approached by someone looking to get free services from them ‘out of the goodness of their heart’ or ‘for the love of the project’. Many times, this person who approached the video producer is completely clueless to how much time is involved in making even a simple 2-minute video. Shooting charity video is usually one of these causes.

Recently, a non-video producer contacted one of my compadres to edit 9 hours of stage performances down to a 5 minute promotional piece. My associate was wary of what he would be expected to deliver and most of the reluctance was the ‘nine hours of footage’… anything over an hour is a nightmare if it’s not well-shot or well-logged. We’re talking about possibly a couple 40-hour work weeks just cutting it down.

The standard “rate” one edits is roughly based on a time-conversion-by-edited-footage ratio.

1 minute of edited footage = 1 hour of editing time – minimum. Based on that, the performance footage would yield a minimum of a 5-7 hour project, but the added amount of footage translates to a 540:7 ratio – that is, 540 minutes of raw footage to a 7 minute edited piece, which might end up making the work involved to be roughly 9 hours per edited minute,  which factors to 63 hours of work!

Unless the contractor has full blocks of footage he already knows will be cut out and depending on how well organized he is, this is still quite a time-consuming project. I wonder if he is a aware and willing to pay the price for this work? People don’t value the time it takes for editors to do their magic!

What Price Pro for Hire?

Some time back, I blogged about a couple situations when twice I was hired to do a video, then the contractor balked at a ‘below minimum wage’ quote. In each incident, the people had lots of money at their disposal, they just didn’t want to spend it on my work. My blog,  What Price Pro for Hire? got a number of people responding, and I suspect it was because they, too, have been treated unfairly by contractors.

Forums member robGRAUERT summed it up well when he wrote: “Video is a powerful tool that requires skill if it’s to be effective. People need to respect it.” While forums member jusbe said he was a professional who had “developed and paid for skills with blood, sweat, tears, time and cash.” He added, “Tough luck if a multi-national electronics company sold them the idea that all you need to be a skilled videographer is a fancy amateur camera.”

When I was approached two years ago, I was given the standard “it can help me break in the business and open doors… earn my dues…” lines, when, of course, I paid my dues 30+ years ago when I first started working in TV.

For the Love of the Project

Which, actually, brings me to my original point. Last weekend I DID do a charity shoot – for free – because I felt good about the cause and I went into it knowing I wasn’t going to be paid – but… I stuck to my guns about several points: “I will shoot the event only, but I won’t edit it. I will hand the tape over to whomever you get to edit it and will be done with it. I ask for my full name and title to be acknowledged on the credits, and I do not want the tape back or any other associations with the project.”

The shoot was planned to be a one-hour event, but ended up costing me four hours of my time; but I didn’t regret it because I went into it with full knowledge of was expected of me. And I enjoyed the work.

Charity work CAN get you great recognition, there are hundreds of YouTube videos being made every year to help support some cause from traditional well-known charity organizations like the Red Cross to small local fund-raisers to help a family that’s recently lost their home to fire. There are even video production houses, now, that specialize in producing charity video for a discount, and many contests that can get you started.  To stand out from the crowd, you need to deliver a clean product, regardless of how you are compensated.

What price should you place on doing charity work? You really need to consider the organization and your skill level, and also what they expect to do with the video. If it is going to be a series, then you might bid lower for the first one, if they like your work you might convince them to compensate you for more later on.

Shooting charity video can be rewarding, as long as you go in with an open mind and know you might gain nothing but a pat on the back. Charity video shooting isn’t for everyone and I wouldn’t do it too often myself, but I did experience a nice Autumn day in the park, and feel honored to help the cause.

To find out more about getting paid for your video work, check out these stories from Videomaker: From Pay to Profit, and 5 Steps to More Profit From Video.

Your First Amendment Rights – New rulings states you can’t get arrested for videotaping police, politicians, and other government officials.

You’ve read many stories right here in Videomaker and other publications about someone with a camcorder witnessing a confrontation with police and these witnesses holding that camcorder do what anyone would – they record the act. They might not know what or why the confrontation is about, but by recording the action, in some cities or states, they were considered accessories to a crime or participating in criminal activity. Some states, such as Massachusetts, would use a wire-tapping ruling against the camcorder user as an excuse to confiscate the camcorder and arrest the user. Not anymore. A Federal court has ruled in favor of videographers. Americans with recording devices are now protected under the First Amendment to record public officials doing their jobs in a public arena.

Whether it’s a cop getting aggressive during an arrest or a congressman entering a bordello, if the act is in a public area – they might not like it – but they’re fair game to cameras rolling.

You may recall the story of Simon Glik in Boston, who stumbled across an arrest in progress in a public park. He videotaped the officers as they were arresting a man, but as soon as one of the officers noticed that Glik was recording the process, Glik was arrested. Not for shooting video, but for recording audio, because he was in violation of Massachusetts’ wiretap law. Glik was charged with wiretapping. But he was later found not guilty by the Boston Municipal Court, because his recording device wasn’t concealed. So he filed a civil rights violation suit. The police claimed he was in violation of something called qualified immunity, which is supposed to protect them from being harassed while doing their job. The U.S. District denied their claim and the police filed an appeal, which lead to the important ruling.

An excerpt from the August 26, 2011 Appeal From the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruling,  states:

“In this interlocutory appeal, the defendant police officers challenge an order of the district court denying them qualified immunity on Glik’s constitutional claims. We conclude, based on the facts alleged, that Glik was exercising clearly established First Amendment rights in filming the officers in a public space, and that his clearly-established Fourth Amendment rights were violated by his arrest without probable cause. We therefore affirm.”

This is fascinating text; you should read the entire ruling. It spells out how Glik heard what he thought was excessive behavior from the police so he started recording the action, how – when challenged – he responded that he was concerned for the man’s well-being. And when he was arrested, and then cleared, he tried to file a complaint with Boston’s internal affairs and was ignored.

What we’ve gained here is that public officials can’t “bully” us into not recording what we see. For instance an innocent bystander doesn’t have to make the decision to “not get involved” when he stumbles upon an action that appears someone’s rights are being violated or a public official is breaking the law.

What this gives videographers – and ordinary citizens with a cell phone alike – is protection against being considered a criminal for being a witness to an event – good or bad – that takes place on public property or while the witness is on public property.

One might argue that the problem with a confrontation being recorded by the witness who stumbles upon the event is that it could be similar to walking into a movie already in progress. The recorded images don’t show what led up to the event, only that frozen moment in time. But then again, an eyewitness without a recording device might be in the same situation. “I saw a man running; I saw other men in uniform take him down…” however, “recorded witness” is usually more accurate than an “eye witness”, who could be confused by what’s going on at the time, and his/her brain might not assemble all points to the puzzle immediately. An eyewitness, though, isn’t (usually) arrested for what he might have seen.

The camera is a non-participatory, unemotional documentarian in the purest form – it sees – without prejudice – what it is focused and framed to see. Events occurring outside its “screen” are not considered. Who’s to say that right next to that confrontation, something bigger is going on, something that could explain the scene that is being captured at the moment? Ah… but that’s a different idea for another time.

In the United States, public officials – sort of like “public domain footage”- are “owned” by the citizens of this country. We pay their salaries through our taxes, and so some of their own personal space rights are given up when they take public office. They know this, but as many a politician who’s gotten his fingers caught in the cookie jar know, in this new world of the ubiquitous camera, if you’re not doing anything wrong, you shouldn’t have to worry, right?

Least anyone thinks they can now record events without worry, they are wrong. There are lots of rules about public access and intent that can still land you in jail, if you’re not careful. Our “What’s Legal” columns by patent attorney Mark Levy explain a lot of the rules in easy-to-follow layman’s terms. Check it out. And remember, you should always try to stay on the legal side of the law when you’re recording in public places or anywhere, for that matter. The Center for Social Media has a great listing of code of practices in Fair Use, check it out.

Nearly every video production hobbyist has dreamed of the day when they can start their own profitable business. Videomaker’s upcoming Making Money with Video Webinar will help you examine your skills, assess your equipment needs, master the market and learn the best methods for selling your services.

Following the webinar, all registrants will receive a copy of our special report special report “Video Production: Business Startup Advice”. In addition to valuable information and a free special report this event will include a live Q&A segment; our team answering your questions. Our Making Money with Video Webinar starts at 11:00 AM (PST) on Wednesday, April 27th, so be sure to sign up soon!

Not interested in Making Money with Video? Videomaker’s weekly Webinar Training Series is taught by our experts and features a wide variety of video production and post production topics including Advanced Shooting, Green Screen and Special Effects, Advanced Editing, Lighting for Video, and much more.

Unless you’ve been living in a football void, everyone knows that  Superbowl Sunday just passed. (I’ll admit – I live in that void.) While most people tune in to watch the game, many also tune in for the Superbowl Sunday commercials. The Superbowl is the one event where people actually WANT to see the commercials, and the pressure surrounding the hype is almost as tremendous as the pressure on the two opposing teams playing a game on the field.

A few of the ads were leaked in advance to YouTube and other video social media sites, in part because the advertisers want to elicit excitement, and in part because it’s hard to keep anything secret with video uploading so easy nowadays.

My favorite, was the little boy in the Volkswagen ad trying to channel his inner Darth Vadar who attempts to make things move by using only mind skills learned from The Force. This ad has no special tricks, nor any whooshing fonts or over-the-top editing; what makes it work is everyone can identify with the imagination of a 6-year-old hoping to make the magic and do the tricks that he sees in the movies.

But the hype is more than just “is it an entertaining ad”. Anyone who has worked in commercial advertising can tell you that if the ad doesn’t keep your audience interested in the product, it wasn’t worth the money spent to design it, create it, market it and pay for its commercial timeslot. Case in point, I can never remember what the roller-skating babies ad is selling – oh yeah, “Youth” in a bottle by the Evian water company.

If one plans to produce commercials, (not counting Superbowl Sunday advertising, which is a completely different animal!) there’s a lot to consider besides content and length. A lot can be said in that 29-seconds, (planning for one-second for fade up or mechanical glitch upon execution.) Storytelling for commercials must be tight, and you have to grab the viewers at that first 2-3 seconds, otherwise they will either grab the remote to see what else is on, or head to the kitchen, bathroom or other room for a quick break from TV.

Videomaker has done several stories on marketing your business, shooting commercials, and making business plans; you can find some business related features in our “How To” site in the “business” section on our website to help you plan an effective ad strategy.

An effective advertising plan is almost more important than the ad itself. One thing too many start-up companies do is place all their advertising eggs in one basket – one BIG basket – that is, the Superbowl – and they tend to tap themselves out, hoping for the Big Win: customers clamoring for their products. But it takes more than landing a multi-million dollar spot on Superbowl Sunday to produce a good commercial, and it takes more than being seen on that spot to get customers and investors interested in your product. It’s knowing your product well and targeting your audience – and also knowing how to budget money between product development, marketing, and overhead. Too many start-up dot-com companies that launched mega-commercials during one year’s Superbowl have been dusting empty buildings for cobwebs when the next Superbowl comes around. (Remember pets.com’s talking puppet?)

If you aspire to be a video advertising producer, also check out our “Making a Profit“  and “Commercial Video” forums pages. Many of our forums regulars and moderators successfully produce commercials and have great advice for those dipping their feet into this fast-paced business. Good luck – maybe next year we’ll see your video that you lovingly produced for a new client in a multi-million spot.

And I must add as a Post Script: Here in Videomaker’s hometown of Chico California, many viewers not only tuned in for the game and the commercials, they were also rooting on our local home-grown quarterback, Aaron Rodgers.