We’ve often talked about documentary video on this site and the one thing that we’ve stressed time and again is that a documentary topic does not need to be “big” to be good. Many readers look at documentaries like Ken Burns’ Civil War and assume that all documentaries need to be similarly epic sagas. But sometimes smaller stories have even more potential to really speak to people.

For example, take Cassi Glisper’s Next Tooth One Mile, a documentary about what it’s like to live with a gap between your front teeth. Cassi, an independent filmmaker with a decade of experience in short films, hit on the idea when she started doing research into dental options for her own gap. She’d lived her whole life hating her gap, but it was only when she decided to fix it that she really started thinking about what a gap represented.

It’s an intriguing idea for a movie. And one that could grab the interest of any viewer — I don’t have a gap myself, but, having some crooked snaggleteeth, I was immediately eager to hear what people would say to Cassi. In some ways, it’s a perfect documentary subject because it’s something you hardly even think about until someone pointed it out. Audiences have agreed, and the film took home honors at the 2009 International Film Festival Ireland and the 2010 Swansea Bay Film Festival in Wales.

“I planned interview sessions in public areas around the country with the intention to get as many perspectives and insight into the world of gappers,” said Cassi. “I knew that meeting real people and hearing of their human experience would shape the outline for the film,” said Cassi. “On weekends, I would hit the street with my video camera, a friend, and a small sign that read, ‘Got a gap, I want talk to you.’ While out, I looked at the mouths of those passing by. If they had a gap, I would ask if I could interview them for my documentary. Ninety-eight percent of those I asked agreed to be interviewed. I confess that New Yorkers were my toughest audience.”

Cassi’s interviews turned up some surprising results. While she had assumed that most people would hate their gaps, she found that about half of her respondents actually enjoyed having gap teeth. Most people would laugh at first when she explained her project, but quickly became excited at the chance to She interviewed gappers across the United States in California, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, and Georgia, as well as overseas while on vacation in France and Kenya.

“Gappers in the United Stated had varying opinions about their gaps,” said Cassi. “Some felt that society thought they were from a poorer class because they didn’t get their gap closed. Others felt that their gap gave them a unique look, and they liked looking different – not like everyone else. But in Africa, having a gap is a BEAUTIFUL thing. Those with gaps are considered lucky. There are some people who try to drill a space between their teeth so that they can join this lucky group of gappers.”

One of the trickiest aspects of a documentary is always the man-on-the-street interview. It’s relatively easy to get a person to speak with you when you’ve arranged an interview in advance — they know who you are, what you’re doing, have reviewed your credentials and generally know what to expect. Not so when you’re approaching a random stranger! Cassi took a unique approach to set her subjects at ease. She would show them a picture of herself before she had her own gap fixed. This made them more comfortable with me. Most gap-toothed Americans could relate to her ambivalent feelings about her own gap, but the reaction was very different when she showed her old photos to people in Kenya.

“They couldn’t believe that I closed it,” said Cassi. “I remember one guy in particular saying, ‘Cassi, why did you do it? Why did you close the gap? It was beautiful! You could marry a great guy here.’ ”

After completing Next Tooth One Mile, Cassi is working on a feature script, entitled Rice & Gravy, about a friendship between two 13-year-old loners — a third generation Japanese American girl who moves to the deep south from California after her grandparents’ experience in a WWII Japanese interment camp and an African American girl from a long line of southerners.

You can learn more about Producer/Director/Writer/DP Cassi Glisper and her movies at her website.

Event videography can be a scary undertaking. Because, unlike almost any other sort of videography, you only have one shot to get it right. There’s no way that a couple is going to agree to restage their entire wedding just because you messed up a shot, and likewise no band is going to put on a repeat performance because you forgot to prepare right. Naturally, you need to be on your A-game for any event videography job, be it a birthday party, a sports game or even a political speech. One of the best ways to make sure that you’re catching all the action that you need is to use multiple cameras. And we’ve got just the tool to help you do that, a brand new free report titled Multi-Camera Shooting for Event Videography!

Using multiple cameras lets you make sure that you capture all the action. Even if you get distracted by one thing, your spare cameras will save your neck… if you set them up right to catch what you need! This latest free report from Videomaker explains what you need to do to make sure that you use multiple cameras effectively.

What can you do to make sure you don’t miss the most important parts of the event? Multiple cameras are a great way to get all the angles, but, remember, a camera is only a piece of equipment. That means it’s only as good as the person using it. What good are multiple expensive cameras if you don’t know the first thing about using them all at once? We’ll give you the skinny so that you can juggle two or even three cameras like a professional. This report includes:

Learn:

• Why Multi-Camera Shoots?
• Camera Placement in Multi-Cam Shooting
• Using Rehearsals for Perfect Placement
• Going To Multiple Performances
• The Blair Witch Effect
• The Camera: A Scene’s Invisible Player
• Using Three Cameras When You’re Alone

Download Videomaker’s latest free report, Multi-Camera Shooting for Event Videography, to get more helpful tips about juggling multiple cameras when you’re on a tight deadline. We asked a professional event videographer with extensive concert-shooting experience to share some of his expertise, including a look at the so-called “Blair Witch” effect of event videography.  We think you’ll find some new tricks here that will help you on your path to improved video. Check it out!

This week, we have another exciting video tidbit from the Videomaker community. Videomaker’s Facebook friend Tim Heiderich is the brains behind the brand new Internet serial Assignment: Unexplained, an irreverent  satire of paranormal reality television series like Ghost Hunters or Paranormal Cops.

Goth/frat boy Chase Nightblood (Nate Scholz) has assembled a not-so-crack team of investigators to help him unravel the Fortean mysteries of aliens, chupacabras, and yetis. There’s a somewhat shady pet psychic (Helene Udy) who always seems to be working her own scam, a gadget freak who sees sinister government conspiracies in everything (Owen Reynolds), and a random girl  (Ashley Clements) that Chase is hoping to impress with his Bigfoot-finding prowess. In the first season, the team interviews experts, gets lost in the woods, and does whatever it takes to prove to the world the truth about the mythical sasquatch.

“The formula for ghost hunting shows was always the same,” says Tim. “A group of amateur sleuths scaring themselves in the woods, at abandoned hospitals and dilapidated homes, and never, ever finding a shred of the paranormal.   It’s in the style of the successful Reno 911 TV show, and features a core group of improv actors, with a format designed to feature new and upcoming comedic talent. ”

Tim’s been creating comedy videos for the web for a while, including hilarious horror spoof Normal Activity, but this is his first serial — and his most ambitious project to date. We like the show for a number of reasons.  With short episodes, sharp comedy, and easily accessible subject matter, Assignment: Unexplained is a great example of how to make videos for the web. Serious video creators will take note of the series’ use of night shooting as the team wanders through the forest in search of monsters.  It also shows how good a video can turn out with proper planning; the whole project hinged on extensive and meticulous pre-production planning, including seeking permission from the US Forest Service to shoot in state parks.

“Pre-production is the crucible that will determine whether you ever want to make another film,” says Tim. ” Until you finally begin filming, pre-production is a house of cards you’re waiting to see come tumbling down.  For example: To get insurance, you must first know what equipment you’re renting.  But before you rent your equipment, you’ll need to know which days you’re filming.  But you won’t know which days you’re filming until you secure a permit.  But you can’t get a permit if you don’t already have insurance… and around it goes.  During pre-production you have to juggle several things at once and work hard to make it all come together.”

Although Tim’s been working with video for years, he still learned a lot about how to successfully helm a big project while on set.  He advised other video directors to keep in mind the importance of delegating tasks. It not only makes for less work for any one person, but will help you build a network of professionals who all share the same passion for the project that you do. He also encouraged directors to give real thought to their distribution model before they take the plunge into creating a video series.

“Before you shoot, have a distribution plan: where will your series air?” says Tim. ” How often will new episodes come out?  How will you spread the word and drive interest to your site?  Will you submit to festivals?  Who’s going to do that job?  Without a distribution plan, you’ll have just made a very expensive home movie.”

You can see more videos at Assignment: Unexplained. You can also find follow it on Twitter @AssUnexplained and Facebook at www.facebook.com/AssignmentUnexplained.

Guest-written by Beata Dumaplin.

Don’t know how to do something? Confused by the high tech lingo in your instruction manual? No problem! Nowadays, we just grab our nearest internet capable device, plug in our favorite search engine and click the ‘go’ button. You will find links to dozens of different sites, lists and columns of instructions, but if you need a visual guide, you’re going to be looking for a video.

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Using webcams or recording from the desk are rarely our preferred locations for shoots, but a big part of that is not having great lighting at our disposal. Videssence must have come up to this instance as well and so they developed the ViewMe S and ViewMe B/B2 lighting kits to help clear things up.

The big idea here is to essentially create a three-point light setup at your desk. To do this, ViewMe provides two soft LED lights that either mount on your computer monitor or a desktop stand. Your third light should be the main overhead light, but either combination will help you look better than the glow from your monitor combined with any background light. The lights are 3000K give off no glare and give you a nice indirect light the Osram/Sylvania HF2 Narrow Stick LED lamp is the source within the fixture.

As long as you lay the long side of the light against your monitor, the setup will extend 3.5-inches, whereas if you choose the stands, the footprint will be a 4-inch diameter and 14-20-inch height. The brackets used with the ViewMe B lights use a Velcro attachment, are tiltable and should ensure that the lights stay close enough to an outlet, even if you only have a two prong outlet available. (I can think of a few student films in which my only power options were two prong sockets, where were these then!) With either of the two-light kits, you’ll need to keep the lights fairly close since they need a cable to be powered.

The 3.4W light is very efficient, has a 85CRI and should last 50,000 hours. At a price of $115 for the single ViewMe light, $195 for the ViewMe B2 and $249 for the ViewMe lights on stands, this is an incredible deal for a regular webcam user.

Please discuss on the Videomaker forums.

Videomaker has released a free guide to setting up your own green screen, How to Make a DIY Green Screen: Backgrounds and Software for Green Screen. This useful report is a one-stop guide to materials, software, backgrounds, and everything else that you need to create a do-it-yourself green screen in your own home.
Green screens offer a wide range of flexibility and creativity when it comes to making videos. From news reports to epic battle scenes, having the option of producing a chroma key green screen has made special effects and camera tricks much more accessible to the aspiring filmmaker. In fact, with the innovation of chroma key technology comes the possibility to have any subject in front of any type of background, whether it be free stock footage, a 3D animation graphic or even something else entirely that has been filmed by the movie-maker. Learning how to make a chroma key is a vital step for any aspiring director who wants to add special effects to their videos.

While green screen effects are certainly something that every person interested in video should come to master, the truth of the matter is that most professional green screen kits available on the market today are quite expensive, especially for someone who is just beginning to play around with the technology. For this reason, one great alternative to purchasing professional green screen equipment is to actually make a DIY green screen at home (or wherever one is filming). While this might sound daunting at first, the truth of the matter is that hundreds of dollars can be saved by making video equipment instead of buying it, and in the case of chroma key, almost anyone is capable of doing it.

Download your free copy of How to Make a DIY Green Screen: Backgrounds and Software for Green Screen.