What’s Your Video Style? Take this quiz for fun and see what style of video best suits your personality. Agree or disagree with your results? Tell us why below!

1) What’s your Favorite thing about putting together a video?

A) I like working in a nice quiet studio, where I can devote all my attention to my work.

B) I like working with video tools and equipment. I’m a real hardware fanatic!

C) I like working with people. They fascinate me!

D) I like creating an ambiance, something that will really draw the audience into the movie!

E) I like the action. I’m not happy unless I’m in the center of the storm!

F) I like the chance to be creative, to experiment with new ideas!

2) What’s the most important thing you look for when you watch a video?

A) I look to see how well it’s technically put together. I appreciate good craftsmanship.

B) It has to look good! People aren’t going to watch it if it looks like it was made by amateurs.

C) I like a good story, something to really make me care about the people on the screen.

D) A good soundtrack! A movie is boring if it doesn’t have a some tunes!

E) I want to see real people in real situations! I want to see how things really happened.

F) Did it teach me something new? I always want to add to my knowledge!

3) If you could pick anyplace in the world to shoot a video, would you choose to shoot:

A) The Great Barrier Reef in Australia?

B) The Roman Catacombs in Italy?

C) The Great Pyramids of Egypt?

D) The Oktoberfest Celebration in Germany?

E) The Running of the Bulls in Spain?
F) Bodie Ghost Town in California?

4) How would you describe yourself?

A) Meticulous and Logical!

B) Dark and Mysterious!

C) An Avid Story-teller!

D) Epic, Bigger than Life!

E) A Romantic at Heart!
F) Curious and Restless!

5) What’s your Biggest Reward in Making Video?

A) The Satisfaction of a Job Well Done.

B) The Appreciation of an Audience

C) Making a difference in the way people see the world.

D) The Chance to do Something Challenging and Creative

E) Seeing People’s Faces when they see themselves in your video

F) Seeing your Work on the Big Screen.

If you answered mostly A, you are an EDITOR. Shooting video is fun, but you have a real appreciation for the craft and artistry that comes afterward. You know that every snip and splice has the potential to make a story come to life, and there’s nothing you like better than turning that raw footage into something compelling.

If you answered mostly B, you are a LIGHTING FANATIC. You know that a video isn’t worth anything if you can’t tell what’s going on in it. Your standards for lighting are strict and your videos benefit from your attention to detail. Whether it’s creating a noir atmosphere with shadows or illuminating an interview subject, you know that lighting is key to interesting, engrossing videos. You’re always up to meet the challenges that other videographers forget to prepare for.

If you answered mostly C, you are a DOCUMENTARIAN. You love story telling and you can find the story in anything. Whether it’s something as small and silly as a nature film about salamanders or as heart-felt and personal as a family biography, you’re aces at finding those telling moments that illustrate the big picture. You love exploring human drama and you’re not shy about capturing the best – and worst– with your camera.

If you answered mostly D, you are a SOUND FANATIC. You’re the person people turn to when they need to capture the soft sounds of birdsong or muffle out the interrupting din from the nearby highway, because you understand how important sound is. When you do your job right, the results are practically invisible. Audiences may not realize why they like your videos, that your perfectly-synced sound effects and carefully selected music are what’s pulling them in, but you know the secret. You’re always up to meet the challenges that other videographers forget to prepare for.

If you answered mostly E, you are an EVENT VIDEOGRAPHER. You’re a daredevil; you like being right in the middle of the action. You don’t shirk from a challenge and you’re not afraid to take on assignments where you only have one shot to get it right – weddings, celebrations, speeches, anything where there’s a vortex of activity, you’ll be there with your camera in hand. Action is your watchword!

If you answered mostly F, you are a JACK OF ALL TRADES. You’re always exploring, always searching for something new. You never accept that you’ve learned enough, and you’re always striving to improve your video-making skills. Your creativity and inquisitiveness show through in your videos, which are continuously changing and maturing.

For tips and tricks with all sorts of video, join Videomaker‘s  eNews electronic newsletter, chock full of the info and advice you crave, it’s just what you need to satisfy that nagging curiosity.

Once a new editor has learned the basics of editing video, there are a handful of tools that they should learn as they advance their skills. Oftentimes simple to grasp tools get left behind in favor of more flashy effects and filters. Today I want to talk about a couple of easy tools that will improve the overall polish of your video: the vectorscope and waveform monitor. While clicking around your editing software, you may have stumbled across these screens and quickly clicked away, intimidated by their abstract appearance. Without having any background information about what you’re seeing, understanding what these tools mean can be difficult, but as any professional will tell you, it’s essential to look over your video with these monitors open before outputting a final product. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re always interested in stories of up-and-coming indie movie projects.  One such project that caught our eye was  Sledgehammer, an Aliens-inspired science fiction film about a group of space marines marooned on a distant planet full of hostile monsters. The design of the monster was what really did it for me. The concept art, by 3D artist Wesley Griffith (who also worked on Dan Trachtenberg’s Portal: No Escape) shows a nasty spiny insectoid, something like a giant sand flea, sure to inspire the heebie jeebies in any arachnophobe.  Science fiction is one of the most difficult genres in independent film, for obvious reasons:  Science fiction means special effects and special effects cost money! So we had to know, how do you make a critter like that on a budget?

The man behind Sledgehammer is 15 year veteran 3D video game artist Frank Silas, who has worked with  Rockstar Games and Activision Blizzard; he previously directed the award-winning short film Box on a shoestring budget of $2000, but Sledgehammer promises to be a more ambitious special effects extravaganza.  He’s using Kickstarter to raise the money to make this film a reality.

Frank spoke to Videomaker about the challenges of putting together an independent science fiction movie, sharing some tips about finding funding, recruiting actors and creating special effects on a tight budget. Aspiring sci fi directors, take note!

VM: What have you learned from working on Sledgehammer?

FS: I learned about being an Executive Producer. If you are able to bring in active investors at the target amounts you need per film then you can make any film you want. That’s the rub, because those two things are directly proportional. So in most cases you will not be able to make exactly the film you want. I’ve learned to be detached from the details just as long as I like the outcome. I write the script that I want to write, then we shoot what we are able to shoot based on locations, crew, cast etc. Then we edit what we have to turn that into the best possible film it can be. Even in post production it depends on how many people or how much time we can put on to it, but that keeps each stage of the process an adventure, somewhat experimental which frees me to not only shoot more films, but to enjoy the work more. I could see the struggles of other directors who have a crystal clear vision that they want reproduced from their mind’s eye with complete fidelity. I don’t want to struggle against the film making process. I want to enjoy it and I want my crew to enjoy it.

VM: Besides Kickstarter, what other alternative funding options have you explored?

FS: I brought on a couple of friends to help me pay for the live action shoot. That’s what allowed us to shoot the film in the first place. It’s tough to be an Executive Producer on your own film as a Director. Our purpose on Kickstarter.com is to raise funding to create the visual effects for the film. Our studio normally shoots DSLR on Cannon 5D Mark ii and Cannon 7D. With this film we were able to get our hands on a RED Epic from one of the same companies that supplied RED Epics for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus. So now we need to do vfx at a very high resolution, which means insurmountable render times unless we acquire the proper software and hardware tools to deal with that.

VM: What advice would you give to other aspiring filmmakers?

FS: The advice I would give to other film makers working on low and micro-budget films is to be a bit more Depak Chopra about it. Your careers will last longer and so will your crews. As for the Sci Fi Film aspect, you’re really going to need to love it. It is the most difficult kind of film to do. It also takes the longest amount of time to make. It cost more than any other type of film to produce, but if you can hit a home run there…those fans are forever. I know, I am a sci fi fan thanks to George Lucas, Ridley Scott, and James Cameron.  Sci Fi raised me.

VM: How did you find the right actors for Sledgehammer?

FS: We screened over 30 actors to discover the cast we have on Sledgehammer! We were very selective about those 30. I promised all of the backers of our Kickstarter to tell them first exactly how we found the actors and what we were looking for. We’ll even show you the process we went through to get them ready in the feature length documentary we are shooting on the making of Sledgehammer, provided our Kickstarter is successful!

VM: What was your idea for how the alien should look? How do you build a good alien when you’re on a budget?

FS: Building an alien on a budget really comes down to what you are trying to accomplish with that character in your film. For us, we knew that there wasn’t just going to be one alien and since I’m a 3D Artist with 3D Artist friends creating our aliens in 3D just made sense. Not everyone can do that on a budget, but we already had that background coming into this production.

With the alien design, I wanted to create something that people have not seen before. It needed to look believable, but not quite like anything else. I call it a cross between JJ Abrams, Starship Troopers, and Avatar. I want the audience to feel scared, intimidated, grossed out when they see it. The thing is the size of a mini-van. Here’s a spoiler, that’s not the only monster in our movie.

To learn more or support Sledgehammer, check out the Sledgehammer Kickstarter page.

Last week we looked at one new tool for tidying up your videos in post-production.  The Fix it in Post DVD is Videomaker’s answer to the eternal question, “Oh no, this footage is messed up! What do I do now?”  We like to think that the Fix it in Post DVD will help answer any post-production mess that you could encounter, from washed out colors to shaky camera work.

But we know that’s not really the case: There’s always going to be some new problem that you’ve never encountered before, that we didn’t have the time or foresight to cover.  What then?  What if you need more help?

We were worried about just that situation, so we put our heads together and came up with something brilliant. It’s the Fix it in Post Ultimate Toolkit.  It’s got all the same great info about fixing static-muddled audio, ramping up bland colors, deinterlacnig footage, steadying nausea-inducing shakes, changing frame rates,  and subtly erasing unwanted objects  — plus a ton more that we weren’t able to cram onto a single DVD. This is the package for when you come back with footage that you just know will need A LOT of help.  It’s the big guns of post-production fix-its. In fact, it’s more than that. It’s the big TANK of post-production fix-its.

The Fix it in Post Ultimate Toolkit has all the best goodies for assuaging your post-production worries:

Edit Like the Pros #1 (eDoc)

Get your act together! Everyone wants to “edit like a pro”. But what does that really mean? Learn how to use your space and time effectively.

Edit Like the Pros #2 (eDoc)

Beginning editors concentrate on how to do the tasks of editing well. The professionals change their perspective. Learn how to shift your perspective from simply “how to do things” to how things should be done.

Fix It In Post (eDoc)

If the footage you just shot has problems, all is not lost. You can fix it! Ever get a sinking feeling when you review your footage and discover problems? Maybe it’s a sound you do not want or a camera shot that was too jittery. A lot of things go overlooked while shooting, only to show up as problems during the editing process. The good news is that your footage is probably salvageable with the proper techniques.

Scoping Out Your Video (eDoc)

Many editing software programs offer a variety of colorful scopes to help enhance the hue, color, and brilliance, among other editing tweaks. But how do they work?

Fix it in Post (DVD)

This DVD covers all the constant bugaboos of video creators: Washed-out color, shaky camera work, hisses and hums and annoying electrical noises, even the dreaded visible boom mic. But the worst part? No matter how careful you are, you’re sure to meet them time and again over the course of your video career. Learn how to stop them! Adobe software is used as demonstration software, but this DVD teaches theory and techniques that can be used in most current editing programs.

Rotoscoping  (Multimedia)

Do you want to make your hero fly? Stand your talent behind a virtual news desk? There’s nothing you can’t do with the right tools and skill-set. This tutorial teaches you how to realistically do this using rotoscoping tricks with Adobe After Effects.

Color Correction (VOD)

We look at how to read color scopes and monitors, use color correction tools to fix your footage and use secondary color correction to make sure your footage looks its best.

Compression Connection (Multimedia)

If you want your video to sound professional, you need to use compressors. This tutorial explains the process and how to compress your audio for the best sound results. This is a segment from Editing, part of our popular multimedia tutorial DVD-ROM series.

Color Correction 101 (eDoc)

A few simple steps can save an improperly-shot scene or improve one that is less than brilliant.

Color Correction 201 (eDoc)

Ever want to enhance a washed-out sky or push the color on a less-than-vibrant hill of grass? This eDoc covers working with Secondary Color Correction aspects such as Filters, Style and Color Enhancement.

Not to toot our own horn, but we’re really happy to finally be able to offer this toolkit.  Fix it in Post DVD is a great tool, but, if you’re like me, you know that you need a lot of post production help.  Some video creators have a sharp eye for detail; they like to carefully and meticulously dot every i and cross every t. If that’s your personality, you’ll still make some mistakes — it’s inevitable — but you’ll be able to catch most of them before you make them.  But if you’re a shoot-from-the-hip rebel who’s more attuned to worrying about the big picture…well, you might need a little extra help in post-production.  (Don’t feel bad if that sounds like you — I always get so excited during shooting that I end up with a bunch of problems that need fixing in post!)

Learn more about the Fix it in Post Ultimate Toolkit.

You know why filmmakers and videographers always say “We’ll fix it in post“? Because there are some problems that you can’t avoid no matter how many years of experience you have behind the camera.

You probably met these unwelcome guests the first time that you shot any video footage. And maybe you shrugged your shoulders and thought: Well, I’m just a beginner. I’ll learn to avoid these problems soon enough. That works for a lot of the problems you encounter in video production — you eventually develop a “videographer’s instinct” for recognizing violations

of the 180 degree rule and other video offenses before they happen — but these six tough customers never seem to go away. Why not? Well, because half the time they’re due to factors beyond your control. Sometimes you can’t even recognize that there’s a problem until after you see the footage. In any event, these are the little monsters that you can only defeat in post production.

1) Garish or Washed-Out Colors — Ugh! Lurid colors that make a somber scene look like a circus show! Bland, washed-out hues that make a big comedy sequence look like a funeral march! Who needs these?

2) Interlaced Footage — It’s great for broadcast convenience, but now your video has those tell-tale interlacing “lines” that will give your audience a real headache.

3) Shaky Footage — Jostling the camera a little bit can give your video a feeling of gritty realism, like in “Cloverfield” or “The Blair Witch Project.” But too much and no one will be able to tell what’s going on!

4) Weird Electrical Noises – What’s that sound? Surely you were shooting in a silent room, right? Then how can it be that your footage is full of strange hums and buzzes? You might not hear it, but your equipment can pick up annoying frequencies thatyou might miss.

5) Incorrect Frame Rates — Here’s one you probably won’t even think about until it’s too late! When you have to splice your footage together and you suddenly realize they’ve been shot at two different frame rates… that’s always annoying.

6) Unwanted Objects — What’s that boom mic doing there? You’ve seen this goof in even professional Hollywood productions, so you know it’s easy to miss when you’re behind the camera.

There’s probably no stronger argument for why we have post production than that list. Those are certainly some of the most common gripes that we hear from video creators who’re frustrated that they keep finding these “mistakes” in their footage, even after they thought they had carefully sidestepped them. When that happens, all you can say is: Thank goodness for post-production! To learn more about these nasty issues and how to fix them, check out Videomaker’s new Fix it in Post DVD.