We live in an age were most every family in America owns a video camera and editing software, even if they never sought out either. Anyone with an internet connection can put their video online where it can be seen by everyone on the planet. The web has given anyone who wants it, access to far more information than any film school alone can provide. The world of video production has entered a golden age. There are no more excuses not to pursue whatever goals you hope to achieve with video.

In the late ’90s, when the average middle-class American could purchase video editing software to run on the home computer they already owned, it was clear that we were entering a new era of video production. Consumer camcorders were already common, but with non-linear editors entering people’s homes, so too, was a quality of production reserved only for professionals or those willing to spend thousands on uni-tasking equipment.

Consumer video production stayed at that point for about 10 years, as individuals shot SD footage on their home camcorders and edited on their PC or Mac.  In the last few years, however, we’ve seen a surge forward in the process of consumer level video production. It’s a result of computers and cameras getting cheaper, and moving into every electronic device in the home.

When The Blair Witch Project came out, people were amazed that someone could shoot an entire film that would be released world wide, on a simple consumer camcorder. Today, an iPhone 4S could easily take better quality video and cost significantly less. The only reason, I believe, that we haven’t seen a nationally released film shot entirely on a smartphone yet is simply because an upgrade in picture quality and functionality can be purchased for under a thousand dollars.

It’s not just the cost of quality cameras and accessibility of editing software that is bringing good looking video to the masses, it’s also the size. It turns out that a fluid-head tripod capable of supporting a 3lb camcorder doesn’t cost a lot of money. The same can be said about slider dollies, jibs, and even stabilizers.

Of course some equipment is as pricey as it’s ever been. Lights and microphones, for example, don’t seem to be getting any cheaper, but we live in the age of the internet. It’s much easier to learn from others about how to build your own lighting rig, or even record studio quality ADR straight into your laptop or iPad.

Cameras and editing systems are getting cheaper by the day, and the free flow of information on the internet is making it easier than ever to break into video production. As a result, Hollywood is losing its hold on the film industry, which is a good thing for both consumers and producers of great video.

Visit the Videomaker headquarters in Chico, Calif. for three days of hands-on training. In February 24-26, we’ll instruct you behind the camera or on the computer with the Basics of Video Production or Intensive Editing Workshop. Take the opportunity to get expert advice, techniques from our team, then, actually put it in practice.

The Basics of Video Production Workshop gives the beginning videographer a huge leap into the biggest areas of production – pre-planning, post production, shooting and lighting techniques. You’ll be using our equipment and teaming up with others that are learning just like you.

The Intensive Editing Workshop is just that, intensive. We’ll be teaching with Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 on HP EliteBook 8760w workstations. Three days of in-your-face editing… well, maybe side by side is more like it, but you’ll get details on one of the most widely used editing software programs and plenty of time to answer your questions.

We’ve hosted people from across the continent here at Videomaker, so we may be your connection to Chico too. Space is limited, so if it’s too late for this month or the subject matter doesn’t float your boat, consider our other workshops, we are planning many more this year so check our schedule.

Last week, we looked at what fair use ISN’T.  So now let’s look at what it is.

Basically, fair use depends on a few factors, most importantly (1) the amount of material you copy from the original work,  (2) your purpose in using that material, (3) the nature of the work that you’re copying, and (4) the effect that your copying has on the original art.

(1) The amount of material you copy from the original work –For the first factor, you are generally allowed to use snippets of a work as long as you don’t appropriate the “heart and soul” of the work…what, exactly, that means is open to some debate. As an example, if you grab a few seconds from another film, you’re probably in the clear. However, you would probably not get away with including the entirety of that film in your own project. How much is too much? That’s different in every case, so just try to exercise some common sense.

(2) Your purpose in using that material — Fair Use allows you to make use of a pre-existing artistic work for purposes of education, training, news reporting, scientific research, critique or commentary, or parody. Think of the last time you watched critic review a movie on television. It probably included a short clip from the movie being reviewed, right? Likewise, you might have been in a classroom lecture where the teacher will show video clips to illustrate some point or other. These are other examples of situations that are more likely to be deemed Fair Use.

(3) The nature of the work that you’re copying — Certain sorts of material are more likely to fall under the fair use exception – for example, clips from non-fiction works. We generally agree that it’s a good thing for the public to be well-informed on history, so would it be in the public interest for a historical video – like, say, the Zapruder film of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination – to be blocked from public view because someone claimed copyright ownership? (In fact, Time magazine did make such a claim after a history book used stills from the film as illustrations. They didn’t prevail.)

(4) The effect that copying has on the original art — Finally, let’s look at the effect on the original work. Remember that copyright law exists in theory so that an artist can profit from his own hard work without someone else undermining him. Thus your work can’t be so similar that people would start buying yours instead of the original. One sticking point for many is that fair use depends a lot on intentions and motivations. For example, let’s pretend that I wrote a parody song making fun of Lady Gaga’s latest song by changing the lyrics to be about cheeseburgers. It’s fine if people listen to my song and think, “Hey! This song makes a good point. Its sharp and biting satirical message has made me realize that Lady Gaga is a hack and I will henceforth refuse to purchase her music!” If Lady Gaga’s sales start to drop as a result, she can’t sue me because my ridicule was too effective. HOWEVER, I could get in trouble if people listen to my parody and think, “Hey! This song is pretty good! It’s pretty much like Lady Gaga, so instead of buying the original song from her, I’ll just buy this parody instead.” A parody work that hurts the original artist by becoming a substitute for their work will most likely not qualify for a fair use exception.

Again, acknowledging that you don’t own the original artistic work, giving credit to the original artist or using a work without any intention to profit will often encourage an original artist to let you use his work, but it does not necessarily mean that your work will fall under fair use.

If you really want to be sure you’re in the clear when it comes to copyright with your video project, you owe it to yourself to check out Videomaker’s Archival Storytelling book.  It breaks down all the elements of copyright, so that you’ll know exactly what you can get away with when you need to use footage from another person’s work.

So you want to make a documentary? We’ve all heard that before.  Just as we know that all the greatest writers are supposedly too busy hanging out in coffee shops and bemoaning the difficulties of writing to actually write, all the greatest documentarians are too busy worrying about where to start to actually, well, start.  When I was a kid, I used to love watching nature documentaries on PBS, all about the ocean floor or the rain forest or, especially, dinosaurs.  For years, though, I thought that a documentary HAD to be about some exotic faraway locale, that you had to travel to, say, the Gobi Desert or the Marianas trench, and that they always had to be about weird animals.  You might have the same problem, you’re too convinced that documentaries have to be sprawling, complicated affairs to realize that they’re actually pretty simple.  All you have to do it break it down!

Yup, it’s simple if you just break down the documentary process.  For example, take a look at Videomaker’s premium documentary series, now available to buy as one complete set at a $60 discount.  This DVD series divides up the daunting documentary process into four tidy little segments, so that you won’t get too overwhelmed.   All you need to worry about are four little things:

1) Documentary Storytelling: There’s good fodder for a stellar documentary anywhere.  Maybe you know a person with an unusual story to tell or maybe there’s a local landmark that you’ve always been curious about. Some of the most compelling documentaries come from personal stories or family histories, or dramas that, in the grand scheme of things, might not really be that dramatic. The incidents might be small or mundane, but if they communicate bigger, universal themes, they can touch people in ways that more polished but less intimate documentaries fail to do. For example, “The King of Kong” is a documentary about one man’s fight to become the world champion at the video game Donkey Kong. Most people would dismiss that as a silly goal, but the filmmakers were able to use his quest to tell a universal story about every man’s desire to leave his mark on the world.  This DVD shows you how to find the deeper meaning in even ordinary events and how to determine whether there’s enough meat in a story to be worth your time as a documentarian.

2) Documentary Funding: Yeah, so we’ve already established that you don’t have the budget to go down the Amazon. Unfortunately, even a modest documentary needs some budget and you don’t want to be stuck spinning your wheels because you can’t think of a way to get your hands on some cash.  Well, before you resort to robbing a bank, pulling off a daring international diamond heist, or something equally drastic (Pro tip: Don’t do that!), you should probably take a look at this DVD. Documentary Funding gives you helpful, practical and, above all, proven suggestions to get some cold hard cash to back up your documentary dreams. This feature looks at finding sources for funds, writing a thorough prospectus, knowing the details of an accurate budget sheet, organizing a successful fundraiser, editing a demo reel that impresses, and presenting the techniques of an effective pitch.

3) Documentary Equipment and Crew: Remember how we said you’d need money to shoot your documentary? Well, here’s where that comes into play. You may be able to cajole some friends into helping you out and you may be able to borrow your neighbor’s old camcorder for free… but let’s face it. You know you get what you pay for when you rely on the kindness of strangers (and friends).  If you’re going to make a documentary, make it good.  Cutting on necessary expenses always impacts the result and not in a good way. This DVD offers you tips on how to choose cameras, audio gear, lighting gear and accessories, and tips to finding and working with a professional crew. These tips will get you on your way to making a great documentary.

4) The Documentary  Shoot: And now that you’ve got all that preliminary planning and pre-planning and pre-pre-planning out of the way, it’s time to go out on the actual shoot.  This is where it all counts. The shoot is probably the most fun part of making the documentary, because this is where you really get to see your vision come together.  If you picked a good subject, you should feel re-newed excitement when you revisit the stories that originally sold you on it.  Conducting insightful interviews, setting up good lighting and audio, and getting location access are all part of the process here!

So there you go, the entire documentary process, all in four easy-to-digest chunks.  Now you better start filming, because, when you watch these DVDs,  you’ll no longer  have the excuse that you don’t know how to start.

Much like the rest of the technology world, Lexar announced a bevy of new SD memory cards at CES today and the theme was speed. Lexar has managed to achieve speeds of up to 60MBps or 90MBps with their line of SD cards. This translates to much faster read and write times so that when you’re done shooting it should take less than 15 minutes to dump an entire 64 GB card to your computer. Though it won’t speed up your camera (most cameras don’t require transfer speeds this high, the speed upgrade should help the card safely write sustained high definition data – something any shooter can appreciate.

The new cards from Lexar use its UHS-I interface for faster transfer speeds, but will still work in any SD card slot. Right now, their fastest speeds are found in their 64 GB card, which can acheive a 600X speed, but Lexar also announced a new 128 GB 400X speed card due in April. Though this is fast for SD cards, Lexar has CF cards that remain even faster than the 600X speeds that were just announced. Lexar’s 128 GB CF card can hit speeds up to 100oX or 150MBps. What remains to be seen is if these cards will come with the new WiFi standard set by the SD Association. If so, they may be a more valuable buy since many SD cards can break down rather quickly when placed in and out of a camera frequently. Another interesting point to consider is if the new wireless standard might also be faster than offloading a card via a USB, FireWire, or eSATA card reader. If so, that could make the speeds of these cards slightly less valuable. Though they would be helpful when recording to a large uncompressed video format. The one nice part about these cards is that they are more than likely already capable of being used in 4K camcorders due to their large size and fast write speeds. If so, this may be a good card to think about adding to your growing video arsenal.

The 600X cards cost $75 for 16GB, $125 for 32GB, and $270 for 64GB. The 400X cards cost $35 for 8GB, $50 for 16GB, $80 for 32GB, $180 for 64GB, and $300 for 128GB.