In our Video Bits & Bytes segment, Mark tells us about the demise of a popular blogging site, one we're sorry to see go... And he also has news on several new camcorders that have recently passed the doors of Videomaker Central. Derek has some Video Sharing news on fora.tv, an online discussion on worldwide political, social and cultural issues ... and are you getting money back from your federal income tax? Derek found a site where you can win prize money by uploading a video on what you plan to do with your refund.
Win Money with Video About your Tax Refund
Contracts for Music Videos
Contracts are important for any production. They help your talent and crew understand what's expected from them and they help you keep your business secure. To help you with your contracts, we'll be looking at talent and location releases, employee contracts, and client agreements so that you can stay out of court.
Forming Ideas for Music Videos
Finding an idea for a music video can be one of the most rewarding parts of making a music video. To help you, we'll look at sources for ideas such as the artist's identity, musical lyrics, shock value, media, and how to use recycled ideas properly so that your music video can get started on the right foot.
Choosing a Music Video Genre
Knowing the genre of a music video helps a director clearly define the style of a video. It's important to know their details so that you can make sure your video not only matches the artist's demands but connects with your audience as well.
Lighting Wide Shots for Video Production
Wide shots establish the mood of a scene and are important to set correctly. This segment defines the goals of good lighting, gives you some tips on how to hide light fixtures, and offers some ideas for good lighting design so that your scenes can look artistic and professional.
Lighting for Night Video Shoots
It only takes a few minutes on set to realize night scenes are one of the hardest setups to master well. To help you get the best night light setup, we'll give you some tips on how to light car interiors and outdoor settings in a professional way.
Lighting Car Interiors for a Professional Looking Car Scene
Learn a few tried and true methods to lighting car interiors such as using a truck to power and tow the car, placing small, hidden lights inside the car or using a studio. These approaches can help you make your car scenes look just like professional scenes in the movies.
How to Set Up Lights to Make Product Shots Look Great
In order to master how to control product lighting with any surface, we'll give you some tips on how to place lights so that your products can look both tempting and professional.
Planning and Placing Lights for a Studio
To get the most out of your studio lighting, we'll show you factors to consider when placing lighting gear, such as lamp type, fixture type and room dimensions; to help your scenes look as good as the professional lighting in movies.
Finding and Setting Up a Studio Space
Studios can save a lot of time in a shooting schedule. In order to set up your own, we'll show you what to consider when choosing a studio space such as size, electricity, and sound so that you can make a studio that not only makes your life easier, but impresses your clients as well.
How to Make Better Titles Using Lens Flares, Motion Tracking, and Other Effects
Effects and filters can help titles look realistic and compelling. We'll show you how to use great effects like light flares, particle generators, noise, and motion tracking in a way that will make your titles look professional.
Animating Titles Using Keyframes
Animating text frame-by-frame takes a lot of time, but keyframing makes quick work of any animation. We'll show you how to use this powerful feature to creatively animate opacity, position, scale, and rotation in a way that looks eye-catching and professional.
Using Design Elements to Make Better Titles and Graphics
Today's digital environment makes it easy for graphic designers to have all the tools necessary to create visually stunning titles and graphics. We'll show you how to use typography concepts like contrast, spacing, and composition to create text that both engages your audience and moves them to action.
How To Make Titles and Bugs that Help Market your Company or Business
Opening titles and bugs present you with an excellent opportunity to create a compelling image of your company and to imprint that image into the minds of your audience. We'll show you how to use these critical graphic elements to your advantage.
How to Create Company Logos for Promotions
One of the most important graphic elements you will ever create is the logo. They're often simple in design, but seldom simple in execution. We'll help you make great logos by going over why logos are made, how to form your creative idea, and how to design each so that they are informational and memorable.
Designing Lower Thirds that Add Interest to Your Video
The most common type of graphic used to identify people and companies are lower thirds. We'll be looking at their purpose and design and take you step-by-step through their creation as well. With these basic skills and a bit of imagination, you'll soon see your work rise from the depths of the mundane to the heights of audience pleasing excellence.
Field Sound Recording with Lavalier and Shotgun Microphones
Audio plays many roles in a documentary. To help you make your audio sound great, we'll be looking at the proper ways to use microphones, how to monitor sound, and lastly, how to set up and operate field mixers. With this kind of knowledge you'll be able to make sure your audio is always sounding its best.
4 Common Lighting Setups for Professional Video
Though great lighting does require some artistic prowess, even the first-time video enthusiast can get great results. To help you make professional looking lighting, we'll show you the steps everyone should take for a good lighting, how to place lights and equipment in outdoor settings, and proper 4-point, 2-point, and even 1-point lighting setups.
Liven Up Your Documentary by Capturing B-Roll
Good B-roll helps you keep a good pace, cover mistakes, and dive even deeper into your story. To make sure your story has all of that, we'll go over some tips on how to direct people to act and show you how to cover live events in a way that makes your documentary interesting and informative.
Getting the Best Answers in any Documentary Interview
With a little preparation and knowledge, interviews can actually be one of the most thrilling portions of making a documentary. To help you prepare, we show you what to include when briefing your talent, how to ask quality questions, and how to respond to questions that will get you the best answers from your interview.
How to Set Up Lights and Microphones for Documentary Interviews
To help you get started with your documentary interviews, we show you the equipment you'll need, give you some tips on making a room look good, tell you what you should include in your talent releases, and provide you with some tips to assure that your subject looks great on screen.
