For my final week of my exploration of Audio & Video Production, I filmed & edited the mini-documentary I had planned last week.

Reading & Writing: A Reflection on My Practice

To wrap up my study of Tom Schoreppel’s book The Bare Bones Course for Film and Video I read his final words on page 141. In these, he explains that all art is subjective, but the basic principles that he wrote about and that I have studied in the last 6 weeks are what is known to work.

Since I was already accustomed to audio & video production, this course served more of a practice than a learning experience. I believe that I have improved my pre-production process and therefore the productions go much more smoothly than they had in the past.

However, I would like to take Schoreppel’s advice and begin to explore “going all artsy-craftsy” – I want to create a distinctive creative tone that is a part of my future works that goes beyond the basics. I was especially inspired to do so because of the subject of my mini-doc and close friend (seen below). Like her, I want to be more confident in my creativity and use it to change the world for the better.

Research to Inform: J & L Cuts

In editing, J and L cuts make for a smoother transition from one image to the next by overlapping the audio from the previous or following shot.

In this VICE video, there is the first L-cut at 0:22 when the images break away from the journalist to shots of the crowd while he is still speaking. At 15:12, there is an example of a J-cut, where the images continue to be shots of the city streets as the journalist begins to speak, then cuts to him speaking shortly after. I think these cuts make the story flow smoothly with imagery. Of course, it also serves to cover-up any cuts during the standup that they made.

These cuts are also effective in transitioning between scenes. In this clip from Shawshank Redemption (1994) at 1:36 when the warden is looking through the hole you can begin to hear sirens before the road and the police cars are shown. This is a very common type of edit to bridge between connection events – in this case they discovered his escape, so police cars were dispatched.

Create: Choose Your Battle

For my mini-doc I interviewed Juliet Royster about her nonprofit called Choose Your Battle that sponsors the education of young Rwandans. There were a few road bumps that I had to go through with the production, but overall I think it turned out very well. I hope you enjoy!

This week I practiced my filming and editing skills by creating a how-to video. In the spirit of my YouTube channel, I decided to make a how-to based on habits and productivity.

Reading & Writing: Film Sequence

In preparation for the filming of the video, I read that chapters about basic sequence and screen direction from Tom Schroeppel’s Bare Bones Camera Course For Film And Video.

A basic sequence in video is composed of a combination of wide/establishing shots, medium shots, close-ups, and cutaways. Whenever a cut is made the difference between the first and the second should be both in angle and size so that it is not mistaken as a jump cut. Schroeppel explains that “each new shot should, if at all possible, involve a change in both image size and camera angle” (52).

Cuts should also be on the action, meaning that an action is continued smoothly throughout the two shots. Clean entrances and exits are also important to give the viewer some orientation for the scene.

Screen direction mostly concerns the 180 degree rule – the camera should never “cross the line”. If the camera moves past the 180 degree line that it established it can cause confusion for the viewer. If this is unavoidable, the editor can use a cutaway to lessen the confusion.

Research to Inform: Continuity Editing

To be sure that I understand continuity editing in practice, I looked at a few scenes from my favorite films to see how they shot the same action in multiple angles to make smooth cuts.

This scene from The Handmaiden (2016) begins with one long, continuous shot but goes on to have several cuts – all of which are smooth and invisible to those who aren’t looking for them. First there is the cutaway/POV shot of her looking a the portrait. When she gets to the hall between her bed and the lady’s bedroom, there are multiple angles of the same conversation – one from her bed, another in the hall, and another outside the house looking through the window. The scene closes with a cut on action when she hears a noise as she’s peeking to the lady’s bedroom. For all of these cuts, the angle and distance from the subjects vary, making it smooth and appealing.

The music video for Anna by Will Butler is one of my favorites, partially due to the upbeat and constantly-moving editing. The video is constantly in motion – almost every cut is a cut on action so you barley even notice that the angle has changed. It is almost as if it is one long take until the 1:11 mark since the cuts are so seamless. When the sailors and Emma Stone begin to dance, the cuts are more obvious, but it is cut so that the dance is continuing so again it is smooth. There is even an invisible cut at 3:15.

A very common use of continuity editing in video is during conversations. In these Arrested Development scenes the camera changes angles (almost all of them “over the shoulder”) quite a bit, but it is such a natural convention at this point that it is not disorienting to the viewer at all. Something to note here is that the editors had quite a bit of wiggle room when cutting these scenes since there were many cutaway shots of the many family members.

Create: How To Form Habits and Reach Your Goals

In order to make this video match the theme of my YouTube channel, I did have to bend the assignment’s rules a bit. Instead of a single action with multiple angles over many takes, I decided to do many actions on a few takes, giving each action at least 2 angles and cutting on action, and having clean entrances/exits whenever possible.

While I am not 100% happy with my audio quality, considering I had to create this in one day (one of my goats was in labor and gave birth this weekend!), I am still content with the result. I think it is a decent explanation of the content of the book I am summarizing and I hope it gives value to mu subscribers!

This week I reviewed the basics of visual composition and pre-production to prepare for the creation of my own Montage about my family’s farm, Fern’s Meadow.

Reading & Writing: The Basics of Composition

The first research I did to review the basics of composition was from The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video by Tom Schroppel. While I knew almost all of the content he covered since this was the first book I read in my undergraduate education, it was still a decent reminder (and a great text for those who don’t know) about the basics of cameras, composition, camera moves, and montages. While his notes on exposure, temperature, ISO, lenses, depth of field, rule of thirds, balance, angles, frames, leading lines, and backgrounds were mostly old knowledge, I did take note of his definition of montages and the fact that every shot should be clearly different from the one before it.

I also looked at the article “Video Pre-Production Planning Checklist” by Jimm Fox. This article outlines the steps that should be taken for each video project, beginning with a clearly defined objective, defining your audience, and your key messages, then going on to create a treatment, storyboard, and schedule/production plan. This coming montage shoot will require each of these steps since it will be serving as a promotional video for my family farm.

Finally I read Mark R Robertson’s article “Storyboarding Tips: How to Plan & Visualize Your Next Video”. In this article he outlined the fact that storyboards are a necessary part of the production process since they serve as a blueprint for your video, but you shouldn’t worry about being artistic as long as the idea gets across. It should not only include visualizations, but technical details, content, and verbal delivery for each shot as well.

Research to Inform: Composition Done Right

Next I looked to some of my favorite videos to assess how they use the basic principles of composition successfully.

This is a subtle, yet interesting use of “frames within frames”. A frame within a frame is when the subject of the shot is enclosed by a natural frame – whether than be a door, tree branches, windows, arches, or others. In this scene of Kill Bill: Vol. I there are two frames within frames – one that encloses Uma Thurman and another that encloses the daughter of the woman who was killed. Tarantino also uses angles to show the difference of power, the camera is looking down on the girl, showing how vulnerable and scared she is in that moment.

This might be my favorite music video just because of how visually appealing it is. There are many elements of composition used in this, but one of the most prominent is the constant use of the rule of thirds. Almost every shot aligns where the subject is taking up either 1/3 or 2/3 of the grid. When it isn’t, the subject is is much more prominent (like the rose in the glass or when Grimes is in the tub of….tar? black paint?).

I love Samsara for the same reason as the previous video – every shot is gorgeous and so well-composed. Many of the shots in this documentary have an interesting use of angles for perspective. The entire point of this documentary is to show cultures, practices, and rituals from different perspectives and since there is not one word of dialogue, the camera has to do all of the talking (and it does such a good job at it)! In this trailer, the shots at 0:22, 0:27, and 0:49 especially stand out.

Finally, I found a favorite montage of mine – the trailer for Park Chan Wook’s film The Handmaiden. There is such a large variety of shots that do an incredible job of portraying the tone of the film. After watching these videos, I was full of creative energy and ready to get creating!

Create: Montage Pre-Production

My first step in the pre-production process was to practice the basics of composition. The this first document I compiled shots from my location shoot that followed guidelines for composition rules. I am not super proud of the photos themselves since I could only take about 3 hours of being outdoors since it was freezing but I am feeling more confident about what I will do for when I film my montage.

I also completed a pre-production planning document that included a creative brief, notes, a script, and my storyboard. Now that I have everything mapped out I am feeling confident about filming and editing my montage!

This week I used my production plan to record, edit, and upload the first episode of my podcast, Planning Ahead. Before I created the podcast I still had to do more research into audio recording and good uses of audio.

Reading & Writing: Audio Recording & Editing

I began my research with an article on 7 Secrets for Getting Pro-Sounding Vocals on Home Recordings. This article helped me come up with some ideas for getting good sound since I am in the process of moving and live in a not-so-optimal sound recording environment.

I took the articles advice to “hack my bedroom” by using pillows, blankets, mattresses ect. to create a reverb-free space. I ended up going into the corner of an empty room and creating a box with couch cushions around me and a heavy blanket covering my head. It wasn’t the most comfortable setup, but it did fine. I also took heed of the advice to get the right mic levels (just under peaking) by testing different distances and angles.

The next article I read was Sound Advice: Editing for Audio and Video. This article gave some good advice about making L and J-cuts to smooth out audio transitions, collecting plenty of B-roll AND B-audio, and using EQ plugins to enhance the sound’s quality.

Research to Inform: Effective Audio

Next I looked at some of my favorite creators and assessed how they use sound to effectively tell a story, set the tone, and elicit some laughs.

Internet Historian is a YouTuber known for his in-depth research, stellar storytelling, and, most of all, his visuals and editing. The fact that he composed and animated this entire 46 minute video is impressive enough, but his use of sound puts the icing on top. He adds music, sound effects, and uses archival audio to perfectly compliment his voiceovers.

ContraPoints is another well-researched YouTuber who does deep dives into social issues from a very educated, but entertaining, stance. She uses sound effects, but mostly music, to emphasize her points and make each video an interesting audio experience. What I think makes this stand out is how this content can be taken either audio-only or as a group and still be just as entertaining. Her voice is also soothing yet compelling – so much so that you can spend an hour and a half listening to her talk without getting bored.

Sushi Ramen (Riku) is a Japanese YouTuber who does lighthearted pranks and crazy experiments. His videos are edited to a different pace every time depending on the comedic timing. His use of SFX and music make this (and every video of his) hilarious.

Micarah Tewers is a very talented seamstress & fashion designer who has a chaotic, yet wholesome, vlogging channel. For all of her videos the audio quality is not excellent (I believe it is all recorded on her phone or laptop), but it goes to show that you do not need stellar equipment or circumstances to tell a compelling story. While the audio cuts are a bit jagged, it is difficult to notice unless you are specifically looking for them since the fast-paced storytelling and interesting content almost distracts you.

Create: Planning Ahead Episode #1

After finishing my research and writing my script, I was ready to record my first episode! Unfortunately I was unable to get an interviewee in time for the first episode, but I think I was able to make a nice establishing episode nonetheless. I also have a few interviews lined up for future episodes!

I recorded this episode using my Blue Yeti Microphone on cardioid mode in my little couch-cushion/blanket fort and I edited it in Adobe Audition. Let me know what you think!

This week I am diving into an exploration and further practice of audio and video design. The first project I am undertaking is the very first episode of my brand new podcast!

Reading & Writing: Planning a Podcast

Before I began planning my podcast, I needed to explore the best practices for recording sound. For this research I explored Chapter 8 of Tom Schroeppel’s book The Bare Bones Course for Film and Video.

Some main takeaways included diving into the types of microphones and their pickup patterns. Mics are either dynamic or electret condenser, which is determined by how they translate sound waves into vibrations that can be recorded electronically. There are omnidirectional pickup patterns which picks up sound equally in all directions around the mic, and directional cardioid (heart-shaped) and shotgun (narrow forward and backwards) pickup patterns.

The types of microphones include:

• lavalier: small electret condenser mike, omnidirectional – good for getting up-close
• hand mic: most versatile – can be any pickup pattern or type
• shotgun: either type, directional pickup pattern – will pickup ALL the sounds it is pointing towards
• smartphone/tablet mics: electret, omnidirectional – not the best choice for quality

Beyond mics, the chapter also discussed sound waves and how to stop them from bouncing and producing reverberation, ambience, the voice slate, and basic audio mixing practices.

I also checked out a series of posts by The Podcast Host that went over the best practices of writing a podcast script. In one post they say that you can write a script in three different ways: word-by-word, point-by-point, and the rough bullet point podcast plan. Since I am thinking that I want to do an interview-style podcast, I will go with a rough bullet point script with some word-by-word sections in the beginning and the end. In another they discuss Hooks, Taglines, and the Power of Words. There are many ways to approach taglines, so this would be a big consideration when writing my own script.

Research to Inform: Inspiring Audio Productions

In order to get inspiration for my own podcasts, I looked to some that I listen to regularly for what makes them work so well. Note that while there are video versions, I originally listened to these on Spotify.

First is Matt D’Avella‘s podcast, Ground Up. Every episode is consistently high-quality and engaging. The main takeaway from this podcast that I would like to consider for my own is the tagline and the way he draws in the viewer. In the beginning of each episode he introduces himself, the show, the guest, and the topics they cover so you know exactly what to look forward to. He also inserts a highlight quote from the guest to increase the anticipation for what is coming next even more.

This next example differs quite a bit from the last and is much more informal, but I think there are some aspects that I could think about for my own podcast. I like their theme song (which is completely gibberish, by the way) since it sets a fun mood for the podcast. I also love their bit at the end of every episode called “Unhelpful Advice” where they listen to a listener’s problem and give advice (that they declare as unhelpful to avoid any accountability in worst-case scenarios). What I like about this is that it allows the viewer and the guest to interact and it gives new perspectives to real problems. While I probably would not have many submissions at first, this is something I would love to implement later on.

Before I talk about this podcast, I would like to say that I no longer support it or its creator due to troubling things that he had done. Still, this series is extremely well done. The music, ambiance, sound effects, and voiceover combined with the interview or archival audio combines in an amazing (and often disturbing) storytelling experience. The research and script are so well done and must have taken a long time to create. This is starkly different from the other two and is not likely to influence my own show too much, but if anything I will consider the power of well-done sound effects and ambiance.

Create: My Podcast Plan

The first step of creating my podcast was to do a creative brief, mind map, list of elements, and rough script. While the title is still pending and I am waiting to hear from my possible guests, I am so excited to begin the first episode of my podcast on my YouTube channel. I feel like there is a lot of opportunity to collaborate with other people in the niche of journaling and productivity. I am a little worried about getting a guest in time (and of course complications with doing an audio interview on the internet) but I am still very excited. Check out my plan below:

Next week I will update my blog with the finished product, so stay tuned!