What is the worst movie you’ve ever seen?

For me it was “Disaster Movie”. I’ve never walked out of a movie before I saw that.
The movie was trying to fit in as many pop culture references as they could  instead of making a parody of the genre of “disaster” movies.

It is very important to know what you like and don’t like about a movie and more importantly be able to articulate what it is.

The reason I’m bringing this up because as a filmmaker you need to be able to dissect films that you see in theaters for it’s strengths and weaknesses. If you see a movie that you like, take note of the things that you’d want to do similar in your film. If you see a film that you don’t like, then notice the elements that you would want to avoid in making your film.

This may seem obvious but many people will bad talk a film and just say things like “You know it was just bad.” But if your goal is to make films in the future you need to know what things could have been changed to make the movie better or even to try and understand what it is the writer or director was trying to convey thought the movie.

In order to make a good video, you need to know what is a bad video. Next time you go out to see a film take note of why you liked it or why you didn’t.

I recently returned from the online video conference known as VidCon! It was an amazing experience and I had the opportunity to meet so many people whose videos I watch on a daily basis.

Upon leaving VidCon I thought about what brought me there. It wasn’t to go to panels to learn about the inner workings of YouTube to better my channel, or at least that wasn’t the main reason.

The reason I was at VidCon was to see and meet PEOPLE! There are several channels on YouTube featuring people who share their lives with the internet and when you watch these people online, you feel like you know them.

Events like VidCon allow you to make that connection with people online tangible and then you not only become a follower, you become a face and a person to the people that you admire online.

People want to watch videos that are interesting, but also authentic. That’s what brings me back to watching them week to week and even day to day. When making a video ask yourself, “How much of my personality is in this?” It will help you build an audience that will come back for YOU!

POP QUIZ! What do you think is the most important part of making a video?

A) the writers B) the actors C)The director D)the editors? or E) All of The Above

If you answered E, congratulations you win!

I have worked on a variety of productions and the ones that have gone well are the ones where everyone has worked well together. No one tried to pull rank on another crew member, no actors demanded room temperature water, everyone had the same goal in mind. Making a great video.

The video is the most important aspect of making a video.

No matter who is involved the most important thing is the video getting made. Whether it be a film, tv show, or comemrcial the end product is what matters most.

It always slows down the production when anyone involved with the video makes the whole thing about them and not the project. If you’re working for the best interest of yourself, then you’re working AGAINST the project. That’s how you end up going over time, over budget and oftentimes fired.

Video projects, and most things in life, work better when people work together. Don’t you think?

History has taught me that the more you plan for a video the better the video will be.

Because, fun fact: A 5 minute video does not take 5 minutes to film.

When I am approached with a video project, before I say LET’S DO THIS THING, I have to think about everything I need to prepare for the project. EVERY. THING. Here are a few elements of production that need to be planned for according.

-How long is it going to take to film the whole project? (Better to have more time, than less)
-How long will it take to set up all of the equipment? (It takes longer than you may think)
-Will your actors have their lines memorized? (If not, you may want to wait for filming)
-What is the turn around for the whole project? (Know when you will have the project done)

In addition to some of those it is vital that you always prepare for mistakes to be made.  Your actors will make mistakes, you will make mistakes, and your environment will make mistakes. Plan for these mistakes to happen, otherwise you will run behind schedule instead of ahead.

I promise that if you plan really well for your production you will have a significantly better video than if you didn’t.

“So what camera do you use?”

This is a question I have been asked, and have seen frequently asked, from many people. And I respond because people want to know, and knowing is half the battle; G.I. Joe!

But ultimately it doesn’t matter what equipment you have.

Ok, let me clarify. HAVING equipment doesn’t make you equipped. Knowing what to do with the equipment does.

In the same way putting on Basketball shoes won’t make you play like that basketball player, having a fancy camera won’t automatically make you a great filmmaker.

Right now there are short films being shot on iPhones. Right NOW. But at the same time there are still people filming things with their iPhones like this.

When it comes to filming, being equipped with the right equipment isn’t always going to make you a great filmmaker, but knowing how to get the best picture with what you have will. It takes learning new techniques, trying new setups and watching good movies and figuring out how to get a similar effect and a dancing plethora of trial and error.

I recently watched a video that I made three years ago and in short, it was AWFUL. I remember back when I filmed that video, I thought “This is going to be GREAT!” Now three years later I can fully realize how bad the video was, because I got better.

Back then I wasn’t able to notice the mistakes I made like not putting the camera on auto focus, or framing shots correctly and even directing MYSELF to not be a terrible actor ( seriously, what was I thinking?) Seeing the mistakes I made, and knowing that those were mistakes means that I have made progress and I have grown as a filmmaker.

So I write this post to let you know that everyone has a starting point, and if you are waiting for yourself to have the right equipment and the right amount of education to do something you will always be waiting.

There is a lot that I learned from watching that old video, that will never see the light of day by the way, and I’m glad that I made that video because it truly shows me how far I’ve come as a filmmaker.

What experiences has made you better at your craft?

There is this idea floating around that you can fix anything in post production, aka editing. While that is true to some degree, you do not want to use editing as a crutch for poor production.

If you can fix things during your production, you can make editing a lot easier for yourself.

Here are a few things that could be fixed during production to help make post a lot easier on yourself.

Lighting: Lighting is so very, very important. You can light your video a variety of different ways, but the main thing you want is for everyone to see what is happening. If you try fixing this in post you are going to have a grainy video and much of your HD quality will be lost. Seeing what is happening in your video is vital to…well, video.

Audio: Audio is just as important to your video as lighting. Unless you’re making The Artist, you need to be able to hear what people are saying in your video. If your audio is too low, boosting the audio in post you will also boost the room noise and will result in grainy sound.

Acting: You cannot edit around bad acting. If someone is not delivering a line the way you want them to deliver it, it is your job to get them to do it again. Otherwise you are stuck with that bad footage and re-shooting something you could have got the first time around is going to make everyone involved frustrated and disgruntled.

I have experienced all of these editing nightmares and I have found ways to fix them (except for the acting, there seriously is no way around that) but I have found that it is much easier to make sure to correct these things during production rather than fixing it in post.

If you take the time to check to make sure your audio, lighting and acting during production, you will have a much easier time editing everything together as opposed to trying to problem solve and figure out to fix everything.