12 - Flying Through Your First Shoot with Ease

My friend, you're almost there!

You are moments away from learning the final secrets to pulling off your first big project with ease.

After listening to and reading the lesson, get started right away on creating your Gear List. Then nail down the final elements of your micro film and get started.

This week is all about minor details that help you to nail the major details. 

I'm being kind of a mom in this lesson, so bear with me and trust that this stuff is really really really really reeeeeeally good advice.

Okay, go get ‘em!

Back to Dashboard >

BREAKDOWN: 

• Lesson Pdf and MP3 - Prepping for Your First Big Shoot

• Assignment Pdf

• Gear List PDF - Example and Editable Version

• Bonus Video - What do the days before a shoot actually look like?

ORDER OF ACTION:

• Listen to the lesson.

• Read the lesson.

• Watch the video.

• Make your gear list.

• Iron out pre-production.

• Draw your shots, if you like. Storyboard template included.

• Do your shoot.

• Do your edit.

• Email me your micro film before picture lock!

• Send me your final micro film!

What’s it really like before a solo shoot?

Should You Storyboard?

You might have noticed that the Dropbox folder contains a template that you can use for storyboarding.

This isn’t something you’ve learned in this course because I don’t do epic storyboards myself. That said, I always draw out my main shots in a super rough scribble. Sometimes I do this when planning the lights.

Other times, if I’m struggling, I do this multiple times to try and figure out the visual arc of a story.

There’s no science or art to what I do in this arena.

I just scribble some crappy drawings that help me make sense of what I’m going to be shooting.

If you’re feeling like you can’t envision the story inside your head, then try out rough storyboarding. Just draw out the shots you want to capture. There’s nothing fancy about this. It can be stick people. If this appeals to you, go for it!

If not, skip it.

Your shot list is non-negotiable.

But storyboarding is personal preference.

I Just Finished My Shoot…Now What!!?!?

Now you edit, of course!

But…how?

Follow the exact same process you’ve done with all your other videos.

My recommendation is to first edit your interview footage to tell your story with the audio.

Create the spine of your piece with the audio.

Then layer your action sequences and b-roll on top. That’s what I normally do.

You decide. Find a way that works for you!

If you’ve gotten this far, you are more than qualified to finish this edit!

Finally, don’t focus on perfection. Focus on telling a clear story.

Bonus 1

Cutting a Micro Film

BEHIND THE SCENES

In this bonus series, I’ll walk you through what I do to cut a micro film from start to finish.

This particular project had 2 hours of footage and was designed to be a 3-5 minute brand video.

It’s absolutely okay to watch this series before you start editing your project. If you feel like you need another editing primer before you dig into your next edit, feel free to watch this first.

Bonus 2

Audio Editing Basics

DON’T WATCH UNTIL YOU’VE REACHED FINAL CUT

Learn Basic Audio Editing in Premiere Pro. This is a quick and dirty style of audio editing that can be very useful for getting short turnaround projects done!

Edited vs. Not Edited Audio Comparison

Not Edited - Listen with your volume levels set to halfway.

Edited in Premiere Pro with Noise Removal, Transitions, and Levels.

Listen to it with your volume set to the same levels as the previous audio.

Need to do some complex sound editing or noise removal?

While I don’t recommend going off into Adobe Audition unless you feel ready for another learning curve, it is the program I use when I have to do something more complex or if I really want an audio edit to be “perfect.” But most of the time my audio is pretty clean and simple, and I’m able to stay in Premiere. In this 45-minute tutorial I’ll go over the Adobe Audition Basics.

Bonus 3

Colour Correction and Colour Grading

Please note, one downside of even attempting to teach grading with a screencast is that the footage basically all looks like garbage.

First it was created using a compressed screencast format. Then it was compressed again when edited and exported. Finally Vimeo compresses it again. So you’re now stuck looking at footage with more artifacts than it really has.

The principles are worth considering even though the footage itself looks horrible.