Video Production: Part II Taking Video to the Next Level |
Editor’s Note: Part I of this article, Video Production Part I: Starting a Video Ministry, The Essentials by Tim Eason, ran in the January/February 2004 issue of Church Production Magazine and is available online at www.churchproduction.com.
OK, so you’ve already taken Tim Eason’s advice and have seen the benefits of producing videos for your church. Soon, you’ll find yourself making OK videos that the church likes. Then someone will ask the unavoidable question: “Can you make a video that looks more like the stuff on TV?
What they’re asking is can you make your productions look more professional? Yes, you can.
Perhaps the best news in this article is that it doesn’t necessarily take a lot more equipment. In fact, most of what separates amateur from professional video production is technique. The pros have had a lot of experience with video, and will tell you that a quality video production takes a good deal of time. This is as true for a 30-second spot as it is for a four-minute testimony video. Don’t misunderstand, though – gear will still make a difference – so prepare to learn about both.
Storyboarding
Planning and preparation are the first words out of any pro’s mouth. The technique of storyboarding - making a pictorial of hand-drawn still shots to illustrate the overall production – is a very common practice. This can literally be stick figures and short text snippets, as the point is to simply think through the production.
For example, if you want to create a 30-second promo spot about the upcoming new Saturday night service, then a storyboard might contain pictures of the opening graphic, a shot of the church exterior at night, shots of the congregation singing, the band, choir, worship leader, Pastor and drama, followed by graphics of catch phrases, service times, new features, etc. can be laid out in sequence. Because the overall “big picture” is visual, it helps to plan for creating or acquiring footage of the needed video and graphics well before you start to edit.
This simple planning process is normally avoided by amateurs because they think they can pick up a camera, shoot some footage and sit down to edit without any planning. Pros know better, and the results show that preparation makes for better video productions.
Use a professional tripod
In Part I of this article, Tim Eason talked about the need for a tripod for video cameras, and he’s right: there’s no better sure sign of an amateur’s video than hand-held shots. The oft-used “shaky cam” technique is out; you’re not shooting NYPD Blue. Pros know that hand-held shots are only used when you can’t use a tripod.
Spending the money on a quality set of “sticks” (slang for tripod) can make a significant difference in the quality of your video footage. While considered portable, a good set of sticks will easily weigh as much or more than the camera. I suggest Sachtler or Vinten as manufacturers of truly professional-grade tripods. Vinten’s website even has a convenient “What Camera, Which Head?” tripod-to-camera guide, making it easy to find the right tripod for your camera. Professional tripods use three independent legs that are easily adjustable up to over five feet and can fit into a “spreader”. This sits on the ground and holds the legs perfectly in place. Do not rely on a tripod that had three little bars connecting a center pole to the legs. That’s not a professional tripod.
Also look for tripods that have two pan bars. These are the two “handlebars” that stick out from the back of the tripod head. Having two makes all the difference in the world for smoother pans and tilts. Finally, make sure your tripod has four adjustments: Pan lock, pan friction, tilt lock and tilt friction. Four adjustments, instead of a combination lock/friction control, will also ensure that your pans and tilts are silky smooth.
Upgrade to an “Industrial” or “Pro” video camera
There’s nothing wrong with starting your video ministry out with a consumer camcorder. These inexpensive cameras are great for learning how to shoot and getting your feet wet in video production. But once you’re ready to get serious about producing quality videos, it’s time to step up to a more robust camera.
As Tim Eason mentioned in Part I, using a 3 CCD (3-chip) camera is important, even for the consumer-level cameras. But the number of chips alone isn’t going to get you up to snuff. The size of the chips matter, too. It’s easy to find this information when researching cameras: look for cameras that have 3 CCDs, and are either 1/3-inch or ½-inch chips. The “industrial” level cameras are considered a step above “consumer” or “prosumer” cameras, and typically include features such as XLR audio inputs for using a professional mic (not the on-board mic), VU meters (volume meters) either on an LCD screen or as analog meters on the side of the camera and even on-board SMPTE time code generation (very helpful when editing). Some of the smaller units have an optional adaptor that extends the base to brace against your shoulder. These units can vary in price from $4,000 to $12,000, depending on the quality of the camera.
Typically, an industrial-grade camera can be purchased with a “studio kit” that includes both a remote zoom and focus control for your tripod and a “studio monitor” (four-inch – five- inch monitors that sit on top of the camera for indoor productions). These added features really make an impact when you’re shooting quality videos, and are not to be forgotten!
Don’t forget about lighting!
You’ll notice that lighting can make or break a video, and the type of light fixtures go well beyond a tabletop lamp or overhead fluorescents!
It’s worth a visit to your local news station to see how lighting is done in a studio. If you want to produce a number of testimony or interview videos, renting a TV studio or even making your own mini-studio in a dedicated room at your church is a real possibility.
Another item to add to your list of equipment is a field light kit. These kits come pre-packaged, and typically include two or three 650K tungsten and/or one or two 1K fixtures with tripod light stands and accessories such as diffusers, gels, scrims or even reflectors. Manufacturers include DeSisti Lighting, Arri Inc., Lowel and Mole- Richardson, and others, and the complete kit prices range from $1,000 to over $4,000.
I highly recommend adding a few extra light stands and additional scrims and flags to help keep light where you want it (and keep it from where you don’t). A personal favorite accessory for any kind of intimate interviews is a Chimera. This light diffuser mounts onto one of the fixtures and produces a very soft, even light that does wonders for your video.
Pick up a book on lighting, and learn about the professional techniques, such as three-point lighting, backlighting, color correction and other tips and tricks. Hear me when I say that lighting is the most common difference between amateur and professional quality video.
Hardware editing systems save time
There’s a myriad of editing software/hardware on the market today, so I won’t tell you which one is “best”, because that’s determined by what you need your editing system to accomplish. I will tell you that the software-only systems are OK for getting started, but that pros will use hardware- based or hardware-assisted editing systems for one reason: time.
There’s an old editor’s saying that a video is never completed – they just ran out of time. Editing is almost always the most time-intensive part of creating quality videos, and the tools you use can literally make or break your productions. At the lower end of professional editing are the hardware-assisted systems. Matrox, for example, makes their RT.X line of hardware boards that come bundled with the popular Adobe Premiere software. These hardware boards install into a PC and help with the “rendering” of complex layering and effects, greatly reducing the time it takes to make multi-layer videos over software-only systems.
The next step-up includes the proprietary systems, such as Apple’s Final Cut Pro. This particular software package works exclusively on Apple’s computer system and have come a long way in pushing what’s possible on a personal computer. FCP, as it’s called, is amazingly powerful and easy to use, but is only available on Apple systems, limiting their user base considerably.
Beyond that are companies such as Avid, who have made a family of software and hardware products that use a common, similar interface and are scalable as your editing needs increase.
Each level of editing system offers more “real-time” effects and layering, which can take hours or even days off of editing a project. Matrox’s real-time is great compared to rendering most effects in Premiere, but it isn’t designed to compete with the real-time multilayer effects from Avid. The price points reflect this, too, so be prepared to start with a $4,000 system (with beefy PC) on the lower-end, and $20,000 for the more advanced systems. Many of the top-of-the-line systems are well over $75,000, so know what you need to do and budget accordingly.
Post-production isn’t just the edit system
When editing, know that the tools for postproduction go well beyond the software and hardware. These tools include other software, such as Adobe Photoshop, and additional third party plug-ins for your editing software. Many times, these “extras” can save you hours of work by making a common operation a simple button click.
Finally, one of the biggest tips you’ll get from the pros is “don’t create anything from scratch if you can buy it”. This means it can be very important to subscribe to resources such as Digital Juice, ArtBeats, PhotoSpin, Midnight Oil, WorshipFilms, or stock-film companies. Use their content to make you look like a genius! Budgeting for these extras is one of the fastest ways to adding that professional touch to your productions.
Conclusion
No matter where you are now in terms of video production, there’s room for growth. Beyond the suggestions and observations found in this article, perhaps some of the best advice is simply to emulate the stuff you see on TV. If you want to make a lot of promo videos, watch MTV, VH1 or The Discovery Channel. If you’re interested in producing a lot of interview/testimony videos, watch Biography, Dateline, 60 Minutes and other programs of that nature. Record one segment, and then try your best to recreate it. This exercise can be difficult, but you’ll learn so much from your experience that eventually it will become easier.
Remember, your audience isn’t comparing you to First Baptist Church of Nowhereville; they’re comparing you to what’s on TV. Plan, budget, equip and train your church on the value of compelling, high-quality video productions.
