In-Depth BTS of: 'Motivation to Start'
Behind the scenes? Behind the video? Behind the computer? I don't know, but this is how I made it.
Many of you have already seen the video. For those of you that haven't or for those of you that just want to watch it again ;), here it is:
(hint... if you watch the video closely enough, I actually show my entire process in the main video, some of you may not have caught that!)
Alright, so now that it is fresh in your mind, I want to talk a little bit about the processes that went into it. Firs a little lesson on the words that I am about to use. There is also another video below that I posted that goes through the entire thing in video format, if you are like me and video is always better than text. But, to make everyone happy, I provided both :D
Here is the behind the scenes video, if you would like to stop reading:
Three stages of Production:
There are three main stages of production, pre-production, production, and post-production. I know that sounds incredibly boring, but there are also mini steps within each of those. For just a short breakdown, which I will go in depth on in another blog, think about it like this:
Pre-Production:
Anything that happens before arriving at the shoot, going on set, or basically anything that happens before you put any sort of gear or equipment into use.
Production or 'Shooting':
For me this starts as soon as I take anything out of a bag and place it for use. This means that as soon as I take even a light stand out of a bag, and set it somewhere on set, we are now in production. This lasts until the final piece of equipment has been packed up for good.
Post-Production:
This where they say the magic happens. And I am no exception. This is when you are at the computer or editing machine and you are ready to go through all the footage. My process in post looks like this.
Motivation to Start:
Alright so now that we have that out of the way, we can talk about how exactly I went through all these processes to make this video.
My pre-production process:
was fairly simple. Actually it was a little bit ironic. The entire reason I made this video, is because I had no motivation to make a video. So I sat down and tried to look through some videos on YouTube, but none of them really stood out to me. None of them really gave me a big push to want to make something. So I decided to make my own. I had been talking to a couple of friends of mine, and let some people read my script before hand, and it seemed like it would make a good video. So that's exactly what I did.
Any time I come up with an idea for a video I always physically write down my ideas. I don't know why, because frankly I hate writing things by hand, but there is something about physically writing it down that provides a little bit of extra encouragement to actually make whatever I am planning. After I have a pretty solid idea of what I want, then I will transfer the notes to a Google Doc. I set up a new folder for the video, and I begin to create an ideas sheet just to get my thoughts in order. For this video, it looked something like this: (you can click on the image to view full size)
After planning came time to write the script. I probably went through about 15 different revisions. Some with minor changes, and some with entire paragraphs changed. Writing it was my favorite part of this entire process because writing has been something I always loved. Since I started doing this blog it has become even more enjoyable, and that was part of what drove me to start this entire thing, and to get that script going. After I was done with it, I ended up kinda slowing down. I think I let the script sit for about 2 weeks before I started to do anything else.
After that came all of the preparation for those video. Somebody had to write all of those words, and cut all of that cardboard, and you guessed it, that was me. It was actually really fun. I had a ton of amazon boxes sitting around in my room still from the holidays. Actually that's a lie. I love boxes and keep the box from just about everything that I buy, and finally decided to do something with them, rather than just have them sitting in my room taking up space.
The first thing I had to do was take the script and create a shot list from it. Basically I formatted the script, and color coded it, so that I knew which words I was going to be writing on cardboard, and which words were going to be said into the camera. (I ended up changing this when I edited the video together.) After creating the shot list, I took the words that I was going to have to create on cardboard, and made a separate document, still in the same Google Docs folder. The image on the left is the first page of the original shot list, and the image on the right is the adjusted list of words. You can actually see on the left, that I ended up changing the intro. :D (Click each to see the full size)
After all the words were written out an cut on cardboard and that was all done, I needed to record the script to use for an overlay on the video, as well as choosing the music that I was going to use in the background. For the music, I always use Audio Blocks. It is a great platform to get audio tracks from, and the subscription is well worth it. I go onto the site and usually have a track I want to use, in a matter of minutes. I knew that I didn't want to record the audio along with actual video, (something I am sort of regretting now), so I recorded it directly into my computer from my microphone. This was a really simple process. Plug my mic into my computer, open up my recording software, and start talking. Now... that being said, I probably did about 30 different versions of my recording, and used parts from every single one of them, to make sure that the audio sounded and felt the way I wanted it to.
Moving into production:
Once I had all of the titles physically created, and I had the audio track set, it was time to start shooting the video. I decided that I wanted to film in steps. One day, I was going to shoot all of the shots inside my room at my desk, and I originally planned on shooting the talking scenes and the tile scenes on different days, although that changed once I got to the shoot.
As I said, there were three stages in shooting this video. The first was to set up lighting and my cameras in my room and film all of the desk scenes. These were all of the shots that showed me going through my process. Notes, typing those notes, using my computer, recording the voice-over, and editing.
After I had completed those shots, I moved onto the rest of the video. As some of you know, I am a coach for the Wasco Diamonds Softball Organization. Thankfully I have access to the building and utilized that for my shoot. It was a nice big space where I could set up my backdrop and set-up my lights the way that I really wanted to, rather than being confined by the small spaces in my house, or any house for that matter. It also had nice even lighting that was helpful in shooting the tiles on the tables.
In the time lapse below (also in the BTS Video) you can see my entire set-up process and what I had to do to get it all set up the way that I wanted it. You can also see some clips of what my overhead camera table looked like.
After all that was done, it was finally time to import my footage onto the computer. This will end up being a blog of its own, (I Hope) but for now here is just a little bit of what I do when I am editing.
I start by importing and organizing my footage on my computer. Organization is key. If you are going to be starting a project you have to make sure that everything is organized and that everything you do has a place. There is no such thing as too many folders. Each person works differently so they have to set up their system a little bit differently, so find something that works well for you and keep it consistent throughout your work.
Alright so I know that was a lot of reading, and it was a very in-depth post, but that is what I am going to do with most of my work. I have always wanted to have a side of my work that shows everyone what I do, how I do it, and why I love to do it so much. I think that it helps other people understand what they are getting, and I will continue to do my best to show my process to everyone, and help friends and clients alike understand what they are getting when they ask for video or any other graphical work.