DSLR Video Workshop Q/A

Working the wall with Bekka for MMC's commercial.

Q: I just want to confirm my commitment to your video workshop in June and will PayPal you the full payment next week. What can I do in the meantime to learn?

A: Looking forward to having you at the workshop!

Now in the meantime, I'd like you to get familiar with the movie functions on your camera. Experiment with the basic settings 720/24, 720/60, 1080/24 etc. Then experiment with shooting at different settings, particularly at different shutter speeds and different apertures. I want you to get a feeling for what the camera is capable of and how the playback looks with different settings.

Next I want you to set up a few dummy models to practice. Anything about 5-6 feet tall and about 1-2 feet wide. You know what I use a lot? A light stand with a strobe on the top. I wish all my models could be that skinny :) All jokes aside, the point is I want you to familiarize yourself with camera movement and the challenges of getting a shot while in motion. Because we won't be shooting any static shots. Nearly all of our shots will be performed in motion.

Now, of course you don't have all the tools. But the point is to identify the challenges. What would make your life easier? A dolly? A follow focus unit to rack focus? A field monitor to do false color/focus assist? A stabilizer to help you get keep the camera steady? How about an actual model? :)

We'll be supplying all of those and more.

Good news! I've been speaking with Calumet Photographic (Hollywood) and they will *likely* be our local sponsor. Cross my fingers!

Onwards and upwards. If you have Final Cut Pro that's what we'll be using for our basic editing. I learned much of what I know from this book.

It reads well and it's Apple Certified. Because we all know Apple Certified is the gold stamp of approval. It was either this book or the one my brother had.

Mine got higher ratings on Amazon. That's why I'm the big brother and he's the little brother.

Now I don't expect you to read that thing from front to back. Although if you did, you'd be that much ahead of the game. Instead, I just want you to familiarize yourself with the very basics of Final Cut. Timeline, Canvas, Importing files, In and Out points, simple simple stuff. If you sat down and put your head to it, I'm pretty sure you could get it in 2 hours.

As I mentioned in the thread, if you don't have FCP7 or After Effects, I do have trial copies for you to use during the workshop.

Shortly I'll be sending you an email with the link to download the rest of the key pieces of the puzzle like Automatic Duck and MPEG Streamclip. Those are all downloadable via the Internet anyway in the original post.

Anyway, if you get that far even, you'll be way ahead of the game. Regardless it'll be fun and it'll be an eye-opening experience!