Sunday, February 26, 2017

Ready, Aim, Shoot Video

In addition to working in VR this term, CM 412 Students have already produced several video pieces including: imitating a "series opener," using freegal footage for a themed piece, and a video vocabulary of shot types. They have also been reading the book "How to Shoot Video That Doesn't Suck," by Steve Stockman.

Movies are made with the MIND, not the camera or editing software!

Before they launch into producing video pieces for themselves and their clients, they are refreshing themselves on some basic concepts from our text that will help them "make movies with their minds" before shooting a frame. They will share "17 Nuggets of Video Making Truth" in their blogs, gleaning one principle, motto or concept from each of the first 17 chapters of our text.

And then, storyboarding, shots lists, and shooting begins for our final projects!

My take on 17 “Before the Shoot” Tidbits from How to Shoot Video that Doesn’t Suck by Steve Stockman:


1.       Here we are now, entertain us!
2.       Have a clearly understood purpose.
3.       Tell a STORY.
4.       Get new creative ideas.
5.       Create for the Audience.
6.       Simple Storylines work best.
7.       Storyboard (in your head.)
8.       Every shot is a story within the story.
9.       Keep it Short, Stupid.
10.   Don’t tell too much.
11.   Prepare a Pitch for your video.
12.   Understand what your type of video does best.
13.   Understand the basic elements of your video type.
14.   Remove the guesswork, script it out.
15.   Get the most out of the least amount of words.
16.   “Unplanned” is not a good word.
17.   A shot list before shooting is like a grocery list before shopping.

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