Five mistakes beginning filmmakers make and how to avoid them
Hi this Jay P Morgan and this is Kenneth Merrill today on the slanted eyes
We're gonna talk about the five mistakes the beginning filmmakers make and how to solve them
And these are the things that as I've taught students and I've taught a lot of students over the years in filmmaking classes
I'm looking at these five things are the things that crop up almost immediately and I've got to solve with each and every student so
Let Kenneth and I help you avoid these five mistakes
number one camera moving camera moving is the biggest challenge for people who are just beginning to do filmmaking because
First off. They just want to put the camera on the tripod
It rests there, especially for still photographers. It's easy to focus there when I'm dealing with students
I'm going you know, that's a valid way to make films. You can put the camera on a tripod
Everything's locked off
There's no movement there
But it's probably the least interesting and the one with that really doesn't explore all the wonderful options that filmmaking has to offer
So get the camera off the tripod
now the easiest way to do that is to just handhold it but it's a double-edged sword because
What I did when I was young and I see a bunch of new filmmakers do all the time. It's too shaky to frenetic
They never focus on anything
They never let the camera rest
Settle the camera down get your elbows in
Support your camera in three places and let that camera just sit comfortably in front of you just rock back and forth
It creates a little bit of parallax in the background and it looks really nice. You'll see this on documentaries
You'll see it on television all the time
This is a very common acceptable way to use a handheld camera right now
The reason you move the camera is because you want to direct the viewer at what you want them to see
You don't want to just move it to move it you want to say look. I want you to look at these keys
They just sit on the table, you know, because that's an important part of the storyline
number two is probably the most intimidating thing you're going to need to overcome as a new filmmaker and that is
Sound you honestly cannot overestimate the importance and sometimes a challenge of getting clean audio
Don't pick a place like we have here where you have lots of ambient noises and cars
Going by and dogs barking because the truth is you can't take that out of the audio in post
It's gonna be there and it's gonna sound like garbage. Well you really should do is move to a quieter location
This location is great. It's much better than where we were it's not perfect. We've got somebody's pool cleaner
We've got an airplane up high overhead going by we've got a soccer game
But it's certainly a whole lot better than where we were before you're gonna be able to get better sound here
The next thing to note is that the mic on your camera is not gonna be good enough
it's gonna collect not only is gonna collect all of the
Sound around you but it's just not a very good mic in general. What you really need is some focused sound audio sources, so
professional sets they use shotgun or boom mics and that's definitely an option, but for
Low key or running gun things maybe when you're first starting out we recommend some sort of lavalier solution
Which is what we're using today, we got a lob on is a wireless lob
So it's saying sound back and put it onto the camera
So finally get what they call room tone or ambient sound just roll your camera and just let the camera record
Whatever audio so you're getting here with no one talking no one talking at all and just let it be quiet
Kenneth and I just finished a new download that teaches anybody who knows how to use a camera at all
how to shoot video and we're gonna really concentrate on sound so you
Understand how to do sound one of the scariest things for new filmmakers. So check out our new download
number three another common mistake
I see a lot of beginning filmmakers make is not knowing how to use focus and depth of field to help tell their story
Super shallow depth of field is a very popular look these days and it's totally fine to do that
But you should also take that and use it as an advantage in storytelling so you can know how to introduce new
Elements to a shot or seen that kind of further the story
So don't be afraid to change your focus and help that tell your story
Number four another big mistake that a lot of new film makers make is that they shoot everything in a wide lens
They don't get any coverage. This is just a whole wide shot. Kenzan wants a bowl of cereal here
He's gonna wander around the kitchen getting a bowl of cereal
we can shoot this in a wide shot and it's just not that interesting or
Following him from side to side and it will looks more like we're photographing or videotaping a play
That's not what we want to do
We want this thing to be interesting get why tight and interesting shots as it goes to the cupboard or to the fridge
Put a camera in the fridge to learn it opens up
We see him looking in
When he goes to pick up something like the bull that we want the viewer to look at that make them look at the bull
Here's the ball as he picks it up as he goes to take a bite
So cutting allows you to direct the viewers attention to what you want to tell them
so the story moves forward it also allows your editor to be able to be protected against if I mess up my line you can
Cut to a different take and last of all it just makes your piece a lot more interesting
So why Titan interesting and finally number five the biggest mistake?
filmmakers can make especially beginners is not having a story or something interesting to say a
String of great visuals and with music behind it is not a great video
I mean, it just really isn't try to communicate something try to say something with what you're showing
Try to have a storyline of some sort try to have a meaning and a reason for this video to exist
I know it's really tempting because when you're starting out
It seems like getting a pretty picture is the hardest part
So you tend to focus on that a lot
But the truth is there are so many pretty pictures out there especially online right now
That people won't stop and watch something just for that. They have to be captivated by what's happening
It doesn't have to be a narrative
You don't have to have dialogue
But some sort of structure to it something with a beginning a middle and an end
That communicates an idea a way to move the audience move them to purchase
Move them to feel compassion to donate move them to help or to rescue
I mean there's a lot of different stories out there, but try to get away from pretty pictures with just music
So there's some great information on how to avoid some of the basic mistakes that most film makers make we've got a new download
That's gonna teach you all the things you need to know to avoid all those mistakes and a lot of filmmakers make and beyond that
we're gonna teach you about the things you need to know to crossover from either photography to
Videography or just from a person who has a camera like become a videographer. There are a lot of things
I wish someone had told me like things we talked about in this video when I was starting out mistakes
I made I had to learn the hard way
so in this download we're gonna go over the equipment you need how to use that equipment house up your camera how to light how
to set up sound which is super important thing that took a very long time for me to understand and
Just a lot of great information
There's hours of information here that are going to help you feel confident doing video and making a living at it
So go to the Solano's comm click on the store and get our download today
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