There are a couple of really key elements when it comes to editing video. One of those is feel. As a video editor, my job is to take whatever broll, interviews, pictures etc., and turn it into the best thing someone has ever seen ;) Ok... not really, but my job is to make the best product I can with what I have.
Read MoreSo you shot something awesome and dropped it in your timeline only to find out it is a tad bit shaky, ok maybe a lot bit shaky. Don't panic! We all do it from time to time and if you've got After Effects CC you're covered. In this post I'm going to quickly show you how to stabilize those shots that have a case of the shakes.
Read MoreInterviewing people is an art form, and it's a continual learning process. Everyone is different, and when you interview one person, they may react to a set of questions differently than another person would. All this to say that the "rules of interviewing people" is a constantly changing list and i'm sure amendments could be added every time you interview someone new. That being said, here are a few rules that we follow that has helped us out throughout the process of capturing and telling someone's story.
Read MoreAs we've written about many times here, audio recording is just as important, if not MORE important than the video you're capturing for your productions. A bad sounding interview is very disconnecting to the viewer, while audio that's recorded well will make your video productions much more professional.
Read MoreSome of our favorite video projects are the ones we get to create for our big events. Often we'll create a handful of videos that will play during each session of a conference. It can be a real challenge to continue to come up with fresh ideas for events that repeat each year -- so occasionally, we'll take the Hollywood approach and create the sequel!
Read MoreStorytelling is the heart of what we do on the video team. Storytelling is used in testimonies, highlight videos and creative promos. Here are a few tips on storytelling from Pixar's own, Emma Coats.
Read MoreEvery once in a while, we get to pull out the green screen and put it to use. It's an effective way to put your talent in a place you don't have access to, or to give you a generic look for a church news shoot.
Read MoreThere are a few things that you can do to ensure that what you've been editing plays back looking great in a manageable file size for your playback computer. We're going to show you how we do it in Final Cut Pro, but the settings and principals should be similar in most editing programs.
Read MoreHighlands uses banners for event and program promotion. Designing for banners take a slightly different approach due to their size. Here are a couple of parameters that you will want to use when designing banners
Read MoreFor interview and testimony videos, we like to use a two camera setup with a traditional 3-point lighting rig. In this post I will go over how and where we place our cameras, lights and microphone. Wherever we shoot, we use this system, and it works for just about every condition.
Read MoreAt Highlands, we try to have at least two to three people, if not more, on a shoot. We've learned that more eyes and ears you have on set the less likely you are to make a mistake, however there are still situations that arise when everyone on the team finds themselves shooting solo.
Read MoreThere is a saying that goes something like this: “People are sheep.” In other words, people tend to go in the direction a good leader, or Shepherd, takes them and I think this same principle applies to coordinating talent for a video shoot. When each person on camera understands clearly what is expected of him or her and their time, then they are much more willing to agree to put themselves in what is, for many, an uncomfortable position: appearing on camera. Over the past few years I have picked up on a few tips that have worked for us. I hope these prove to be beneficial for your shoots as well!
Read MoreFor our most recent series opener, "Remind Me", we had the idea to film people in their everyday lives and have little spiritual reminders show up in their environment to remind them of a Biblical truth. To pull off this idea, we decided to use motion tracking to make it look like the reminders were really there with them. We put together a short tutorial that will give you an idea of how we created this series opener.
Read MoreSomething that we are very careful about here is making sure that we don't put the "creative" that's in us as a team over the message of the content we're delivering. It's easy to forget about the end goal of what you're producing when your primary focus is on making something "cool".
Read MoreSometime ago, I heard that Walt Disney had a revelation. The philosophy for their parks, rides, and video environments would be...
Read MoreIf you are using Illustrator or Photoshop to lay out text intensive print pieces then this is for you
Read MoreNo matter what your priorities for lighting your stage, you should always make sure that you are doing a few key things.
Read MoreDisney's Animation Department developed certain principles that they would incorporate to make their characters look not only natural, but larger-than-life. Today these principles are not only the foundation of Disney and Pixar's films, but of motion graphics as well.
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