The Way We Watch

Making Great Video Stories Part 2 - The Obsessionist Video

As a video story teller, I'm always looking for a way into the story.  How can I tell this story in a way that is interesting?

In Part 1 of Making Great Video Stories, I wrote about the Process video.  Another way to ensure you're telling a compelling story is to tell your story through someone who is obsessed.

People who are obsessed are fascinating.  They usually have to juggle their obsesson with their daily lives, money, their family, and their job so there is an inherent conflict right there.  Conflict good.

The other thing that is great about telling a story about someone driven by something is that they have amassed, most likely, a huge treasure trove of assets.  The assets could be record albums, or business cards, or love letters.

How does this help us?  B-roll!  Great b-roll makes for a great colorful story. 

At Wheelhouse Communications, I pitched to the The Daily (the iPad only newspaper) a video about the release of a new Dr. Suess book, The Bippolo Seeds and Other Stories.  The way into the story was to focus on Dr. Charles Cohen a Dentist by day and a Suessologist by night.  What is a Suessologist?  Click the video to find out. Can't see the video? Click here.

The original Daily story appears here. 

Now go out there and find the obsessed ones!

Photo credit CC: Rachel C

Attention Must Be Paid

The line from Death of a Salesman "Attention must be paid," is on my mind.  And, it's not because there is yet another revival of the 50+ year old play now in previews.

Note to self: I've got to remind myself to get tickets to this show before the reviews come out -- because Phillip Seymour Hoffman will probably be amazing.  (Trivia: he played Willy Loman in a HS production).

But this line resonates with me because earlier this year in the span of six days (2/21 - 2/27) the world lost three theater professionals who should be remembered.

Barney Rosset (1922-2012). Rosset bought Grove press for $3000 in the early '50s and brought D.H. Lawrence and Henry Miller to our shores.

His first major publishing juggernaut was Waiting For Godot by Samuel Becket.  He paid $150 for it and gave the author a 2.5% royalty.  The play has sold more than 2.5 million copies.  But Rosset also subsequently published plays by Brecht, Alfred Jarry, Clifford Odets, Jean Genet, Joe Orton, Ionesco,  Harold Pinter, and David Mamet to name just a few. 

I remember collecting Grove plays because I thought -- if it was published by Grove -- it had to have some merit.  Who would dare publish playwrights with the ferocity that Mr. Rosset once did?  Perhaps only Jeff Bezos has the means, but I doubt he has the world view and taste to have Ubu Roi and American Buffalo in the same hemisphere.

Theodore Mann (1924-2012). Mr. Mann co-founded the Circle in the Square theater which still stands on west 50th street.  The theater moved there from Greenwich Village in the early seventies.

Mr. Mann produced and or directed over 200 productions.  He was instrumental in shaping the careers of Al Pacino, Jason Robards, Geraldine Page and Colleen Dewhurst.  He produced the American premier of Long Day's Journey into Night.  With just that one production, his place is theater history is secured.

Howard Kissel (1942 - 2012)  Howard Kissel wrote about the arts his entire career.  He was a reporter and critic at Women's Wear Daily and then at the Daily News for twenty years.

A quote from the Kissel Daily News obit struck me,

“He always said he was the luckiest person alive, because he got to do everything he ever wanted,” said John Sullivan, a friend and former editor at The News. “He got to live in New York, attend all the shows and museum openings, write about theater and write books about the great people of theater.”

 
His books include a biography of David Merrick, the lectures of Stella Adler and his most recent "New York Theater Walks" were all published by Applause Theater Books.

He seemed like a person you could just not hate as the user comments from this nytimes.com blog post attest: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/theater-talkback-howard-kissel-a-man-who-relished-culture/

Thanks for paying attention.

On to the next production! 

Making Great Video Stories Part 1 - The Process Video

 
The number one way to start telling a good story is to pick a good story to tell.  Sounds simple?  Not all stories lend themselves to video. The first test of whether a video is merited for any story is -- is this a visual story?

To tell the truth, I'm not a huge fan of much of the video I see on the web.  Just because you're talking into a camera and telling me what you think -- doesn't necessarily create compelling video story making. I mean if you are George Clooney or ScarJo, I'll watch anything.  But if you're not...

STICK WITH PROCESS

Show me a process.  Show me how things work.  Show me a cycle from begining to end.  Layer the details along side the process and your information is easily digested.

Recently, I with Wheelhouse pitched to The Daily (the iPad only newspaper) a story of a street artist in New York City who paints the most unbelievable Renaissance style chalk drawings on the sidewalk.  I've passed his drawings for years walking around town and always wondered who he was. 

VIDEO ENHANCES THE STORY WHEN YOU CAN SEE A PROGRESSION

I looked up Hani, the sidewalk artist, on the web and sure enough he had a website with clippings of articles done on him in the New Yorker, The New York Times, The Daily News and others.  Was it a bad idea to do a profile on him since others had already discovered him?  I don't think so.  To me, what was missing was a video that showed him working from beginning to end - how he creates these sidewalk masterpieces.

The editor at The Daily liked the idea and we set out to tell his story.

SHOW THE PROCESS WHILE TELLING THE STORY

I knew I wanted the visuals to drive the story so I made sure that I could capture Hani completing a portrait in 8 hours. 

We picked a subject (Madonna and Child) that he could finish in that time.

I taped him with an unmanned HDSLR camera shooting a frame every 30 seconds.  I also filmed him with a separate camera for about 6 hours doing various time-lapses on specific parts of the drawing so that we could see the drawing build over time.  We also captured B-roll of Hani interacting with pedestrians, setting up, and walking away.

The process of him making a portrait was the perfect B-roll to play over his interview.  In the interview, he told us where he was from, what motivates him, his dreams, and what his paintings mean.

A much easier production would have been to interview him and show his collection of stills of past works. Hani had a treasure trove of stills of his recent work. But that would have been BORING. Easier. But dull. Show the process.

Here's a link to the finished video:

(Can't see the video or want to see it in higher
resolution?) Try this http://bit.ly/mofwsD

If you liked this post, check out Part 2 of Making Great Video Stories - The Obsessionist VIdeo.

 

If I Had To Make A Web Marketing Video Today

If I had to make a web marketing video today, I would think in terms of concrete images and language (see principle 3). 
 
I would think about sound as a hook to keep you attentive.

I would think a about a surprise that you'll want to wait for.

I would think about giving you choices.

I would leave you wanting more...


Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/onkel_wart/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

What's Your Frozen Hot Chocolate?

Serendipity 3 is a 56 year old restaurant located on East 60th in New York City.  If you've never heard of it then the next time you come to New York, you've got to go. 

There are lines to get in.  And, oh yeah, the food is mediocre.

But all that doesn't matter, because out of the roughly 120 items they serve - there is one thing that is truly great and remarkable: the Frrrozen Hot Chocolate.

When you come to Serendipity that is what you have and that is what will make you want to go there again in the future.  This is the one item that you'll tell your friends about.

I had my first Frrrozen Hot Chocolate about 40 years ago and just last weekend I went again to celebrate my daughter's birthday (I've been there half a dozen times in between).  The drink tastes just like it did when I was kid. Chocolaty. Cold. Yum.  You could say the drink makes you feel like a kid, but that's an over reach. 

Instead, I'll just say that it's a drink that gets you in the door.

Is there one thing you do great that gets people in the door?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thenestor/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

34 People and Posts To Help Your Video

So much good information out there. So little time to read it.  I've tried to help by cataloging it.

As a follow up to my 37 Video Tips, Sites and Posts here are 34 more posts to help you and many of your video concerns.

The Key To Good Video: Mess With Expectations

 

Many times, but not all, the difference between what is interesting and what is boring in any media is that the good stuff plays with your expectations.

You think things will go one way and you're surprised when it goes down a different road that is so ingenious that you just have to sit up and take notice.

You can help your storytelling by creating an expectation with genre and then tweaking it or turning it on its head.

I've posted this video before that has a wonderful surprise in the middle but at the start it looks like a "This is another white text on black background" video.

Nearly ten million hits later it's easy to see why this alarmingly simple video has reached viral nirvana.

*   *   *

The hardest thing we do as video producers is to create video pieces that are original.  Everything has been done with budgets far larger then what you have.

But, there is usually a way to go that will make people hold their mouse in check and not click to something else.

Recently, Wheelhouse (I am a Principal) was hired to promote a new book.

I asked the client what kind of storytelling did she like.  Not just from her company but any company.  She showed me this.

Click here if you can't see the video.

I like it too.  Why?  The story telling is simple and there's a surprise.  You don't expect the nice shot of Bermuda (or where ever it is) to be a landing pad for dripping blood.  The video plays with your expectations of a television ad for something incredibly relaxing.

With that in mind, we pitched and produced this piece for a new murder mystery.

 

Click here if you can't see the video.

How do you set expectations and then turn them upside down?

image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/moirabot/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Woody Allen On How To Succeed In Anything

"When I talk to groups they always ask me for advice and I can never really give it, because there is no set way a person gets into the business or becomes a director.  Everyone does it differently.  They do it by hook and crook and manipulation.  Marty Scorsese goes to film school and becomes great, and Leni Refenstahl [laughs] courts Hitler and becomes great.  So the only advice I can think of is that it's only the work that counts.

Don't read about yourself, don't have big discussions about your work, just keep your nose to the grindstone.  And don't think about any of the perks. Don't think about the money or laudatory things.  The less you can think about yourself, the better. 

It's like being a baseball pitcher; the less you're conscious of your motion the better you pitch.  Just do good work, don't waste time thinking about anything else, don't join the show business circus, don't pay attention to the distractions that people send your way, and everything will fall into place.

If people don't like your work, keep doing your own thing and either they'll wise up or you'll find yourself out of work and deserving to be.  If people hate your work, let them-they may be right.  Or not.  And if people even call you a genius, it' very important to run because you have to ask, If you're a genius, then what is Shakespeare or Mozart or Einstein? 
                                     -- Woody Allen in conversation with Eric Lax

Good advice whether you're producing video (my profession), blogging or wanting to direct movies.  Keep your head down and focus on the work.

If you're interested in the book (Conversations with Woody Allen), you can click below.  The conversations take place over 36 years and it's amazing how humble Mr. Allen is.  He's created a career where he gets to make a movie a year - play clarinet on Monday nights - and make it home for dinner with his family. He considers it a job.

He's not interested in creating great art.  He spends his time serving the process - solving puzzles.  In conversations with Mr Lax, Mr Allen is always working out a plot problem in one of his scripts... he takes long showers to clear his mind - we find out - even when he doesn't need one.

Allen doesn't get all stressed out while shooting (it appears).  A scene is to be shot - a discussion ensues with his DP in the morning and they work it out.  He's not the Hitchcockian director who storyboards every shot.  One thing that struck me was the amount of re-shooting Mr. Allen has put into his films.  When he experiences a dip (my words), he throws in the towel and re-shoots the scene.  No angst.  He just does it.

I had some issues with the book.  The interviewer, Mr. Lax, is not as probing as I would have liked, and a lot of his questions are repetitive.  But, all in all, this is a great peek into the mind who made one of my favorite films of the seventies (Manhattan), and then almost thirty years later -- knocks 'em dead -- with Match Point and Barcelona.

Bonus: 1/14/10 Eguiders just posted this rare interview with Woody Allen on The Tonight Show circa 1966.