The Way We Watch

The On Location Audio Engineer You Never Want To Let Go

 
I received lots of good feedback on twitter on the Editor You Never Want To Let Go post.  Here's the next one in this series of people you never want to lose:  On set audio people. 

In all my projects (over 200) I've only worked with one female audio engineer and the rest were males.  I'm not entirely sure about why that is.  My guess is that some jobs require booming which can be physically challenging. 

If you are a female audio person, chime in and let me know how you started so we can get more of you in the industry.

So here we go. Top ten qualities of an audio engineer.

1.  He smells good. Clean breath and no BO. Yes, you read that right.  Audio people have to get very close to the talent.  They have to attach a tiny microphone on someone's lapel.  If you smell bad, then that's going to effect my talent somehow and probably negatively. 
2. He looks like his mother would be proud of him.  Have you ever asked a female talent who is wearing a blouse to string a mic up her shirt.  If you look like a bum, the whole thing gets awkward.
3. He knows that the cans on his head are not the way the audience will hear what he's hearing.  The best audio people will ask how is the tape is being used?  Will there be music?  Will it play over a loud speaker or on the web?  With the information in hand, a good audio person will edit in his mind what ambient distractions are worth doing a re-take for and what can slide by.
4. He's discreet.  The audio guy will be the first person to know if something doesn't sound right.  I appreciate engineers who can pull me aside or find the right moment to say, "Hey, something didn't sound right on that last take." The wrong way to do it is to whip off your cans and shout, "That one sucked, people!"
5. He treats his equipment like a newborn.
6. He's great with figuring stuff out.  The best audio people that I've worked with, I like to imagine, have at some point in their childhoods, took apart radios, computers and other electronics just to see how they worked.  Then, they had the brains to put it all back together.
7. He's a team player.  Yes, sound is their domain.  But the guy you want, pitches in after he's all set up.  He's putting tone down in the camera.  He's taping cords to the floor.  He's tested his feed and checked playback.  
8. He has no ego.  Great sound people love to support.  It's in their blood.  They are essentia, yet the great ones blend in as just a part of the crew.
9. He's slightly crazy.  Yes, to be in love with sound and sound alone - you have to be a little nuts.  They know more about audio than you'll ever want to know.  And that's a good thing.
10. A great audio guy reminds you to get room tone before the talent has left the room. 
    

Tell me about your audio engineer...

Photo credits: Rusty Sheriff creative commons license.

 

The Video Editor You Never Want To Let Go

Look for video editors that have these qualities:

• He has ten years of experience.  There's just no substitute. Editing is a skill like any other.  But if you haven't put in the time, you're not going to be on my "go to" list.
• She looks at all the footage.  Sounds nuts not to look at all the footage but it's easier not to.  Some editors just grab the first things they see.  I've seen people do it.  There's no short cut.
  
• He's musical. As a general rule, the finest editors I know also are pretty competent musicians. It makes a lot of sense... editing is all about timing. Having an ear for beats is invaluable.  Certainly there are exceptions, but it helps.
• She's funny.  Editing is about surprises.  You want to shake up the audience to keep them watching.  Someone who can make me laugh tells me she can catch me off balance with her edits as well.
• He dabbles in After Effects or Motion.  Certainly some projects don't require it, but the editor who can nimbly switch from AE to FCP is a keeper.  It also shows me that you're willing to stretch and learn new things.
• She is a collaborator.  Is it going to be a battle every time you elongate a shot, delete a white flash, or have to trash the last hour of work? Stick with editors that listen and then make your ideas better.
• He is persistent.  Editing requires time in the seat. A 9 to 5 mentality is not going to do it for me or the project.  And it's not only time, it's a drive to make it work, to finish and to conquer.
  

 
What makes your editor great?

Photo credit: CC Techhie

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

10 Tips On Becoming a Sought-after Freelancer

The cream rises to the top.  In terms of freelancers that is so true.  As you know by now, I am a video producer and director and I frequently hire teams of talented professionals to create our videos. 

Have you ever noticed there are some freelancers that work all the time?  How do they find themselves in that position?  Here's a list of tips that will get you on your clients' speed dial.

1. Make it easy for clients to find you.  My biggest pet peeve with freelancers is that it should not be hard to reach you.  Jobs come in all the time: morning, noon, night and on Sundays.  Put your contact number on the signature of your email.  It's so simple, yet so many people don't do it.  If I have to struggle to find you, I'm probably going to call the other guy/gal.
2. Show up early.  Another simple one.  Get to the job early.  Be the first one there.  Surprise me and bring some bagels to the set at 6:30.  Being late to a job speaks volumes.
3. Figure out what you want to do before you call me for the first time.  I'm busy.  If you don't know what you want to do then I'm not going to be much help.
4. Don't call me if I don't know you.  Email me a short, witty letter that begs me to find out more about you. Show me some personality.
5. Don't freak out about changes.  Changes in terms of scheduling, in terms of what the client wants, in terms of last minute stuff that no one saw coming is part of the job.  We all have to deal with it.  Take a breath, smile and say, "No problem - let's figure this out together."  There is a flip side to this when people feel abused because of changes and that's a list for another time.
6. When you get hired by me or an agency, please don't shout all over the web that you are working for my client.  You are working for me and my agency.  I'm working for my client.
7. Don't look at the clock.  There comes a time when you have to put in extra.  We all do.  If you're trying to impress me and ensure I hire you again, do more than what is necessary. 
8. Don't sit.  I'm thinking about working on a set now.  The last thing I want to see is you sitting with your hands in your pocket trying to blend into the furniture.  Do something that helps our day be more efficient.
9. When you check in with me, I'm not interested so much in how busy you are (how does that help me), what I would like to know is something interesting that pertains to my industry or makes my life easier.
10. Subscribe to my blog.  If your client blogs the biggest way you can show interest is by subscribing to his or her blog and starting a dialogue with the content there.
    Show some interest!
    
    

photo cc license by kl801

Check Out CrumplePop's Blog For Techniques and News

Hey there:  RSS up http://www.crumplepop.com/blog/

I've bought some of CrumplePop's products like Notes (Good) for a fast easy way to put Post-It type notes on your video and Splitscreen (OK) for a fast easy way to create mattes in your video for multiple splitscreen - to get that Thomas Crown Heights Affair late 60's look in your video.  The caveat with this plug in is that you can't move around the video in the boxes. 

The cool thing is that they have a pretty interesting blog focused on HDSLRs, do it your self projects to enhance your video and the latest hardware and software news.

 

New Survey: Executives (Like Everyone Else) Are Watching More On-Line Video

Forbes Insights recently published results of a survey conducted with Google.  The news for video makers is good.  Over 80% of Executives surveyed said they are watching more video than they did a year ago.

The answers were most encouraging for video content creators.

Over 50% of the respondents said they took action after watching a business related video and 60% of the under forty crowd made a business related purchase after viewing on-line video content.

But here was the stunner, 30% of the under 40 crowd preferred video to text for "business information you need."

I see that number only getting bigger in the months and years ahead. 

(click to pop out)

Download the full survey here. 

Another Cool Thing About YouSendIt: Streaming m4v Video Files On Your iPhone

YouSendIt has become my favorite way to send big files across the internet.  Here are the obvious reasons to use their service:

• Send as many files - up to 2 Gigs - as you want for the same low monthly price ($9.95)
• Has a desktop client feature that increases upload time.
• Add on services like certified delivery with tracking and the ability to host files over a long period of time are handy.
• Control of expiration of links
• iPhone app shows me my outbox and if my files were downloaded when I'm on the go.

I've found the service to be pretty fool proof after heavy use for the last six months.

But for video makers and iPhone users, YouSendIt has one really neat feature. 

Send a video file compressed as a m4v file (a compression option in Apple QuickTime) to someone who has an iPhone.  If the receiver presses the link in their email, YouSendIt streams the video right to your iPhone.  You don't need a separate server to do this.

This has saved me a few times when I had to be two places at once.  My editor can send me a rough cut via the phone with no heavy lifting required.  The quality of an m4v file is really superb as well.

Photo Credit: Creative Commons Steve Keys

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