How to Keep Your Videos Short & Sweet
* Take the amount of time you think you need to say what you want to say and cut it by two thirds. If you think you need a 10 minute Web video, plan for 3 minutes. If your video feels long when you’re done–cut it even shorter.
The advantages of planning a shorter video:
1) You won’t expand to fill time. “Padding” is just another word for boring. With a tight time goal, each shot you include will have to compete with every other shot.
2) You’re competing with the universe for people’s attention. No matter how brilliant your video is, more people will watch the whole thing if it’s shorter.
3) The faster pace will keep it moving.
4) Planning is easier. Fewer different shots= less work!
**The only possible disadvantage to a shorter video is that it’s a lot harder to make.
****11/5 Daily Assignment****
Divide into groups of four. I will give each team a series of setups–everyone gets the same setup. Each team will make up their own story using the setup and then present to the entire group.
***The goal is to tell a complete story–with a hero, beginning, middle and end–in three sequential tableaus, or freeze-frames like a comic strip.
**There’s no movement in each frame and no talking. They’re just making pictures. Each group starts in Frame 1 frozen position, then moves to Frame 2 and then to Frame.
Here are the rules:
1) All the groups will get the same setup.
2) Everyone must play. Not all players need to be in every frame, but in each presentation, everyone in the group must be in at least one frame.
3) Each group gets 10 minutes to plan and rehearse and shot the three frames.
4) Present your story to the class…Which group did a great job establishing the hero? What groups made the beginning, middle, or end work best? Why?
2) Watch this Video How to keep things short with Editing
**List the ten things you learned from this video. Send it to the comment section of this post.
| 1. | aperture | Iris opening of a lens, usually measured in f-stops. | |
| 2. | auto-focus | Automated feature whereby the camera focuses on what it senses to be the target object. | |
| 3. | calibrate | To preset a zoom lens to remain in focus throughout the zoom. | |
| 4. | compression | The crowding effect achieved by a narrow-angle (telephoto) lens wherein object proportions and relative distances seem shallower. | |
| 5. | depth of field | The area in which all objects, located at different distances from the camera, appear in focus. Depth of field depends on the focal length of the lens, its f-stop, and the distance between the object and the camera. | |
| 6. | digital zooming | Simulated zoom that crops the center portion of an image and electronically enlarges the cropped portion. Digital zooms lose picture resolution. | |
| 7. | digital zooms lens | A lens that can be programmed through a building computer to repeat zoom positions and their corresponding focus settings. | |
| 8. | f-stop | The calibration on the lens indicating the aperture, or iris opening (and therefore the amount of light transmitted through the lens) The larger the f-stop number, the smaller the aperture; the smaller the f-stop number, the larger the aperture. | |
| 9. | fast lens | A lens that permits a relatively great amour of light to pass through at its maximum aperture (relatively low f-stop number at its lowest setting). Can be used in low-light conditions. | |
| 10. | field of view | The portion of a scene visible through a particular lens; its vista. Expressed in abbreviations, such as CU for close-up. | |
| 11. | focal length | The distance from the optical center of the lens to the front surface of the camera’s imaging device at which the image appears in focus with the lens set at infinity. Focal lengths are measured in millimeters or inches. | |
| 12. | focus | A picture is in focus when it appears sharp and clear on-screen (technically, the point at which the light rays refracted by the lens converge) | |
| 13. | iris | Adjustable lens-opening that controls the amount of light passing through the lens. Also called diaphragm and lens diaphragm. | |
| 14. | marco position | A lens setting that allows it to be focused at very close distances from an object. Used for close-ups of small objects. | |
| 15. | minimum object distance (MOD) | How close the camera can get to an object and still focus on it. |
| 16. | narrow-angle lens | Gives a close-up view of an event relatively far away from the camera. Also, called long-focal-length lens and telephoto lens. | |
| 17. | normal lens | A lens or zoom lens position with a focal length that approximates the spatial relationships of normal vision. | |
| 18. | rack focus | To change focus from one object or person closer to the camera to one farther away or vice versa. | |
| 19. | range extender | An optical attachment to the zoom lens that extends its focal length. Also called extender. | |
| 20. | selective focus | Emphasizing an object in a shallow depth of field through focus while keeping its foreground and/or background out of focus. | |
| 21. | servo zoom control | Zoom control that activates motor-driven mechanisms. | |
| 22. | slow lens | A lens that permits a relatively small amour of light to pass through at it’s maximum aperture (relatively high f-stop number at its lowest setting) Can be used only in well-lighted areas. | |
| 23. | wide-angle lens | A short focal-length lens that provides a broad vista of a scene. | |
| 24. | z-axis | An imaginary line representing an extension of the lens from the camera to the horizon–the depth dimension. | |
| 25. | zoom lens | A variable-focal-length lens. It can gradually change from a wide shot to a close-up and vice versa in one continuous move. | |
| 26. | zoom range | The degree to which the focal length can be changed from a wide shot to a close-up during a zoom. |
