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CHAPTER NINE ....TECHNIQUES AND IDEAS There are several ways to go about learning video production: If you intend to make a career out of it, there is the Communication Studies Department at the University of Windsor. At a somewhat less expensive level, there are courses at St Clair College. And if you are poverty stricken like the rest of us, you can get a good start from reading books and magazines, and studying films. In my opinion, the best video magazine is Video Systems, by Intertec Publishing Corporation, 9800 Metcalfe, Overland Park,KS 66212-2215. This has articles on lighting, equipment reviews, sound recording, and coming technology, and the best part, if you can persuade them that you are in the video business, is that it is free. You might also investigate "The Library of Communication Techniques" a series of books on all forms of film making. I got mine about twenty years ago from a company in Toronto, but if you can't find them try "Communication Arts Books" Hastings House Publishers, 151 East 50th Street, New York 10022. As to studying films, the secret is to watch bad films. If you watch a good film, you get involved in the story and are not aware of the techniques used, which is just what the director wants. If you watch a dull film, or watch a film several times, you can start to analyze the different shots and the camera moves, and see what the director was trying to accomplish. You can learn a lot from even a second rate Hollywood director. You can also learn from watching old silent films from the early 1900s. Before the special effects people developed their trade, Hollywood had to shoot films the way we do now, and it's worth a look to see how they did it. Now for IDEAS. Making a video without one would be about like typing random keys on the typewriter, or driving your car around and around the block because you don't have anywhere to go. Probably the first thing is to decide what you can't do. I doubt if your budget will cover compacting a new Lincoln, a la James Bond, and staging a high speed car chase might result in a few points off your driver's licence, so what's left? First of all, decide on the audience that will be interested in what you can produce. 1. Your family.. They can't get away. 2. Church groups. What are they doing that you could record? 3. School classes. .Teachers have special class activities, and while many schools have their own video equipment, they don't always have people with the time or experience to make a good recording. 4.Service clubs and charitable organizations. .They want to be able to show the outside world what they are doing. You will notice that I didn't mention weddings. These are an affair that has to be right the first time. If your equipment breaks down and you fail to get it, there are going to be an awful lot of people who will hear about it. If you value the reputation you are trying to build up, you had better leave weddings alone until you can provide at least a two camera crew. Here are a couple of ideas you can have to get you started: Get out the pictures and snapshots from the family album. (Your camcorder has a macro lens, so you can fill the viewfinder with a very small picture.) Put the camcorder on a tripod and shoot straight down at the picture. put a piece of glass over the print to take out the curl. Use one or two lights at an angle of 45 degrees to the glass, so they will not reflect back into the lens. Now you round up a few of your senior family members, and interview them talking about the people in the pictures. When you edit your tape you cut from the shot of the person talking, holding the picture to your close-up of the picture. A video tape like this would have wide circulation in your family. You say you want one with a little more action, how about this? You need a ten year old hockey player. If you don't have one on hand, maybe you can borrow one from a friend or neighbor. While you can't tell how the big game is going to come out, you can make a list of the shots you will need to tell a story. Your hockey star getting his gear together, entering the arena, talking to his pals, setting on the bench. You get what shots you can of the action, and if your hero plays, and scores, that is great, but just suppose that he never gets off the bench. you still have a story. You get shots of him getting excited when his side comes through, looking sad when the other side scores. If his team wins, your video concludes with them leaving the field of battle in triumph, but if the unthinkable happens, and they lose...why then you fall back on the technique of the old master, Charlie Chaplin, and your final shot is of your hero sadly carrying his gear away from the camera down the hall toward the door of the arena. No matter how you work this, it can't fail to be a big hit when you show it at his wedding reception in fifteen years time. Fade to Black
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