Glossary of film terms

An extensive one at that. From the Seventh Art.

Idea for music videos, mythologies (?)

Create the disappearing act for your music videos. Of course there are other ways of doing it, but this is cute too!

How to do flipbook animations?

Here's a real cool way of doing it!

How to draw storyboards?

I keep telling my students that they don't have to be Leonardo Da Vincis to draw storyboards. May be this video should help.

Some notes on TIMECODE

What's it?

Timecode is the address of every frame that is 'printed' on it when you record video onto a tape using a camera or a video tape recorder. Remember: The camera or the VTR needs to have a timecode generator in order to provide the address. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers developed this technology. Hence the name SMPTE timecode.

What are its uses?

Timecode allows you to know how much footage you have recorded & is represented in terms of HH:MM:SS:FF where H stands for hour, M for minutes, S for seconds & F for frames. For example, if the timecode shows 00:24:21:06, it means that you have recorded 24 mins, 21 seconds & 06 frames.

Timecode is also used to synchronize two different recordings done on two different recording equipment. It also helps editors to determine how much video/audio can/should be inserted during editing.

There are two kinds of timecode: LTC (Linear Time Code) & VITC (Vertical Interval TimeCode).

LTC: To put it simply LTC is the irritating tone that one hears sometimes on colour bars before the programme begins. The beep occupies a channel on the tape. It's called Linear or Longitudinal TimeCode since it occupies space across the length of the tape. This is mainly used by broadcasters since timeslots & scheduling is important. However, the machine has to be running & the tape has to be in motion if one has to identify the LTC.

VITC: This is another type of timecode that is hidden in the video track & helps one identify the exact frame even when the tape is not being played. You will see in action when you sit on a linear edit suite. It's placed in sections of the video signal which are not displayed on the screen. This time between frames is called the "vertical blanking interval". Therefore, this type of timecode is called Vertical Interval Timecode.

How to make music videos?

Check out this funny lesson on making them!

Music video blog!

I really didn't know there was one like this. Check it out!

Weekly Internet web series about digital video production

Check out this blog!
Very interesting!!

Another 'cool' music video from Youtube

Another chirpy music video

Music video by my students

Looks like an advert for Manipal University & is a bit mushy. So what?

Surround Sound:Past, Present, and Future

An authentic history of multi-channel audio from magnetic tape to Dolby Digital here. In PDF format. Right click & save.

Know more about audio

From here.
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/audio/sigcon.html#c1

This site gives you a brief of Dolby sound.
http://www.audioholics.com/education/surround-sound/dolby-digital-vs-dts-a-guide-to-the-strengths-of-the-formats

Setting right canted frames

(A) Before setting the spirit level right the image is tilted.

(B) After setting the spirit level right, the image is straight.

Ever wondered why videos shot by beginners tend to have tilted/canted shots? Either they've not used a tripod (by the way, tripods always give you steady shots) or they didn't set right the spirit level on their tripods.

A good tripod will have a spirit level: A bubble encased in glass on the tripod head.
Remember: If the bubble is within the red circle printed on the glass case, you get straight video. If the bubble is outside the red ring, you get tilted video.
Next time you want to shoot straight videos, check the spirit level.
Next time you want to shoot music videos, you may not want to check the spirit level!

Way to focus

If you want to zoom in in the midst of a shot, you would notice that as you zoom in the image gets out of focus. So how do you get around the problem?
First zoom in completely, focus the image & pull out. Now press the record button & begin zooming in. The image is in focus now!

UNESCO: A user's guide to the tech. of Community Radio in India

I know it's a deviation but couldn't resist putting this up. A good resource to set up a radio station. Released by UNESCO, New Delhi, India, & authored by Ramakrishnan N. (Ideosync Media Combine, Bangalore).
A user's guide to the technology; a guide to the technology and technical parameters of community radio in India. (pdf)
Published by :
The United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organization
(UNESCO)
UNESCO House
B-5/29, Safdarjung Enclave
New Delhi - 110019, India
Phone: +91-11-26713000
Fax: +91-11-26713001/2
E-mail: newdelhi@unesco.org
Web: http://www.unesco.org/newdelhi

Some video equipment manufacturers

Check out these websites for some good video equipment manufacturers.

• AKG Acoustics (www.akg.com)---For a good variety of good microphones
  
• Canon, Inc. (www.canon.com)--Good video cameras, lenses
  
• DPA Microphones, Inc. (www.dpamicrophones.com)--For a variety of good microphones
• Harris Corporation & DPS (a trademark of Harris Corp.) (www.harris.com)--Non-linear edit systems
  
• Listec Video Corp. (www.listec.com)--Teleprompters
• Lowel-Light Manufacturing, Inc. (www.lowel.com)--Very good lighting systems
  
• Mackie (www.mackie.com)---Good audio related solutions
  
• Panasonic (www.panasonic.com/business/provideo/home.asp)---Most video related equipment-market leaders!
  
• Rode Microphones (www.rodemic.com)---Very good mics
  
• Ross Video (www.rossvideo.com)---Low to hi-end video switchers/mixers
  
• Sachtler (www.sachtler.com)---Very good camera support systems, lighting instruments
  
• Vinten Broadcast Limited (www.vinten.com)---Very good camera support system

and finally

• Visit www.mandy.com for a list of lists of manufacturers/vendors/suppliers of a variety of video equipment.
  

Procedure to begin recording on tape

Amateurs/students normally begin recording without the colour bars & get frustrated on the edit suite when they can't get a pre-roll! How does one get around it?

It is always useful to record 20 seconds of colour bars after you insert the tape into the camera. Access the colour bars from the Menu on the camera; some cameras have an exclusive button for colour bars) After 20 seconds of colour bars, record another 10 seconds of black (undo the colour bars & keep the lens cap closed). Some prefer to record an additional 10 seconds of black. This is important to avoid pre-roll problems while editing.

What is pre-roll? Simply put, it is the time taken by the VTR to stabilize itself before it can recognise the exact in-point frame to begin editing. Some machines need only 2 seconds pre-roll but some others take as many as 7 seconds to stabilize.

Always record colour bars & black on a new tape. Also, remember to label the tape once it's exhausted.

What is Direct to Home (DTH)?

Find out here. Written in layman's language for all of us to understand. More in my book Video Production Published by Oxford University Press.

Know more at video tape formats

Check out notes on various video tape formats here.
Taking care of video tapes.

Production School from Metacafe-Studio

Metacafe is not all about some crazy videos. There are things to learn too. Check out these tutorials on video production. Don't forget the short notes on other aspects of production.
(http://studio.metacafe.com/production_school/#/watch/641411
/continuity_and_screen_direction)

Basic Interviewing Techniques

Preparation

Know at least the basics about

(a) Who you’re interviewing and,
(b) What you’re interviewing them about.

Well, that's the least you can do!

Remember that you’re interviewing a person for the benefit of the viewer. You need to think what your viewers are interested in; what they already know; and what they would like to find out. You should then think about questions that will achieve this for your viewer. You may have your own very strong opinions about the person you’re going to interview, or the topic you’re discussing. These may help you to come up with some good ideas for questions, but you shouldn’t let your personal views colour the interview.

You’ll also only get an interesting interview if the person you’re speaking to is interesting and knows what they’re talking about. Before you arrange an interview with someone, make sure they’re the right person for the job!

Make sure you know how the interview is going to be used, and how much air-time is available for it. There’s no point recording a 50 minute interview if all you want is a comment for your "What’s On" bulletin!

Types of Interview

Informative - The aim to allow the "expert" to explain the issue or event. Even if you know the answers already, your job is to ask the questions that will get the best, most important and most interesting information from your guest. For example: Asking the State Rural Department Secretary what NREGA is all about.

Challenging -The aim is to get the guest to explain, defend or comment on issues that your viewers already know about, or that you present to them. E.g. it may be a politician defending cuts to the education budget; or an environmentalist criticising government policy. Your job is to (a) present the known facts and (b) (politely) to force the guest to give their defence/opinion etc. If you happen to agree with your guest, you’ll only really get an interesting interview out of them if you present another side of the argument or play "devil’s advocate". For example, asking the same Secretary why jobs are not being assigned under NREGA even after 14 days as per the Act.

Emotional - This can be awful if done badly but wonderful if done well! Your viewers are interested in issues that affect people emotionally, and in "eavesdropping" into people’s emotional experiences. Your job is to sensitively and tactfully draw your guest into talking openly about their anger, fear, disappointment, grief, disbelief etc. Watch Simi Garewal's show and you'll understand.

Entertaining - All forms of interview should be ‘entertaining’ in that they keep people interested and listening. But the primary aim of this is simply to entertain. The topic is generally not very serious. There are plenty of anecdotes and stories told. Your job is to lead the guest into the most entertaining of these. All those interviews with the stars that you see on TV.

Questions - open/closed

The interview will be most interesting to the viewers if your guest does most of the talking. Long-winded questions and "yes/no" answers don’t make interesting listening. Try to ask open questions - that is, questions that cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no".

Typical open questions may begin with:

- "What is your opinion on..."

- "Why do you.."

- "Who, what, how, why, where, when..." etc

Try not to ask closed questions - that is questions that can have just a "yes" or "no" answer. Typical closed questions may begin with:

- "do you think that..."

- "is it true that..."

- "are you happy about..."

The Importance of Listening

Although you may have prepared your interview very carefully, you don’t know exactly what your guest will say until the actual interview. Don’t simply have a list of questions that you stick to regardless of what your guest says. S/he might say something startlingly interesting, if so, follow it up. It may be a lot more interesting than the questions you had planned.

To make it easier to listen to your guest, keep your notes to a minimum. Just have a list of points you want to cover, and any other information you need. That way you won’t be so busy reading your notepad that you don’t hear what your guest is saying. If you don’t pick up on interesting points they raise, the people listening will feel frustrated that you haven’t asked a question that was begging to be asked!

Handling the interviewee

To get the best out of your interviewees they need to feel at ease. They’ll only be able to give you interesting or useful answers if they know what the interview is all about.

Therefore you should explain to your guest:

- what the interview is for and how it’s likely to be used. (e.g. will it be broadcast live; will it be edited down into segments for a feature etc)

- whether mistakes can be edited out, and whether you’ll do this.

- roughly how long the interview will take and roughly how much will be used.

- the topic you want to cover, and the general points you’d like to concentrate on. DON’T read out an exact list of questions or do a practice interview. Guests are generally at their best and most spontaneous the first time!

- if you are going to ask for exact figures or examples of something, try to give them some warning. They may need to think about it for a minute!

- where you want them to sit/stand

When you’re doing the interview:

-ask your questions clearly.

- listen carefully to what they’re saying, look interested and don’t be pre-occupied with your equipment. This will put them off what they’re saying.

- move the interview in a logical way don’t leap about all over the place.

Check out if these prove useful. If you have more tips, send them to me.

IZZY VIDEO: The podcast that shows you how to shoot & edit better video

Check out:

http://www.izzyvideo.com/

for some great videos on video production!

Storyboard format

Download a storyboard format here.
Just photocopy the format and draw in your story boards! It's that easy!

Production tips for beginners

It's the dream of every beginner to produce a great film! Nothing wrong in dreaming big, but it makes sense to also be realistic about one’s limitations. Here are some tips for beginners:

• Analyse your strengths & weaknesses (equipment, locations, finance, talents--there're a host of them to consider!)
• For a beginning keep the idea simple & short. You can make longer videos when you gain experience.
• Have a story that has a fabulous beginning, middle and a bang of an end.
• Don't leave anything to chance. Plan out every small detail. If necessary do the entire storyboard.
• Discuss the shooting schedule with everybody involved in the film.
• Block your shots first. Press the record button only if you are satisfied with your blocking.
• Record every bit of sound on tape.
• Always shoot in terms of scenes and sequences. Use different camera angles/heights/shot sizes.
• Shoot a number of cut-aways, particularly if you are shooting non-fiction.
• To shoot a scene, begin with a long shot (master shot for fiction). Break up the master shot in MLSs/MCUs/CUs/POVs, OTSs etc. I repeat. Use different camera angles/heights/shot sizes.They lend visual variety.
• If you have planned a shot well, you will not need too many takes. Make note of the final/good take that you want to use in the film

TIPS: Placement of microphones

Since microphones are used both in studio and outdoor situations, their placement decides the quality of audio one will be able to record.

• Always point the mic to the source of the sound.
  
• Every mic has a critical distance to get the right audio. Place it too close & the audio will be distorted. Place it too far & you can hardly hear anything. Always monitor the audio using a headphone to decide the correct distance.
• Don't use the built-in-microphone on your camera for interviews. Use them just to record ambience sound.
• Ifyou are using a uni-directional mic, one should keep it close to the mouth.
• When interviewing kids place the mic at their level, not yours!
• Avoid rubbing the mic when holding it. Actually use mic stands or pin the lapel to one’s clothes.
• Use wireless mics if the shot has the talent moving.
  
• If you are using more than one mic place them at a distance where you can avoid phase cancellation. Phase cancellation is when frequencies from one mic cancel out frequencies from another. Check out this link for more tips on miking & audio related issues.
• Record all audio in silent areas, not right in front of a busy road or a huge machine!
• Use windshields and pop filters wherever possible.
• Keep checking the audio levels on your recorder. Don't allow it to shoot beyond the optimum level.
• Always record ambience sound.