This Tuesday night, January 31st, at 7pm Central time, StudioNow will host the first annual Nowwies Award Ceremony. The show will be broadcast on the studionow blog and will recognize eleven awards for excellence in cinematic achievement.

Nominations have been received in the following categories of merit for distinctive achievement:

1. Best Voice Over
2. Best Animation
3. Best Business Profile
4. Best Editing
5. Best Scramble
6. Best Storytelling
7. Best Cinematography
8. Most Improved
9. Best Work By Production Company
10. Most Valuable Player
11. Lifetime Achievement

1. Avoid showing jump cuts when trimming the interview into a succinct narration. Cover with relevant B-roll.
2. Audio should play in both channels (stereo) with levels between -12 and -6 DB.
3. Do not let the background music bed overpower the speaking audio. Err on the side of too quiet.
4. Pay attention that the video ends on a strong call to action and concise fade out.
5. Do a quick but essential white balance grade before export (see this 3 Way Color Corrector for help)

There are certain magic numbers and ratios in the film industry, and 4'x4' is one of them. The 4'x4' bounce or diffusion frame is very common in the industry because it does beautiful things in close quarters, particularly to faces. When I first tried this setup, placing a 4'x4' bounce card 2' to 3' from the subject and lighting it with a 650w fresnel, the results were exactly what I was looking for. The nose shadow was very, very soft and gentle, and it almost didn't matter where it fell because it's difficult to see. The source wraps beautifully around the average face and light reaches easily into both eyes. The reflection of the light source causes skin to appear to glow from within. This quality of light, from a large source at close distance, works well on almost everybody.

On setting your rates:

You have to look at yourself as providing a wholesale service. That means, if my studio charges a client $200/hour for shooting with a full set of gear, if I hire you to shoot it for me, I can NOT pay you $200/hour. Charge other studios a fair rate for your talent and time, but be mindful that they have to make a profit on your portion of their services, just like they need to make a profit on other expenses they incur. Now, the benefit to you for that lower fee (compared to what the production company is getting) is that 1) you didn't have to do in marketing to get that client and 2) you don't have to manage that client relationship. In most cases, if you're shooter, you just show up and shoot. If a corporation is hiring you directly, then by all means, charge more to account for the extra work involved with client management.

About WellcomeMat - Videos Connecting People & Places

Founded in July of 2006, WellcomeMat is a profitable, web and mobile video platform best known as the leader of real estate video. Relied upon by more than 15,000 real estate agents and many of the industry's leading brands nationwide, WellcomeMat connects video pros with its clients and answers all questions related to what to do with quality real estate video content.

1. What
 makes your 
business 
special?

2. What 
is 
the 
history 
or 
background
 of
 this 
business?

3. Why 
did 
you 
start 
the 
business?

4. What 
are 
you 
best 
known 
for? 

Why?

5. What 
makes 
this 
business 
different 
from
 other 
businesses 
like 
it?

6. What 
about 
this 
business 
are 
you 
the 
most 
passionate?

7. What 
notable 
awards 
have 
you 
won?

8. If 
you 
were 
to 
tell 
a 
potential 
customer 
why 
they 
should
 come 
here, 
what would 
you 
say?

9. What 
is 
a 
little 
known 
secret 
about 
this 
business 
that 
customers 
wouldn't
 know?

10. Are 
there 
any
 tips 
that 
you 
could 
tell 
customers 
that 
would 
improve 
their
 experience 
when
 they 
visit?


Fan Page Generator's business changed dramatically in early 2010 when the company started working with AOL StudioNow, which helps companies produce and syndicate online videos.

"It really transformed my ability to do my business, let alone the product that we provide other businesses," said Jason Deitch, CEO of Fan Page Generator. "The platform behind it allows me to keep my eye on where the video is in the process. I can see any video at any point in time; I know if it's been delivered. I know if it's been approved and if there are any issues in the editing."

Video is really, really good at showing motion and emotion. It's not so good at displaying text.

One of the discouraging facts of life is that we create all these great graphics on our computers only to see them destroyed when they get transfered to video. (Well, OK, maybe not destroyed, but really, really different.)

Is there anything we can do to change this situation? Well, um, no. But, there are things you can do to improve the look of your graphics and text when they are displayed on video. And that's what this technique is about:

1. Avoid lines thinner than 4 pixels, they will flicker
2. Avoid lines that are almost horizontal or almost vertical, they will stair-step
3. Avoid fancy, curvy fonts like Harrington, Chancery, or Savoye
4. Avoid fonts with very thin bars or serifs, such as Engravers, Baskerville, or Modern
5. Avoid point sizes smaller than 24 points
6. Avoid saturated colors, use the Vectorscope if you are unsure
7. Avoid whites brighter than 92% (235 in PhotoShop)
8. Always use drop shadows on any text you want your viewers to read
9. Always keep any text you want viewers to read inside Title Safe
10. Keep text on screen long enough for you to read it three times.

The fourth installment in our How to Shoot A Business Profile video series offers some advanced camera techniques in improving handheld stability and a few tips to stylize your videos.



See Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Shooting handheld is inevitable on short shoots due to time constraints. While shooting the interview portion (video coming soon!), it is critical to shoot on a tripod but much of the live action footage will be shot while walking around the facility. The video points out the advantages of establishing leverage from the camera eyecup or holding the camera against your hip. If you are shooting with an HDSLR, some sort of stabilization is crucial. There are loads of DIY options out there, but mounts from Red Rock Micro seems to be the overall winner in terms of build and custom functionality (though it is not cheap).

Corporate videos featuring small/medium sized businesses have a tendency to be boring. They don't have to be. Incorporating a few subtle moves into your camera work can prevent a less-than-compelling company into a dynamic and visually engaging commercial. The trick here is to strike a balance so that your stylized camera work does not overpower the subject. You want to accentuate while not overpowering the video.

Particularly when you first start trying out techniques such as whip pans, rack focus, drifts, or movement on a dolly, it is best to get multiple takes so you can choose the best one in post. The filmmakers who do these things the best, keep them to a minimum and do them in a nuanced way so as not to cause distraction from the content of the video.

BONUS (Not in Video)!
One last trick that you can do in post to keep an interview interesting: Shoot in 1080 but edit in 720. If your timeline sequence is in 720, your 1080 footage will be scaled to 67%. That gives you 33% of scale to work with so you can jumpcut/crop in during the interview. Editing this way can make your interviews look like they were shot with two cameras and keeps long monologues from growing stale visually. StudioNow projects are almost exclusively delivered in 720 so it makes sense to edit at that resolution. Particularly if it provides more latitude in your editing.