Steve Stockman's Blog, page 2
February 8, 2023
Telling the Truth with Testimonials
“They’re fake!” “They’re actors” “They’re reading from a script!”
You hear these disparaging comments every time you play testimonial commercials in a focus group. Every. Single. Time. But after people talk about how fake it all is and how they can’t be fooled, something interesting happens. When they talk about the messages in the spots, they believe some of them.
The ones they believe? The testimonials shot with real people, saying real things that are important to the viewer. It seems that at some instinctive level we can sense the difference between actors and real people– between ad copy and … Read the rest
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October 5, 2022
5 Killer Halloween Video Tips
Going out to shoot memorable video of your kids? Here are five Halloween Video tips that will help:
1) It’s dark out at night. I know you knew that, so let me be more specific: outside at night away from any light, it will be too dark to see your kids. The obvious solutions: use your phone’s built-in light, position the kids under streetlights, or shoot at the pre-show party indoors.
Less obviously- have another parent light the kids with their cellphones from off to the side. You’ll get much prettier looking footage. Above all, remember– if you can’t … Read the rest
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Can I have a career in film without moving?
I do pretty well currently as a freelance advertising creative, but I’ve always wanted to have a career in film. I have a bachelors degree in film (if that even helps) but where I live there are not many opportunities, and the ones that pop up pay pennies.
Do I have to move to have a film production career? And if so, where to?
–Kara
If you want a film career and live where there isn’t any film industry, then yes, you have to move. Which, from your question, I suspect you already know.
Often when people ask this question, the choice they’re really having a hard time with is: “Do I want a film career enough to move?” Certainly the pressure from family and friends, plus human beings’ natural tendency toward inertia all push you to stay put. “Move or no move” is a question only you can answer, but let me give you some thoughts that may help you fight the prevailing winds.
There is power in being where the action is in any business. It’s why all the big tech deals get made in Silicon Valley, and all the big venture capital companies are based there. You run into people, it’s easy to grab lunch or coffee (or was, and will be again soon, we hope.) In the Starbucks, everyone is talking tech and code and unicorns and finance. Ideas get shared easily and constantly. You learn by osmosis and make friends who have friends who are looking for what you do.
Same in film, only our Silicon Valley is called Hollywood. In the Los Angeles Starbucks they’re all talking log lines and reading scripts and putting together financing. The five people you get a first apartment with are all growing up in the biz just like you, and when they get projects going they will call you if they like you. And vice versa. LA is the networking capital of the world.
I may seem biased because I live and work here, but I did pack up and move from the east coast once upon a time, and for me it was a good choice. You don’t have to move to LA to have a career in film, but if you’re packing up to move anyway, you probably should.
New York is also a great town for film and many TV decisions are made there. But it doesn’t have the sheer concentration of industry folks that LA does.
If you want a career on set, you could start in established film production centers like Atlanta, New Orleans, Boston, New Mexico, or, if you’re Canadian, Vancouver. But long-term careers in those cities may be tougher to sustain. There’s often not enough volume of work for you to learn and rise quickly through the ranks. I know a lot of people who’ve started elsewhere and had their crew careers blossom once they finally decided to move to LA.
Outside of regions with an established film community, production volume comes and goes. You’ll hear about the next “Hollywood of the South” (or wherever) when they have the best tax breaks, but unless the region is doing a lot of serious work making themselves film friendly, it often dies out again. Film is extremely mobile– interiors can shoot anywhere, and locations are easily changed in most scripts. Producers move work to those locations for the savings, and when the tax breaks go so do the jobs. Then all the LA decision-makers go home to hang with the other writers, directors and producers who drive the process of what gets made and where.
If you’re nervous about moving, set up some informational interviews with school alumni, friends of friends or whoever and go visit your new town to see how it feels. If it’s not for you, keep shopping.
While nobody can promise that you will have the film career you want if you move, we can certainly answer the obverse question: There is no film where you live. If you don’t move, the odds are seriously against your having a film career.
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I do pretty well currently as a freelance advertising creative, but I’ve always wanted to have a career in film. I have a bachelors degree in film (if that even helps) but where I live there are not many opportunities, and the ones that pop up pay pennies.
Do I have to move to have a film production career? And if so, where to?
–Kara
If you want a film career and live where there isn’t any film industry, then yes, you have to move. Which, from your question, I suspect you already know.
Often when people ask this question, … Read the rest
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January 9, 2022
Stop Shooting “B-Roll”
Shooting “B-Roll” is a mistake.
“B-roll” shots are an editing short-cut from news-gathering in the ’80s. Crews on the run learned to grab over-the-shoulder shots of the newsperson looking serious or flames in a burning house to save time in editing, which took forever on linear reel-to-reel video decks. Over the next 40 years, “gotta get b-roll” filtered down Truth with a capital T from trainer to trainee, and from teachers to students, oozing its way gradually into other forms of video and film shooting.
But the whole concept of b-roll is fatally flawed. I’m not saying you shouldn’t shoot … Read the rest
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December 7, 2021
Perfect Holiday Video in 10 Easy Steps
**Shameless Plug: Of course you’re buying a dozen print copies of How to Shoot Video that Doesn’t Suck for the video people in your family– but did you know there’s an audio version too?
Special bonus: Scroll down for a Christmas music video parody called “I am Santa Claus” that I created and directed for Atlantic Records and my friend Bob Rivers. There are at least 900 stupid Christmas jokes in its 4 minute run-time. And yes, I’m proud of that.
End Shameless Plug**
Ah, the Holidays!
Chestnuts roasting, noses being nipped, and hours of incomprehensible video being shot … Read the rest
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November 22, 2021
Five Easy Ways to Shoot Better Thanksgiving Video
Hopefully your Thanksgiving gathering will be near-normal this year– at least from a Covid perspective (I mean, whose family is normal?) — and that means you’ll need these five tips to make your Thanksgiving video kick butt.
Bad Thanksgiving video can be hell to sit through. Mom hiding her face to keep from being seen when she’s messy after cooking all day. Ten minute shots of the steaming turkey, as if this one looks different. Loud dinner cross-conversations that are impossible to hear, let alone follow.
Why not make this the year you shoot GREAT Thanksgiving video with these 5 … Read the rest
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November 8, 2021
Help! I Need an On-Set Checklist!
I’ve been directing a long time, and in the long nights before that first shooting day, it’s still hard to sleep. Even though I’ve planned my shots (see how to make detailed shot lists), there are a lot of things I … Read the rest Related posts:Shoot Just Enough and No More Throughout your book you talk about cutting, trimming, deleting, editing until...Checklist: 20 Questions to Make Your Video Great Since everyone alive today has been watching film and video...The Value of Checklists (even if you’re not drinking) I’m traveling the country this summer with the cast and...Is there a checklist or cheat sheet you go over before you start shooting to make sure production goes smoothly?
I’m shooting my first short in 12 days, and I’ve been stressing that I’m going to mess something up. The last thing I want is to delay the shooting process and rack up unnecessary expenses.
–Carrie, Charlotte NC
October 23, 2021
Do I have to Watch Movies to Learn Video?
Reading your book for a college video course. The book talks about movies all the time. I like videos, but I hate to watch movies. They seem incredibly boring to me.
Is there another way to get better at making videos?
–Anika, Chicago
How we communicate using moving pictures is a kind of language, and it started with movies. The more you understand it, and where it comes from, the better you’ll be at using it. Ultimately it’s up to you: How good at this do you want to be?
This isn’t just another older person telling you to suffer … Read the rest
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October 14, 2021
Single Camera vs. Multi-Camera for a New Director
I’m new to shooting, and I’m about to shoot a marketing video for my company. It’s just two people talking to each other in the office.
I want the rhythm of the dialogue to be pretty fast, so I’m wondering if I should do it single camera or with two cameras. I’m mostly worried about editing dialogue together with multiple angles coming from different takes since the dialogue is very fast and often has people talking over and interrupting each other.
–Shania, New York
Shooting two cameras for complicated dialogue is a great idea– but it’s a very high degree … Read the rest
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