I saw this video retweeted by @FCPUGIndy today and thought it was perfect. If you're in multimedia, you know how often you get asked to do things for free by random people. "I need this 3 hour documentary edited, it's totally low budget so I can't pay you until it makes a few million bucks, but it'd be GREAT for your reel!" It's just ridiculous how people either want to pay you next to nothing or nothing at all for your work when you are worth so much more.
When it comes to video, there's definitely a place for free work. I do a lot of free work on my own to build up a variety of things in my portfolio, but that's not something I'll do in the future. Working for free can also be a great way to show someone your skills and seriousness about a job, as long as there is some kind of promise of payment when you prove your worth. But generally, if you're lowballing your peers every chance you get, you suck.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
The good and bad of student projects
I attended IUPUI's Media Arts and Science capstone last Friday. I knew a number of people from classes that are graduating this year and had projects on display and wanted to support them as they supported me when I went through the capstone experience this time last year. Including my own, I think I've attended 5 of these capstone evenings altogether, and each time I go I have the same kind of observations. I tend to think that way too many of the projects are not at the level a college graduate receiving a BS should be producing. It seems to me like it should be much more difficult to get through that last hurdle of the program and get a college degree.
There aren't an overwhelming number of video projects on display usually, as the Media Arts and Science program is somewhat small as it is, and usually focused more on interactive media or web development. However, this year there seemed to be more on display than before, so I got a good look at the fresh faces of video, or the people I'll be competing with for jobs I suppose. Overall, the video projects were OK. For the most part, they weren't great, creative, interesting, and innovative, nor were they terrible. They were just OK. Well, except for two.
The good? Maybe I should say great. The great video project, and probably best capstone project I've ever seen, is a short form documentary called Changing Faces by my friend and classmate Jeremiah Nickerson. Changing Faces digs into Jeremiah's family situation which has been largely affected by his father's alcoholism and subsequent suicide attempt. He sits down with members of his family and explores what happened - a subject they haven't discussed before. The emotion is raw yet controlled. The interviews are individual and assembled to tell the story of his childhood and dysfunction throughout, expertly paced with meaningful b-roll and photos. So many things in stand out in university projects that just scream STUDENT FILM HERE, whether it's the hesitant framing of shots, clunky and meaningless editing, lack of cohesive theme, or just plain bad technical aspects. This film was a total breath of fresh air that showed the program can take people with natural talent for storytelling and help them develop into filmmakers. You should definitely go to Jeremiah's website and give this film a watch. It's very impressive that such a personal project can have such an emotional universal theme and appeal.
The rest of this blog entry is going to be me complaining about student projects. If you prefer to leave on a positive note, end it right here and go check out Jeremiah's work.
The bad. Boy, was it bad. I feel like as a recent student of the program I can comment on this without seeming too all-knowing or self-righteous about it. Hopefully, anyway. I'm not going to put links up or name any names obviously, but one project I saw was a movie trailer for a movie that doesn't exist. It's a fine idea for a project and one that I considered as an editing exercise and demonstration but ultimately passed on. Editing trailers is a great skill to have and a perfect way to show your full range as an editor - if you put an insane amount of time into developing the project so it really looks like a trailer. This project basically highlighted exactly what is wrong with very young editors and motion graphic artists. Rather than digging into a very deep program like After Effects and learning the various parts from the ground up, young people tend to Google for the most relevant tutorial and just learn enough to get by. While this might get you through a tiny little problem here and there, you will never really be a motion graphics artist from doing tutorials.
It was painfully obvious that this project was completely reliant upon tutorials and nothing else. In fact, almost every shot was created with a tutorial from videocopilot.net, an extremely well-known website for AE tutorials. I feel quite bad for this student. His capstone would have been a great independent project to work on in order to learn different aspects of AE. Tutorials are great tools to use for practice, as long as you can understand how all the pieces work in order to adapt it to another effect later on. Simply copying a canned effect you find online doesn't show me you are an artist. It shows me you can push the correct buttons in the correct order to produce a mediocre result.
I truly wish that this person's mentor had stepped in and made him take it a step further, because with that piece as the center of his portfolio, any mograph person worth their salt will never hire him. While the Internet has given us the ability to find all kinds of amazing tools, effects, and instant answers, it also seems to be making new generations of media professional wannabes so much lazier, which is sad. If you want to impress, you have to innovate a little.
Dearest student, if you happen to come across this blog and know I'm talking about you, please take that out of your portfolio. You're worth more than that.
There aren't an overwhelming number of video projects on display usually, as the Media Arts and Science program is somewhat small as it is, and usually focused more on interactive media or web development. However, this year there seemed to be more on display than before, so I got a good look at the fresh faces of video, or the people I'll be competing with for jobs I suppose. Overall, the video projects were OK. For the most part, they weren't great, creative, interesting, and innovative, nor were they terrible. They were just OK. Well, except for two.
The good? Maybe I should say great. The great video project, and probably best capstone project I've ever seen, is a short form documentary called Changing Faces by my friend and classmate Jeremiah Nickerson. Changing Faces digs into Jeremiah's family situation which has been largely affected by his father's alcoholism and subsequent suicide attempt. He sits down with members of his family and explores what happened - a subject they haven't discussed before. The emotion is raw yet controlled. The interviews are individual and assembled to tell the story of his childhood and dysfunction throughout, expertly paced with meaningful b-roll and photos. So many things in stand out in university projects that just scream STUDENT FILM HERE, whether it's the hesitant framing of shots, clunky and meaningless editing, lack of cohesive theme, or just plain bad technical aspects. This film was a total breath of fresh air that showed the program can take people with natural talent for storytelling and help them develop into filmmakers. You should definitely go to Jeremiah's website and give this film a watch. It's very impressive that such a personal project can have such an emotional universal theme and appeal.
The rest of this blog entry is going to be me complaining about student projects. If you prefer to leave on a positive note, end it right here and go check out Jeremiah's work.
The bad. Boy, was it bad. I feel like as a recent student of the program I can comment on this without seeming too all-knowing or self-righteous about it. Hopefully, anyway. I'm not going to put links up or name any names obviously, but one project I saw was a movie trailer for a movie that doesn't exist. It's a fine idea for a project and one that I considered as an editing exercise and demonstration but ultimately passed on. Editing trailers is a great skill to have and a perfect way to show your full range as an editor - if you put an insane amount of time into developing the project so it really looks like a trailer. This project basically highlighted exactly what is wrong with very young editors and motion graphic artists. Rather than digging into a very deep program like After Effects and learning the various parts from the ground up, young people tend to Google for the most relevant tutorial and just learn enough to get by. While this might get you through a tiny little problem here and there, you will never really be a motion graphics artist from doing tutorials.
It was painfully obvious that this project was completely reliant upon tutorials and nothing else. In fact, almost every shot was created with a tutorial from videocopilot.net, an extremely well-known website for AE tutorials. I feel quite bad for this student. His capstone would have been a great independent project to work on in order to learn different aspects of AE. Tutorials are great tools to use for practice, as long as you can understand how all the pieces work in order to adapt it to another effect later on. Simply copying a canned effect you find online doesn't show me you are an artist. It shows me you can push the correct buttons in the correct order to produce a mediocre result.
I truly wish that this person's mentor had stepped in and made him take it a step further, because with that piece as the center of his portfolio, any mograph person worth their salt will never hire him. While the Internet has given us the ability to find all kinds of amazing tools, effects, and instant answers, it also seems to be making new generations of media professional wannabes so much lazier, which is sad. If you want to impress, you have to innovate a little.
Dearest student, if you happen to come across this blog and know I'm talking about you, please take that out of your portfolio. You're worth more than that.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Theater and Post-production
Yesterday, I was watching the RSC's latest performance of Hamlet on PBS for the second time (because it was amazingly good) and was pondering how I miss being a part of theater. Earlier this year I was thinking about volunteering in a production as a stage hand, though I didn't get around to it for a variety of reasons. (Perhaps after baseball season, as I've picked up a second job at Victory Field.) I was in a lot of plays from kindergarten through high school - a lot. Once I got to 6th grade and was able to join the drama club, I did 2 plays a year until I graduated. Unfortunately, since I developed early (you know what I mean) and was taller than everyone else, I was regularly typecast as the mother/grandmother/old lady characters. I haven't acted in a play since graduating from high school (though I did end up having to play a character in a ridiculous short film we did).
The things I enjoyed the most about theater were the camaraderie between the cast and crew and the energy and volatile nature of a play in progress. My mind was wandering a bit on this thought and I began to compare it to what I love about post-production. I realized that performing in a theatrical production and editing a film are so completely different with the same end.
What I like about post is the ability to think things through. I can undo, switch things up, redo entire sequences, and trash things that suck if I want. In theater, once something has happened, you have to deal with it and improvise if necessary to make it work. You don't have a few hours to mull over the best way to go about a scene - once you're in the moment, that's it.
The interesting thing about this, however, is that I'm not the kind of editor to take my time mulling things over. I've always had a keen ability to look through my footage quickly an efficiently, and instinctively know when to cut things out. I have no qualms ruthlessly going through a timeline, chopping chunks here and there. I rarely dwell on sequences. I just go with my instinct, give it a try, and if it doesn't work, I do it again with minor changes. I enjoy thinking things through even though I don't work like that.
I wonder how much of this editing sense has been enhanced or changed by my think-on-your-feet experiences in theater? In a play, the actors play a big part in the pacing of the play, like the editor controls the pacing of a show. A play does have edits, just like a show - passing of time, flashbacks, dissolves, vignettes, it's all the same, but instant.
Basically, I find it really interesting that the thing I loved most about theater is exactly the opposite of what I love about video post-production.
It's interesting how things that are almost completely irrelevant to nonlinear editing can have a profound effect on it. Another thing? Music. I'm positive spending three years playing the clarinet and sight reading sheet music has enhanced my pacing and rhythm.
I wonder what else there is?
By the way, my favorite role was as Alice's mom in Go Ask Alice, because it was the only play we ever performed with any real emotion to it. I like to think I played it well, though nobody ever gave me any feedback on my performance so I guess I'll never know. The scariest role was the villain in a strange adaptation of Robin Hood. The original person dropped out right before the play, and me, one of the reject extras that wasn't to be trusted with any real lines, was promoted to her part. I got the privilege of learning 110 lines in 2 weeks in 8th grade. The same day I was required to recite O Captain my Captain for English class, and the Gettysburg Address for history. And that night was the school lock in and I stayed up all night after that day. How on Earth did I ever manage to live like this? Oh, to be 14 again..
The things I enjoyed the most about theater were the camaraderie between the cast and crew and the energy and volatile nature of a play in progress. My mind was wandering a bit on this thought and I began to compare it to what I love about post-production. I realized that performing in a theatrical production and editing a film are so completely different with the same end.
What I like about post is the ability to think things through. I can undo, switch things up, redo entire sequences, and trash things that suck if I want. In theater, once something has happened, you have to deal with it and improvise if necessary to make it work. You don't have a few hours to mull over the best way to go about a scene - once you're in the moment, that's it.
The interesting thing about this, however, is that I'm not the kind of editor to take my time mulling things over. I've always had a keen ability to look through my footage quickly an efficiently, and instinctively know when to cut things out. I have no qualms ruthlessly going through a timeline, chopping chunks here and there. I rarely dwell on sequences. I just go with my instinct, give it a try, and if it doesn't work, I do it again with minor changes. I enjoy thinking things through even though I don't work like that.
I wonder how much of this editing sense has been enhanced or changed by my think-on-your-feet experiences in theater? In a play, the actors play a big part in the pacing of the play, like the editor controls the pacing of a show. A play does have edits, just like a show - passing of time, flashbacks, dissolves, vignettes, it's all the same, but instant.
Basically, I find it really interesting that the thing I loved most about theater is exactly the opposite of what I love about video post-production.
It's interesting how things that are almost completely irrelevant to nonlinear editing can have a profound effect on it. Another thing? Music. I'm positive spending three years playing the clarinet and sight reading sheet music has enhanced my pacing and rhythm.
I wonder what else there is?
By the way, my favorite role was as Alice's mom in Go Ask Alice, because it was the only play we ever performed with any real emotion to it. I like to think I played it well, though nobody ever gave me any feedback on my performance so I guess I'll never know. The scariest role was the villain in a strange adaptation of Robin Hood. The original person dropped out right before the play, and me, one of the reject extras that wasn't to be trusted with any real lines, was promoted to her part. I got the privilege of learning 110 lines in 2 weeks in 8th grade. The same day I was required to recite O Captain my Captain for English class, and the Gettysburg Address for history. And that night was the school lock in and I stayed up all night after that day. How on Earth did I ever manage to live like this? Oh, to be 14 again..
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