The Successful Video Producer

Yes, I am guilty of wittering on about this or that latest project. So I thought I’d invest my time better by getting some helpful, practical advice out there. I’ve noticed that the post that receives the most traffic on my blog by a long way is ‘Best Settings for your Canon 5D Mark III.’ This has made me realize that people want more information on how to do stuff better and achieve success for themselves. And indeed, why not? I’m going to try to turn up the volume on insightful posts for the foreseeable.

Some of the questions I often get asked are, ‘How did you start?’ or, ‘How do I become a successful filmmaker / video producer?’ ‘Where do I look to find commissions?’ etc. – So let me start off by stating one very important point; There really is no one magical solution to success and instant profiteering. If you find it, please let me know because I haven’t found it myself yet either!

And by the way, this post is not about finding the right equipment, etc. This article is purely about the practical steps you can take that, given you possess the talent to make decent video clips, further yourself to getting paid commissions. In fact before you read on, I’m already assuming you have the ability to produce something pretty darned good.

Hard Work

I will begin with the obvious. To gain even the mildest success in video production and/or filmmaking takes tremendous effort, hard work and experience. Yes, this is common sense but it often eludes many.

This business is piled high with countless schmucks who have managed to get their hands on a video camera or DSLR and a week later, they’re a one-stop-shop video production company.

It wasn’t always like this, but it is now.

The gear is cheap and everyone fancies themselves as a bit of a David Attenborough.

But seriously, you wouldn’t believe how many businesses we talk to who have become soured at the thought of having new video production work done after a previous bad experience. There are many wonderfully talented people out there, but there are just as many if not more wannabes. Stand out from the crowd – Work hard and put everything into each and every project. Don’t give up – For every project you complete you’ve risen a few notches higher toward success.

Honesty Breeds a Solid Reputation

Be honest with your clients about what you can do and what you can’t do for them. Show them examples of your work (yes, your work, not someone else’s!).  You’re building your reputation, your brand, your style of film-making  Keep at it, keep producing work regularly – even if you’re not getting paid for it – Your distinctive style will emerge and will define you as an independent artist. This is the real goal of what you are trying to achieve – You need to stand out from the crowd to do really well in this industry – It’s what gets you the commission over Mr Average.

Build a Solid Portfolio and Get it ONLINE

As a pending successful video producer, this is your first important practical step. You’re in this business, or trying to get into this business because you love video production. It’s absolutely imperative that you build a body of work and show it off (note that I mentioned TWO steps in that process, not one!)

If you haven’t already got a few nice clips together, then what are you waiting for?! You need to start doing it now!

• Offer your local needy company an opportunity to have their own video for free (or next to nothing).
• Spend time, effort and love making it perfect.
• Put 100% of effort into it. Don’t ever take the attitude, ‘Well, I’m getting paid very little or nothing for this project, so any old thing will do.’ No, no, NO! Every piece of work you do is your reputation on the line and it’s absolutely crucial you build it from the bottom up.
• Our industry is in its own small world and any prospective sales exec in the future, if they see a piece of work online that you did that is average at best, they will pass you up for someone else. If in doubt, always leave it out!

Do you know why Steven Spielberg’s company is called Avalon? Because that was the name of his first short film. It wasn’t bad, it got him fresh work, but he knew it wasn’t his best work. A little-known fact is that he made concerted efforts to keep Avalon away from general viewing and that’s why it’s quite hard to find a copy of it anywhere.

Moral of the story? If you already have a piece of work that you did, online right now, it has your name on it and you’re not entirely happy with it… GET RID OF IT! Delete it. Take it off YouTube. Destroy your friend’s copy of it. If a prospective client searches on your name, finds it and watches it before you get the job… You won’t get the job.

One other important point about taking on freebies:

• Make sure you request permission from your lo/no-paying client to use the work as part of your promotional portfolio.

That’s important and it’s why you’re offering the freebie! Later on once you get your feet under the table, brands and businesses will often not allow you to upload the finished product you made for them as part of your own promotional material. When they’re paying decent money, they’re paying for the copyright privilege to use the clip for them, not you! So in these early stages, doing the work for nothing is fine, but produce it with the agreement that you can use it to promote yourself too.

Once you have selected your best work (again, I stress that if you’re the slightest bit unsure as to whether it is your best work, leave it out), showcase it ONLINE! Make sure you present it well, use lots of relevant tags, SEO, backlinks if you can from other sites. Send it to friends, family, your local business entrepreneur  Every little helps, you’re building your brand awareness. This is vitally important, so it is the first step to success. But please make sure it is professionally presented. So now your question is, how?

Get a Website/Blog

Absolutely essential for the pending successful video producer. If you can’t afford a website, if you can’t afford someone to do it for you, do it yourself. There are thousands of free/cheap website templates out there.

Creating your own website is inexpensive and I can’t recommend WordPress highly enough. But why WordPress?

Well, it’s easy to set up, established, fantastic for SEO, there are thousands of business-looking templates for it (many of them free), people can comment on your blog and your progress (and build a fan base)… But most of all, it’s completely free. It just takes your time and effort to put it together. Hell, you’re serious about this, right?

Once you’ve put a WordPress (or other website) together promoting you, don’t forget to regularly update it with new content. I am not very good at this part either, but the best way of doing it is to commit yourself to a time or day in the week (mine is Sunday) to sit down and write a decent post, maybe upload some of your work.

Get the SEO right, use back-links if you can – WordPress has some awesome plugins that will help you take care of this. Ask in the comments if you need more tips. Remember to put your video work on YouTube and repeat the process on Vimeo (with permission from the brand or business you made it for) – Use relevant tags. Allow your work to be discovered! Comment on other people’s blogs and videos – Put a sneaky plug/link to your website too… You never know who’s looking!

Networking Networking Networking.

This is your second practical step. Networking online through YouTube, Twitter, Facebook etc. is important, yes. But you know about that already and it’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about getting out into the world and meeting real people.

It’s no good producing the work if you’re not showing it off. Talking to and being around other people is essential. Are you one of “those” Creatives who likes to sit in front of his computer, busily editing away, shooting solo, eating solo, drinking solo, hell, even talking solo (in the shower!)?

Don’t do it! There’s a big world out there and you won’t get any of the important networking done sitting on your behind.

If you hate talking to people because you’re one of “those” Creatives, then you’re going to have to force yourself to do this part or at least find someone else to do it for you. I really mean this, do not leave this step out – You need to get out. Put down the keyboard and get networking. Force yourself to attend at least one networking event per month and stick to it.

So now you’re asking me, “Where do I go?”

You could start by attaching yourself to your local business network. This is where many business owners and representatives network with each other in order to introduce and pitch their own products and services. There are breakfast mornings, networking lunches, seminars etc. Video production is huge now and it’s getting bigger every year as the internet gets faster and technology improves. You’re in a great business. Firms and business owners are realizing that they need to get professional video onto their home page – Video content is highly visible in the biggest search engines of Google and YouTube.

Another thing you can do to network is attend events like NAB, or BVE in the UK (Broadcast Video Expo). Just walking around and talking with exhibitors, other visitors at the bars and coffee areas will help you to meet others, gain perspective as to what’s current in the industry and may generate ideas and leads too. Even this ‘Philip Bloom’ chap was there chained to the Canon exhibit this year (who’s he?!)

Talk to production companies.

Some of the bigger ones near you often get too much work and so farm it out to other production companies or talented videographers. Many of them will ask to see your portfolio, which… <ahem> …is why you need to have one!

There are lots of other ways to network, perhaps some of you can suggest one or two more in the comments section below.

Show Off Your Work

An electrician can’t tap on the shoulder of a business person at a busy networking meeting and demonstrate how good they are. In fact most businesses aren’t able to do this. Fortunately you are in one of the few industries that can.

Get your best video work onto an iPad or even an iPhone or other smart device and show case your work to interested people at these networking sessions. You’d be amazed how much work you can pick up this way. Some of these projects may be dull, but every project you do, no matter how mundane, is building your body of work up and gaining you experience, trust and reputation.

Working on Spec

If you’re still with me up to this point, you’re in luck – Read on. For it is here I will impart my golden nugget tip for you. Creating speculative works is touting for business by producing work free of charge under your own steam for promotional gain. No, I’m not repeating myself from earlier on in this post as you will see. I would add that doing work on spec is probably the primary method that has earned me regular work over the years. It really does work. There are two ways of going about it and both have a great success rates.

The first is a direct marketing approach. What you are doing  is spotting an opportunity, making a ‘taster’ video yourself and then selling the idea with your taster video to a potential client.

Here’s a real life example: Somewhere on my blog is a video entitled ‘Cartagena in the Autumn’ – It’s a clip I made some years ago. That video I put together in one day and edited it the next, but that clip alone has netted me more than £60,000 worth of work, some of it completely accidental. In fact, I still get inquiries today as the clip seemed to sort of go viral within the tourism industry.

A person who operated a forum for residents and tourists of Cartagena found my video on a search engine – He also happened to be an employee of the tourist board. The video found its way to the top official who commissioned media work for the district and I found myself commissioned to make tourism videos to mark a Centenary year.

From the success of that opportunity, I found myself being commissioned by other neighboring districts (through recommendation and word of mouth) who also wanted videos that beautified their towns and cities. So you see, all that work came from my original speculative video. Not too shabby for a couple of day’s work!

The second way to find work from spec is to sign up to one of the many online crowdsourcing websites that seem to be everywhere now. Their members create videos for top brands and music labels. You can start by looking at Poptent.net, Genero.tv, Wooshii.co.uk, Tongal.com and Mofilm.co.uk to name just a few. There are so many now and all of them offer pretty decent prizes. Although winning may appear to be the goal, you don’t have to win to benefit. In fact the winning part was secondary to me. There’s more mileage in producing videos that executives from big brands will be watching. It is a great way to get seen, get noticed and build a profile.

Real life example #1: I won $10,000 making a spot for Autotrader on poptent.net that took me a few hours to film and a day to edit. The success from that got me other work making commercials for TV and online.

Real life example #2: I won several thousand pounds making an on-spec music video that became the official music video for superstar Katherine Jenkins on genero.tv – I got a TV appearance from that, commissions to make other music videos for Warner Bros. and Time Records (Italy). I went on to make music videos for Duran Duran, Sigur Ros and Supafly. All that from my original speculative offering.

(A little side tip though – Music videos, whilst great fun to make and award you uber ‘street cred’ are a lot of hard work for very little pay. Unless you’re regularly making promos for the likes of Madonna, Justin Beiber or Lady Gaga – Most up-and-coming bands are strap-cashed and can barely afford a few hundred quid to have a music clip made for them).

So there you have it – My little secret that is working on spec. You’re fronting the cost of the production yourself, but you’re doing it to improve your skills as a filmmaker, build a solid portfolio and get future work from it.

You also get “out there,” meet people who can get you other work. For example,  I joined a competition to make an ad on spec for Breyer’s ice-cream. I used Linda Lusardi and her husband Sam Kane (lovely people) to feature in it. The following day after filming, I got a call from Sam where he knew someone who needed a film crew for a promotional job coming up the following week. I would never have got that work if it weren’t for my creating the spec commercial spot.

Summary

Hopefully these tips will help you to see how I was able to get a leg up once I went out on my own. Essentially, I was starting again from scratch. But with some perseverance and dedicated, hard graft in the industry you love, you too will soon be making new contacts and getting commissions. That’s how to become a successful video producer after all.

If you have any questions, feel free to hit me up in the comments section – Will do my best as long as I’m not away on a shoot. My advice will always be free, but getting paid to do something you love? Priceless!

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The post How to be a Successful Video Producer appeared first on Koster Creative Visuals.

I was recently in Barcelona to make a music video for Terry Jee’s latest release, “Break Your Heart.” On gigs where there’s barely any budget at all, I travel alone as it’s not worth hiring another person to assist. Making music videos is not my bread and butter, it’s just a hobby I enjoy for now. Maybe one day I’ll have the chance to make one with a pretty decent budget!

None of the actors were auditioned, I selected them all from their profiles and hoped for the best (what else can you do on a no-budget shoot?!) – Fortunately they were all good and took direction well. So I flew out, met the artist and immediately got to work.

Unfortunately on this occasion, my luck ran out. On the very first day of filming, the artist and one of my actresses were asked to look after my primary camera gear bag whilst I was off filming a beach scene with two other actors. When I returned to them, my bag was gone. It would seem some dodgy folk had spied my camera bag and the thieves worked together to distract both of them whilst an accomplice snatched it. They only had to turn their heads for a moment for a guy to just lift the bag and make off on a bicycle. My beautiful gear was gone.

After an upsetting couple of hours at the police station running through the long list of stolen gear, I was in shock wondering how I was going to cope without the majority of my equipment. Part of me felt angry that the people I left in charge of it hadn’t looked after it properly (particularly as I had taken time to make them aware of the dangers in this city). Barcelona is a beautiful city by the way, but its high population of thieves make it very ugly indeed.

Although my heart wasn’t quite in it, with minimal gear, I did manage to complete the shoot, but I wasn’t able to shoot half of what I wanted.

I felt the pain of using lenses I wouldn’t normally use under certain conditions. For example, all the night shots you see in the video were taken with a lens I use only in daylight hours (all my fast lenses had been stolen moments earlier). My Steadicam portable (the ‘Merlin’) was also in my kit bag so I had to make do with the SteadyTracker (CobraCrane) – Another piece of equipment not quite suitable for that scene. I couldn’t even use my sticks as the plate to bind the camera with the tripod had also been lost in the theft. My new iPad 3 that I used for playback and to work out DoF and light settings was gone too. The stolen camera gear really made me want to quit the shoot – Simple things like spare camera batteries and even the battery charger were now gone.  I had to waste a few hours zooming around Barcelona looking for a store that would sell replacements. Not good. Even my filters – Oh god, my awesome Singh Ray filters that cost a few hundred dollars each were snatched. Would the thieves even know the value of such items?

It was a very depressing journey back to the UK, let me tell you. Fortunately however, I’m please to say this story has a happy ending. My insurance company were amazing and they foot the entire bill for replacement. I find myself very, very fortunate. Although I’ll be expecting my premiums to rise next year, I plan to stay loyal to them for life! But never again will I agree to travel alone with my gear on a shoot. There has to be enough budget to hire someone whose only job is to look after the kit. This has been a lesson well-learnt.

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• Best Settings for Canon 5D Mark III

The post Terry Jee Breaks My Heart appeared first on Koster Creative Visuals.

I should begin by saying that this article discusses settings for those who are using the Canon 5D Mark III for video production, videography and filmmaking purposes. If you’ve arrived here looking for the best settings for photography, you won’t find them in this article. This is a step by step guide for getting the most stunning movie clips out of your Canon 5D mark III.

If you’re still attached to the mark II and considering whether to make the leap, I was in your territory not so long ago. Truthfully, since NAB 2012, my eyes are beginning to wander toward the Sony NEX-FS700 out at the end of June 2012. But I don’t have any plans to sell my new Canon 5D Mark III yet. I’m glad I made the jump from the Mark II though, because moiré and aliasing are vastly improved to the extent it’s hardly noticeable anymore. Rolling shutter is still an issue, unfortunately, but is reduced. Lines seem to resolve closer to 1080p resolution, but are still somewhere between 750 to 800 true lines (similar to mark II).

Before we start on settings for the Canon 5D mark III, it’s worth mentioning that what you plan to do with the clips after you’ve shot them will determine the best settings for you in the menu screens. In other words, if you don’t plan to perform any work on them in post-production (eg. family clips stored directly on your computer), then your settings should be different from those users who plan to edit and grade the clips later for, say, a music video.

When you adjust these settings, remember to first set the dial to ‘M’ for manual, or you won’t be able to access the menus to change them.

Best ISO Settings for Canon 5D Mark III

The EOS Canon 5D Mark III is remarkably improved for low light over its mark II predecessor. For pro use, although I wouldn’t recommend using the 12800 ISO setting unless completely necessary, with some additional post work using Neat Video or other superior noise-reduction plugin, it is still acceptable. And whilst I would suggest 12800 is the maximum for pro-usability, 10000 is my personal ceiling setting limit for broadcast work. Noise can be detected from 6400 ISO, but it’s barely noticeable. When noise does appear, it is arguably more ‘filmic’ than noise on the 5D mark II.

If it’s for family clips, feel free to venture right up to 25600 because the noise levels are not so bad at all.
To compare different ISO levels, here’s a good video to watch:

Now, in my earlier post on ‘Optimising your Canon 5D Mark II for filmmaking’ http://kriskoster.com/2010/08/optimising-your-5d-mark-ii-for-filmmaking/ it is suggested that you stick with several ISO settings to get the cleanest image. This is now no longer the case for the Canon 5D mark III and any of the ISO levels are acceptable with no optimal levels advantage.

ISO Max Setting for Canon 5D Mark III – Summary

Casual work: 25600

Pro work: 10000 (12.8K if you apply noise reduction)

Picture Styles for Canon 5D Mark III

If you’re a casual videographer and don’t plan to edit or grade your clips, I would recommend using one of the preset picture styles that befit the setting you are in. They’re pretty self-explanatory (descriptions in the manual if you’re not sure), and they work well enough under those conditions.

For professional use through  editing and grading the clips, don’t use the standard faithful or neutral styles. For greatest dynamic range, it’s best to shoot as flat as possible and modify the picture in post so the highlights aren’t blown out and you retain as much definition in the image as possible. Contrary to popular belief, ‘neutral’ isn’t flat, there is still some camera adjustment and sharpening going on. Whilst you may feel it’s right to have some sharpening in camera, it appears to introduce compression artifacts in post and over-expose the highlights. Trust me on this one, absolutely no sharpening in camera. Do it in post and you will have more of the image to work with – After grading this footage, it looks more beautiful and natural filmic, less video. The Canon 5D Mark III for video is very capable at producing sharp footage if this is done in post.

If you’d like to read a more comprehensive account of this, I would highly recommend reading Stu Maschwitz’ detailed investigation of this here: http://prolost.com/flat

I endorse his recommendations as I’ve put them to the test myself and he’s offered the most practical solution for the Canon 5D Mark III.

Professional picture style settings for Canon 5D Mark III

Sharpness all the way to the left (0).
Contrast all the way to the left (-4).
Reduce saturation by two ticks (-2).
Set colour tone as you desire, but I would recommend 0 and adjust to your liking in post.

To sharpen the image in post is really quite fast and simple. Both Adobe Premiere and After Effects have an ‘Unsharp Mask’ tool. Set this to around 125 with a radius of 1.1 or 1.2.

You can either place these settings in a custom picture style, or readjust the Neutral or Faithful picture styles to match the above settings.

Achieving slow motion (high speed) with the Canon 5D Mark III

For years I have loved over-cranking videos cameras to the max. I’ve always had a deep fondness for slow motion capture. Now with the release of the Sony NEX-FS700, everyone else seems to be bucking the trend. All of a sudden, everyone seems to be trending on achieving ultra-slow motion. With the Canon 5D mark III, you’re never going to get ultra-slow motion. However it is possible to achieve it to a degree…

For music video promos, the label usually asks me to give them some footage that is normal speed and mix it with slow motion capture. I achieve this using the same camera. For this technique, you need to know in advance what shots will be intended for slow motion and which are to be played at normal speed.

• For normal capture, I shoot at 1080p, 25fps (PAL). For slow motion capture, I switch to 720p, 60fps (NTSC). Don’t forget to switch back again when shooting the regular speed shots.
• In post production, take all the 720p acquired footage and place the clips in their own bin.
• Use the ‘interpret footage’ feature to have the NLE see them as 25fps to match the 1080p acquired footage.
• Place them on a 25fps timeline and scale up by 150% to match the size of the 1080p footage.Now you have beautiful slow motion clips alongside regular speed shots!

Highlight Tone Priority

What this does is artificially increase ISO by approximately one stop and this (apparently) generates more detail in the highlights (and the extra noise to go with it). Personally, I’d leave this off altogether.  Go into the menu settings and disable Highlight Tone Priority.

Additional Considerations

Other things not to forget if you’re relatively new to shooting video:

1. Keep your shutter speed at double the frame rate you are shooting at. Eg. If you are shooting at 25fps, check the shutter is set at 1/50. This is known as the 180-degree-shutter-rule. Note that you can increase or decrease this by one stop if artificial light is playing voodoo with your image (Tungsten flickering). If you’re shooting footage to be slowed later in post at 50 or 60fps, your shutter will be double this 1/120 for the footage to look right.
2. Remember to check your white balance. If you’re unsure, use the AWB setting. But it’s good practice to always use the manual setting and set the right temperature yourself for the look you want. I like to custom tweak mine to produce a warmer or cooler image dependent on the style or mood I want to create.
3. Use a variable ND filter to help control light coming into the camera on very bright days or for time lapsing shots. I recommend the Fader ND mark II by Light Craft. Be careful buying off eBay, there are fakes around and you don’t want to capture professional footage through cheap glass. Worth buying this from a reputable dealer. If you can afford it, buy the Singh-Ray vari-ND filter. I hardly ever have it off my camera lens on bright days. Just set the aperture to its sweet spot, set the frame rate correctly and then simply ‘dial in’ the exposure using the vari-ND’s outer ring. Absolute god-send!

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The post Best Settings for Canon 5D Mark III appeared first on Koster Creative Visuals.

There’s an intriguing new way for brands large and small to have their ads professionally produced by filmmakers and production companies. It’s called “crowdsourcing” and its popularity has soared in recent times since its inception only a few years ago. Today, crowdsourcing video production exists on a number of online sites that offer audio-visual services for brands. A review of these sites will be covered in a future post.

The idea is straightforward. Anything from a Fortune100 company to a local shop desire an attractive ad or corporate spot to fit their current campaign strategy. They want to put the ad on their corporate site, or their Facebook page, or even local TV – Wherever their marketing needs lie. But they’d prefer to see a selection of approaches rather than throwing their entire budget at a single production company. Maybe they want to try a different slant by avoiding expensive ad agencies. But perhaps most of all, they’d like to see a broad range of ideas from creative heads all over the world. After all, 400 heads are better than a few sitting around in an agency, right?

When crowdsourcing video production, a brand pays a third party company a sum of money to offer the job to 100s, even 1000s of filmmakers and international production companies to compete against each other for the loot. In other words, any guy with a video camera and an idea can tender a completed, fully produced ad to this third party company for purchase consideration by a massive brand. It sounds great. The brand can choose from hundreds of submitted entries, the third party host site earns a commission for organising the assignment and the (winning) filmmaker or Production Company gets their cut (which can often be up to $10,000 USD or more) for creating the brand’s spot.

Problems for Creatives

Speaking as an ad creator, it would seem like a great way to earn dough for producing a great quality video. There are, however, flaws with this model and yes, it’s a great idea to begin with, until one discovers that their productions, which are expensive and timely to make, are getting nowhere fast. As you can imagine, 100s of “filmmakers” enter these ‘assignments’ but only one or two, or maybe even three will walk away with payment for their hard work creating the ad and the rest won’t get a red cent for their time and preparation, or production costs. In other words, you have to win one or two every so often to make this work.

“Only the strongest survive,” it maybe, but too simplistic. You would be forgiven for thinking it is all down to skill and the ‘best’ should win. But what exactly is ‘best’ and is there more involved here than just skill? Whilst there is little doubt that most assignments appear to be run efficiently, fairly and with professionalism (for many crowdsourcing sites), it’s more often the case that a hot looking ad is produced, but then another filmmaker’s spot is selected over yours.

Every opportunity to ‘get it right’ is presented to the creator, from the very announcement of a project, brand ‘assets’ are made available to all creators. These comprise of high-resolution brand logos, guidelines to follow, mandatory elements, what to avoid and (most importantly), the ‘Creative Brief,’ outlining in great detail, the requirements of the brand including the message it is trying to convey to the masses for their current campaign.

Subjective Creativity

This is all well and good. If followed properly, the creator should have all he needs to deliver a video right on key, specific to the brand’s requirements. Yet, a fly in the ointment exists and it boils down to this; Creativity is and will always be appreciated subjectively. Engineering a killer advert will only be as good as the brand executive evaluating it. Therein lies the problem that throws the luck factor into something that should be, by rights, skill only.

End card for the Autotrader Ad

Take my Autotrader advert as an example. I enjoyed early success at one such crowdsourcing site, Poptent.net by winning that spot on my first assignment there. Ten thousand US dollars was my prize. Fortunate? Oh Yes. But deserved? I’m not entirely convinced. Nobody was more surprised than me to come out on top of all the other entries. I’d be honest in saying it isn’t my best work. I slapped it together rather hurriedly and my camera assistant didn’t even show on production day so I had to manage all the setups myself. Although I deemed it ‘passable’ I certainly never thought it would be selected over 100 others. I saw other, more deserved entries in that contest, some of which didn’t even make it to finalist.

So winning my first assignment led me into a false security. It led me to believe that skill must be everything and my style hits the nail on the head. But hitting the right mark with brand executives doesn’t just involve skill. There is a rather large element left to chance and it’s this rather large chance element that doesn’t sit comfortably with me.

Calling for Fairness for Creatives

On to the future and I feel there must be more that could be done to make it fairer for Creatives. People who spend a great deal of time and money making a polished production should, after all, get paid something for their efforts. Poptent.net do offer ‘invite only’ assignments to the chosen few, those indeed who have made a big enough impression to be selected for assignments. Such invite-only assignments offer a small, guaranteed, ‘token’ payment (known as ‘seed’ payments by Poptent). This works great in principal as every participant in such assignments are guaranteed to earn a nominal amount. That does help to offset production costs. Invites to such assignments though are rare (I had one invite after producing roughly 10 productions), and are usually restricted to American nationals.

As I mentioned earlier, I’ll be reviewing each of the stronger crowdsourcing sites with pros and cons to each shortly, including a more involved (some would said ‘fairer’) model that’s somewhat kinder to Creatives – Tongal.com

My Autotrader win inspired me to enter a few more of Poptent’s assignments, hoping perhaps to replicate my early success. Surely worth a go at least? Only as I continue to enter them, the more I notice how different my entries appear to be against the general run of the mill. And I don’t mean this in a good way. It took me several entries to work out what it was and I think it’s really down to a culture difference between American versus traditional British advertising.

Whilst my first encounter with crowdsourcing video production enjoyed an incredibly successful beginning, it remains to be seen if similar successes could be repeated. The jury is out on that one! Indeed, the Breyers video that appears at the top of this page featuring the lovely Linda Lusardi was created by me as a crowdsourced assignment. For the money and time it cost me to produce, it didn’t even make finalist. Was it worth the effort? But for the brands it’s a no-brainer. They get the best of all worlds in an age where they can lean on international creativity and to see a selection of fully produced commercial spots – Something they have never been able to do until recently.

The future for me may be in crowdsourcing video production, but I know the model can be improved to make it a better working environment for hard-working creatives whilst at the same time, still giving brands what they want.

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Great American Cookies have great tasting cookies… At least I’m sure they  must do, we only have Milly’s Cookies here in the UK. The brand asked for a TV commercial that was fun, perhaps a little bit cheeky, but impacted the viewer with the prime message that any special ‘first’ can be iced on the cookie… You know, the cookie for all occasions, but especially for your children’s firsts (first tooth, first school test, etc.). The demographic was women (mothers) 35+ range. Great American Cookies feels they are the prime target, not the kids who eat the things. Rising to the challenge, I thought what would tickle the ladies with a smile on a Monday morning over tea and (ahem!) biscuits… and I have to be honest, cute little toddlers do it all the time.

Crowdsourcing takes the biscuit

When I try to think of all the things I love to hate about crowdsourcing video projects, brand selection has to be one of them. That’s right – They didn’t select this spot in their final selection. Okay, so I can’t win them all, but when you see what Great American Cookies chose instead, you might understand where I’m coming from. Sour grapes?  You may well be right and would be forgiven for thinking so, but go ahead and subjectively evaluate it for yourself before judging me on that one! What’s more, the brief was announced in December and the brand haven’t even decided which finalist is announced for purchase selection.

Great American Cookies Kid

I will be writing a critique about crowdsourcing video work in a future post, but for now, let’s enjoy the wonder of how some cute little kids just steal the show when it comes to TV spots. Then again, I could be biased; After all, that is my son right there! Was he acting? Absolutely not. He meant every word!

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The post Great American Cookies appeared first on Koster Creative Visuals.

It was only four years ago in 2008 that investors like me were still buying property in the hope that their investment would eventually pay off in retirement years. Who would guess that the following year would bring a credit crunch and a resulting housing market crash?

Knowing about property and real estate investments made my next commercial assignment a little easier. I know a little about how house builders value their reputation and how they wish to present themselves to that all-important potential house buyer. Under the current climate, it’s essential to pitch their commercials right. And it helps to know a little bit about the business behind the brand you’re making a commercial for.

Off the back of my Autotrader comp win over on Poptent last month, I thought I might steer myself to entering another few as they seem to take a lot less resources to produce than a music video (for me at least), and with a greater financial reward (commercial ads always pay a lot more than music videos).  Some people might find making a house builder’s advert boring, but clients in this type of business don’t expect a lot of ‘razzmatazz,’ they just want something to look and feel professional and where quality is the key factor.

The client and the brief

Standard Pacific Homes in the USA have been in business since 1965. They want to make it known that their brand has deep roots and not just a start-up. They’ve also just begun their new ‘Live Better’ campaign, where they’ve built a new range of high quality homes with built-in room flexibility and which keeps the modern family lifestyle in mind.

With this on my own mind, I set about creating the requested 60-second commercial spot that highlights points raised in their creative brief. The ad has been created using primarily their own photographic assets and I blended these with my own footage of classy, superior interiors. Finally, I rounded it off with a motion graphic element of a blue print that dollies out to reveal the constructed drawing of their logo with ‘est. 1965’ as the first sketch on the print. This was created in Adobe After Effects.

How to make a television commercial – Getting started

Keith Kenniff is a favourite composer I use

I often get asked how I go about making these ads. Specifically, what do I do first to get started?

A little tip is to start with the music. I find listening to the right music sets the pitch and tone for the rest of the ad. In this SPH ad, that’s just what I did. I listened to a bunch of different tracks until I found the right tone that fits their creative brief. I have a list of favourite composers I like to deal with. If I choose their music, they get paid for the spot, so it’s good for both of us. Once I have the music, the next job is to write the script to this music (yes, I listened to the music whilst writing the script!) For these types of ads, a compelling script is the single, most important factor. If your script and the visuals match the music, you might be on to a winner.

How to write the script

It takes a long time to write a good script. Even when you think you’ve written it, you are best to leave it alone for a day and come back to it to see if it’s just right. Also, you have to watch a lot of things with the script and be very careful. Make sure it doesn’t sound trite or boring. It has to sound inspirational and somewhat exciting without it going over the top either. Setting the tone is critical so reading the creative brief over and over is essential. The brand have spent a long time researching their customer base, they know their own brand inside and out and have spent a fortune having professional marketing agencies look at it. The clues to a successful ad campaign are right there in the brief. Before picking up a camera or, indeed, a pen – read the brief over until you could probably recite it! I’m sorry if that sounds obvious, but I see so many ads that have had time and resources spent on them and they haven’t addressed specifically what the brand is looking for.

On actually penning the script, what I do, after I’ve read the brief many times and it’s still fresh in my head, is listen to the music I’ve chosen and brainstorm excerpts that sound good. It might not all flow yet, but if I have little soundbytes in there, it helps to start the creative juices flowing. Once I have quite a few phrases, I start to try fitting them together and rearranging to best suit the music. I might have a great end, but the start is poor, or vice versa. Just keep working at it until you have something that flows nicely. Obviously you are incorporating all the elements that the brand have expressed, should be in there. If the brand is asking for too many points to be included in the ad and it’s looking too crowed, you need to go back to them. There’s nothing worse than trying to fit too much information into a short space of time. Ads are more effective pitched at the right pace and judging that pace is only something that comes with experience. If in doubt, talk to the brand execs.  I will say, though, that it’s surprising how much you information there can be included by carefully wording your script effectively.

The AVO, audio-voice-over (Narration)

I always get the VO talent (me in this case), to listen to the synchronised soundtrack through headphones whilst at the same time reading and recording the script. Why? Because your voice will react and change to the highs and lows, the pace and emotional feel of the music. If you listen to the music I chose for this piece, you will notice that it has a central part that is slow and endearing. It’s not by accident that the VO then changes to suit the slower tempo before it crescendos again for the finale. Take time on the VO, most inexperienced filmmakers have rubbish sound. Here’s a simple math equation: Stunning Visuals + Poor Audio = Poor Advert. In other words, it doesn’t matter how awesome your visuals are, the soundtrack is half the advert and if it’s poor, you’ll let down the entire production. Take the time to use a good mic and a peaceful setting to record. Take the time to adjust the voice and the music levels in the edit such that one doesn’t drown the other out.

Steps to Cooking a TV Commercial

Filming

By the time I come to pick up my camera, I already have the music premastered down to 30 seconds, with the script and the VO all laid out and complete on my timeline. Believe it or not, for many ads, that is MOST of the work out of the way (unless you’re making a complex MG/animated ad), the rest is pretty easy! The other advantage to having the music and VO complete first is that by this time, I already have a clear idea in my head what the most appropriate and most suitable visuals will be. I then just go out and have fun shooting it. Going out and filming take a lot of time and resources. Sitting at home working out music and writing scripts, where it may take a lot of time, doesn’t take too many resources. It’s all about using your time and resources wisely.

Finally, when coming to the motion graphics or titles (which are last), I already know the exact amount of time I have and what music will be synced to it. I already know the live footage and stills that surround it. So I waste less time creating unnecessary plates or readjusting it to fit later – I just tailor-make them to the time and music remaining.

And finally…

Once the motion graphics are laid out on the timeline next to the music, the VO, the footage and the stills, the job isn’t yet finished. I spend a huge amount of time QC’ing the project. This involves making sure that the clips fit the music, that they’re paced right on the timeline. Nothing is clipped too short to see, or too long to yawn about and that there are enough cutaways to make (what I call), the ‘texture’ of the ad seem varied and appealing. A lot of inexperienced filmmakers forget about ‘two-shots’ – ie. A master and a close-up of the same shot next to each other. This technique, although definitely not essential (and shouldn’t be overstated either) adds professionalism to your clip. For reference, in the Great American Cookies advert you will see coming up in the near future, I make use of two-shots there (I’m not allowed to release that ad for general viewing yet!)

The creative process to making a commercial for a brand’s TV or online use can be time consuming and pull a lot of resources. But in the end, it’s worth it to see the finished product and (hopefully) a thumbs up from your client! I hope this mini-tutorial offers some helpful advice and insight into the making of a television advert for a major brand. So go create your own masterpieces!

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The post How to make a Television Commercial appeared first on Koster Creative Visuals.

It was a Katherine Jenkins music video win last month and now this! Good start to 2012 is what I say! When I think back to Duran Duran, how much time, effort and money was pumped into that project only to come out runners up with no purse on offer! Yet both of these recent winning projects were last minute and done on the fly with a skeleton crew – Oh, the irony!

I suppose it just goes to show that you can produce  something short and sweet and, if well-executed, could land you the big prize! I recall sitting across a table over a pint with a friend, who I told my Autotrader concept to the night before I shot it… Raised eyebrows, ‘Hugging cars?!’ – Okay, well I had a completely different other idea in mind that felt better, but I just didn’t have the time or the capacity/resources to shoot that one. Hugging cars was second best, but I could shoot it all in one day and edit it the next… After all, I only had 48 hours before the competition closed! And so as it turns out, probably the most profitable 48-hours of my life!

For those of you interested in the technical details. The spot was shot entirely on the Canon 60D with various primes (I can’t remember which ones I used, but please look at my kit inventory to see what I have in there). I used the Steadicam for one or two shots, the sticks for one or two also – The rest was handheld. Now, I’m not normally a fan of handheld, but it did work with this particular assignment. The nice thing about handheld is it gives the audience a very voyeuristic feel in my opinion. That is exactly what is happening in this spot, we’re very much peering into other people’s lives. We’re driving past them, staring, looking on from behind branches etc. Then we go up close and personal on nearly every actor in stages to invade that personal feeling of the love they feel for their car. And with the right music and some nice lens flares there just might be an emotional connection there.

Loving the car you choose is a very personal affair and the hope was that the viewer might find an emotional connection with that – Which was exactly Autotrader’s brief. Since the last couple of wins, I get asked a lot for advice on how to go about these competitions. The best advice I can give is to read the client’s brief. After you’ve read it, read it again. Read it over and over until you’ve digested every point, because the clues are in there. They’ve done their research, they know what they want (or at least they think they do!) – Try to give them what they want. If they need a clip to be emotional, go and find music that has the emotion in it. Whether it be slow and passionate, or up-tempo and dynamic with lots of energy.

Competitions like these are a great way to fill a gap and land yourself with a windfall at decent odds – without stretching anywhere close to the odds that a lottery ticket offers. And best of all, in the UK, competition wins are tax free! I know because I checked to be sure! Go out and be creative!

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The post Autotrader ad is officially our spot appeared first on Koster Creative Visuals.

We wanted to show different people, all sizes, sexes, shapes and ages, with different cars and in different locations. The only common denominators were the love they show for their vehicle and the beautifying of the image. I intentionally incorporated reflections as a common theme in the ad – An owner’s reflection perhaps signifying that our cars are a mirror of who we are inside?

With the talents of Jon Summer, Julie Ashurst, Stefan Bramsall and others, we were able to show that people really do love their cars!

The spot answers a rallying call by Autotrader who is calling upon international filmmakers to create the perfect spot for their next advertising campaign.

Shot on a Canon 60D at 60fps and slowed to 25.

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For me to be invited to make an official video for her latest song, A Flower Tells a Story is a privilege. Not only for the fact that proceeds from the song and this video go toward the poppy appeal and the Royal British Legion.

The Royal British Legion

A Flower Tells A Story was written as a eulogy for fallen servicemen, in part to mark the anniversary of the World War I Armistice on 11/11/11. My grandfather fought in World War II, and his father before him in World War I. It seemed right to take on this project, even if it was a competition that would see my speculative video pitched against other filmmakers from around the world in a bid to make the official video. Fortunately for me, it made it into the top slot.

 Dreaming up a Concept

The video clip took four full days to make, from pre-production to final output. Usually it would take almost two weeks to make a promotional video like this, but we weren’t aware of the opportunity until close to the deadline. My first task was to come up with a concept for the video. Although invited to use archive footage from the wars, I thought it might be acceptable to use a little, but I was keen not to make the video about that. I wanted to come up with a modern-day story and intertwine it with the past. So I started with the title, ‘A flower tells a story’ and scribbled down the imagery I wanted to use as part of the story.

Superstar Katherine Jenkins

The poppy had to feature, of course. But the flower is only symbol of the memory of those who fought for our freedoms and paid the ultimate sacrifice. Remembrance Day is about acknowledging those who fought and lost their lives. The video had to be both respectful and centre around memories, stories and the passing of these stories on to the next generation. The idea of children being educated about Remembrance, being told stories of these brave soldiers and then to pay tribute to them was an early, strong concept for me.

The song is powerful and the latter half is emotional. I needed something special to happen in that bridge of the song where Katherine builds and powers up to a crescendo, then there is an abrupt pause followed by a gentle ending. The idea of using young people playing the role of those soldiers who lost their lives and for one of them to give the poppy to a young child, came last in my formulation of the concept. The lost poppy from the child’s coat might symbolise a memory lost, a soldier forgotten. Which is where replacing the poppy back to its rightful place by the young soldier is perhaps reminding us not to forget them. But with the concept primarily established, now came the heavy work of pulling it all together in just a couple of days.

 Pre-production & Production

After coming up with the concept for the video,, I frantically telephoned the local British Legion in Torrevieja to help find some real veterans. By enlisting the help of Torrevieja’s planning officer, Graham Knight, we were able to get special permissions to use the local cemetery.

Josh Fox played the child who visualises the WWI soldiers

On casting the roles, I first needed a child that could pull off a grave, thoughtful, intelligent face. A boy I had worked with before on Renoir’s ‘Sky’ in the summer immediately sprang to mind. I knew Josh Fox to be easily directable and that he possessed a powerful expression with the slightest facial movement. Josh’s father, Dean was delighted to have Josh appear in another video. We also needed a pretty young girl to play the important role of blowing the petals at the very end and who could provide balance to the supernatural element in the video. I had worked with Katie Stewart on two previous projects, both for a TV commercial and a Duran Duran music video promo I made at the beginning of this year. Knowing her talent, no audition was necessary.

Eileen Hamilton was a fresh face for me. I was introduced to her by one of our production managers and she was keen to participate in the project. Eileen is a veteran of stage and theatre, but screen was a new experience for her. She was perfect as the kindly grandmother out walking with her grand children and who would tell them stories of long lost, but not forgotten heroes.

Sixth Formers from El Limonar International School

El Limonar school, a local international school in this area, have helped me out on many occasions in the past. Head of Drama, Julie Ashurst, has always been on hand to help with casting for various projects. In the space of two days, we had an army of Sixth Formers ready and willing to participate in our story. Most of them were only fifteen or sixteen, but kids look a lot older these days, so they would pass for the young soldiers who went off to war in 1914.

The elderly veterans also came through for us. Philip Timbrel is 90-years-old and he is a veteran of Arnham. He was superb as the gentlemen helped by the young boy from the car and led to the cenotaph to pay his respects. Another veteran Steve Berridge and his wife Wendy also supported the production by appearing in the video.

Production took two half-days, split evenly between the internals, the walking over fields, and the cemetery scenes. Arturo Vilar, a very capable and competent camera assistant, helped me to film the sequences and then it was all down to the edit.

For those technical folk, the video was shot on Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 60D cameras with a variety of prime lenses (ask me in comments if you would like to hear more of a technical summary).

This video will premiere on BBC2 terrestrial (national) television on Remembrance Day, this Sunday 13th November 2011. The program is entitled, Something for the Weekend where Katherine Jenkins will herself be guest. They will show this clip at some stage during the course of the program.

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I remembered the original version by Sonique back in 2000, but this was completely different. It sounded more ‘Pop/Easy listening’ than the original electronica beat. This was acoustic. Not always my cup of tea, but the track quickly grew on me.

Usually when asked to write treatments for music tracks, a story arrives pretty quickly in my mind. Then, much later and after quite a few plays, other stories and visual scenes emerge. So I wrote down that first story and then thought of a few others before pitching several ideas to the label. The label came back almost immediately with a green light… for that first offering.

What you see in the final version is pretty much my initial thoughts on first listening. I did find myself hoping the label would select any of the other stories that didn’t feature children in them – After all, the prospect of working with 25+ kids seemed a little daunting and I was wondering if I would live to regret my own doing!

You know, it’s like this in my business… The phrase ‘never work with animals or children’ is clichéd to hell. To be honest, whoever wrote that phrase neglected to mention that it’s actually very enjoyable working with both animals and children… It’s just that everything takes significantly longer to put together and to shoot!

More than 25 children featured in the video

From start to finish (including pre- and post-production), the promo took three weeks full time. We auditioned children from four different schools and associations, but they all got along marvellously. Come the end of production, the kids will have made great friends with each other! It took time to find beautiful locations. We shot it over two weekends with the artist, Renoir, flying over from Italy for two of the four-day production.

Renoir and his manager, Alessandro Deledda are great people to work with and everything went accordingly to plan, apart from a rather embarrassing car breakdown on the last day! Oh yes, it’s just not cool to part ways with an pop artist and his manager on a lonely road in the middle of nowhere! They waited for a taxi to take them back to their hotel! (I’m sure they won’t forget their first video promo in a hurry)

I get asked a number of questions about the content of the video, mostly about what is going on and why are some child characters who feature in it unhappy? Why don’t they follow the music as the other children do?

Renoir’s debut single released throughout Europe

I don’t like to explain interpretation of symbolism in music videos much– For me, they exist to be interpreted in any way the viewer chooses. But I did want to change the original interpretation of the lyrics and replace romance with a more ‘innocent’ – more emotional sensibility. For me, I saw the lyrics as an expression of life and the paths that one chooses through it. Some inevitably will take risks and experience obstacles and setbacks along the way, but with a little perseverance, eventually reach a goal that is their reward for seizing opportunities.

Others will merely sit back and prefer to watch without participating. Fact is, that life’s rewards are won through risk, through trials, through hard work, pain, sweat and tears! Such is life and the cycle of life, the celebration of it.

Renoir’s Sky was released as a single on iTunes 24^th June 2011 and is currently being promoted throughout Europe as I write this.

Thank you to Ann Brown and Julie Ashurst for their heavy support in arranging the children’s auditions and management during production. Also to Joanne Venet,  Jo Hollingworth and their group for their huge support from Benidorm!  The fabulous El Limonar school children, amazing Drama Kidz, and children from Dance Extreme for their collective talents. I can’t forget my camera assistants, Arturo and Martin and all the parents who gave their children the gift of participation and this opportunity.

Well done all!

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The post ‘Sky’ Promo for New Music Artist Renoir appeared first on Koster Creative Visuals.