Transcripts
1. Overview Edit: Hello my friends, welcome
to my fundamentals of videography and
filmmaking course, which are instructor every
young blood Williams. And in discourse I will be
discussing composition, color, exposure, lighting,
editing software, camera gear, and audio
gear and recording tips. But before you
begin this course, make sure to answer the
questionnaire accordingly. And also be on the lookout for quizzes at the end
of a section that'll give you to see if you truly grasp the information
that I'm teaching. Alright, And by the way, make sure to leave me a review
and also rate this course. You know, the route soda. I'll know that if this course, this is actually
helping you or not. Now, let's begin the course.
2. Exposure : So first things first we're
going to talk about ISO. So basically what ISO is, the cameras
sensitivity to light. And the lower the ISO, the more dark and sharp
your image is going to be. A higher the ISO, the
brighter and noisier, or denote noisy your
image is going to be, which is called digital
noise or grain. And so, yeah, it's going to help you compensate
for the lack of lighting, but it's going to
come at a cost and your images coming out with
a lot of digital noise. And there's no way that you can fix this in post-production. So what I would
advise for you to do is to shoot at
the lowest aperture, not lowest aperture, the lowest
ISO for a sharper image. And you want to make sure that your lighting is on
point so that you can avoid having to crank
up the ISO so high to make up for the
lack of lighting. So as you can see
with the pictures, the brighter you
go with the ISO, the more grain it
is and the shot and it's just not going
to look pleasant. It's going to look
amateurish and very, very, very unprofessional. And when you start booking
clients and they started seeing all that it is
digital noise and image. They are going to be
less than pleased. So you want to make sure that you get your
lighting on point from the get-go before you
start cranking up the ISO. Because I know it's very tempting because the image is getting brighter and
brighter and brighter, but your image is going
to get hello grainy. So make sure you avoid
that at all cost. Alright, so next
thing we're going to talk about is aperture. And basically what aperture is is an opening in the lens in which the light passes
through to hit the sensor. Aperture is measured in f-stops, as you can see on the chart. So the smaller the f-stop, the larger the aperture
and the larger aperture, that means more light can be
allowed to hit the sensor. But as you can see, as you get higher f-stops, it makes a smaller aperture, which means less light
hits the sensor. And so when you're shooting outdoors at night,
which is a pro tip there, I'm going to tell you is
that you need to shoot at the lowest aperture. Know not. Why did I write the
lowest aperture? I don't even know
why I wrote that. That's a typo. But anyways, you know, you want to make sure
that you shoot at the lowest f-stop that you can, so that you can allow more light to hit the sensor so you won't have to be cranking up the
ISO like I talked about. Because this, along with ISO and shutter speed and frame
rate affects your exposure. So that's more of
like an exposure square than an
exposure triangle. And also a thing to note with your aperture is that
the larger the aperture, the shallower, the
depth of field. And this basically means that your subject is going
to be in focus, whereas everything else in the background is
going to be blurred. Whereas if you have
a smaller aperture, that means that you're going to have a deep depth of field, which means that
every single thing within the frame is
going to be in focus. So you want to
keep this in mind. And also another
important thing to note that affects exposure
is shutter speed. Shutter speed is the length
of time that a film or digital sensor inside of the
camera is exposed to light. When a camera shutter is open, the shutter via cameras
serves two purposes to change the brightness of your image and freezing the action
of blurring action. And as you can see
in the pictures, the smaller the shutter speed, the more motion blur that
you have within your shot. And it's also going to
brighten up your image. But the higher the
shutter speed, the more demotion is frozen in a darker
your image will get. And so you need to keep
this in mind in a nutshell, a lower shutter speed
will create motion blur, and a higher shutter speed
will freeze your action. And also another thing
that to note that affects your exposure is your cameras frame rate
that you're filming on. And frame rate is the
frequency at which consecutive images
appear on a display. And a frame rate is measured
in frames per second or FPS, so that when you're going
through your cameras, cameras settings,
you're gonna be seeing the different types of options for resolution
and your frame rate. So you're going to see sunlight
ten ADP, Twenty-four p, or like ten ADP, ATP or ADP six dp. And basically what
though 243060 p means is the frames per second
or your frame rate. Soda, most common frame
rates are 24 FPS, 30 FPS, 60 FPS, and a 120 FPS, which is an NTSC standard, which stands for national
television standard committee, and is the broadcast
standard for North America. Like countries like the
United States of America, Canada, and I think Mexico has to NTSC Recording Standard. Or if you live in a European, Australian, or Asian countries. And your broadcast
standard is gonna be PAL or Phase Alternating Line, which films at 25 FPS, 30 FPS, and 50 FPS. If you try to film at the PAL standard in
America and vice versa. Your video or film is going to look very muddy and distorted. So you want to make sure that if you live
in North America, you film at 24 FPS and 306120. So avoid having problems
later on in post-production. A pro tip here is that in order to get smooth motion
in your video, you want to make sure
that your shutter speed is doubled your frame rate. So you're filming at
24 frames per second. You need to put your
shutter speed at 148th of a second or
150th of a second. Because I know that
a lot of cameras, especially those
entry-level cameras, only go lower to 1
fifth and not 148. So keep that in mind. Don't freak out. If you
don't see the 148th. If you're filming at 30 FPS, you want to film at
160th of a second. And with your shutter speed, if you're filming at
60 frames per second, you want to make
sure to crank up your shutter speed to
1 120th of a second. And I'll notice
bonus in there too. If you're filming at 240 FPS, makes sure to film at
1 480th of a second. I think that's what that is. If you film on 120th of a
second, if you feel Mel, 120 FPS, you want
to make sure that you filmed at one over
to 40 is of a second. So keep in mind, no matter
what frame rate you film at, you want to make sure
that your shutter speed is exactly double
your frame rate to create a smooth motion. Because other, in other words, it's going to create
that jerky motion in your shot and you
don't want that. And so 24 FPS is pretty much the industry standard for
videographers and filmmakers. And this is the frame
rate that is shot in the majority of
Hollywood movies. And this is deemed
the film look. And a reason why that most filmmakers
and videographers film at this
particular frame rate. Because the films, film stock
way back then wasn't cheap. And projectors
playback movies at 24 FBS Regardless of the frame
rate that you recorded in. So it makes sense that you
will film in this frame rate. And because it's cost-effective, and most projectors film that, that frame rate, film that particular frame
rate at that time. And I think in
movie theaters that they still film at the 24 FPS. Fps that I want to talk about
is 30 frames per second. And this is most common for
TV and broadcasts working for streaming because it
introduces that smooth motion. Speaking of smooth motion, if you want smooth
emotion in your videos, you want to use this frame rate. And yeah, you can use this
to film your movies as well. Even though it is
not the standard, you can go ahead and
break the rules anyways and film at this
particular frame rate. There is no set rules and the
world of TB and filmmaking, but do keep in mind
that if you're wondering how in the
heck that these TV shows and sports
broadcasting and news broadcasting as
such, smooth motion. It is because they
are filming at this particular frame
rate right here. Last but not least, 2060 or higher
frames per second. And again, this is used in TV work with news broadcast,
sports broadcasts, soap operas like the
Young and the Restless, which is still going on to this day that's been filming
since I was a little kid. Man that shows
going, going great. But anyways, We didn't
come here to talk about that when we talk
about 2060 FPS. So talk shows are filmed at this and live streams are
filmed at this frame rate. So if you've ever
watched a live video on, let's say like Instagram or Facebook Live or
YouTube or Twitch. It's filming at
either 30 or 60 FPS. And so 60 FPS or higher frame rates are used
to shoot slow motion video. So if you're wondering how those filmmakers
get those silky, smooth slow motion shots, chances are they're filming
and at least 60 frames per second or higher so that they can achieve
that slow motion look. So if you're looking
to implement more slow motion work in
your videos and films, you definitely want to
consider shooting at 60 FPS or higher. Don't even think about
trying to do slow motion at 30 frames per second or 24 because
it's just going to look all weird and
awkward and stuff. So, yeah, that's pretty much it for this section of the course. And in the next section, I am going to be talking about either composition or lighting. So stay tuned.
3. Composition : In the first shot that
you want to keep in mind is the extreme long shot, which is also knows
that known as an extreme wide shot and
an establishing shot. So basically the purpose
of this shot is to show the subject from a
distance and establishing, hence the name
establishing shot, where the scene takes
place. In this shot. Just keep in mind that
the character does not have to be shown
in a shot at all. And in a lot of Hollywood and even independent
productions, that character is not shown
in the shot in this case. And a long shot, which is
also known as a wide shot, is it shows the
subject from top to bottom and you are able
to see the character more clearly than an
extreme long shot. And the scene is still more
dominant than a subject. However, even though the
subject is show more in the shot and the shot sets the subject in
a scene together. And another shot type to keep in mind is called the full shot. In the four frames, the character from head to toe, while in a subject fills
up more of the frame. But however, the scene is still, the more dominant is
still more dominant in a shot itself
than a character. And this shot emphasizes the
action and movement under seen more so in the
subject, in the shot. And a medium long shot is a
cross between a full shot and a medium shot and is basically shows the subject for nice. As with the gentleman
shown in the photograph. In a cowboy shot was a shot that was coined from
Western movies. And this shot was most commonly used in Westerns while they were popular from the
forties all the way up to about the sixties
and seventies. And this frame, and
this is framing the subject from the mid thighs up the shoulder gun
holstered his shot, especially during
those guns showdown scenes in those Western movies and even in Western video games. And a medium shot frames the
subject from the waist up. And this is one of
the most common shots seen in movies because it focuses on a subject while showing the environment
at the same time. So you're gonna be seeing this. And most Hollywood and
independent productions. And a medium close-up is most commonly used in
news broadcasts. So if you watch a
news broadcast, you're gonna be
seeing this type of composition most
of the time and is basically frames as subject from the mid chest all the way
up to the top of the head. And a close-up shot. This shot really does highlight the depth of field
that I was talking about. So when you're filming at
a lower, a lower aperture, I know a higher aperture, but a lower F-stop is going
to show this shallow depth, the field where the
background is blurred, where as the subject
is the main focus. And basically a close-up shot is most of the frame is filled
with the subject's head. And it's shot is really used to show the
character's emotions and to also show what's most
important in the scene. So with that being
said, you want to be, you want to use a
close-up shots very, very sparingly to show only what is most important in the scene and what's going
to add value to the store. And you're not just
using close-ups, just be using close-ups unless that's a
stylistic choice by you. Of course, I'm not here
to tell you what to do because it's going to be your videos and films
at the end of the day, there is really no rules in
video or film whatsoever. So you can go ahead
and break all of these rules if you so choose to. And an extreme close-up
puts emphasis on a specific area of a subject
like the eye is shown here. So you want to definitely
use extreme close-ups. And this is just
merely a suggestion. This is not law, is to show the
subjects emotions in their eyes to where you see
them turn up and stuff. And a high angle
shot is a camp is when the camera is tilted
down at the subject. And this is mainly to
show that the character is weak and passive
and extremely, extremely frightened of
what's ahead of them. And a low angle shot
is a shot that's tilted up towards the subject, which means that if you're
going to use a low angle shot, you're basically
showing the audience that the subject is very powerful and comfortable in their own skin and ready
to take on a challenge. So, use this type of shot composition to show that the subject is
very, very powerful. In a Dutch angle, aka
the canton angle is a shot that is angled
on its role access, which means the horizon
line does not level. And a shot is used to
create a sense of unease in the character or to show to an ease and to create an ease
in the audience as well. Or to show that the
subject is high or drunk. So you'll most commonly
CDs in horror movies or scenes where the character is extremely, extremely
uncomfortable. And, uh, one of the
most common shots for dialogue scenes is over
the shoulder shots. And over the shoulder
shot as a subject is shot from behind the
shoulder of another subject, hence the name over
the shoulder shot showing the other subject
in a medium close-up shot. Or in this case, you
see Harry Potter and a close-up shot from over
Voldemort shoulders. And it emphasized the connections
between the character rather than a sense of isolation
that single shots cause. And a bird's eye view shy. You will most commonly
CDs in Hitchcock movies. Or if you're watching like
let's say an action movie, you will see a bird's-eye
view shot quite a bit. And this shot is overtaken
from an overhead, is taken over here
from a distance. And the audience
gets a wider view of the environment that the subject is moving
in and it reveals the elements outside of
the characters awareness. And only way to
achieve this type of shot is either in a crane or a helicopter because
anal way you go and do this on foot.
There's just no way. A point of view
shot is basically just that is shot from the
character's point of view. And this stimulates the
audience saying the same from the
character's perspective. Examples of this is the
character looking through binoculars drifting in
and out of consciousness. They're walking or they're
waking up from a deep sleep. And then establishing
shot like a disgust is very similar to an
extreme long shot. And it's usually the first
shot in the scene or the movie to establish the
location in the environment. And establishing shots
gives an audience an idea. You know, that's a
typo right there. And then Monday, this gives the audience an idea of the
mood and a time of day of the scene and
establishing shots tend to be extreme long
shot or long shots. So you definitely want to use establishing shots
to your advantage to give the audience an idea of where you're seeing takes place. In a two shot is basically just that two subjects
inside of the same frame. This shot is commonly
used amongst interviews, or you can also use this in
dialogue scenes as well. But just keep in mind
that this type of composition or shot is
used in interviews. And a cut in shot is basically a close-up of what's already
in the scene to wear. Do you know the
editor cuts in to a particular shot
that's in the scene, hence the name cut and shot. You can tie in this shot
with the point of view shot to show the audience what the character
is looking at. Let's say the character
is looking not to let you know at somebody
by running towards them. We're going to see
a cut in shot of somebody does running towards that character and
the character, we may come back to the
character freaking out and they may decide to
run themselves as well. Just throwing that out
there as an example. And last but not least, to wrap up this lecture
is the cutaway shots. So this is the exact
opposite of a cut and shot. So a cutaway shot is
showing something other than showing something other than the subject that's
away from the main scene. And this cut is followed by a
cut back to the first shot. And you can use this in editing just as a pro tip
to avoid jump cuts. So a cutaway shot as best
effective when you're showing what's other than the
subject in the main scene. So that pretty much wraps up
this section of the course. So hopefully that you
guys have learned a lot. If you guys have any
questions to ask me, make sure to email me at
eight milk productions at gmail.com and make
sure to rate and review this podcast,
not this podcast. Make sure to rate and review this course thus far so I
can get a clear feedback on what it is that's working and what it is that
I need to work upon when I do create all
my courses in the future. I know what's a focus line. Alright, I'll see you
in the next section.
4. Lighting 2: So first and foremost, why is lighting important
in the first place? Well, for one thing is for sure is that lighting
can make or break your image quality and poor
lighting will result in a grainy or dark and image as a result of you
having a crank, your ISO, like I talked about in the exposure aspect
of this course. And it sets the mood of the film and establishes
a genre film. And good lighting increases
the sharpness of your image. So if you want, if
you're wondering how those cinematographers
and camera operators have got crispy images. They're lighting was on point, and poor lighting will make the editing process
long to unnecessary. If a shot is not usable, you will have to schedule
time to reshoot, which is going to cost
you more money with your budget and waste
time in a long run. And so the first aspect
of lighting now I wanted to talk about
is natural lighting. And natural lighting
is basically lighting that comes
from the sun, which is pretty
self-explanatory. You can film outdoors or indoors next to a window to
get natural lighting in. But however, the downsides of
natural light is that it is dependent on weather conditions and it changes constantly, especially if you live out
here in Houston where I live, the weather changes like underwear and natural
lighting is very unstable, so you want to keep
that in mind next time. You want to start
filming outdoors. And a pro tip to get very cinematic images with natural light is to
film at golden hour, which is between
four PM to 730 PM. And it's gonna give your images that soft lighting and it's gonna make your images look so, so, so go gorgeous guys, I'm telling you film
at golden hour. And I suggest that if
you have a camera on, you wish you have your
smart phone on you. So no excuses here. Go film at golden hour and you'll see what
I'm talking about. The next type of lighting I wanted to talk
about is studio lighting, which is also known as
artificial lighting. This lighting setup is
achieved by using LED lights, practicals, Open Face lights, fluorescent lights and
friends all lights. And a pros of this is that you can control how bright
your lights are. You good position to
them where you need to, to achieve the look you want, change the color, temperature, and you don't have to
worry about the weather because the lighting
is very, very, very constant and
you can film this on bad weather days
or good weather days. But the downsides of it is, is that you had to buy
or rent the lights to use them and lighting equipment. Let's face, it is
very expensive. So it's going to hurt
your pockets at first. But you can ask a
friend in the industry if you can borrow some lights. And this is where
networking comes in. If you're strapped for
cash and you can even afford like those little
cheap twenty-five dollars. Led lights. Just hit on one of your
filmmaking friends and ask them to borrow their lights
and they'll be more than likely will
let you borrow them. And this is the most
basic lighting setup that you must master and
have in your back pocket. If nothing else, is the
three-point lighting system. And the three-point
lighting system is a Lighting method that every videographer
and filmmaker must, must, must master
of nothing else. And this lighting, because lighting setup consists
of the key light, which is right here, the fill light, and then
you have your backlight. And keep in mind that your
key light is your brightest slash main light source that's going to light
up your subject. And then a fill light
is more or less just there to fill in the
shadows for your subject. And then the backlight
right here is used to make your subject pop out from the background and create a
more three-dimensional shot. And then right here you
have low key lighting, which is also known as
high contrast lighting. And as you can see, the
light source is coming from the left side of
the subject's face, which is the key light. That's lighting setup
is used to create strong shadows and to
create a dramatic mood. And the most common movies that this lighting setup is
used in as drama movies, horror movies, action
movies, and thrillers. So if you plan on making
movies in any of these genres, you want to use high
contrast lighting to get your point across. And last but not least,
high key lighting. And this is known as
low contrast lighting. Whereas you have a key light, a fill light, and sometimes
even a hair light, as you can see in the pores, some of this portion
of the photograph is making a subject pop out from the background and they're
looking nice and well lit. This is used, like I said, both the key light and our fill light that's lighting set of is used
to show happiness, optimism, and joy
in the character. And this is most commonly
used in comedy movies, kids movies, sports,
broadcasting, an interview. So if you want to make more like kid friendly content and
more upbeat content, you definitely want to use low contrast lighting to
really get your point across. So with that being said, that is it for this lecture. And so if you're enjoying
this course thus far, made sure to go ahead and
go into the next lecture. The next lecture. All right, so I'll see you then.
5. Color : Alright, so first things first, we have to talk about white
balance because this is very important and you want
to listen closely to this. White balance is the color
balance on a digital camera. And you get the proper white
balance by clicking on the widest part of the
image on a gray card, you can adjust the
white balance and your camera's settings on your
light and on your lights. If your lights do have that feature because
there are some lights, you especially the
higher end lights, more specifically to where you can adjust the
color temperature. And I really, really, really recommend that you adjust your white balance settings in camera and on your lights, soda. You won't have to do any white
balance fixing and post. You want to get out
of the habit of always quote unquote,
fixing and impulse. And so you get, you adjust your white
balance by looking at your white balance
settings on a camera. And notice that the warmer
the color temperature, the lower to the node, the warmer the color, the lower the temperature, the higher the temperature,
the cooler colors. So if you're filming
outdoors and sunlight, then you want to put it at this white balance setting
with the sun on it. And more specifically,
it's called daylight. Then this right here is for
light, fluorescent lights. So if you're shooting
in a setting to where it has a lot
of fluorescent lights, you want to make sure that you put your white
balance setting on this so you get the most accurate reading on your camera. If you're shooting
with practicals. More specifically
incandescent lights, which is most of your
light bulbs are going to be on the inside that you want to put your white
balance settings on this icon right here, so that you can adjust your white balance
settings accordingly. This right here
stands for shade, and this one right here is if you're shooting
on a cloudy day, so you want to adjust the white balance
settings according to the lighting and
weather conditions in your environments. Next thing we're going to
talk about is color theory. And this is very, very cool. And the reason why I'm teaching colored theory and
this course is because color is one of the most underutilized
tools and film-making. You know, a lot of
people put emphasis on camera settings and
lighting and exposure. And, you know, the
focal length of the lens and a depth
of field of the shot. But not enough people
pay attention to color and color is one of those other tools
that you can use to really affect your audience. And color is a powerful
tool in storytelling alongside lighting
composition and all that other good stuff. So the first color down I
want to talk about is red. And the color red is basically
associated with love, passion, blood, war,
anger and rage. And red is also associated with survival and it taps into
our primal instincts, which explains why a
lot of restaurants use red in their color scheme because red is associated
with survival. But like I said, well, I didn't say this, but I'm just saying
now is that you can pretty much use color to mean any color to mean
anything in your films. And just keep in mind
that this is not set in stone and that you
don't have to follow these particular
quote unquote rules. You can use these colors
however you like. But I'm just telling you
the general overview of what these colors
mean in the mainstream. And the color yellow, you know, obviously it's associated with sunshine and happiness
and joy and optimism. But if you recognize those
little dull yellow colors, they represent
caution and sickness. So if you ever like, you know, this instance you see
on a wet floor signed, the color is like kinda
like this, dull yellowish. Some of them may
be bright yellow. Then another. And another way to
yellow can represent. Another way to yellow
represents sickness is by the fact that when you're labeling toxic and
hazardous waste still use kinda like
a darker yellow. So you do want to keep that
in mind in case you want to use yellow and your colors in your color palette
of your film. And also another thing to note is that they're
using monochromatic, monochromatic color
scheme right here, where they go from like
this really dull, brownish, ugly yellow to this really bright and
pristine yellow light. We have an a shot right here. And as color palette is corresponding with this
scene with Natalie Portman. And another color that's most commonly used in films
as the color blue. And yeah, I was
very surprised when blue meant a lot of good stuff like wisdom,
loyalty, freedom, trust, imagination have in
faith and stability because blue is naturally associated with
depression and being in the somber mood,
aka feeling blue. And obviously too much blue can cause stress, melancholy,
and negativity. But like I said, these are not any
specific roles here. So you can use colors and whatever creative way in your films and
videos in own way. So just keep that in mind. And also the color green, which represents nature, growth, fertility, safe
Hope, and renewal. But the other side
of green is that it represents greed
because money, because money is the
color green, right? And then you got jealousy
and then you got the whole envy part
where you have that saying your green with envy. And then it also represents
sickness because of vomiting. And you see those cartoons
where a cartoon character is sick and they have this greenish color
on their face, right? And so that's another
way you can use grain. And then now I'm going to delve into complimentary colors. So I hope that you guys
are catching up here. I hope that you guys are not Scatterbrain by how
fast I'm moving. But I generally do move fast. That's the way I roll. But anyway, it's back on topic. So complimentary
colors are colors that are opposite sides of the
color wheel like you see, like red is opposite
of green and blue as the opposite of orange and yellows opposite of purple. And you do want to
keep this in mind. If you do plan on combining
different colors like this is just one of the color
schemes that you can use right here, particularly in
another color scheme that you can use to
your advantage in your films and videos
is analogous colors. Analogous colors are basically three colors that are right next to each other
on a cogwheel. And these colors have a harmonious filled feel to them because they're grouped
right next to each other. And then last but not least, you have your monochromatic
color scheme, which is basically one
color in different shades, intense, like this red. It goes from dark red all
the way to like this. This pale red right here. I don't even know what that is. I guess that's salmon color
or it's probably this one. I don't know. But these but keep in mind, these are just tools, guys that you can use
in your tool belt. There is no particular rules and how you can use
colony of film. You can use it in your
own creative way. Just follow your intuition and whatever feels right
to you, just use that. Alright. So that's pretty much
it for this section of the fundamentals of film-making
and videography course. And now we're moving on
to the next section.
6. Editing Software : So for those who do absolutely positively do not have any money to buy any editing softwares. Your options right here, there's obviously more
than these two options, but just for the sake
of your guises time, I'm only going to
list two at a time. So like the first free
option is iMovie. And you know, the pros of iMovie is that it's
obviously free. I mean, who doesn't like free? But another thing is, is like, unlike other free video
editing softwares, it does not have a watermark, which is a great thing, and it's easy to use and there's no free trial for
you to buy anything. But the main content I have with this that
I really don't like is that it's only available
on the Mac, Mac computers. And it's also
stripped of a lot of key features for pro,
pro video softwares. Have n as this is
especially true for people who are really used to using
something like Final Cut, Adobe Premiere or even Sony
Vegas for that matter. They all of a sudden
like use iMovie. It'll feel like a
huge letdown for them because it's like very, it's like a stripped down
version of Final Cut. Basically. I was obviously disappointed with the lack of
features in it too, because I'm so used to using Adobe Premiere and
Final Cut Pro X. And when I started using it, it felt like a huge downgrade. Many ways we can come
in and talk about that. We came here to talk about
the free software in general. And another free option, which is also another
powerful option of powerful alternative
if you don't have a Mac is Da Vinci Resolve. And the pros of
DaVinci Resolve is that it is a very powerful
editing software that has powerful color grading tools and color correcting
tools in there. And it has a lot of the pro features that free
editing softwares don't. The interfaces intuitive so
that people can learn easily. And it's packed with
a lot of events. Video features, like I said, that Pro editors can use. So if you're a
professional editor, but you don't have the
budget to be able to afford something
like Final Cut Pro X or Adobe Premiere Pro. You can definitely go ahead and use the Vinci resolve
because it has a lot of pro features and it supports most common
input formats. It has great technical
support and it's available on Windows,
Linux, and Mac. I don't know why I didn't add Linux in there for some reason. But if you do own a Linux, do not fret, don't freak out. You can still use
Da Vinci Resolve. But as with all the pros, there's also some
cons, obviously soda. One of the cons are, is that you need a powerful enough computer. And if you don't have at least eight to 16
gigabytes of RAM. And if you don't have
an high enough GPU Dan, your computer is going
to be struggling to use the Vinci Resolve and it won't be able to
take advantage of this otherwise amazing
video editing software. And a free version only outputs
up to ultra HD and lower. So in other words, if you have a camera
deck and shoe for K, but you are strapped
for cash and can't buy any video editing software and you want to use
the Vinci Resolve. Just know that you won't be
able to use for k Because like ultra HD is like 1440
P, if I can remember. And then above that as like 2k, a1 is three k and for k. And you know, you know, and adding text is
complicated and then you won't be able to add a lot of V effects because
it's free and, uh, titles will be difficult if your computer can handle it. So, yeah, if you have a lower-end
computer than adding texts, VFX, and titles is
going to be very, very difficult for you. That's what I meant to say. And then also some
other free options you can consider his shortcut. I know desolate,
another popular option. I heard that option
from different areas. And we'll end the
pros obviously is that it's available on
multiple platforms. Windows, Macs and Mac and Linux kernel I say max
is highly customizable. There's no watermarks and
your video and also if you're wondering if there's watermarks
individually resolved. Nope. There is no watermarks
and net whatsoever. And you have unlimited video
and audio track editing. But the cons that I found is that it's less intuitive
than most applications, is very few transitions
and there's no 360 video or 3D support. So if you're looking to
do 360 video and 3D and some 3D stuff than shortcut
is not for you and I, and from my experience, I've used shortcut
to me is just very clunky and I don't really
like the interface, So I personally wouldn't
recommend Shaka, but it is an available
option to you if you're strapped for
cash, like I said. Then another free option that
you have is light works. And another pro is, again, it's available on
Windows, Mac, and Linux. And it doesn't require that much computing power
to even run the software. And I think the last
time I checked it. It requires like two
gigabytes of RAM. So if you have a
computer that has four gigabytes of RAM in, your computer will
suffice with software. And tutorials are
easy to access to the software itself as
far as video editing. And it has all the
essential bells and whistles that video
editors need, both pro and amateur. But the only con about
the softwares that you must register first and then it's only a
free trial version. So if you're not looking to invest in light works long term, I wouldn't recommend
using the software. And now we're gonna
move on to myths here, which is in-between free and pro and
professional software. So if you're like a tweeter and you'd have a
little bit of money to spend. I will look into investing
in film or nine I can. And obvious. And honestly, since it's a $60 like I would personally invest in
a software very you, if you have a little
bit of money left over after paying your
bills and whatnot. One of the pros is
that you can add up to 100 video
and audio tracks. It has a simple to use intuitive interface as
built-in color grading tools, fast video rendering,
which is a plus. Considering if you have a
tight deadline for a client, that fast video
rendering is going to come in handy a lot. And it has loads of
presets for templates, video effects, elements, split-screen
elements, et cetera. And it's an affordable
Lifetime licensed price like it's listed here. It's only $60, so you pay the 60 bucks one time
and it's yours forever. And it's very user-friendly. So they really made this
with the consumer in mind. And a cons is that it has
no motion tracking work. Sadly, keyframes are free. I'm masking tool. So if you want to do video work that
requires those tools, then sadly feel more
nine is not for you. However, if you have, if you do have a lot of money
to spend and because we got the professional software, you know, I know you guys have
probably been waiting for this one because these are
the most popular choices. So my personal favorite,
Final Cut Pro X, I love using this software, is one of the softwares
that I've used when I first started cutting videos. And it only costs
like 299991 time. And so obviously that's
a pro because you pay a onetime fee and
once you pay for it, the license is yours
forever and you get free lifetime
updates thereafter. And it has a magnetic timeline. And some people find
it to be a nuisance. But to me, I like it. But anyways, moving on. And it has great
organization tools. It support 360 and B are video as very fast
rendering times. So like I said, if
you have some money to spend and you
have a Mac computer, I would definitely
recommend investing in Final Cut Pro X because
I'm fast rendering times. And it saves your project automatically without
you having to press Command or Control
S on your computer. But in this case, since
it's only available Mac, you will press
Command S to save it, but you don't really
need to do that in Final Cut Pro X because it
automatically saves your work the minute you dumped all of your footage and South
files and pictures and whatever you need to use
inside of the software itself. And that's what really attracted me to the final Cut
Pro X platform. And it also pre renders your video and your
timeline automatically. But the con, the
current obviously is that it's only available on Mac. So you have to fork over a lot of money to
Apple, first and foremost. And then you've got
to fork over another $300 if you want to. The Final Cut Pro X software. And it has no
collaboration feature. The magnetic timeline says
some video editors are, is like a huge
inconvenience and nuisance. But it really depends
on you as the editor. And you need the Apple
compressor software if you want the full range
of export formats. And you guessed it
does cost money, so you have to fork over four, over another $50, and it's
only exclusive to Mac. So, yeah, if you do want to
invest in Final Cut Pro X, you're going to have to really spend quite a bit of
money on his options. So, yeah, just
keep that in mind. And then another popular option, obviously is Adobe Premiere Pro, which is highly talked about in film and
videography community. And the cost of it
is 2999 per month. So keep in mind
that if you do want to invest in Adobe Premiere Pro, it is a subscription
based service. So you're going to be
forking over money per month is more or less like
you're renting the software. And a prose that it has is
that it has a responsive, responsive interface
as VR support, it's integrated with all of the Adobe apps and we'll
create a Creative Cloud. So if you need to be, if you need to swap your work between my apps like Photoshop, Audition, After
Effects, Lightroom. It's all integrated
together seamlessly so you'll be able to
transfer stuff, no problem. And it allows for, allowing for a smooth
workflow because of that. And it has a
collaboration feature to be used amongst
your team members. So if you have, if you and your team are
working on editing one project, you can swap files between
each other seamlessly. And yes, you guessed it, it works on multiple platforms like Windows, Linux, and Mac. But one of the cons is that
it is subscription-based. So you are going to be having you are going
to have to pay 292099 per month just for the Adobe Premiere
Pro software alone. But if you want, the
whole Creative Cloud is going to cost you
50 bucks a month. So keep that in mind. Make sure you have
your finances on point before you
get this software. And you need a pretty
powerful computer to be able to handle
the software because it does take up a lot of space
and it needs a lot of RAM. And another kind they're really, really gets on my nerves
is that the render times are extremely slow and
I just don't like that. I don't like that at all. I also don't like the
manual prerendering that you had to
do on a timeline. So in other words, you input your footage
in the timeline, you are going to have
to prerendering if you make even the slightest
bit of changes, you're going to have to
re-render your whole video, which is going to take
up a lot of your time, which is like is horrible. And you had to remember
to press Command or Control S on your keyboard
in order to save your work. And Adobe is known, Adobe Premiere Pro is known
to crash at random times. It happened to me one time. So I'm going to tell you an
instance to where I was in my video art class and I
was cutting a video for it. I was like 99% done and I was about to
export that bad boy. Well, what do you know? Adobe Premiere chose to crash. And then I had to begin at the middle where
I last saved it. And I had to pretty much redo everything
from that point on, but I remember to
save it nonetheless, at least a little bit so I wouldn't have to
totally start over. So keep that in mind, guys, if you do invest in his software and your computer is not
particularly powerful, it is prone to crash a lot, so remember to save
your work, alright. So, yeah, that's pretty much it for this section of the course. And now we're going to move
on to the next section.
7. Camera Gear : I sort of first
popular choice we're going to talk about is DSLR. And if you're not familiar
with what DSLR stands for, it basically stands for a digital single
lens reflex camera. These cameras, I'm primarily
used for photography. But in 2008, camera
manufacturers such as canon, which really started this way, started adding video
feature two cameras, which sparked the DSLR
revolution around 2008, which caused a lot of filmmakers and videographers to start using DSLRs to start
shooting videos. And YouTubers in
independent filmmakers and bloggers use this type of
camera all the time too. Our projects. And the pros is that you have a lot of lenses
to choose from, which is handy feature that DSLR's have as
interchangeable lenses. So you have multiple lenses for multiple looks that
you want to achieve. And you can create
a shallow depth of field look on a cheap. Because, you know,
this camera has a pretty big, a big sensor. Like I said, large census size. It shoots high-quality video
up to ten ADP at least. And you have more creative
control over your image with all the little dials and switches and the
lenses that you have. So you want to keep
that in mind when you want to invest
in, in a DSLR. But what are the
cons that really is unfortunate is that it only records up to 20 minutes
of video for in full HD. Camera, audio is
very horrendous. If you're looking to
record videos with this, I would invest in a couple of
mics and a sound recorder. If I were you. And most DSLRs don't have a flip out screens. So you so you can see the screen accurately and bright weather
conditions, right? And that's a nuisance for when
you're shooting outdoors. If your camera doesn't have
a flip out LCD screen, then is gonna be very
difficult to see whether your shot is in focus properly
exposed and all that jazz. And you'll have to buy
extra lenses over time. And that's obviously
going to add up. So if you do invest in DSLR, just know that you're going
to be forking over a lot of your money when you're
using this type of camera. Autofocus is terrible
on most DSLR cameras, but we canons, you know, the autofocus pretty sharp. But even then, I wouldn't
really trust the autofocus. I will be focusing on manual
focus and all of that. And a shallow depth of field
becomes a nuisance way you're shooting live events where a lot of
people are moving. Yes. So I wouldn't
recommend buying this type of camera if you are focusing on shooting events, I would invest in a camcorder
because those cameras are more suited to shoe events. Whereas DSLRs is just more or less for life film and
blocking work because you're require to shoot different shots and
different takes. Speaking of a cam
quarter, these, these cameras are primarily
used for video and fun fact, this was one of the very
first ever video cameras that I've ever used
to shoot video. This is one of the very
first cameras that I shot a video on in broadcast
journalism class. So this camera is bringing
back lots of memories. But anyways, let's move on. The pros at a
camera is that it's lightweight as way
longer recording time so that you can pretty much record to your heart's
content with a camcorder. And the attached lens is a
50 to 70 millimeter macro, 50 to 70 times magnified lens. So if you really want to start zooming in or
objects from far away, you can do that with
camcorders because they can zoom in
really, really far. And I have a higher bit rate
ban I meant to put man, I don't know how I
put ten, but yeah, it has a higher bit rate
than DSLR cameras as a flip out screen so
that you can see whether your shot is properly
exposed or not. It has a small sensor which
makes focusing easier. The autofocus is very sharpened on point with
these types of cameras. So if you want to use autofocus, then camcorders
are the way to go. And it has amazing
auto controls as well as the audio input from
microphone and headphones. It has an HDMI out so
that you can like, if you want to see
your footage on your, like your HDTV, you more
than welcome to do that. And camcorders are generally
easier to use than DSLR's because you're not having to mess around with a lot
of bells and whistles. But the cons is that you have little creative
control over your image. So if you are looking to get different types
of luck, which are, which are videos, then I wouldn't recommend
investing in a cam quarter. I'm not saying
that you can't use camcorders with shooting
films because you can. But just know that your options
are limited in terms of the types of look that you're going to have, which images. And these are generally not
great in low-light either. It has a fixed lens, which means that the
lens that you get on it is what you pretty much get
and you have to use it. The video is heavily compressed. It has limited frame rates
and recording modes. And the still images
really do look muddy. So if you're looking to
take still images as well, I would definitely not look into investing in a
camcorder, but like I said, if you're looking to do more of filming events and seminars, then camcorders or
your way to go. I would avoid DSLRs. Then you have your point
and shoot cameras. These cameras are a classic
and I know a lot of YouTubers use these types of
cameras to block and stuff. And these cameras have
been around since 1994, which is a fun fact. One of the pros is that
it's very compact, which means you can fit it in your pocket or your
purse and you, and it doesn't take
up a lot of space. And it doesn't make
noise when shooting. And it's cheaper than DSLRs, the automatic functions
are top-notch. And some feature of why did I say flammable,
I meant say flipper, both LCD screen and
a cons is that is small sensor size
means that it's going to have a
lower image quality. And end DSLRs and even
mirrorless cameras, it has a limited ISO range. So if you're looking to have a camera to where
you can crank up the ISO than 0 and shoots
or not, your way to go. The shutter lag is horrible. It lacks manual settings. And of course, just
like the camcorder, it has a fixed lens. But with that being said, if you have absolutely no money, you're completely broke right now and you can afford
none of these options, then you can use
your smartphone. You guessed it, use
your smartphone. And so pretty much with this, you pretty much have no
excuses for not shooting video because the pros is
that it's easily accessible, is easy to use because, I mean, we've been using smartphones
since, like middle school. It's very compact, it's
cost-effective because everybody has one
is quick to setup. And smartphones have gotten better with their image
quality over the years. But the cons to
recognize what this is, it's shorter battery life. The storage is a nuisance
because most phone options come with like 64128 gigs
and 256 gigabytes. But if you own a Samsung, then the storage is upgradable to where you can
put an external SD card. But if your iPhone
user like I am, then you're pretty much
going to have to pay Apple, you know, extra bucks for extra storage because the batteries are not removable. And why did I say batteries? You know, the SD card is not really that removable
and the storage you pretty much get with iPhones is it's pretty much fixed
and you had to fork over extra cash if you want to upgrade the internal
storage of your iPhone. And stock camera app really
lacks customizability, which means you have to purchase third-party apps in order to
be able to use your camera. But if you own a Samsung or
some sort of Android phone, then the stock cameras
are pretty much comes in with extra bells and
whistles from the get-go. And it has poor
low-light performance on some smartphone cameras. Obviously, some smart
phones have gotten way better at
low-light recording. And it has a fixed lens, which means you have to buy external lenses for
your smartphone camera if you do want to, like shoot video for time, but I wouldn't imagine
that you would need it Since you're going to be
talking to the camera, to the front-facing camera. And more specifically
with if all else fails, just use your
smartphone and know, and know that you
are going to have to sacrifice some of them photos and memes and
music on your phone. But if you really want
your career to take off, you have to start off somewhere. So with that being said, that wraps up this section in
video and now this course. And now we're going to move
on to the next section.
8. Audio Gear: First things first,
we're gonna talk about audio recording. A single system recording means that the audio is
captured directly into the camera and records
with the image at the same time as
you can see here with the microphone being directly plugged
into the camera. This means that the
audio does not have to be spanked in post-production. But the sound quality
isn't as good as double system recording
because from my experience, the sound from the
camera sounds very, very tinny. And I
don't like that. And another, and speaking
of double system recording, it basically means that you
record your audio separately. An audio recorder of some sort. And this means that
you do have to carry around more gear and
sink the sound impulse, but you will have much
better sound quality in your video or n or film. This is ideal since most in camera audio is horrible and if your camera does not have a end, your camera doesn't have a
microphone port built in it. This is the standard recording
method and films anyways, as you can see right here, you've got the boom operator
plugging in the mic into some sort of sound recorder and then you have your
camera right here. And for proper sinking, you want to make sure
that you have a slate. And if you don't
have one, just use your hands to clap soda as thinking sound and
posts is easier. And some audio recording tips
is to make sure that you record audio between negative 12 and
negative 20 decibels. Because that means that
your sound is not gonna be too quiet and yet is
not going to be too loud. If your sound hits
that 0 decibels point, then your signal
is deemed as hot. So you want to make sure that
you don't start recording at 0 decibels because then your sound starts clipping and you can't fix that in post. Whereas if you record between negative 12 and
negative 20 decibels, you're going to have
a lot of headroom and post to be able to boost your volume of your audio. And with filming outdoors, make sure to use a dead
cat or windscreen on your microphone to reduce
rent, ruffle, ruffle. When recording
indoors makes sure to turn off air conditioner, game system blender
refrigerator in any other noisy
appliances in general, so that you get cleaner
audio recordings and record in a quiet
room that you can find. Make sure that it
makes sure to treat your walls with acoustic
panels to debt and the reverb and put the mic as close as
you can sit a subject or subjects without getting
the mic and a shot. And if you don't follow these audio recording tips and your audio sounds terrible, then you're going to have
to do something like ADR. Adr stands for automated
Dialogue Replacement. And this is a process where to act to constitute a studio, to re-record their dialogue for, to improve audio quality, which is also known as
dubbing your lines. And this is requires that if your audio that you
recorded onset is unusable, you can prevent this
step if you pay close attention to your
audio the first time. And this is time-consuming
and it drains your budget. And I recommend that you really, really, really take
the extra time, even if it means
spending more time on set to make sure to get
your audio on point so that you can save yourself
from having to perform this headache and having a car up your actors and
actresses like, Hey, look, I'm gonna need you to come back in and
re-record your lines. And if they happen to be
busy and they can't make it, then you're pretty much screwed. So I really, really,
really, really, really, really hope that you
pay close attention to your audio and you
really make sure that it's crisp and
clean the first time. So you can avoid this
hellacious step immediately. At all cost. Avoid it because
ADR is unnecessary. Don't put this kind of ****
on yourself. Don't do it. Alright. So now we're going to get
to the audio gear, baby. So the first type of
microphone that you see almost film sets as a
shotgun microphone. And this is a directional
microphone that must be pointed directly at the
subject to get the best sound. And this microphone black
cell ambient noise, since it is a directional mic. Shotgun mikes tubes link. Shotgun mikes is two, length affects the
pickup pattern. So shotgun mikes,
shorter tubes have a wider angle pickup
pattern while longer tubes have a
narrow pickup patterns. So since this is fairly long, it's going to have a more
narrow pickup pattern, which is going to be,
which is going to blackout most of your
background noise. And these are typically used on film sets by boom operators. And if you're filming outdoors, you want to make sure you put a dead cat on one of these
bad boys are cut out. The wind ruffling wind noise. And another popular type
of microphone that's used on film and video sets
is lavalier microphones. Lavalier microphones, aka lapel microphones are small microphones that are clipped onto a
person's clothing, as you can see with this clip. And they pick up
the subjects voice no matter which
direction they turn. So if they turn back side-to-side and they turn
around and around and around. You can still be able to
hear the voice clearly. And a pro tip with
these microphones is to make sure to slip
the microphone under the shirt and clip
onto the collar to hide the microphone out of sight and to reduce
clothing ruffle. They are typically used in
news broadcasts in interviews. Last but not least, you have to have a
sound recording if you do want to do double
system recording. And tascam is a
popular brand within the independent
filmmaking community. And these allow you to have full control
of your sound with all the different knobs and bells and whistles
and everything. You plug-in your microphone
to either the 3.5 millimeter jack or
an XLR connection. And a sound recorded slash
boom operators will have these attached to their
waste when they're on a film or video production set. So with that being said, that wraps up this course. I hope that you guys
loved this course a lot. And if you did, make
sure to go ahead and give this course
of five-stars or rate of whatever you
like and make sure to give this course to
review so that I know what I need to work on
and know what is working in this course so I can apply it to my future courses that I
will be putting up on Udemy. And if you have any
questions to ask me, don't be afraid to e-mail me at a meal productions at gmail.com. It is spelled with the number eight lowercase
MIL productions at gmail.com. So email me with
any questions that you have and I'll be happy
to interact with you. But as always, I
hope that you guys use this knowledge to your
advantage so that you can go ahead and make videos and films that
are really, really good. And last but not least, the only way that you're
going to get better at video is the practice, practice, practice, practice,
practice, practice, and do some more
practice. Alright. It's not enough to just buy this course and go through
all of the lectures. You actually have to
practice. Alright? So peace in and out with the
highest vibes and I wish you guys great luck in
your filmmaking careers.
Evan Youngblood-Williams
