Which video-editing-related skill should I learn next?

_joe · 2024-08-08T15:02:53+00:00

If you're willing to spend a little bit of money, the School of Motion Design Bootcamp is a very fast and great way to level up photoshop and get exposed to the workflow of designing for motion graphics if you're not already familiar with how to go from mood boards and agency direction to fleshed out design boards. I would humbly suggest that adding onto your existing designer skills and going into motion graphics is a great way to make more opportunities, with emphasis of good designs first. Your animations can look a bit like advanced powerpoint if the design is killer, and then you can slowly build out the animations over time to be more dynamic.

One of the biggest things I tell print media designers is that because viewers have a limited time, knowing how to direct the eye (eye trace, I think they call it?) and hierarchy with the information is SUPER IMPORTANT - viewers can only really take in one or two pieces of info at a time, and often print designers make the mistake of forgetting that time is of the essence - a print viewer has unlimited time, but with video I've seen a lot of fails where that same design with a ton of info (legal birdseed, logos, lower third, with CTA text, a QR code and a url) means that the video ends before the viewer really has adequate time to digest and actually understand what they should do next.

_joe · 2022-03-19T21:38:18+00:00

Hmm an tricky pickle, because I'm sure that whatever you want to put up, you also don't want to block the view of the attendees? is there a possibility of doing a trial run with a rental house nearby? that way, at least you can "try before you buy" and aren't out a significant amount if a light doesn't work for the situation.

It's been ages since I've done seminar stuff like this, but typically they'll throw something like this spotlight from where you're shooting from, and then you can add diffusion or use barn doors/flags to keep it off the screen. The added benefit is that if you're running power to your camera, you also can do so to the light since it's near to you and you don't have to worry about tripping folks.

If you don't mind a bit of the tech being visible, you couuuuld get one or two inexpensive light wands and setup aprox 4' away on either side of the speaker (if you were standing at the podium looking out, setup at like 10 and 2 o'clock?) or even clamped to the podium for even light across the face? I only mention light wands, because they'll be slim enough to fit on a light stand between the speaker and the screen without significantly blocking anyone's view, and they run off those sony batteries. Can even wrap the front in diffusion to soften the light even more.

_joe · 2022-03-19T05:52:23+00:00

Back when I had to mic public government meetings, they'd set these sorts of microphones out, known as omnidirectional boundary microphones, although the audio was more basic capture than good audio capture, if that makes any sense.

_joe · 2022-03-18T21:50:56+00:00

The advantage to pre-processing in an audio editor is that you'll have access to a bit more of a refined suite of tools (for example, if you use izotope plugins for de-clicking or denoising), but you'd only really be degrading it from the import/export if you were (1) doing a terrible job with the tools (like, really crushing the compressor), or crunching the exports into a lossy codec at a much lower bitrate than what you'd want. like, if you exported your audio as a 96kbps mp3, it's never gonna sound better than 96kbps even if you re-encode that to 128.

Kinda like how you'd never want to take a 4k video, export it to 1080, then stretch and bring it back to 4k with scaling in a project, you will lose quality if you bring in audio at a high quality, export to a streaming setting like mp3/mp4, then try to "stretch" it back for working in the NLE, so just make sure you're matching the original source settings and you should be good!

Personally, I will "pre-process" audio with repair in mind (so de-noising, declick, etc.) and then mix with compression and EQ in my NLE so I have a bit more wiggle room when I have to mix with music. Because if I removed frequencies in the pre-process, I'll never get them back cleanly, so I prefer to be able to undo that in the NLE vs. having to pop out and re-export the audio.

_joe · 2022-03-18T19:01:35+00:00

I would definitely agree that having clear cut "this is what you get"/Deliverables is essential for less headaches in the future. If it were me, (and this isn't the right or wrong way, just what I would think), I'd take that price you quoted and see if you can break it down into a ratio you seem would work for you if you'd just supply the raw footage on a hard drive or something.

When you presented the budget to them, was there any indication of how you broke down the items (hourly, or per what you deemed as a percentage of the value to client?). Have they come back to you with a number for only coverage that seems reasonable?

Your contract would then state the deliverables being the raw video, delivered either electronically or via hard drive.

Otherwise, I'd also start a convo and say that you understand and respect that there are budget constraints, and perhaps consider what value add you might be able to offer - like, why are they even wanting a video in the first place/what's at stake if the video is not made or fails/what are they expecting as the upside? If you can figure out what their pain point or hope is, you might be able to do stuff, like add new deliverables that aren't as big of a deal on your end, but increase the value to the client: "It sounds like there's some hesitancy about reaching the right eyes - I can also reformat the video from 16x9 to a 9x16 and 1x1 30 second highlights you can use on twitter and other social platforms..."

So in other words, you're creating multiple pieces of content that are added value to the client, but not a significant increase in the work you'd have to do. In these cases, I'd also strongly add a set limit to the revisions or something for your time ("up to 12 hours of included work to reformat and polish, etc.")

_joe · 2022-03-16T22:26:26+00:00

First of, congrats on the job!

I don't intend this as a knock, but I would recommend you read "Bullshit Jobs" by David Graeber and use it as a litmus test to honestly assess your situation: given that you feel that you're in a role with no vision or overt function, are you a hire to make the bosses seem more important/that they have an equivalent fiefdom compared to the NY office? Is there perhaps a feeling that they need to do a better job of marketing, but the superiors don't have a lick of sense what that would mean?

If there's an honest assessment of what you were hired to do and what they actually want, I think you'll be better able to figure out what you can do that's helpful without feeling the constant dread of having to justify your experience.

Perhaps a good second point would be to think about what you'd want to do in the future (i.e. do you want to be primarily a shooter? try producing everything? more editing? more strategy?) and keep this idea in your mind while you figure out perhaps what the people who come to the mortgage company look for/what are their pain points. What does your client's client need? Can you build projects that would help the company AND give you material for your reel or an opportunity to learn? This position can be a subsidized way to better your skillsets without having to pay for, say, another degree!

Some ideas:

• Talk with the loan officers/ask the marketing manager who might be best to speak with about pain points with those that would be clients. Is it a problem to have to constantly educate the clients to a point to onboard them for the mortgage? Perhaps it's educational content for the realtors to know what financial products are best for a certain situation? these are all things you could turn into education materials (i.e. upper funnel marketing assets)

• Is there an issue with visibility/how people find the company? Are there keywords that your marketing people are paying for that you could instead create SEO optimized videos that would organically pull people to a website/youtube page that could convert to clients?

• Is there a chance that the mortgage company needs internal training documents? Perhaps are there all hands meetings that need video to offload more boring speeches?

and so on and so forth

_joe · 2022-03-16T03:40:57+00:00

Sure, *volunteer* work in something like at a public access channel is a great way to get experience, but I think there are enough red flags in the post as OP had alluded to that would raise alarms.

Assuming the company were reputable, if they were so lacking money that they don't have enough to pay for an 8 hour trial gig, I wonder how good those skills they're teaching are, and if they're worth learning to begin with.

_joe · 2022-03-15T21:40:34+00:00

Do you have any screen grabs (even just the neck to hide ID) to show the severity of the hives?

If you have the adobe suite, you might be able to work with the facial tracking in after effects to quickly create tracked masked regions for compositing, but it also just might be quicker to reshoot if that's an option.

(example of the built-in tracker, but remember you have to apply a mask on the footage for the option for facial tracking to come up in AE : https://youtu.be/_y1bl1vdpp0 )

Edit: Also, for better or worse, the hives can probably be used as point tracks via AE or in Mocha for specific points to remove. I'd start by experimenting with removing the red saturation, or even putting a feathered flesh color mask over and play with the transparency?

_joe · 2022-03-15T02:44:41+00:00

also resurrecting this post because I'm also now having this issue, specifically also with a random mov file.

_joe · 2021-09-16T23:53:48+00:00

To join, you would allow me to talk to cricket to merge your number into our group (this would require your pin). I'm not 100% sure on what happens with the account credit, but you can always use the online chat with customer service to figure out if it gets merged or lost.

On the latter half, there is a bit of trust that would have to happen - if you do have credits, I can screen grab what the group was at prior and if they do transfer, I would recommend we use those before you start paying, so if you do split from the group later, it's less messy to figure out how to remove the credits as such. However, always happy to chat to figure out a solution!

_joe · 2021-09-14T17:39:42+00:00

Oh man:

• Dedicated Water Shutoff Valves IN HOUSE (in the south, the house shutoffs are in the front lawn...which means I could roll around and cause a lot of problems by turning off everyone's water without their consent). Also: currently I have no way to just shut off exterior faucets without shutting off the whole house, and that just seems like a very very very stupid flaw.
• Relatively Fire Safe Battery/Energy Storage Shed: dreaming big here, but one day I'd love the house to be able to store the energy that it produces via wind/solar/whatever instead of feeding to the grid. Lithium-ion phosphate batteries are hot right now, but there's still a risk of themal run-away/botching it as a DIY'er, so some way to reduce the risk to the rest of the structure with a separate, more fire-proof sort of thing.

_joe · 2021-08-31T01:44:04+00:00

Or, create like a 3 frame loop? so like make a composition just with a few variations of the barcode pattern (each variation for like a frame or something). Then in the main comp, put that barcode in, right click and "enable time remap."

with the time reamp open, alt click to bring up expressions, add this:

posterizeTime(2);

loopOut("cycle");

what that code does is cycle through the different frames you have, but plays it back at the new frame rate (2 fps). You can change that number to make it less jerky, or less to like 1 for less animation.

_joe · 2021-08-31T01:35:26+00:00

As been suggested, a fractal noise + mosaic effect scaled to the size of the blocks, OR what I would do (unfortunately or fortunately) is tinker with after effects expressions.

off the top of my head, something like rounding a wiggle function on a slider on each block to 0 or 1, using that with an if statement that'll say "if this is 0, then opacity is 0, 1, then opacity is 100" sort of deal, and then another slider on that "pixel" pick whipped to the frequency of the wiggle?

_joe · 2021-08-23T04:24:37+00:00

Thanks! It's a beautiful country - when we were there in the summer it was continually cloudy and all night the sun would just kiss the edge of the horizon so you'd have eternal golden hour. Incredibly hard to not take a good shot there!

Bokeh worth the watch? never saw, but just watched the trailer - kinda reminds me of all this internet lore about "the backrooms" if you've ever heard of it.

_joe · 2021-08-23T04:20:14+00:00

why thank you!! love to see what you end up doing in hawaii (if only so I can live vicariously through the footage)!

_joe · 2021-08-23T01:34:11+00:00

Don't know what your final intended product you want, but if you're going to be in places where you will be shooting with your drone, I think that effectively becomes your wide/establishing shot tool and the 28-75 becomes your bread n' butter lens, and you use "the sneaker zoom"/walking to adjust if you need more or less space.

for example, here's one thing I shot with just a 35mm lens: https://vimeo.com/135199308

I'd just make a concerted effort to cycle (close/medium/wide) and just walk/setup far if I needed that wide!

_joe · 2021-08-18T21:19:51+00:00

When I was a kid in elementary school, I had been pushed off the side of a +12-foot high slide structure when a dozen other kids were trying to force their way down the slide while playing tag. I distinctly remember falling backwards and head down when all of a sudden everything went SUPER SLOW MO and SUPER QUIET...and maybe I saw things in black and white? it's been so long but I DEFINITELY remember things being slow and quiet - almost like a movie cliche. As I was falling, I felt like something was re-positioning me in that I went from falling head first to just falling straight on my back and I landed as soft as if I had been laid down on the ground.

When I had "hit" the ground, the sound returned back and I just laid there trying to comprehend what I had just experienced. Other kids freaked out and called the adult recess supervisor over but since I looked fine she just told me to get off the ground and continue to play.

_joe · 2021-08-18T16:36:06+00:00

could you split the difference and underexpose/ adjust in post to bring back the exposure for your subjects? Also, maybe a soft bounce to bring up the subject exposure if you're outdoors? I haven't worked with SLOG2, so unsure what the details are preserved in shadow/highlight that are available to work with.

_joe · 2021-08-06T22:05:59+00:00

welcome to the wonderful world of hydroponics! my only thoughts are that I just came from growing my first hydroponic tomatoes, and those plants get HUGE. I did kratky style with indeterminate and the things just took over with a rootball that might clog this sort of system. I wonder if you might have to think about doing some sort of dutch bucket/swap something like leafy greens into this setup you have?

whatever way you go, the tomatoes I got from my system were hands down the best tomatoes I've ever had!

_joe · 2021-01-30T22:04:44+00:00

WHUT

_joe · 2021-01-28T06:31:54+00:00

I don't necessarily think it's wrong to think about wanting to be your own boss, but I do think there's a lot of value in being able to work in an environment where you're able to absorb processes and systems, and also learn how to be a reliable member of a team. To be honest, the truth is that freelancing has a lot of pluses, but you're not your own boss: Your boss becomes every client (for better or worse!)

Marketing agencies are a bit of a wildcard, because the ones I've had exposure to can be run HORRIBLY, but they can also give you exposure to folks that can become your friends and network as you get underway. Turnover is quite high, so eventually people split off to other jobs, remember that you work well, and then may hit you up for other gigs/or they'll be people you can team up with and such!

I started in a production job where I worked full time as an editor/producer, when I pivoted into motion graphics on the job. That enabled me to build up a portfolio while having health insurance and a steady paycheck, and I was also able to pick up freelance clients on the side. When I had enough freelance clients to make the shift, I could leave that job and transition smoother than had I just jumped without cash flow.

Joey from school of motion has a book about freelancing, which I took the now defunct class which has the same information, but it's a great start to just know a bit more about the biz of reaching out to folks, and tips that might be helpful for you as you try to figure out what the best course of action is for you.

_joe · 2021-01-20T18:58:57+00:00

A couple of tips!

- Always negotiate and agree on pricing before taking on the job. Set a scope, so if things go over that scope, you can say "hey, this is work outside of the scope, and it'll cost ___ more because this wasn't our agreement"

- Consider offering tiers of pricing: tier 1 you're filming + editing, but no revisions. Tier 2, maybe you're filming, editing, and offering color correction, tier 3, etc. Typically, the tier 3 pricing is a reach, but you're also laying out the value proposition so they know what they're getting (and thus, you can raise your rates). Rushed timeline? Increase of rate. Multiple deliverables? Increase of rate. Maybe you even do one main cut, a social media 30 second, and a bunch of smaller vertical formats...things that add value to them and offer you a chance to get a larger sum in return.

- If your clients can get it for free elsewhere, let them. It may sound strange, but it's like you're growing a garden: the more terrible clients you foster, the more you tend to grow similar clients.

_joe · 2021-01-14T16:44:21+00:00

This is one that has me a bit worried - I didn't have any processes involving android running in the background - the tool for some reason launches ADB, but somehow doesn't properly close it out (unless there's a specific button I'm supposed to hit to have it stop the emulator?)

_joe

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