Class Notes: Week 2
- 3 - 3:30 PM: Reflection Workshop
- Ira Glass
- Editing - material is heading towards entropy/mess - try to vigorously structure it through editing
- Having a purpose to anecdote
- Narrowing material into best of best - be bold and shape material
- Failure - Bob Lefkowitz - success rate too high - not trying anything worth trying
- But don't try to fail - always try to do your best, but don't be afraid to take risks with questions, editing, and storytelling choices
- Re: taste - figure out how stories that resonated with you did it
- Why should they care
- Bare Bones
- Okay to use automatic settings on DSLR for a while before using full manual
- Underexpose rather than overexpose in pictures
- Every environment has potential - shoot in halls that have depth
- Shooting on DSLR is more challenging, but yields better pictures
- ENG at DSB
- DSLRs @ AMI
- Camera is similar to eye - slight angles can make viewer feel something different
- Camera can flatten image - fence example
- 180 degree rule
- Put main wide shot and do second more off-access
- Production Manual
- 3:30 - 4:15 PM: Tim Kiernan (Special Guest) (mrtkiernan@gmail.com)
- Sound is very important - stay quiet and see if it is possible to film there
- Bad sound --> bad picture overall/footage cannot be used
- Always record 15-30 seconds of room tone!
- Use it to let story breathe between sound bytes
- Don’t fall in love with the stuff you are making - sometimes have to leave really good shots out
- If you need to move to get best lighting and sound, explain why
- Learn how to trust yourself and your tastes after small victories
- 521 Studies LLC, Capstrat, Red Hat, Freelance
- NC State - Dual Degree in Experimental Filmmaking, Video Installations
- Vita Plume video - put mics up against loom, tried to capture every element of art - first time Tim and Carson felt good as storytellers
- Musical score evolved through sections - set the pace of story and helped indicate change in story
- John Hope Franklin Scholarship - worked on documentary for a year - had a breakthrough in animation and bringing it into work - Ecological (Earth Day)
- Graphic designer mapped every idea of conversation - took that and animated it in the video - collaboration of designers, artists - became core for how he works today - collaborating with as many people as possible
- Pitfall: doing everything by yourself
- Learning to trust others is critical to success
- This work got Tim interview at Capstrat - rude awakening to underbelly of corporate America - Capstrat was a great place to get feet wet
- Capstrat piece for open source Linux got job at Red Hat
- Pulled found footage - video was kept and incorporated into brand
- Cost to make legal one - $60,000
- Truth Happens - positions Red Hat in line of next technological development
- Doesn't mention Red Hat until end of it
- Tell a good story and tag brand at end - feels good
- Scored his own music - tried to do everything
- Worked there for 3.5 years - hit wall of telling Linux story without losing mind - under shadow of that video
- Jump to entrepreneurship
- Had been planning it for a while, could he survive for six months without a job
- Week after, got really horrible videos for first video - disease videos - do what you have to do to get by
- People leaving Red Hat and Capstrat call him for work - had to hire another company to make video for 25th year retrospective
- Different than Truth Happens - gone through 3 iterations
- Verisign
- Highest end of scale - $250,000 budget vs $10,000
- Does small things to keep small artistic passion alive
- Got to find a way to keep artistic passion alive
- Have to have some work that you feel genuinely passionate about
- How do you assess budget and what clients' ranges are?
- Depends:
- Work backwards - what's our budget and end up using all of it? Budget can scale and get expensive fast
- Lots of way to scale it down as well
- Experience leads to good judgment - when getting started, do best you can with the budget you have
- Did some videos for 0 budget for a while, but experience is key
- Could you have started a company right out of graduation?
- So much of business has been built on relationships with Capstrat and Red Hat
- CEO of Red Hat just hired him to make video of family
- Tough to have those connections right out of college
- Do you take interns? Yeah! Business model is weird, works remotely - have had interns in past. Good guy to know.
- 4:15 - 5 PM: Story #1 Pitches
- Rebecca Holmes in the house! Check out Ello Raw!
- Works at ThinkHouse - interested in entrepreneurship - talk to Becky about it!
- Sophie and Chris
- Pompieri Pizza
- Fast, casual, gourmet pizza - focus on locally sourced, sustainable, seasonal ingredients
- Angle: Farming system within own walls, long line of fish tanks, don't look carefully - part of an aquaponic system - when fish are fed, produce nutrients that help nourish plants. Use space above to grow herbs for pizza
- Cool being in a city, finding farm to table, see if we could talk about how unique and sustainable it is and how it impacts as a whole, tanks are deliberately placed
- Belgian Waffle Crafters (formerly Belgian Waffleology)
- Francois - Triangle Area in 2012 - psych major - stay for 6 months originally, but wanted to bring Belgian to states
- Loved cooking - started food truck in Durham/Triangle Area - really interesting
- Angle: clash of Belgian culture in Triangle Area - quote: "Psychology meets the Belgian waffle"
- Wants to know more about the story - cool to find out more - on campus Thursdays now
- Heavenly Buffaloes - pretty popular within Durham
- Cute building, neon orange, green and blue - sticks out
- Interesting because started by man named Dain who owns Dain's place - take-out only, little shack
- Locally sourced wings - open until 3 AM
- Fills niche for late night food source - learn more about him and thought process about opening it
- Wei and Nathan
- Pony-saurus
- New brewery about to spin-up, working out of Cookery in Durham, pretty interesting that brewery in Cookery
- Build brick and mortar and have a taproom in Durham
- Haven't contacted at all - owner seems interesting - special ed teacher 7 years beforehand
- Craft brewing! Brand master on website - lots of focus on brand, beautiful - Baldwin& - potential for exploring that relationship
- Japanese restaurant - Dashi
- Americans started Japanese restaurant - chef is Japanese
- American controlled - Japanese chef - interesting, enthusiastic about food - strict with process of food - noodles of Asian food should be made, then soup, then eat as soon as possible - timing is important
- Well-designed pots and cookware - light there is artistic - visually passionate about food
- Two couples came together to start that - Toast, Cookery
- Non-profit Bee Downtown
- Bee population has plummeted
- American Tobacco - put bee things on top, works with Burt's Bees
- Dynamic character
- Talk about partnership for later
- Jillian and Jenny
- Eliza Portley - organic farmer, no farming and agriculture experience - raised money on kickstarter to create mobile farm classroom in bus, then bought organic farm, now food security manager for company that delivers food to areas in need
- Don't need to know so much to be an entrepreneur - production and food side
- Difficult to talk to her
- Interfaith thing has ton of videos on her
- UNC grad - Betty - simply be gluten-free - won startup contest - won $100,000+ in Carolina Challenge
- Cookery in Chapel Hill - young, cute, fun and seems excited about being featured
- Opened up own kitchen space - cool character says Becky
- Going out of time - have to move quick
- Third one - Ninth Street Juice and Coffeehouse - massive guy smoking cigars
- Talked to him for a little bit
- Parents own Silvia's in NYC - huge in food industry
- Interesting interview - music business in LA, coming to Durham for health reasons
- Going to city hall for liquor license
- Hungry for exposure since he is brand new
- Has been a coffee shop for years, has high turnover says Amy
- Get answers on his life - music industry, use his music, stay away from commercial aspect - focus on his life
- Tristan and Cassidy
- Cocoa Cinnamon - community backed campaign
- Keep blog - transparent between community
- Mateo's Tapas Bar - Spanish focused
- Vin Rouge chef - opened new one downtown
- Went to France and ate 48 meals in 6 days, went to Spain and tried to discover food - cool story - restaurant looks cool to shoot in
- Back story - Durham, foods are bland - show his super vibrant plates
- Theme - classy, very sharp, very fast - tell this story of his energy
- Big thing is creativity in kitchen - combine dishes that focus on Southern or Spanish food
- Amy: Why Durham? Super saturated with Southern - that is a huge risk, how did he get funding, back-up plan, sounds like a character to know more about? How creatively can you show him travelling without that? Use open source music and attribute lyrics and stuff
- Maybe have him point to maps, Spain vs France music, Spain vs France dishes visually shown w map
- Melissa and Alex
- Mati
- pArts - Tatiana Birgisson - tea drink in dorm room - cafes around Durham - Google Demo Day, got a grant
- Cocoa Cinnamon - local coffeshop in Durham - all local organic stuff, provide livable wage for all employees - active in community, very close to campus, walkable - recently ranked nationally on Buzzfeed
- Opening a 2nd shop - community sourced and backed campaign - Durham residents fund next store - crowdfunded first store
- Amy: Love to know more about Arielly and Leon - artists/DJ and have different lives before community coffee shop, work with local artists, person who does woodwork lives around the corner
- The Pit - bbq restaurant
- Committed to preserving Southern culinary tradition and coming back to what Carolina bbq is about and using local grown ingredients - big supporters of farms
- Michael Pollen - follows Ed Mitchell of The Pit around
- Cara and Brandon
- Good Heavens Confection: corn made marshmallows in Durham
- Kahlua, pumpkin, fancy food
- Don't look like marshmallows - awesome pieces of art
- Left job as interior designer from stable job to crazy idea
- Neat to see food entrepreneur in beginning stages - working out of store
- Carson: likes tension of will it work or not, Becky Holmes agrees - head is full of questions and so many ways to go with that
- Be careful about showing how she makes videos
- Carson: Wireless mic, get her in kitchen cooking, document it and talk to her as she is doing it, so much more interesting to watch
- Amy: Also get her to do the normal interview as well
- Cuban Revolution
- Edgy restaurant and bar - salsa dancing, petitions
- Eccentric food location where food is not primary attraction - why do they keep putting themselves in middle of controversy? Weird juxtaposition of salsa dancing and reggae music
- Challenges:
- 5 - 5:30 PM: DSLR Workshop, Next Week Assignments
- Pre-Interviews: very important to do initial discussion - talk about what you want to do, don't ask all questions
- Doing this for a class
- Understand schedules and explain time commitments
- Tips
- Check audio beforehand
- Double AA batteries and headphones are a must when using zoom
- Play around with equipment beforehand