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How I make video

by Dennis Howlett on July 8, 2009

A few folk have asked so for those interested here’s what I do and the kit I use:

Like most other geeky types I like ‘toyz’ and video is no exception. My experiments in this area started with a Flip. I still use that occasionally but most of what I’ve been doing recently is with a Canon HF10 (Vixia). This wee beasty offers HD out of the box and doesn’t require a tape so it’s straight to disk with iMovie and no intermediary steps. That makes for highly efficient workflow in post production and editing. The latest version of iMovie makes production very simple and adds a polish that is acceptable for day to day work and upload to YouTube or Blip.tv.

The HF10 is unobtrusive and has an ‘easy’ setting which seems to cope with most situations very well. The two big problems I have are sound and light. I solved the sound problem by buying a dedicated shotgun mic and a wireless Sennheisser kit. The shotgun is fine in most general settings but the Sennheiser allows me to achieve broadcast quality sound when interviewing. This is very important because while most people will tolerate sub par video, they won’t tolerate poor sound. The only problem with the shotgun is it is Canon specific and won’t work on any other kit.

Most of my ’stuff’ is interview style topics where I rarely get in front of the camera. There are two reasons for this: first I don’t want to distract from the subject and what they’re saying. Second, if truth be known, I have a great face for radio and don’t want to scare viewers ;)

I try to keep interviews down to 5 mins max but most recently I’ve taken to chopping video into smaller pieces to make it more digestible. A good example is the set of three videos I created with Philip Woodgate as the subject matter. We discussed three different topics which became three different videos. Five minutes is really the maximum that most people will give attention to so I try to pack questions as tightly as possible. Moving to the shorter format allows me to cut out my voice and still have a coherent segment that can be easily described in a few lines of text. In the case of the Woodgate trio, I cut 7 minutes down to little more than 4 minutes.

Wherever possible I shoot using a tripod because that frees me up for monitoring sound and picture and positioning the subject in the best way possible.

Lighting remains an issue. In some videos, there are lots of dark shadows under the eyes which are almost impossible to get rid of in post production. In others, the ambient light is simply not good enough. I can ‘trick’ the viewer by rendering in black and white but that’s not something I’d recommend unless you’re looking for a dramatic style of shoot. Given my usual topic area, that’s not going to work in most circumstances. I am currently considering LED lighting for the camera because that can provide a powerful ‘fill’ yet is still light weight enough for me to carry around. That’s an important consideration as I have to carry camera, tripod, sound gear and laptop with all cables etc in ONE bag I can get through carry on. As I am changing kit, that’s becoming a serious challenge.

We’re currently in the process of building my office and part of the consideration was how to illuminate it as I plan to develop video broadcast. This is not a trivial matter, requiring a fair degree of planning. We’re setting up a variable lighting system that is powered by tripod mounted fluorescent lamps, balanced for daylight and enhanced with softboxes. That combination will provide me with an even light but one that I can also tweak to suit the occasion, creating different lighting effects as needed. It will also be a fraction of the cost to run as equivalent tungsten studio lighting and not turn the office into a furnace. I will also be transitioning to Final Cut to get more control over production.

As part of the office ‘move’ I have upgraded the camera to a Canon XL2 and bought a Rode NTG2 shotgun mic. The XL2 shoots to 60 minute Mini-DV tape but I can bypass that with Firewire direct to the iMac. I can also use the Firewire connection to pull video from tape to disk without an intermediary step. In effect, the Canon acts like a tapeless system. The new camera requires a tripod of its own as it is a lot heavier than the HF10. I’ve bought a modest Sony affair that provides plenty of height without becoming unstable while not being too heavy.

I already had a good quality AKG studio microphone and an Alesis 8 track mixer that I can connect to the computer via USB. I’ll use that with a combination of Soundflower for sound routing, CamTwist for different camera configurations and Wirecast for on-demand broadcast. Right now I’m not sure whether to develop something using QuickTime Broadcast Server plus a bunch of other tools or simply to opt for Ustream for real time broadcast. We’ll have to see which works best. All this kit has to travel so I’ve also invested in a Kata OMB-74 bag into which I can gett all the kit I’ve described and then attach a rollalong trolley for ease of transportation. The Kata is robust enough to go in the hold of an aircraft but wherever possible, I’d prefer to carry on.

As you can see, I’ve come a long way in terms of ‘toyz’ but I believe there is a big future in video production. For instance, one video I shot recently about real world use of Salesforce.com has achieved over 1,000 views. The light was terrible (we were shooting under an awning during a storm in Amsterdam) but great sound helped by a super story.

A lot of my equipment is sourced from Calumet Photographic in Euston, London. They’re not the cheapest on the planet but they provide a very good service and are incredibly helpful. The internet is also my close friend for researching different aspects of videography. Several colleagues are into video and they have been a great help.

When it comes to final production, I like to keep things as simple as possible, with the intention of getting viewers into the content as fast as possible. That means I use simple titling techniques and rarely play about with voice overs or other effects. Once all is done then I upload to YouTube or Blip.tv at the highest quality possible. That often means a 5 minute film gobbles 400-500 MB of disk space. In order to overcome the obvious disk capacity issues, I am investing in a 2TB networked external hard drive with data security measures that will be dedicated to that purpose. I shall also be installing a high speed broadband line to complement my existing broadband set up and to act as a dedicated line for video work.

As to preparation, whenever I’m going out on a shoot I have a good idea what I want. Often it’s a fairly well structured Q&A but I make sure we’re not going to be straying into difficult areas or those where an NDA might be broken. I want subjects to feel comfortable so recently I’ve taken to moving off to the side of the camera so the subject is talking to me and not the lens. That way, they forget we’re on film and become more natural. Also, I do a lot of pre-filming prep on the topics I’d like to get down and always discuss those with the subject to ensure they have a good idea where we’re likely to go and are not therefore groping for answers.

If all this sounds complicated then yes and no. I’ve been working in earnest with video for over a year but it is only in the last six months or so that I’ve come to recognize its potential for business use. Hence the flurry of investments in equipment. As I move ‘up the scale’ complexity creeps in but I am rigorous at eliminating anything I don’t need. I’ve been told I have something of a talent for production so why not try make the best of it? We’ll see if the investment has been worthwhile in the months to come.

There’s much more I could say bit for the moment I’m reckoning this will be enough to give folk a flavour of how this activity has evolved. Check out the Zemanta links below – there is much good material on the internet from which you can gain terrific insights.

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  • Calumet in Euston are a very helpful bunch, and despite their retail overheads will "discuss" prices in a sensible, old-fashioned way so long as you aren't extracting the Michael.

    Point to make about recording HDV onto tape as opposed to AVCHD is that the data rate for the tape-based HDV system is circa 100Mbits/ps as opposed to the highly compressed AVCHD which is capped at 18Mbits/ps - so despite seeming to be a backwards step in tech terms, it's a big step up in quality terms.

    Video capture using good quality Solid State cameras like the Panasonic P2HD is a huge step up in both kit and running costs. But there is also the matter of convenience - if your camera's digital storage fills up when you're on the road, you're stuffed, but tapes are simple to replace and easy to find.

    However, "transitioning" is not a real word, and you should pay some kind of penance for using it in an otherwise splendid article.
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