Video Production Start to Finish

Learn to create great interviews, product demos, educational content or any type of business video content using a DSLR camera or even a good cell phone.

Learn what it takes to create professional, polished video using an affordable DSLR (or, in a pinch, a good, modern cell phone)

This 3-day workshop/portfolio-building class has several stand out features:

• This class will have professional acting talent on-hand all-day on day 2 for students to film
• The actors will sign a portfolio release for the footage shot in class so students can publish their demo reel
• The actors will perform the roles of CEO, entrepreneur, clerk, small business owner, professional presenter and man on the street
• Students will leave class with 6 unique finished short videos and a 60 second demo reel showing off their best work
• Students will edit their own footage on day 3 of class in either Final Cut or Premiere with the instructors help
• Class is limited to 4 students so everyone gets to shoot their own footage with the acting talent
• Day 1 Students focus on planning, storyboarding, learning audio recording and lighting techniques and shooting a product demo
• Day 2 Actors are on-site and students direct the talent, mic the talent, run the cameras, setup the lighting and shoot 2 interviews and a promotional piece for social media and shoot on green screen.
• Day 3 Students edit their footage in Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro X with the instructors help and produce a polished demo reel

Half the battle in creating a great video is getting professional-quality audio so on day 1 we introduce the tools and techniques to get the audio right the first time. Students will have the chance to work with a variety of audio equipment including boom mics and lav mics and learn to use them to capture professional quality audio. Also on day 1 students will shoot a product demo and a business “about us” profile.

Day 2 the actors are on site and students will learn how to light a product, person or scene in the most flattering way possible. Also covered is how to light a green screen background that can be knocked out and easily replaced. We will learn the classic Three Point lighting technique, butterfly lighting for clean commercial work and how to use and reflect natural light when you have it. The actors will assume several typical business roles: CEO, clerk, small business owner, professional presenter and man on the street.

Students will learn how to stabilize their video with tripods or a gimbal and how to use a slider to add some controlled motion to their videos. We will learn all the necessary settings for cameras and lenses and then finally we’ll learning how to work with professional and amateur talent, how to interview, and tricks to get the best performance out of the people in front of your camera.

Students will film 4 scenarios on day 2: CEO introducing new service internally to staff, entrepreneur doing customer Q&A for Youtube, Product demo for Facebook, recruitment video for social media.

Day 3 begins with reviewing footage shot for class in either Final Cut Pro X or Adobe Premiere. Students synch audio to footage, learn basic editing techniques as they produce stand alone edits of all their footage and a demo reel of the best pieces.