Lisa and Delta Pilot (and NYVS member) John Roberts plan his shoot
As I am in the middle of reading UNBROKEN, I am in a very pilot oriented mood.
One of our NYVS member is Delta Airlines Captain John Roberts. Â (I sent him a copy of the book).
When pilots take off, they don’t just fire up the engines, take the plane up and ‘see where it goes’.
But fimmakers (and video makers) do this all the time.
The results are as catestrophic as if a pilot took off without a flight plan.
Fortunately, no one dies if your career crashes.
But it hurts all the same.
Yesterday, I screened a piece by one of our VJs.
It was an unmitigated piece of crap.
She had gone to cover a music performance festival, had put the camera on the tripod and pretty much shot the performance.
This doesn’t work
And it doesn’t work becuase, like a bad pilot, she had not filed a flight plan for the shoot.
What do I mean by that?
If you know you are going to shoot a performance, you have to say to yourself, ‘what are the elements of a good film about a performance?” In other words, what should my FINAL PRODUCT look like? Â Plan the final product, not the shoot, and you’ll have a target, as opposed to simply tryhing to keep up with reality ‘as it happens’.
Well, in any good film about a performance, you are going to have the following elements:
1. Â People arriving for the performance – ticket sales, checking in. milling about. a few soundbites in anticipation. getting your seats.
2. Â The actors getting ready behind stage – makeup. costumes. practice. anxiety. a few sound bites.
3. Â The technical people preparing the room.
4. Â Everyone is seated. The opening.
5. Â The performance itself. (this is the easy part)
6. Â The audience reaction. Applause. Close ups on faces. Wide shot from the back and so on.
7. Â Anticipation in the wings.
8. Â The end of the performance. Â Applause
9. Â Lights up, people leave. Soundbites. How did you like it?
10. Â Actors back stage. Â Interviews.
OK
Those are the ten elements you are ‘shooting for’ so to speak.
Needless to say, if you got all of them you could cut a great film every time.
Even if you only get 7 or 8, you are in great shape.
And you knew this before you even left for the shoot.
Now, when you get to the shoot, YOU are in control. Instead of playing catch up and hoping for the best and seeing what happens, you have filed a flight plan.
Stick with it, and you’ll always have a happy landing.
4 Comments
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http://eon.businesswire.com/ October 22, 2013
Great work on behalf of the owner of this website, excellent post.
Eric B February 12, 2012
Yes, you have identified a most common issue with young storytellers. There is no focus.
Would you shoot a picture out of focus – of course not, unless you’re being creative. So do not tell a story without a focus. A sharp focus. I often tell young storytellers… once you think you have a story, think again, because you probably don’t. Broad topics can only offer a slice of life. Yet unless that life is something extremely interesting or unique, it cannot be expected to hold the attention of a viewer. Because the viewer has a life too. You’ve got to keep the viewer watching, nothing else matters. And if the viewer’s life is more interesting than your story – then viewer’s will ditch your story, and go on with their…more interesting life.
So I say, find the story within the story. Broad topic – find a story within that topic. Find a twist. Add some dimension. Instead of a flat plane – a one dimension story – do the research ahead of time – to find the layers, the dimensions, then you can take the viewer somewhere.
Open up a book. Turn the page. A visual story is like a book. Viewers want to find out what is on the next page, so know where you are taking the viewer, and reveal information, and storyline. Keep viewers wanting to see what comes next. That is the flight plan of a storyteller! And once you learn the basics…then it can be a ton of fun to take viewers for an exciting journey!
Ken Craig February 12, 2012
When I was a flight instructor I used to stress to my student’s to “plan your flight, then fly your plan.” It is also funny that I used to use a simple last minute reminder before takeoff to teach them to remember to turn on the lights required for takeoff and the transponder necessary for ATC to track them in flight. They would say, “lights, camera, action.” Before I became an airline pilot, I had the chance to fly a small airplane from Long Island to San Diego. I filed a flight plan every step of the way. It made for a very uneventful, and memorable trip with my youngest brother flying along with me. I am still a beginner in the video world, but I know that “Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.”