Whatever shall I write about?

Twelve hours of work on Saturday, and eleven on Tuesday. I deserve some time off!

On Saturday I went to a wonderful workshop on wedding and cooporate videos, and learned all kinds of things I never knew. I've been doing video for almost ten years, and I feel like a rank amateur. It's a good feeling though. I know now that I can do some pretty good work, if the conditions and the story are right.

I need to learn:
digital still cameras as video cams
aperture
focal length
exposure
lighting
subplots
inverse proportion of shot length to subplot length - lots of little clips, or a few big ones, while maintaining the length of the subplot.

All of these elements serve to create a story when you can't write the script, or when the point of your video is so obvious that it's hard to avoid cliche. Get the right client, and get to know him/her/them to discover the story. Find the foibles, personal interests, implied virtues of your wedding couple, in-law, or CIO. In the case of corporations, interview lots of people to get the right ones to be in your video. Find out what they do, or what they're interested in, and make subplots out of that.

The edit process was interesting too. They work in successive sequences (in Adobe Premiere Pro CS6), so each successive stage of the project can be returned to. They move subplots around in blocks. They look for a clip that can resolve the main story, or the subplot, or even two subplots at once.

The 80/20 rule is in play here: 80% of the work goes on 20% of the project , namely, the beginning and the end. The middle is important too, as you need to keep the viewers interested, but the beginning has to grab their interest, and the ending has to leave them with something they will remember. And you have to make them want to watch it again, if you can.

The workshop was from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., but my energy only flagged a little in midafternoon. I drank lots of coffee and kept myself going. I was wiped out on Sunday, but it was worth it.

I attended the event with my boss's boss, who has an enthusiasm for photography, and makes videos with his dslr cam. He showed me how to get from Denton to Arlington in 35 minutes! Take 35E south to George Bush tollway, and go to 30 from there. Wow! I have a new way to visit my sister. I'll have to get a toll tag though.

So I had my benefactor drop me off at the Jupiter House at 10:00 Saturday night, where I met my friend Jim McNeely after a 14-month absence. We talked about family, careers, and chord progressions. I had a great time. He dropped me off around midnight, and that was my Saturday.