by Jake

So bad it’s good

Much like “Plan 9 from Outer Space,” there’s media out there that so terrible, so awful, so poorly-done that it flips around the scale back to being good.

In films, you have “Plan 9” and “The Room.” Commercials featuring the late Billy Mays (OXICLEAN!) and Vince Offer (The ShamWoW guy with the jaw). Or any commercial featuring a spokesperson with the title “Crazy.”  Music brings us the phenomena of William Hung, “Barbie Girl,” “Achy Breaky Heart” and a lot of the disco produced in the 1970s. Literature has “Fifty Shades of Grey” and the “Left Behind” series.

Not even presidents are immune. H. L. Mencken said that Warren Harding’s English was “so bad that a kind of grandeur creeps into it.”

At some point in your career, you’ll hit upon the idea of making something bad on purpose, hoping to get the so-bad-it’s-good magic that’ll make your production (in)famous.

DON’T DO IT. Continue reading →

by Jake

Quick tip: For the “L” of it

For the longest time, I resisted spending real money on a lens. Going with name-brand, high-dollar lenses was just paying for a name, I thought.

Then, though a combination of a sale that was too good to pass up, a couple of gigs that paid pretty well and some frustration at my the-current walking-around lens… I took the plunge on some Canon “L” glass. And I’m never going back.

There’s no long-winded analysis here, no wordy explanation of the pros and cons. If you’re a Canon shooter, just whip out your wallet and dive in. From build quality to image quality (I didn’t think there’d be a noticeable difference, but whoa), spend the money. You won’t regret it. I’ve since bought another one, and when we refresh our camera rigs later this year, all of the new bodies will come with “L” glass attached.

Dumping money into lenses isn’t like dumping money into camera bodies. The pace of improvements in camera bodies is pretty quick, but lenses lag behind. You may replace or upgrade a camera body every couple of years, but a quality lens will last you for substantially longer. I’ve known guys who had a couple of decades clocked in with some nice glass.

And yeah, they’re expensive compared to the alternatives. But they’re not that expensive. If you’re not averse to well-kept used lenses, check out KEH.com to save some money.

by Jake

Quick tip: Get that voice on both sides!

It’s the little things that make a difference. When I’m rolling with just one lavalier mic, it goes into just one channel of audio. This means that when it’s pulled into the computer, all of the talent’s lines go to one speaker.

Protip: Stereo audio is important. Here’s why, and here’s how to fix it in Premiere Pro.

Continue reading →

Sub cash register by Franck BLAIS, on Flickr
by Jake

How much to charge for video

(Photo by Franck BLAIS)

I got to a point where my business was humming along pretty well – except I was stressed all the time, had no idea how to expand, and wasn’t happy with our bottom line.

We weren’t losing money. In fact, we had operated with zero debt since the business opened, a particular point of pride for me. It sure would’ve been nice to make more, though. I’d earned less that year than when I was working as a newspaper reporter.* I had no idea how to get there, though.

My state provides free small business advisors, so I took them up on the offer. I ended up sitting down with one of my wife’s old college buddies, and he laid it all out for me – not necessarily how to make more money, but how much to charge for video services, based on how much I wanted to make over the next year.

And once you know exactly what your fee should be, and why it should be that amount, it’s easier to tell clients that’s what you charge. So, assuming you’re a more-of-a-creative-than-a-business-type like me, I’m going to save you a trip and share the secret.

Continue reading →

Photo Credit: TheArtGuy via Compfight cc
by Jake

Make a pot

(Photo Credit: TheArtGuy via Compfight cc)

If you try to make every press release, every commercial, every radio script you work on an absolute masterpiece, the pinnacle of innovation and a trendsetter not just regionally but globally, you’ll drive yourself insane. You’ll never make deadlines. You’ll get depressed.

Basically, you’ll fail. The truth is that no one’s going to have a 100 percent success rate 100 percent of the time.  You can’t always be brilliant, so learn the value of “good enough to get the job done.”

Continue reading →

by Jake

Plan your shoots

Our deadline was approaching quickly, and we hadn’t shot a single frame for a holiday spot that was rapidly becoming as stressful as the actual holidays.

We’d scrubbed two shooting dates and had to cancel a shoot ten minutes in because we couldn’t find the right costume for the talent. Disaster was looming over us, so I dealt with it the best way I could… planning for the shoot.

And you know what? Things turned out okay.

Continue reading →

by Jake

Going viral

Creating a viral video — that’s the dream, isn’t it?

I had that happen just this week, and I’m still waiting to see the implications. The idea came to me suddenly and completely. I knew what I wanted to say, I knew how to put the video together, and I had a strong feeling that it’d resonate. It was a bolt of lightning, one of those creative sparks that I had to act on right the hell now.

But I stepped back for a minute, thought about it, and turned it into a powerful marketing tool. Here’s why it worked, and how it’s going to help my business get its name out.

Continue reading →

by Jake

Quick tip: Find your inspiration space

Running low on ideas? Think about where you got your last one.

No, seriously. What was happening around you the last time that you had a eureka-aha-holy-crap-that’s-a-great-thought moment? Chances are it wasn’t the first time that you’ve had inspiration there.

For me, it’s two places: a stretch between my dad’s house and my own (but only when driving alone), and also behind the piano at my church. For some reason, those are the two places on this planet I’ve found where my mind gets in just the right place for crazy awesome ideas to bubble up to the surface.

There’s science behind it. If your brain is working hard on a problem, a little bit of distraction and a shot of dopamine can kick-start your subconscious into overdrive, making solutions suddenly pop up that your conscious mind might ordinarily suppress. That’s a gross oversimplification, but you can read more about it here.

So when you’re stuck… head to your inspiration space.