{"id":2723,"date":"2009-04-01T12:48:24","date_gmt":"2009-04-01T17:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/?p=2723"},"modified":"2023-10-26T19:29:46","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T00:29:46","slug":"video-production-shooting-ratio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/video-production-shooting-ratio\/","title":{"rendered":"Video Production: Shooting Ratio and Keeping it Simple"},"content":{"rendered":"

How much video do you have to shoot in order to make a five-minute video? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Some people would answer, “five minutes.”\u00a0\u00a0 Others would say, “fifty hours.”<\/p>\n

They’d both be right.<\/p>\n

How can such disparity be true?<\/p>\n

\"question<\/p>\n

\n

The methods of making video vary greatly depending on what kind of video you want to make.\u00a0 The person who answers \u201cfive minutes\u201d would be someone who wants to quickly communicate using a talking head video shot on a webcam and uploaded to YouTube.\u00a0 (Although honestly, even that would take at least 10 minutes start to finish.\u00a0 Only an exaggerated claim in a sales letter would want you to believe that a five-minute video really takes only five minutes.)<\/p>\n

The fifty-hour person would be a fastidious filmmaker, creating an in-depth documentary on a complex subject.\u00a0\u00a0 In that situation, if you want a truly kick-ass final product, you need lots of extra video.\u00a0 You only want the most incredible and concisely informative clips to make it into your final product.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a fact: Real Life is not as exciting and concisely informative as high quality video.<\/strong> You have to have surplus video in order to edit together just those \u201cunreal\u201d moments that really pack a punch.\u00a0 Even when it\u2019s all staged.\u00a0 You think some actors don\u2019t need zillions of takes?<\/p>\n

\"video<\/p>\n

Newcomers to video production often do not comprehend this one basic truth about video production:<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 The higher the quality of the final product, the more expensive, slick and technically sophisticated, the more locations and people on-camera, the longer the production phases.\u00a0 High quality video like this is an intensely time-consuming process.\u00a0 I\u2019ve known of 30-second finished videos taking weeks of real work to plan, video, and edit.<\/p>\n

The amount of video you take relative to the length of the finished video is known as SHOOTING RATIO<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Generally speaking, the higher you go up on the production value scale, the more video you shoot relative to the length of your finished product.\u00a0 A professionally produced show will want as many choices in the editing room as practical.<\/p>\n

Back when I produced one-hour long documentary style shows, we would have up to 100 hours worth of video to whittle down.\u00a0 Much of this was made up of interviews, which are almost always long compared to how much footage airs.<\/p>\n

If you are new to video production, you need to ask yourself how much effort you want to put into a project as your very first question.\u00a0 If you want quick, down and dirty, you need to plan the look of your final product around this reality.\u00a0 Please don\u2019t set yourself up for disappointment by thinking you can reproduce Star Wars<\/em> in an afternoon.<\/p>\n

SO, HOW DO YOU KEEP VIDEO PRODUCTION SIMPLE?<\/strong><\/p>\n

To make a quick video, I suggest a simple talking head video shot with a webcam.\u00a0 Speak directly into it.\u00a0\u00a0 The audio and video is instantly imported into some video editing software or to an upload-to-the-web app.<\/p>\n

Use natural light by sitting close to a window or lamp.\u00a0 Such a video is the single easiest format.<\/p>\n

Cell phone video and flip video cameras also are some of the simplest cameras to use after the webcam.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A webcam stays connected to your computer, whereas a flip cam or cell phone camera must be connected each time.\u00a0 Flip cams eliminate the need for a cable.<\/p>\n

\"online<\/p>\n

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Screen capture is also fairly simple format, but not as easy as using a webcam.\u00a0\u00a0 You need screen capture software such as Camtasia, and that has a fairly high learning curve.\u00a0 Once you get beyond that, this is an easy way to make a simple online video.<\/p>\n

Another simplifying trick is to use still pictures over a simple voice track or music track.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0 Still pictures are a much easier video source than moving video from a video camera.\u00a0 Doing this would require a video software editing program\u00a0like Windows Movie Maker, iMovie or anything on this list of free video editing software programs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"opacity<\/p>\n

Talk off the top of your head using an outline instead of writing out a full script.\u00a0 Most people would need to practice first in order to pull this off well. It also helps to edit out some of the flubs later but obviously, then you are getting into more time and effort!<\/p>\n

The more comfortable you are on camera, the better you will be able to do an off-the-cuff performance.\u00a0 Appearing on camera takes self-confidence and feeling comfortable with attention drawn to you. \u00a0 Bluntly speaking, camera hogs and people with natural \u201cgift of gab\u201d talents do best as impromptu video hosts if you can keep them from rambling.<\/p>\n

Thanks for reading Video Production Tips<\/p>\n

Lorraine Grula<\/p>\n

\"lorraine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gain some perspective on how much video you need to shoot in order to edit together a high quality masterpiece. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1129,2731],"tags":[2158,2160,437,2159,544,2824],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/ai-studio-t4LHEdJZA19qcrM0JGeX-1-a1s1e.jpg?fit=1152%2C896&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2723"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19888,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723\/revisions\/19888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.videoproductiontips.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}