Richard Herd
Forum Replies Created
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And here is an oldie-but-a-goodie https://library.creativecow.net/lindeboom_ron/clients_or_grinders/1
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You have to right-click the multicam sequence in the Project Pane and open the sequence. When it opens, you will see all the stuff making up the multicam, and you can choose the various things you want.
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There are some technical definitions to consider and this is a point from which to move forward, and not the be-all end-all of the topic. These are off my cuff as memory recalls, a very dubious place!
A dramatic premise is the name for the idea that a drama can prove a logical premise: greed leads to destruction; opposites attract; birds of a feather flock together. In a recent script I wrote the dramatic premise is “we all need a community.” I sent the script to a few trusted friends. This morning, I threw it away. 2 years of work. It’s no big deal. The text on the page was not expressing the impulse I had to begin the story, in the first place. Impulses and ideas are cheap and easy.
Theme in screenplay v. theme in cinema is a complicated topic because in cinema the diegesis is presented in color motion picture, meaning the work can use color, slow-mo, cutting-style, sound design, lighting design, acting, and diegesis (I’ve used that word twice, now, because it is worth looking up, and I argue the camera by definition is “telling”; We get moments of POV) to express a theme. The screenplay theme is “English majory” type stuff: critique of male-dominated society, epiphanies of society in an industrial future.
Genre is the name for an idea that the written text is aimed at a specific audience using a discourse the audience knows. That’s a slinky definition I admit. But it includes essay, youtube video, Facebook Memes, creativecow posts, and so on. When you post in the Creative Cow Business and Marketing forum and ask about genre, we could also include spreadsheets, budgets, shot lists, call sheets, and also of course screenplay.
Mood is a lit term that spins along side of modality. We can talk about the subjunctive mood, for example, separately from the grammatical structure. Example sentence: I would play the role. The sentence is actually past tense but uses a future verb “will” in simple past tense to express the hypothetical. This is the subjunctive mood, in grammar. The mood of literary work is even more complex because we identify particular structural elements (sequences, scenes, camera angles, sound design) that lead to a convention of meaning.
If this is stuff interests you, consider studying literature. Film studies is a bit behind the literary critique although there is more and more cross-over.
For me, when I get started, all I have is an impulse. Just write it down as it comes. The impulse after impulse after impulse until I have accumulated enough “stuff” to shape into what I think it ought to be. And there is required some tenacity to realize what stuff is aligned with that impulse and what stuff is not. Maybe the impulse was marginal to begin with.
Mr Suszko’s comment regarding form addresses a particular problem that in order to sustain an audience’s attention, the impulse needs to be of certain quality: moving, funny, action-packed. That’s not an exhaustive list, just some examples.
A very good place to begin is to read lots and lots of screenplays. You can find many screenplays at https://www.imsdb.com/ There are inviolable conventions, and, while there are many books on the topic of writing, it is best to acquire your concepts of what-writing-is, ostensively — by doing and in-genre.
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[walter biscardi] “When the video finishes playing, you don’t have a grid full of other videos to go watch all over YouTube”
This is exactly why we avoid YouTube for client review (customer complaint about “inappropriate youtube suggestions”), and also the opt-out script never seems to work, but that could be our-bad, and not necessarily youtube’s.
Some clients have requested YouTube deliverable because it drives traffic for their SEO (or at least that’s what I’ve been told).
Google Analytics seems to drive everything “digital advertising” and it’s necessary for those applications that the video be on YouTube, not a big deal, because Vimeo let’s the end user/client download their video (or not if you block it) or you can upload another one to YouTube. Seamless and easy.
Another cool feature of Vimeo is the pro service offers a client review page that can be branded to our liking and also a really cool portfolio system. Portfolios can be made and then access to the portfolio through a single link. Very very efficient and easy to use. YouTube Channels have playlists but the difference for me is Vimeo’s feels more personal to the client, so when I send a vimeo portfolio, the videos are nicely arranged as thumbnails and the client can easily see what to do. YouTube Playlists seem to have too much YouTube-is-first design, and it’s cluttered, with what I consider “the wrong content for my client.” Hope that makes sense..
Over the last, 6 months, Vimeo has done a great job of rolling out the Vimeo Organizer, before that it was a nightmare to delete content. And I have noticed an improvement in their quality of playback. It appears to me that vimeo and youtube are starting to rollout 2k and 4k also.
Last: it seems Vimeo’s design is “professional content creators need their clients to look at content in a particular way and then leave the site and make decisions and discuss.” Whereas, youtube is “browse ad infinitum, under no circumstances does youtube want an end user to leave youtube.”
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Try the cinematography forum too.
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[Paul Dougherty] “want to be absolutely sure I understand this”
here you go: enjoy the reading! https://lurkertech.com/lg/fields/
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[Charlie Austin] “Apple may sell a few more copies of X by blabbing about Focus right now.”
OR
the movie might suck and now they have damaged their halo around X. 😉
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Here’s a good place to start:
Who is the main character?
What does the main character need?
Who (or what) tries to stop the main character?
Who (or what) helps the main character? (Who helps the antagonist?)
Does the main character get the need? (If yes, it’s comedy. If no, it’s drama. If the main character gets the need, but the price is too high, it’s tragedy.)
What does the main character learn?This is a tool to get you started. Each of these character mentioned should have at least a full life — like real people. They have ages. Personal habits. Profesional ambitions. Dream it all up and write all that down. After you have all this beginning stuff written, you can move to a story structure.
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Editors are story tellers and we have to choose between takes of actors, so knowing both story and acting is very helpful to craft a narrative. You can probably find scene study courses/groups and writing groups to help hone the story telling ability. Right off the bat, your network of similarly interested and located folks will grow, and that can lead to some editing.
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How did you get the 60fps to play at 24fps?
Standard is to Right click the footage in the project pane and choose modify… > interpret footage … > Assume this frame rate [change to match the 24fps].The footage is almost never actually 60fps nor 24fps. It is almost always 59.94 and 23.976 respectively. That’s a detail worth sweating.