I spend a lot of time watching other people’s work. Whether it be a feature film, or somone’s latest post on vimeo. There will naturally always be a lot of similar videos, but what I love to watch are the ones that take a very popular subject (like skateboarding, skiing, how-to videos,etc) and use a totally different approach to shooting and editing. The result truly stands out. You may not realize it at first, but then you catch yourself watching it for the 50th time in a week and it dawns on you that it’s a truly inspiring piece of work. I applaud that. It’s really hard to take the risk and push the boundaries of video production– especially for a paid project with a new client, or your favorite client for that matter. You fall into a very comfortable routine: shoot the same shots, edit to the same style of music, on beat and very simple. Before you know it, you are in a video production rut. The best way to fight this is to just have FUN. Take a subject that you really like. Hell, take a subject you HATE and see if you can make it something that is engaging to watch. Don’t do it for money, don’t do it to try and get attention, just do it for yourself. I hear from a lot of people that they “don’t have time for those types of projects” or “I’m too busy with real projects to play”. I think this is the very attitude that leads to that dreaded rut. Everyone, and I mean everyone, has at least 30 minutes to point a camera at something mundane and try and make it cool/exciting/inspiring– whether they like it or not.
Now don’t mistake the point I am trying to make. You don’t need to make something cool/exciting/inspiring for your viewers. The point of this exercise is to inspire yourself, and to remind yourself that the reason you got into this game was because shooting, editing, lighting, writing, whichever role you play, when it comes down to it… it’s just awesome.
With all that being said, here are some videos I have seen lately that speak to this point. They take something that has been shot every way from Sunday, and still found a way to make it really fun to watch:
JP Auclair Street Segment (from All.I.Can.) from Sherpas Cinema on Vimeo.
I LOVE this take on the standard street skiing or “jibbing” scene in your typical ski movie. The skiing isn’t amazing, it doesn’t have any earth shattering new tricks, but the shooting is so simple and pure, and the editing is constantly teasing us with really simple shots that pull the piece together. Case in point, at 1:02 the kid has just tossed a snow ball and the next edit is a brief shot of him obviously ducking from one being thrown at him. we are only seeing his brief reaction, but its just enough to get the point across. The whole lead-in to the skiing is built like that. we see just enough to know that there is a skier hunting for some sweet lines through the neighborhood, and it builds up are anticipation. This is seriously the best Jib scene I have ever seen.
FIREFLY from samadhi production on Vimeo.
Here is another example. I don’t think I have ever seen skateboarding shot like this. Again, no crazy tricks, just a cool concept that is executed really well. The introduction of an RC Heli really helps get creative too. I am not normally a fan of RC Helis, but this one was definitely used right! There is something really mesmerizing about the LED’s on the skateboard too!
GHOST OF OLD HIGHWAYS from Lovett on Vimeo.
I first found this video on No Film School (a great resource by the way). The band who wrote the music wanted a unique music video to go with it. they pulled together a talented team of people who had access to gear and all had the drive and passion to want to make something great. The result is a pretty fantastic music video shot with no budget at all. If this doesn’t help prove my point, I don’t know what will.
Again, this is an awesome time to be in the video production business. Go out and play.
EDIT:
I mention making something engaging to watch, I neglected to include this video:
Love Letter to Plywood. By Tom Sachs from Tom Sachs on Vimeo.
Here is a topic so simple, plywood, but for some reason I can’t stop watching it.