I was on my sticks for nearly the whole time shooting this video about people who celebrated Easter at a San Antonio park despite an unseasonal cold front. It's a stand alone video. For the most part, the people were standing around doing the same thing for an extended period of time. That made it simple to take the time to use my tripod to set up my shots. The one time I had to get off my sticks was when the children are chasing each other with confetti eggs (we call them cascarones in San Antonio). For that scene, I had to get off the sticks or I would miss the shots.
On the flip side, I was off the sticks nearly the whole time for this story about children on a field trip. It complements this print story. My coworker John Davenport at this assignment shot the photo of me at the left. I used my tripod in the beginning when the children were staying under a pavilion. I ditched it while they were hiking through the woods for an hour. I had to run ahead of them, get my shot, get some shots of their backs walking away. Then I'd run up again. I also walking right in the middle of the group for some shots. It wasn't logical to take my tripod because it would have hampered my mobility too much.
I just wanted to make this comparison to show that it's best to use the tripod as a default, but you have to make judgement calls for some situations and ditch the sticks if you must.
Monday, April 09, 2007
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Here's some feedback from Michael Rosenblum, reprinted here with his permission:
I screened both your pieces, the tripod and non tripod on your website. Allow me, if I may, to comment on them. your shooting is
excellent on both, handheld or tripod. Makes little difference. Where I think you could improve the pieces a lot is in terms of structure. You should strive to make them far more character driven. You have good characters in both, but the pieces tend to become more illustrated interviews, that is, soundbites strung together with pictures on top. You could vastly improve the pieces by having them become character driven. Also, in following a character you create
both more of an arc of story editorially, and if you shoot the person in some kind of story line related to them, it becomes more coherent visually as well.
Here is my advice for storytelling.
Imagine that you spent the day at a dog and cat hospital.
And while you were there, a 5 year old came in with a little puppy named fluffy,
Fluffy has been hit by a car.
Please save my dog, the kid says,
The vet takes fluffy, operates and saves fluffly's life.
Later you come home and over dinner, tell your husband (or partner or whatever) what happened to you.
What would you say?
One thing you would not do is sit rigid in the chair, stare straight ahead and say
"More than 2500 dogs were hit by cars last year. Fluffy was one of the lucky few..."
No one talks that way.
Another thing you would not do is to 'let the vet tell the story in his own words'. this would take forever.
YOU tell the story ....
And now, our audiences are our husbands, our spouses, our parents.,.
Tell the story in video exactly as you would over the dining room table,.
Then you've got it right.
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