Mid-challenge check in - What I’ve learned so far.
It’s been over a month since I started the 10-week broll challenge. Since then, I produced 5 minute-long videos each of them telling a different story. Today, I wanted to do a quick check in to share my experience so far.
The challenge is to produce a short video of less than a minute, using broll transitioning techniques that each tells a unique story. Broll is typically used for transitioning from one scene to the other, or to enhance your main storyline with additional context.
My goal was to learn how to do the obvious (tell a story) and color correct my videos properly. Both are rather challenging when you have to keep the video to less than 60”.
Check my progress so far on YouTube.
So far, I’ve used different types of techniques to help me convey my story, I played around with quick-cut Edward Write style transitions (if you’re not familiar with his work, watch Hot Fuzz), slow motion, revealing shots, in-camera transitions and lots of masking. All these, sometimes together, have helped me convey different stories. But since the story is king, I also learned that I needed to use a script, plan my shots ahead of time and use a checklist to keep me organized. When needed, I shared the list with Katerina, my wife, to give her a heads up so she can get in the role as early as possible.
I’m pleased with the progress I made so far , and I’m looking forward to the remaining videos. This week, however, I decided to take a break from making videos. I needed the time off to come up with new ideas, rethink some of the existing ones and give myself time to think rather than keep my head down and execute. We all need some down time to recalibrate and increase our creativity and productivity. Also, it was the Orthodox Easter this past weekend, so I spent most of it cooking and eating meat. No time for videos. Sorry...
Till next time...
Check out my other films here.
