Experience a post-production workflow that is far from traditional, but is extremely efficient and logical. Recommended hardware, software and apps, batch renaming, 4K Proxy workflow, GPS tagging, the correct steps to color correct and grade footage, and even how to safely back-up and archive your projects.
Learn the entire pre-production workflow, from brainstorming to asset allocation all the way to actually pre-shooting your project. This course is geared to filmmakers working with small crews, but it offers essential lessons and resources for all content creators.
This is your chance to join an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker on location! Get a unique view, from concept to delivery, and experience how to capture stills, video, and sounds to produce a commercial for a boutique winery in beautiful Oregon.
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I have been studying Ira Glass and Anthony Bourdain for a very long time.
Ira Glass is very well known in the U.S. because he is the producer and host of a very well-known radio show called “This American Life.” Bourdain was a celebrity chef, writer, host and producer of travel programs for The Travel Channel and CNN, exploring cultures and foods around the world.
Ira Glass
The way the show works is as follows: a team of 12 people go out and find simple stories about everyday topics with normal subjects and characters, and produce fascinating stories about them.
For example, every highway has something called roadkill, which are the dead animals like deer, cats or dogs on the side of the road. Well, someone needs to go and pick them up. So many years ago, Ira Glass produced a story about the person who does that job, and it’s very appropriately called “Dead animal man.”
“I’d have given half my life for that squirrel at one time. I was a prisoner during the Korean War and I’d set up off at Han River and watch seagulls fly over, I’ll be laying there thinking I fry one. That’s how hungry I was.”
Clarence Hicks
The way Ira Glass asks and sequences the questions, and the kind of sounds he includes are all masterfully executed.
Ira Glass and his team approach pre-production in a similar way. Every Monday morning a group of 12 people meet, and each person pitches at least one story idea. As a group they pick and choose the best six ideas, and spend the rest of the week producing them. The following Monday they go over the six stories, pick the best one or two, and only those are the ones that get broadcasted. The other stories either die or get a second chance in the future.
The stories we hear on “This American Life” are incredibly good, not only because all the team members are super talented and work extremely hard, but also because they start with 12 stories, narrow them down to six and then hand-picked the best two.
Anthony Bourdain
Bourdain stories, on the other hand, were all about traveling to different locations and exploring local food.
“A prego is a steak sandwich slash booze mop that puts you right over the edge in a protein overdose, which is to say, happiness.”
The setup for all Bourdain’s shows was fairly simple. It was always Bourdain with a guest, talking about politics, culture and current events over food.
The way the shows were shot was very efficient. Two cinematographers recording sound on camera, and one director/producer/C Cam operator. Most of the time they used available light.
When one watches the show it’s hard to believe they only had a 2 or 3-person crew. And I believe a reason to achieve this high level of production is possible because they started researching each location a month before production, and spent a lot of time in pre-production.
Before each shoot the crew had pre-pro meetings to discuss core concepts, looks, shooting approaches. They found inspiration in movies, songs, books and researched about the history and the place in its current state. Yet, they didn’t use scripts, and Bourdain never wrote anything for a show beforehand.
“If you think you’ve already figured out what the show’s going to be about or what you expect out of the scene, that’s a lethal impulse.”
On location Bourdain and his crew spent on average a week of frantic work, and they shoot a LOT, between sixty and eighty hours of footage (on average) to produce a single one hour-long episode.
Conclusion
Most of us don’t approach our projects the way Glass and Bourdain did. We might have one or two projects or stories, we work on them, and then we might decide to publish them or not, but we don’t produce a high volume of content, and pick only the absolute best of the best to be shared with the world. That constant search for perfection is what makes them so great.
DISCLAIMER This article is not paid or sponsored by anyone. It reflects my own independent opinion. I only recommend companies and products that I trust. Some links might be affiliates, which means I may get a few pennies if you decide to purchase something. Thanks in advance for your support!
When working as a 1 Person Crew we have plenty of things to worry about. Here are some underused tricks I use to save lots of time and minimize potentially fatal mistakes.
First, let’s face it. I’m a geek. I am one of the very few people who not only READ instruction manuals, but actually ENJOY doing so. Done. My public confession is out.
I have used way too many cameras (just ask my accountant, my wife or simply check the screenshot below). My current favorites for documentary work and short films are the Sony FS7 and Canon C200 (respectively)
I also have been using the Panasonic Lumix line since the GH3, not only for their small form factor, portability, and image quality, but also because of their incredible versatility. You could adapt a Panasonic Lumix GH4 or GH5 to virtually any existing workflow, be it AVCHD, MP4, MOV, HD, 4K or Cinema 4K. That’s incredible!
Screenshot from the Panasonic GH5 Manual.
Recording Options on the Panasonic GH5.
Today’s article is about choosing the right settings for a specific project. I usually bring at least two cameras on every assignment. I like to save identical settings on them, so when I turn the cameras on, they match exactly, every time. This saves a tremendous amount of time and minimizes potential mistakes.
Here are more screenshots from the Panasonic GH5 Manual, which seems perfectly designed to scare people away. The charts do not reflect the most recent firmware version (v2.3) for the Panasonic GH5.
My Ultra Geeky Approach
I did something only a super geek would do. Made a pot of coffee, opened Excel, and with my camera on hand re-organized Panasonic’s charts in a friendlier and more useful way.
As you can see on the far-right column, I also added EAC1, EAC2 and EAC3. Those are my Custom Menus saved to each camera so the starting point is always the same.
Note: I prefer to shoot UHD (3840X2160) over Cinema 4K (4096X2160) simply because it is easier to incorporate into HD (1920×1080) projects.
3840/2 = 1920 and 1080/2 = 1080
My Default Modes
Since most of my work ends up on YouTube or Vimeo 30 frames per second is a good starting point.
Doubling the frame rate (30×2) gives us a good starting point
for your shutter speed, which is set at 1/60th of a second.
Ideally we want to extract as much data from the camera’s sensor as possible, so I choose 422 10-Bit.
VLog (similar to S-Log on Sony, C-Log on Canon, and very recently N-Log for Nikon) is set my default camera profile, so I have more room to enhance the story through color. Keep in mind that I only go this route if I know I’ll have enough time for post-production, otherwise I’d chose the “default” camera profile and call it a day.
Upcoming “1 Person Crew” Master Class in Lisbon, Portugal. Come join us!
VLog has a minimum ISO of 400, so that’s that. An aperture of
f5.6 is a nice starting point, as well as 5600 Kelvin for my White Balance.
EC2 is my Camera Setting for shooting on Gimbals and I use EC3 when I want/need to shoot at 60 frames per second and play with the footage in post. Here’s another post on Camera Movement.
The cool thing about this approach is that I can save my custom settings and import them into another Panasonic GH5 (running the same firmware version), without having to select every single option again.
Here’s how to perform that magic trick:
Working as a 1 Person Crew we constantly worry about audio, framing, exposure, directing and when to replace the batteries. Anything we can do to save time and avoid potentially fatal mistakes is key. Saving Custom Camera profiles is in my opinion an underused but awesome trick. Enjoy!
I’ve been using Rode wireless mics for many years and never expected to change. There’s even a blog post on why I have been completely loyal to Rode for so long.
But, for the past couple of weeks I’ve been using a new set of wireless mics from a company I didn’t know: Comica.
Features
The complete kit comes in a nice hard case, and offers all the expected features:
96-channels
Auto scanning
Real time monitoring
AA batteries
Lavalier mics included
Some other features stand out:
Adjustable RF signal strength which can be lowered to reduce power consumption and increase battery time
A working distance up to 394 feet (120 meters) in a open area
But there’s ONE feature that tipped the scale for me: two transmitters can be used with only one receiver.
Audio Workflow
In practical terms I need only one receiver connected to an audio recorder (like this or this or this) and can record two people simultaneously. As you can see below, as a safety net and to record high-quality scratch audio, I used a Rode shotgun mic on my camera. Later in post I simply duplicate the track, keep subject A on Channel Left and subject B on Channel Right, and sync the audio and footage manually in a few seconds using PluraEyes.
I wanted to document my two main characters, one winemaker on the field collecting the grapes with a small group of people, and a second winemaker at the shop, receiving and pressing the grapes. They both were working at the same time at two different locations.
Do you shot on the field with the beautiful early morning light and miss an event that happens only once a year, OR do you document the grape crushing process and get b-roll later with super harsh mid-day light?
As a 1 person crew my options were very limited. I did run like crazy all day to get enough footage of both, but by having a wireless mic on each subject the whole time I was able to also capture wonderful moments. For example, the small group of farmers singing and joking while picking grapes, and at the same time one of the winemakers describing his winemaking philosophy, and why they choose to use ancient methods over modern ones.
Trying to record a long and formal interview on the most important and busiest day of the year for the subjects was out of the question. And if you have done any interviews before, you know it is extremely rare to get this kind of spontaneous sound bites.
Pros and Cons
I used this kit for about 5 hours straight on a single set of AA batteries per unit, which is very impressive. I always use and recommend Eneloop rechargeable batteries, they cost a bit more but last much longer.
I’ve seen some complaints on Amazon about the quality of the mics. I haven’t noticed any issues, but will test the wireless transmitters with other lavalier mics in case I’m missing something.
There are also a few complaints about the battery holders (aka cartridges). I agree with that one. The batteries are super tight, so I’d recommend getting three extra sets of battery holders to swap batteries much faster.
There you have it; how to record two people at two different locations with only one receiver and getting fantastic results. The 1 person crew approach.
