Why Video?

Alexa

Alexa

Veteran
I am curious to know why you are interested in video. What is it about it that appeals to you? What do you use it for?


In looking back, i see that most of my working days in all my careers are spent working with video. I'm wondering where you think it has a place in society. Where you think it is going.

Thanks
 
Why not?

It's such a broad question. Filmmaking appeals to me. Lots of time I look back and ask myself why I got into this, then I go work on a project and I feel at peace.
 
It depends on who it is using video, and what they are using it for. I got into it because I like to be able to cut it, change it up, make it tell whatever story I'm sharing. As far as work goes, it isn't too bad technically compared to the medical fields, or physically when you compare it to roofing or block masonry. And I usually get to stay clean and dry.

It can also be a great source of income, whether it is corporate video, legal, wedding or porn, you can make some good money for less hours.
 
I enjoyed photography since I was 15, as my skills improved I started impacting people with my photos to the point that most of the people I know have pictures framed on their walls... that I don't even remember taking.

But I got into a lot of situations where I felt that pictures just weren't telling enough of the story. I had always had video cameras and just played around with them, but at some point I made the leap to digital... shortly after NLE's came into play... then after I did my first documentary on these 3 poor guys who were coaching little league football... I was addicted. I thought that project was pretty good, but I had no idea that it would affect people to the extent that it did... to my surprise they aired it in a room of about a hundred people on a big screen... nobody had ANY idea what to expect... they assumed this came from some parent's shaky-cam... and at the end of the video everybody was crying and freaking out... it totally freaked ME out... and of course that was it. To be able to have that kind of impact on somebody... how could you NOT do it?
 
Matt-

Thats a great story. Sadly, I don't think I can remember a time when I've moved somebody from a photo or video project. Well, maybe a wedding video...but with that subject matter, tears are a given...So, you've inspired me to keep at it....


For me, I am an actor 1st. The theater is my favorite medium but you aren't always your own boss. You can't always decide when you get to perform, be cast etc. With a video camera, all you need is an idea and time. Thats what I love about it. And, you don't always need to tell a compelling story to have an impact. I love that too. I still look at Disjectas nature films as some of my all time favorite DVX work...it prompted me to go out and do a poor-mans version of a nature vid myself...I just love how if you capture something that looks beautiful on video, sometimes thats more compelling than a beginning, middle and an end. FWIW.
 
I got into video because I was sick of doing post sound and sound design for other people's crappy videos and animations. I was an avid Photoshop user and loved to tweak and photos and experiment with graphis design.

I approached it from that background and was more interested in the technical parts of video, the editing, manipulation, tweaking, than the storytelling. Then I began working with a guy who was all about the story, and began learning more about angles, composition, and other aspects of the shooting process as well as what goes into creating a great video from paper to shooting.

Now I am getting more into the storytelling, though I still love the post work. I have done projects that save kid's lives, and have seen my work affect people dramatically.

I guess for me it is becoming more a combination of the story and the technical aspect, rather than post work. And I am diggin all of it.
 
I was always technically oriented, and in middle school I got involved with my school's Stage Crew .. it was cool to do technical stuff with the pressure, thrill and adrenaline of a live performance with a instantly responsive audience.

During my freshmen year of High School, Our scout troop volunteered to answer phones for a PBS telethon. I can distinctly remember looking up at the studio "program" monitor after setting down the phone and seeing this perfectly framed shot of just me. I didn't like being on camera at the time (now I have no problem). So when the station made a public call for camera operators to help at the next telethon, I decided to give it a try. After 2 minutes of "this does this, this is a pan, this is a tilt, move it like this, and when the red light goes on, you're camera is on the air" I was told to play around with the camera and get in some practice.. oh "and we are on the air in 15 minutes" (!!) and that was it, 15 minutes later I was providing a live picture state-wide. Needless to say, the awe of TV had me hooked.

Soon thereafter I joined my HS video club, which turned out to be a great experience; it was fun, educational, challenging, often a legitimate excuse for missing boring classes, and I made a lot of friends doing it.


The first time I shot live national TV was another wild moment. I wraped my hand around my camera's cable as the Anchor read the headlines of the channel 1 main national news-cast and could hardly belive that what was flowing between my fingers was beeing seen by an entire country. I swear I could feel the electricty pulsing in that bright orange Triax cable. Mind blowing stuff.


I still work theater on occasion - I may still prefer it actually - still one of the most incredible moments of my life was being called on stage with the rest of the crew after the closing night of a run of Dracula where I'd been the FX guy, and the during the applause, the whole cast and crew kowtowed me in-front of a packed house. That was nuts. - But TV has really become what I do.

I still love the trill of live TV and challenging creativity and technical boundaries. The euphoria that comes from nailing a Steadicam shot makes all the hours of practice worth it. And the rush of directing a live TV show with a crew of 15 people that's falling apart under you, but still pulling it all together into a successful creation (as I did today) makes the long hours and lost hairs disappear in the moment as the whole world revolves around the machine that you are part of.


Video, TV, and the closely related field of Theater, are all just too exciting, too liberating, and too much fun not to throw oneself at with all you have.

- Mikko
 
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It all started for me when I wrote short stories as a child. I loved creating worlds, and at that time I wrote me and my friends into the stories. It was like a little fantasy world I could go to. Then I thought of the idea of turning those stories on paper into something living and breathing... I shot my first short when I was 16... and since then there's been no turning back... I love this stuff, and it's more than just a pen and paper now... it's everything about it!
 
I devoted a lot of my life to the idea of prose writing. Esspecially during High School and college I was writting short stories and attempting novels all the time. So I've always been a natural storyteller. Though I've always been a movie buff, I felt that being a writer was my calling.

The problem with prose is that I always struggled with action. I could never get the characters from one place to another in a very clean fashion. So during the rough draft stage I'd write the story in shorthand to wrap my head around it. Stuff like "Camera follows Chuck as he exits the apartment and gets into the car. We see him turn the key and hear the roar of the engine. Low angle as Chuck places the car into gear." I would do this because I'm a very visual thinker. So it was easier for me to describe the scene in those terms. As a novel writer that scene would have been like "Chuck leaves his apartment with apprehension weighing on his mind. The smooth wood of the handrail feels cool against his skin as the travels down each step in a maticulous fashion. The smell of german cooking wafts though the hallways filling his nose, and his memories. The sun blinds him as he steps outside onto the busy New York street. His car, a brown Chevy Malibu, waits for him like an old friend, or a lover."

Geeze, why take so long? I always thought I could just turn on a camera, make the scene a lot more powerful, and not take as much time. And by the way, anytime you're writing a novel always add "or a lover" to any description to make it sound more important.

Anyway, I figured there was no way for a kid from the midwest to ever get a crack at making a movie, so I kept with the writing. Until one day I actually found myself with the equipment to make a movie and decided this was my chance. That's when I put down the pen and picked up a camera.

Scriptwriting is more fun than prose anyway. :)
 
here's another kind of related question..

why do you want anyone to see your video? isn't it enough just to create it? or must it be seen to be worthwhile?
 
Well, to begin with, the more people who see it, the better because your name gets out there more, which will hopefully lead to bigger and better things... also, we hopefully all strive to make things people WANT to see, and the only way we'll know if we made something people WANT to see is by seeing them see it :)
 
When I show my video's to crowds of people, I dont really watch the flick. I watch their reactions. And it does make it worthwhile.
 
video is the most powerful tool that the govenment has to regulate you. Its the slime just oozing out of your tv set. (Frank Zappa) We can affect peoples lives to a degree of change, which is hopefully for the best.
 
Alexa said:
why do you want anyone to see your video? isn't it enough just to create it? or must it be seen to be worthwhile?
Click to expand...

It goes in stages for me. When I'm writing or preparing a script, when I'm shooting, and when I'm in post production, then creating it is enough. It's like putting your feet into your favorite pair of comfy slippers.

But once it's finished and *ready* to be seen, then it needs to go out and experience that portion of it's life.

It's like asking "why do kids have to grow up, aren't babies good enough?" If babies didn't age, then you'd be missing out on so much of the experience. You raise them, are proud of them, then have to let go. You just hope that when you let go they do some good in the world. Film isn't so different.

And to that end, there is a certain amount of ego involved with anyone who creates a film (I'm using the terms "film" and "video" interchangeably here because I assumed that the original question was more philosophical than literal). You have to believe in yourself and your story enough to put it in front of an audience. There is a certain amount of "What I've done is important enough for you to spend two hours of your life experiencing."

The trick is having enough ego to put your work out there, while keeping it in check enough that people still like you. :)
 
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