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(This information is primarily for those who are trying to tell a story. It doesn’t apply as much to instructional videos, though the information can be useful for many kinds of videos.)
In the “shoot-and-run” style of guerilla reality filmmaking that most of us employ at this level, we don’t have the luxury of multiple takes. We shoot what we can, bring it back to the computer and make the best of it.
So, you’ve downloaded your footage and organized your clips and you are ready to begin editing. How do you evaluate your clips? How can you tell the good from the bad?
When considering whether to use a clip or not you can rate its quality by considering the Three Cs: Content, Clarity and Composition.
The Three Cs:
Content: What is happening? Is it significant? What is being said?
Clarity: (Image) Focus, lighting, steadiness. (Sound) Can you hear what people are saying?
Composition: Balance, contrast, interest
The best clips will be strong in all three of these things! A great clip will will stimulate on many levels. It will enhance your knowledge of the story (Content), will be easy to see and hear (Clarity), and will be pleasing to the artistic eye (Composition).
But what happens when a clip is deficient in one or more of those qualities? Can it still be used?
It depends.
When Content Wins
For instance, take this shot from my recent Turkey Trot race video. It’s not the best. Sure it’s in focus, well lit and steady, that gives it high marks in the clarity department. But the composition is blah and the person starting the race has his back to the camera. (No one consulted with me about the start. 50/50 chance and we got it wrong!)
However, it is the only shot I have of the START of the race and because of that its Content makes it worth including. High on Content and Clarity, low marks on Composition.
No Content
This next clip is all Compostion and Clarity without much Content. It is a still from a travelogue video I made of a recent camping trip.
There is no story per se, it’s just a pretty shot of scenery. If this were the opening shot of a video and was setting the scene for where the story was taking place then it would score a bit higher on Content. It’s fine for the vacation video but not good for much else, unless it is setting the scene.
Content wins again!
Here’s an instance where there is virtually NO Clarity or Composition but the Content was so high that it must be included! It’s from the first Raising the Bar and it is the moment that Dave is told he is banned from competing in a contest for which he has trained religiously for 20 weeks.
This conversation happened in a dark noisy doorway and yet it was a pivotal moment in the film. Images were bad. Sound was bad. Subtitles to the rescue!! That clip is just about the strongest Content you can have without having the other two categories at all!
What does this tell us? It tells us that Content can win over both of the other categories and that Content is usually the most important of the three.
Getting it all right!
For this last segment I turn to a few stills from one of my favorite videographers, UK’s Philip Bloom. Philip is an artist with the videocamera but he also knows how to tell a story. Here are a few still from his work that score high on all three Cs. The artistic and technical aspects of the clip are maxed out, but with no loss of storytelling. That is something we should always be striving for!
In the “shoot-and-run” style of guerilla reality filmmaking that most of us employ at this level, we don’t have the luxury of multiple takes. We shoot what we can, bring it back to the computer and make the best of it.
So, you’ve downloaded your footage and organized your clips and you are ready to begin editing. How do you evaluate your clips? How can you tell the good from the bad?
When considering whether to use a clip or not you can rate its quality by considering the Three Cs: Content, Clarity and Composition.
The Three Cs:
Content: What is happening? Is it significant? What is being said?
Clarity: (Image) Focus, lighting, steadiness. (Sound) Can you hear what people are saying?
Composition: Balance, contrast, interest
The best clips will be strong in all three of these things! A great clip will will stimulate on many levels. It will enhance your knowledge of the story (Content), will be easy to see and hear (Clarity), and will be pleasing to the artistic eye (Composition).
But what happens when a clip is deficient in one or more of those qualities? Can it still be used?
It depends.
When Content Wins
For instance, take this shot from my recent Turkey Trot race video. It’s not the best. Sure it’s in focus, well lit and steady, that gives it high marks in the clarity department. But the composition is blah and the person starting the race has his back to the camera. (No one consulted with me about the start. 50/50 chance and we got it wrong!)
However, it is the only shot I have of the START of the race and because of that its Content makes it worth including. High on Content and Clarity, low marks on Composition.
No Content
This next clip is all Compostion and Clarity without much Content. It is a still from a travelogue video I made of a recent camping trip.
There is no story per se, it’s just a pretty shot of scenery. If this were the opening shot of a video and was setting the scene for where the story was taking place then it would score a bit higher on Content. It’s fine for the vacation video but not good for much else, unless it is setting the scene.
Content wins again!
Here’s an instance where there is virtually NO Clarity or Composition but the Content was so high that it must be included! It’s from the first Raising the Bar and it is the moment that Dave is told he is banned from competing in a contest for which he has trained religiously for 20 weeks.
This conversation happened in a dark noisy doorway and yet it was a pivotal moment in the film. Images were bad. Sound was bad. Subtitles to the rescue!! That clip is just about the strongest Content you can have without having the other two categories at all!
What does this tell us? It tells us that Content can win over both of the other categories and that Content is usually the most important of the three.
Getting it all right!
For this last segment I turn to a few stills from one of my favorite videographers, UK’s Philip Bloom. Philip is an artist with the videocamera but he also knows how to tell a story. Here are a few still from his work that score high on all three Cs. The artistic and technical aspects of the clip are maxed out, but with no loss of storytelling. That is something we should always be striving for!
