“The essence of cinema is editing. It’s the combination of what can be extraordinary images of people during emotional moments, or images in a general sense, put together in a kind of alchemy.”
- Francis Ford Coppola

Regardless of the deliverable, from feature films to low-budget web videos, one of the key ingredients to communicating a message or story through video is the edit. Yes, a strong narrative thread, creative vision and quality footage are essential. However, to bring all those elements together in an engaging and coherent way that is either informative or entertaining to the viewer, the edit must be well planned and executed.

1. Pacing and rhythm
This may be the hardest of all to articulate. We as viewers often never recognize the amount of time an editor puts into weaving together good sequence of images. As they shouldn’t – a good edit should be transparent to the viewer. The pace of a sequence is often dictated by such elements as the narration/dialogue or music. Time must be considered for the viewer to absorb what is being stated both aurally and visually and reflect upon it. Let the sequence breath unless it is fast-paced; in this case a more jarring cutting method is likely needed.

2. Use multiple camera angles
Tired of that static headshot of the talking head? Nervous about having relevant b-roll to cut in-and-out of? Use a second camera. I know, you don’t have the budget for a second camera, let alone another skilled videographer. There is a creative solution. Use whatever handheld camera that you have easily accessible. Maybe even your camera phone–why not?!? A second camera will provide an alternative to the one-shot for quick cutaways. It helps keep viewer’s interests and can add a nice creative touch to what may otherwise come off as boring.

Establish your static shot with the superior camera and have a grip (or even the producer) use the other camera as a handheld. Walk around the subject – of course without being disruptive and getting in the way. Keep a loose but steady feel with the camera. Also allow yourself to go tight and loose on the subject when appropriate. I will often setup tilts and pans in-between answers, this will give the editor options for using the cutaway camera for transitions. I’ll also sometimes effect the footage (black and white, over saturated, etc) of the second camera in post, if the end product lends itself to an edgier feel.

3. Planning and organization
You think you have everything covered. All the footage is digitized, you have temp music (or the score), some canned SFX, the narration is recorded. That’s all I need, right? Not really. Before going into an edit it is wise to have a schedule specifically for this phase. Try to map out, to the best of your ability, a timeline of the event. Add touch points and milestones. Work in time for review, breaks, revisions. Be realistic.

Have all your assets labeled properly and organized. Work with an assistant to setup a file naming convention. This will make communication much easier when the producer or director needs to find a shot or piece of music. Create a database in Filemaker or Excel listing all elements. Use tags and descriptors so it is easily searchable. Nothing can be more frustrating than digging through dozens of hours of footage for that “shot of the trees with nice light on that one day.” There is no such thing as being TOO organized!

4. Storyboard your ideas
I’m currently working on a 30 minute documentary that is a mix of archival still images and landscape motion. We have nearly 13 hours of footage and 300 still images! In order to find the best of the best and begin finding visuals that support the narrative; we printed off a still from each motion select and a postcard sized version of each still image. In ideation we take these and post them to a wall and begin assembling a sequence. At first it was tedious getting all the images prepared but in the long run it has saved us maybe hundreds of hours of digging through the electronic files and reviewing footage. This method has allowed us more time to think through an idea rather than get bogged down in the abundance of options we have in digital assets.

5. Effective transitions
Moving from one shot to the next helps weave the narrative thread, it also sets the stage for a new setting or sequence, and also ends the sequence. The most common visual transition is the simple cut. This works especially well when switching between angles of actors with on camera dialogue or during action sequences. Conversely, it does not work well in a slow moving, emotive sequence. This is when the cross dissolve is used most. Dissolves can range from .5 seconds to a long as 20 seconds. However, the longer the dissolves means the footage on the tail and head of each clip must blend naturally from one to the other. Take time to find the shots that match naturally and adjust the length of the dissolve accordingly. Again, this is a feel. It either works or it doesn’t. There are of course several other methods of visual dissolves. These are only the two most common. Other more graphical dissolves work well in television bumpers and home movies. As you can tell, I’m not a big fan of the page flips and zooms!

The use of sound effects can also reinforce a visual transition. If your dissolving shots have nat sounds underneath, then dissolve the sounds accordingly. I’ll often lead and extend the sound dissolves longer than the visuals. The use of swishes and other sound effects are great for fast paced transitions when creating a more dramatic change of scenery or material.

These are a few tips that come to mind. I’d like to know what you think. Please add to the discussion in the comments.

You likely live under a rock if you are unfamiliar with the drama that surrounds today. Yes, not everyone is a basketball nut like me, but when I see Twitter ablaze with comments from non-fans saying things like: “Enough with this LeBron thing” and comparing his team choice to that of the Twilight meme of “Team Edward vs. Team Jacob”, I know the conversation has transcended that of sports talk.

When James chose to make his announcement during a live interview on ESPN many pundits cried fowl. They claim James and his staff have taken things too far, creating an unnecessary media circus. Yes, he is giving all sponsorship proceeds to charity. But that is not enough to stop the chorus of hisses by sports critics and even marketing professionals.

Let’s cut to the chase. Western culture loves sensationalism! We love to see people rise to the highest peaks of fame and also revel when they fall from grace. Its 24-hour news, social networks, tabloids, etc. Tiger Woods, anyone?

From a fan’s perspective, I think it is great for the game. This year’s abundance of talented free agents shifted the power to the players, allowing them to determine their destiny (for the most part). Folks, let’s not forget that the NBA is a big business. James, Wade, Bosh, Boozer and others created a coalition of sorts that changed the way teams managed the negotiations. They had choices, they were tired of being the lone gunman of their organizations. They created alliances in hopes of building a better team around their talent. Both for their own well being and for the fans of resident cities. The pursuit of the NBA’s highest honor, a championship, is likely every player’s desire.

And from a marketer’s perspective, I think it is brilliant. I enjoyed the hype leading up to his decision and love the potential of the Miami Heat being a dominant force next season. The city of Chicago even went as far as hiring advertising giant Leo Burnett to craft a personal campaign to taunt LeBron, play with his emotions and try to lure him to the Bulls. Rapper Jay-Z, part owner of the New Jersey Nets, was one of the team’s representatives that pitched to James last weekend. Filling James with hopes of building his empire around his personal brand in Brooklyn.

If you are tired of the coverage or simply hate basketball, stay off of social media sites and turn off the TV for the evening. Sorry, its a big deal! As for me, I’ll be glued to ESPN tonight at 9pm EST. I still think LeBron may have a trick up his sleeve and surprise us all.

Not familiar with Chatroulette? Ok, here’s the Cliff Notes overview. Basically, it is a peer-to-peer based chat system that pairs you with random people from all over the world. Nothing new, right? Wrong. Each random stranger has a webcam. The moment you connect you are face-to-face with a stranger or sometimes a puppet, or a sign and unfortunately too often – an occasional pervert. The beauty of the system is that you can move on to the next person in a split second by simply “Nexting” them. There’s no login, no identity—you can be anyone, or anything you want. You have complete control over the experience, as does the other user.

Chatroulette is not for everyone. And without doubt it is not a place you want children to be. It is unfiltered, unprotected and certainly not the controlled flavor of social media that we have grown accustomed to. Simply, it is random, it is chaos.

My first experience on Chatroulette was typical. The first face I ran across was some college kid – i assume – looking bored and likely a victim of several next hits. Well, I didn’t want to waste my first CR experience on this dude.

Ok… NEXT!!

Then I stumbled upon a guy playing guitar in Bronx, NY. We chatted for nearly 20 minutes. He had a great playing style and feel. It was very cool! I gave him a link to my music site and we have emailing each other since.

Moving on… BAMB – a pervert. Unfortunately, this is a very common thing. I’m still perplexed as to what motivates this behavior – so, I’ll leave it at that. After which I had a few great conversions with a graphic designer, a web marketer at a university and a darling girl with paraplegia. Overall, it was a positive experience. Minus the freaks.

In summary, Chatroulette is really nothing new. However, it reconnects us to the random aspect of the internet (IRC, AOL chatrooms, forums) that is all but forgotten in our current state of overprotected, sanitized social media channels. It goes against what we have been taught: “Don’t talk to strangers.” But strangers are sometimes interesting. And if not interesting, we are in control of the situation – simply hit NEXT.

Scared to to give it a whirl? Fine, here are a few videos from around the interwebs documenting the experience and a few moments of random brilliance.

• The Daily Show’s take on Chatroulette

• A movie about Chatroulette

• Merton, the improvisational piano chatter (no, it is not Ben Folds)

• Ben Fold’s live in concert – Ode to Merton

Photo by: mscaprikell

The other day I desperately needed to read it again! And it is no long there. I searched high n’ low on Google for the quote to no avail.

The framed version was a gift to our Senior VP and Executive Producer of documentary film, Tom Hedges. Tom also did not know it’s origins, but still had the original water damaged version. He graciously had it photographed and sent it to me this evening.

During this holiday I find myself very thankful for all the great creative minds who have challenged, inspired, mentored and guided me through my life. I’m eternally grateful to you each and all.

Below is the photograph as well as the printed version of the quote.

[Show as slideshow]

Creativity… the ability to see things a new way and from that insight to produce something that didn’t exist before-something original.

It sometimes means piercing the mundane to find the marvelous or looking beyond the marvelous to find the mundane.

It can also mean making new connections between two very dissimilar ideas.

Almost all creative people are infinitely curious. They never take for granted what they’re told. That’s why they’re sometimes considered difficult’ because they’re so independent in the way they think and act.

They take risks, take advantage of the unexpected and are not fearful of being wrong.

You must never think that your most recent idea is either your best or your last. You must be willing to keep searching your imagination and intuition for new versions and variations of that idea.

Creativity is not always related to how much you know or what your educational laurels are, but how you think about things.

- Bill Moyers

Illustration by Cristiano Siqueira

Yes, I know many faithful still frequent MySpace and some also refuse to conform and migrate to Facebook like millions of others. If you are a musician or band, MySpace still is great place for self promotion – you can upload and sell your music, something you cannot do through Facebook.

I ran a site comparison at Compete.com of traffic for both Facebook and MySpace over the past two years. Less than 12 months ago their respective traffic was at parity (approximately 59 million unique visitors in December 2008). After that Facebook was off to the races and MySpace continued it’s inevitable decline.

[Show as slideshow]

What happened in December of 2008 that caused this tremendous upswing? What does Facebook offer that MySpace does not?

If you would prefer, here is Danah Boyd’s very heady and research driven explanation (a great read!).

Below are 3 reason that immediately come to mind when I ponder this shift.

1. It’s all about conversation
In my opinion, the most distinctive difference between the two is the threaded nature of Facebook. Not only in the fact that a comment to any item becomes a linear conversation – the conversation then is seeded beyond the original poster’s page. Simply seeing items that mutual friends comment on creates a cross pollinated conversation. Many times I have reconnected with old friends through comments on other’s posts.

2. We appreciate consistency
I have never seen two MySpace pages that look alike. Often times they are so cluttered with heavy background images and poorly designed themes I have no idea where to find a user’s blog, photos or anything. Some are a complete disaster and inevitably crash my browser. Sure, people like to customize their online life – add their own flare. But this has a downside that Facebook has capitalized on. Very similar to Bose kiosk and Apple Stores the consistent user experience of Facebook is part of it’s charm.

The good ol’ KISS Principle (Keep It Simple Stupid) bleeds through the entire experience from signup to customization. By adhering to a very unified and clean interface, Facebook immediately differentiated itself from MySpace.

3. Keep out!
Around the time when MySpace was under tremendous heat by media outlets because of stalkers, sexual predators and creeps in general – many users opted to ‘lockdown’ their profiles. If you are not someone’s friend you basically can only see a name and photo. Fair enough, you should be careful of what personal information you share publicly. But let’s say you would like to use MySpace for networking purposes and allow certain profile areas visible to search and browse. No dice. Again, this is where Facebook trumps the other. It’s variable privacy settings are highly customizable and a god-send for those of us with ‘mixed-company’ in our personal networks. I can pick and chose what items I’d like to share within my networks, groupings of friends or simply cherry-pick friends that I’d like to share photo albums with. Brilliant!

So, what else can we contribute to this change?

Will MySpace be around in 5 years? If so, what will sustain it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Then came the co-workers, bosses, (we learned quickly about ‘Limited Profiles’) the people who you never talked to in high school (these people are still considered mixed company and their requests still live in my ‘Facebook Purgatory’). And slowly the family trickles in… your parents, aunts, uncles and cousins. They know me pretty well, I guess it’s cool. Right?

Well….Remember that feeling as a teen when you would first introduce a new friend to your parents? There was always that underlying fear that they would immediately – on cue – do or say something that would embarrass you to death… and your new friend would never look at you the same or even worse, never come over again! Well… that feeling is now resurrected every time I add a relative – or a “relative by circumstance” – as a Facebook Friend.

Then when one evening you check Gmail and to your disbelief, your MIL (mother-in-law) wants to be your friend. Your palms get sweaty, on a verge of a panic attack – your mind races with myriad thoughts of: “Oh no, what all do I have on my page? Wait, I bet I use all my favorite four letter words. Was I tagged in a photo doing a keg stand? Ugh, there’s that photo of me and that random girl in college, she’s not tagged, and I cannot remember her name, but she’s not her daughter! How many times have I said bad things about the MIL? I cannot say no, or can I? What will the wifey think? If I deny her it will cause family warfare!”

Reality sinks in. The party is over. I cannot just be ‘me’ anymore, I have to be me as perceived by this mixed bag of every dynamic of my life. Today is the first day of my new Multiple Personality Disorder…

My Facebook Persona.

You spend the next hour in a schizophrenic flurry of digging through each and every photo, wall post, comment… every crumb of info that could be held against you at the next family get together. You feel like a criminal, that never committed a crime, but you have to hide the evidence. The evidence of the real you. After a glass or two, eventually a bottle of wine, you calm down a bit. You think of your dear spouse, and the sadness it would bring her to know you just went through a small crisis that revolves around a seemingly trivial website and the woman that brought her into the world and consequentially, into your life. “Sure they are family too, yes?”, you ask yourself. You signed the contract to love and cherish and all that stuff – and to a certain extent, them too. Right?

With great regret and loss of self, you scrub your account of the potential dirty laundry.

But wait, it gets better. It’s not just your in-laws, No no, the party doesn’t stop there! It’s your in-law’s friends also. Yup, the certified crazy girlfriend of your MIL who’s breakfast consist prozac chased with cheap gin. The one that showed up to your son’s first birthday party with her fourth husband – or was it the fifth?. Oh right, the guy with the goatee and a lisp…

Oh it doesn’t end there… your sibling’s in-laws are now your ‘friends’ too. Yep! All it takes is a wedding. You politely share a few photos, tag them, and your private little sanctum is completely blown to bits. It’s an avalanche of tangential faces connected to one place, one moment. But they are new to Facebook… they don’t have the history, the prowess, the etiquette… they see your face in your MIL’s wall stream and innocently think to themselves, “Oh there’s Scott, and his beautiful boy!” They click on your avatar (that’s the profile pic, duh) and are directed to a page that says “Add as Friend.” Innocently and/or naively enough, they click.

Ok, you can have a little fun with this scenario… you can get a better read on their crazy.

The beauty of social media is people’s real-world personalities often are reflected on through the medium. If you have always been non-clinically diagnosed (that means, you haven’t seen a shrink, but we all know you should) with Borderline, Histrionic Personality Disorder chances are your Status Updates are mirror images of your IRL (in real life) psyche. Everything is a crisis, and you must let all of us know… Facebook is your new theater. When you see, “What’s on your mind?” in the little status box, you speak to it like the therapist you refuse to see. Simply saying, “Work was a bad today, cannot wait for a drink” You go one a 500 word diatribe detailing every event and consequence in your typical melodramatic fashion.

With that said, to be fair, I’m going to offer a few tips to those still milling around in the social media exosphere:

1. Would you say that if you knew 600 people were in the room?
Well, that’s what it is like on Facebook. If I post something like: “So ready to move on” Through the day some close friends may comment with “Me too, right here with you.” Or, “What’s up, call me!” Then comes the family… “Oh honey, it will be alright, I love you so much, you will always be my baby, I miss you so much, I wish I could hold you and make it all better.” Ugh… just pick up that damn phone and call me. Not only can everyone read it, but likely those who commented before you receive an email notification with your reply. And 9 out of 10 times that is the end of that discussion. When I see a Wall Post and the last comment is obviously from a family member I quickly move on. Take a look back at your comments… are you usually the last comment? Well, there is a reason for it. We call it “being in mixed company”. The same holds true on Facebook.

2. Yes, we know… our kids are precious.
They are the center of our lives, and likely now – the center of yours. Let’s face it, we are relegated to a secondary status. When we come to visit, you give us the proverbial hug and a peck on the cheek and within a nanosecond you dart to the grandkid. Nothing new. We understand. Facebook is the perfect place for us proud breeders to post photos of our darlings – all of our friends are having kids, they do it too. But please do not comment on each – and – every – photos with virtual smooches.

3. You are you, not our kid!
Again, you adore your grand baby. You better!!! However, don’t use pictures of him or her as your profile photo. You already comment on every.single.photo.we.post – there is no need for me to see my kid, as you, when you post. I understand, you are proud, you want to share that pride with your friends. But, it is kinda creepy. Be yourself! Have fun with your profile pic, why not use a photo of you as a baby? It’s creative and fun!

4. “Become a friend of…”
Take notice, this is still the way Facebook frames the connections we make. You can identify relatives/relationships in settings, but we are all still viewed as ‘friends’. Sorry, family are not ‘friends’ – your Mom may be like “your best friend”. But really, you are not. When I’m talking about cool stuff I did with my friends, just read it, look at the pics and appreciate that I have a life of my own. Don’t comment about it. Again, just call me!

5. TMI
Some of the latest “quizzes” on Facebook – which I religiously block at first glance – may seem cute to you, and with your limited point of reference to Facebook. You may think… “Oh, neat… this is what Facebook is all about.” Wrong. Most of us ‘veterans’ consider this nothing more than personal spam. Or as we geeks say “Memes”. Really I do NOT want to know “Which Dirty Disney Character You Are?” I’m your nephew, that’s just sick and wrong! Crazy thoughts race through my mind. You really think about this? Do you wear costumes behind closed doors. EWWW!! Remember, I can see it! Likely your boss can see. And, oh my god, my grandmother, YOUR MOTHER, can see it. Would we have this conversation around Thanksgiving dinner? I would surely hope not… I could never enjoy of your masterful oyster stuffing the same. Ever. Again.

6. Tag, you’re it !
Photo tagging on Facebook is a wonderful way (and sometimes a means to embarrassment) to share photos not only to those pictured, but also to YOUR friends. The system does it… you don’t need to. Your daughter posts her wedding pictures, you want all your friends to see the album. Naturally, each photo you have been tagged in will show up in your feed, and consequentially to your friend’s feeds. Perfect! You do NOT need to tag yourself in every photo so your friends can see it. The default setting in Facebook for photos is “Viewable by Friends of Friends” – You are not the wedding cake, so do not tag the wedding cake. Ok?

- In Part Two I’ll give more specifics about settings in Facebook, and concrete examples of good and bad uses of the medium.

• Disclaimer: The majority of this post is satire – a culmination of conversations I’ve had with dozens of friends and their frustrations with balancing self, work and family in a social media world •

Naturally, a tongue tied weirdo like me was drawn to music. It became my voice that transcended this prison of self-expression. I could communicate through a medium that was purely subjective and void of hard-fast rules of interpretation. Yes, for one to freely express themselves through music they must learn the physicality’s of a medium (e.g. an instrument) and communicate in such a way that others understand. This is similar to spoken language… from the muscle memory of our vocal chords, tongues, breathing – but different in the fact that it is not an ability inherent to the species.

We all have an ‘inner-voice’ we use to solve conflict, rationalize our motives, etc. When this voice failed to answer problems I turned to music. Even as a young child I remember this need to use a ‘tune’ to calm myself. When I had trouble sleeping I would hum myself to slumber. As a teenager, rather than pen a love letter – I would write a love song.

I’ve always been fascinated by the human response to music. It is a need. Regardless of race, gender, intelligence, age, ethnicity, the human species requires music. I might go as far as saying we need it like we need love, oxygen, community, etc.

Sometimes we find a very literal connection through verse and lyrics, but on a subconscious level, we are moved in a metaphysical way that we cannot rationalize. Some say the connection is through the rhythm of our hearts… I tend to believe it is the language of our spirit. A part of the human condition that we cannot explain through physical sciences or philosophy. It simply is…

Over the years I have heard from students, friends and family a longing to make a personal connection with music. The cliche is often, “I’m tone deaf.” NO, you are not. If that were the case you would not be able to communicate with me! In spoken language we require ‘tone’ to express ourselves (in the way we modulate our voice). To be ‘tone deaf’ would mean an inability to communicate.

The hippy in me believes we all are in tune with the resonance of the universe.

We are simply distracted by our day-to-day existence to nurture our voice.

Like many, I came of age to MJ’s music. My earliest memory is this:

I grew up next door to a foster home. Yes, I have numerous stories about the friends I made in such a transient atmosphere that surrounds that of a foster homes, but here is my favorite one. I remember this guy, he was maybe the oldest to ever end up there. He was a quintessential 80′s bad boy.

He drove a Camero, looked like John Travolta – and I thought he was ‘cool’! One afternoon I was playing in the yard, I was maybe 9 at the time and he pulled up in the driveway blasting MJ’s “Don’t Stop till Ya Get Enough“. I still remember that feeling of curiosity that came over me when i heard it. I walked timidly towards his car–first time ever approaching the guy. I politely and nervously asked, “Excuse me, who is that singer?” I was certain he was gonna blow me off, but he rolled down the window a bit more, turned his head in that way a badass Camero drivin’ 16 year old would and said, “It’s Michael Jackson.” All I could say was, “Ok, thanks.” But I just stood there. He must have sensed that I wanted more, after a bit of hesitation he said “You want a copy of the tape?” I was shocked and without too much eagerness, said, “Yes, please!!” He popped his copy out of his cassette deck and handed it to me. I believe I was still in midst of saying ‘thank you’ as I ran in my house to give it a listen.

For years after I dug MJ (and other 80′s music that i shall not name!). Talking to my brother yesterday we recalled the night that the full length version of Thriller premiered on MTV. We had to beg and plead our parents to allow us to stay up. They obliged. I still vividly remember that experience. It wasn’t just a ‘video’. It was cinematic vignette set to music. The world had seen nothing like it up until that time. It was sexy, scary, fun and set a precedent for a style of music video that carried on for decades.

In his later years his music never really seemed to have that infectious ‘groove’ that first turned me on to the MJ phenom. Yes, I grew older and my taste changed, etc. However, when I was in music school I was introduced to the playing of a wild haired solo guitarist named Tuck Andress. A one of a kind player who weaves bass lines and percussive back beats into his solo guitar playing without ever loosing a nuance of melody. In the introduction of his instructional video he performs a rendition of MJ’s “Man in the Mirror”. Sometimes a version like this shows you the brilliance behind a song that often times gets clouded in radio fatigue.

Have a listen, you’ll be surprised.