Just shot a shop video

[Maxie]

Pierre,.
Looks like you've produced a instruction video.
Have at look at my www,tmax.co.il there are two videos there, one produced by my brother who is a professional photographer and the other by a serious video producer that Kornit employed.        I'm not saying they are great but they'll give you some ideas.
One of the things you'll see is that they have very fast scene shots, about 4 secs.      Yours are all too long.   
You don't need to clean the shop, it's looks really clean compared to mine but zoom in and not show that whole shop.
The shot underneath the printer doesn't work well also why wash a clear screen, if you have a exposed image or emulsion it will add color.      You can expose a image with your logo and wash that.
One or two questions, I see you have cartridges in your Epson that are clear, are you only using black in one head?
I see a card leaning on the side of the frame, do you print like that?     I've though of doing this with spatulas but I'm scared they'll get caught up in the flood or squeegee.     

[mimosatexas]

I did a ton of video production in college, mostly corporate video, but worked on some documentary film and lots of music videos.  People have already touched on the MAJOR issues of pacing and overall feel (the music is fine, but the way it’s shot makes them feel disconnected).

It is hard to really explain in a quick forum post, but here are a few general pointers and some more specific things to be aware of:

Pacing needs to be faster without a doubt.  You can keep pretty much the same length, and even the same length per "scene" or part of the process you want to show, but you need to keep it interesting during that time.  If you ever watch TV or film, notice that there are cuts every 1.5 seconds or so.  Not every cut has to be that quick, but you need lots of changes visually or people get fatigued and lose interest.  A typical scene should have wide shots, close ups and a variety of in between shots. You should avoid slow zooms and panning as well unless they serve a specific purpose, otherwise they just scream “home movie”.  Pretty much every time you pan or zoom in the video should be a cut to a new shot. 

Also, avoid cuts where the shots are too similar.  Avoid wide shot to wide shot as it just looks weird.  Go wide, close, wide etc.  At around 3:50 you have a weird edit like this where it looks like the camera just moves up a foot.  A small shot in between that was wider or close would make that feel less awkward.

To put it simply, in every section of the video you use a single shot with few or no cuts.  Instead, you should shoot a wide shot of your scene from a central vantage point, then a wide from one side or both, then something like an over the shoulder shot, then as many close up shots as you can of details within the scene.  Then at the end, mix them all together in an interesting and linear way. Use your wide shots to break up smaller parts of the process where you are close-up and to fill any gaps that would otherwise cause issues with linear time.  Get creative with the close-ups, like maybe have the camera pan vertically “with” the scoop coater close-up from the side, but you will need a wider establishing shot first to give that shot context, and should show the finished product from a wider vantage as well.  3 shots for a few seconds of one single part of the process, but it is now much more interesting to the viewer. 

The goal is to make the time in your video feel linear and arc cohesively, but I can’t think of a single project I worked on where things were filmed in anywhere close to a one to one ratio and in the proper order.  You should end up with somewhere between 8 and 12 times as much footage as actually goes into the video.  I would map out your processes you want to capture, think about the finite details within each scene you want to show.  Literally make a checklist with every small detail you want to show and how you can show it (wide vs close-up vs creative shots, where will the camera be?).  Then tick them off as you shoot them.  Even simple stuff like printing the film can be made interesting by showing the loading of the film, screen cap of clicking print, or an over the should shot of the same, then a close up of the head moving in the printer, maybe some quick time lapse (cutting time like in the current video rarely works well and feels like a mistake), then a wide and close-up of the final film. 

Honestly I could probably go on for pages about this stuff, but I won’t.  Also, watch for small mistakes like odd focus (the girls head vs the computer screen in the third shot of the video for example) as those are easy to avoid and make everything seem a lot more amateur.

[RGB]

thanx for the feedback everybody, I'll make most of the suggestions happen in the next video!

this one is a little long as it will be running in the booth during the show so longer sequences are appropriate. The version going out for the marketing purposes will have to be shorter with more upbeat music. Overall, for my second video and three hours with a camera I was happy with it.

'not big on interviews (there's no way around it sometimes, but I prefer to stay off the camera) so we probably won't be doing one of those, but something with all the cool designs is on the list.

'keep 'em coming!

pierre

   You will do MOST of the suggestions?  Omg, *(Jennifer throws her hands in the air)* WHATEVER, So the big yellow wig is out?... (Laugh and Laugh ).... No, really though, Your vid has been getting abused pretty much right from the start of this thread, (And in all reality I probably couldn't do much better).   However There are good points too.  The start page is pretty cool, and the complexity of the press does work in your favor....Oh, and the worker guys are kinda hot.

[Homer]

needs more cowbell.....and some boobs.

[Dottonedan]

For printers, if can be interesting so shoeing that at an ISS show, ok.  For customers, not at all.


The viewing of the type setting, moving around in the window was pretty slow as well as the reclaiming the screen scene. No image there of interest.



Everything they said AND, since you are not that much for getting in front of the camera, you probably could do with a spokes persons (someone representing the Co). Someone who speaks well and is appealing to the viewers. A clean cut guy in a suit, A professional looking woman, etc. You could PAY someone on that FIVER site for some very low cash. I see people doing that a good bit.  How about using your Artist? She seems clean cut.

[blue moon]

Awesome feedback, thanx guys. Mimosa, that was priceless, thank you!

It'll be couple more weeks before I am back to it. Should be fun as I have planty of guidance and ideas.

Thanx,

Pierre

[whitewater]

I didnt make it through the whole thing..def shorten it up. 

You can check out ours on the front page of our website.  My screen guy last summer graduated from school for video production and just did it. I dint have time to go over anything for him..LOL..so he shows alot of mess..Yea so no comment on how messy we look, we had just moved in to our new place!

sawyershirt.com

[starchild]

I really liked the video Pierre.. Absent of narration, I think there's an opportunity there to include subtitles for every step of the process. The persons this is directed to, will appreciate it more, will come away with more, if the video would be able to answer more questions, than confuse more, inquisitive minds.

[jvanick]

I like the idea of the 'whole' process video that you can send customers to when they ask why does it cost what it does/why does it take so long...

(Definitely include things like registration, etc).

However, for a 'general' shop video, definitely needs to be streamlined, and 'arty'... I've heard that anything over 1:30 is too long.

[GKitson]

In response and support of Pierre the budding video editor his presentation will be used on a trade show floor where the viewer does not have access to a remote to change the channel if the content does not capture their attention in 3 seconds.

However, they can vote with their feet and move on.

Just another thought.

~Kitson

[3Deep]

However, they can vote with their feet and move on.

Greg your just to generous

darryl

[rmonks]

Cool Video! I have never seen anyone coat screens two handed like in the video. I have always used one to hold the screen at an angle and the other hold the scoop coater. I may give your method a try. Also was wondering why your press operator was manually indexing .

[AAMike]

Is that a steadicam for the smooth movement? I enjoyed the content but would have used a rock/hip hop vibe. Or Pink Floyd, Money!

[Squeegie]

As others have said...interesting stuff, just too slow.

Someone already asked about the manual index and I was wondering about the flash prior to any ink on the shirt.  Seems like a waste of electricity.

Bill

[Screened Gear]

I'm a fan of speeding everything up and using creative angles to film the process. Make it fun.

Here is one I did years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud-yRKY_JmY