IPS Portland – Intro to DSLR Video Workshop

The times I feel most alive –times when I feel like I’m doing exactly what I was created for – are when I get to use several of the talents or life experiences that God has given me simultaneously to accomplish a specific task. Last week was one of those times.

Having just come off of a strenuous week of editing for the Challenge 2010 conference (another, “I was made for this kind of week”), I came home for less than 24 hours, repacked some gear, kissed my family goodbye once more, and headed to Portland to teach my first week-long course as a lead instructor with IPS.

I’ve been involved with IPS for a little over a year and a half, and can say without hesitation that the quality of their instruction and the results that their students are producing after attending a workshop are simply amazing. The only problem is that they had never offered any video courses – that is, until last week.

In my intro to DSLR video workshop we covered everything a student needs to know to introduce themselves to the world of narrative storytelling – and how to do it with excellence. Topics included planning, shooting, editing, effects, and delivery. Some sessions were highly technical, while others were entirely hands-on. Students learned how to conduct interviews, work with double-system sound, shoot timelapse, stop-motion, three-point lighting, and even had a brief introduction to multicamera techniques.

All in all, it was a phenomenal week, bordering on the edge of information overload, which resulted in some very well-equipped students who I am sure will change the world.

The video below is an example of some of the student-generated work from the course.

Edited by: Aaron Meinicke, Sony Vegas Pro 9
Interviewee: Sarah Hutton
Course Instructors: Rowan Gillson, Carl Larsen, Nathan Bollinger

Photo Credits: Christina Dickson

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Challenge 2010 Rewind 5

This rewind was the final of five fast-turnaround projects I completed for playback at the EFCA Challenge 2010 Conference. I especially enjoyed seeing the numbers in this edit change throughout the week – the students really stepped it up and made a major impact on the city of Columbus and across the world through this five day experience.

See a full list of credits on Vimeo.

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Challenge 2010 Rewind 4

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Challenge 2010 Rewind 4

Another amazing day at Challenge 2010.

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Challenge 2010 Rewind 3

As an editor, there are two ways a project can be very difficult to manage. 1) if you don’t have enough footage, and 2) if you have way too much footage. Challenge is definitely the latter. With just 3 days of shooting so far, we have over half a terabyte of source footage in five separate acquisition formats, 3 different resolutions, and all of it has to live in one searchable project with appropriate markers and metadata. Just keeping a handle on what we have s a huge task on this project.

So, at about 9pm, after a full day of shooting and data wrangling, I had basically nothing in my timeline in terms of story for this rewind. I knew I had great content, but couldn’t get it to weave together. Worry was beginning to set in, but soon thereafter God provided.

After a short walk outside to reset my perspective, the helpful input from some friends, and the sheer Grace of the Spirit, this edit came together faster and more clearly than the others so far. The joy was palpable. At one point, I even startled a convention center janitor with my singing… turns out we both thought we were alone. Pretty funny. Very gracious.

So, enjoy the rewind. I know I did. As time goes on, I have a feeling this edit will stand out in my mind as a milestone of God’s grace not to be forgotten.

Visit ChallengeConference.com

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