The Vetch Community Gardens Swansea

Hi There

Just thought you'd like to see this short I produced a year ago. Allotments are a great way to meet new friends and produce the tastiest food

Enjoy

Powerpoint Rules

Hi Guys

Powerpoint has been around for what seems to be a lifetime and we have all attended webinars where we have been subjected to boring presentations supported by ugly, boring or complicated Powerpoint. Maybe all three. 

Like the following example 

The worse  nightmares were when the speaker just read the words straight off the screen, often facing the screen so you couldn't hear what was being said. And when he hadn't rehearsed and stumbled then this was the pits

Now these simple text only presentations have a place in offline seminars where the speaker knows his stuff and uses Powerpoint as little as possible, just with the brief bullet points.

And this is brilliant for webinars and online courses where you are watching remotely and just want bullet points. But here are some points to bear in mind:

• Learn what you are going to say. Rehearse. Rehearse. Rehearse. You just can't rehearse enough. Take a look at the professionals. Actors rehearse until they are not only word perfect but action perfect too. They are entertainers and so are you. Practice in front of a mirror, your family and friends.
• Keep your slides simple and big enough text. We have all seen screens full of text so small that it's impossible to read - firstly because it's too small and secondly there is too much text. This usually happens when the presenter is going to just read what's there. For text sizes I's recommend 60pt for headings, 48pt for sub-headings, and 36pt for the bullet points. Any smaller and it can't be read easily. Also if you use these recommended sizes it will restrict the number of words you can use. 
• I'd highly recommend using simple typefaces such as Arial or Times New Roman. Then use the derivatives such as bold, italic, Black, Rounded etc. By using different fonts in a family the look will be much more consistent. Using these typefaces are also easy to read and are the fonts suggested for visually impaired people.
• Use good contrast. Black on white is ok. The best contrast used to be blue on yellow but the latest thinking is black on yellow. Using more colours might look bright but remember KISS - keep it simple, stupid.
• There are loads of transitions and animations.These add a bit of sparkle but don't overdo it. Remember, it's what you say that's important, not a jazzy presentation.
•  Consider having the slides available online as a download. Afraid someone else will use them? Don't worry, it seldom happens but you give attendees the chance to see them and inwardly digest. You might consider an audio to so they can be listened to at convenient times, like in the car.
• Use pictures and cartoons if they are pertinent but make sure they are easy to see. Sometimes photos are too detailed, blurred or out of focus.  
• Talk slowly. We often talk too fast and in presentaions of any type it is really important that every word is clearly understood.

So there are a few tips. Now there are some great ideas to take Powerpoint to the next level. You can design this yourself or download ready made templates that you can just modify and change. There are plenty, Google free templates. I will be making video on how to use Powerpoint and convert it into an MP4. 

Here is a simple example of a downloaded template that I modified to show you. Now something like this can be used to make lectures for online courses, short videos of different types for your website and much more. If you are camera shy this is a sure fire route to take.

 I hope that this has been useful to you. Please follow me here and make a comment. I'd love to hear your experiences, comments and suggestions. In the right hand column you'll find a link to my YouTube channel. Why not click and see what I'm up to.

 

Initial Basic Planning for a Community online TV Station

Hi Guys. 
Thanks for your interest in this blog. I really appreciate you reading, and I hope that you are finding it interesting. Most of all I hope you are taking action. I'm going to try and answer Gina's question about how do you start to put together a community TV station? This is a difficult one to answer without more information but I'll give it a shot. 

Lets assume that you want to put together an online station that will be become self-funding because whatever you do there will be some costs and you may have a bagful of

volunteers but that isn't enough. 

So first of all you need to write down your objectives, assets and resources and the type of station you want. These are the 3 circles that you need to complete and have overlapping to see if the venture is credible.

 So list out your Assets and Resources. So this will include what equipment you have, what facilities and space, the people you can rely on, and any finances. Now this can be what you have or what you need. Be ambitious and write down what you need then you can look for it. Don't limit this to what you have. Include, for example, local college or university students studying acting or film making because you can gather a team here. I have worked with several successfully and am now partnering some projects with a friend whom I met through his studies and is now doing his masters in Film making and TV

What are your objectives? Do you want to provide a local information service, entertainment, news, local music? Do you want to provide training to local unemployed people, those retired, maybe disabled people. Do you want to provide a live station or pre-recorded that is available on demand? Do you want to get funding or will you look for local sponsors and advertisers? Will you want to have a large space station or just a desk and have most outside recording? Think about other questions and answer them here.

And finally, what type of station are you planning? Will it be in your home? I do a lot of filming in my bedroom, standing in front of the camera and away from the wall with a couple of daylight bulb lamps, one on an umbrella reflector and the other a light pointing on the back wall. I could put in a small desk and be a news reader. You might have a large lounge/living room that you could use. How about a double garage. You may be able to afford space. Maybe you have an office or can use an office evenings or weekends. I even had a large empty warehouse at one time. In the UK if an empty property is used by a charity or social enterprise then the owner doesn't pay business rates, or at least has an 80% reduction. So it helps you and the owner. The only problem is that you have no certainty and can have to move at any time, if the property is sold or rented out. A friend of mine who ran a charity and needed loads of space for his outdoor equipment had free space but moved about 4 times in 3 years. Keith Chegwin, a British actor and TV presenter ran an online show back in about 2003 for 2 months from his bed, two hours every day. He was a forerunner and it was successful. He had 5 cameras and ran it as webcams. I think I remember him having guests who went to his home and sat on or in his bed.

So you may have an intimate studio or something bigger. Here we are looking at what you have and also what you would like. But I seriously recommend you start with what you have and get going. Then when you get funding, sponsors or advertisers you just move up. At least you will have started and have a track record and viewers.

NEXT STEP
 Now you have this information see if it all overlaps as in the diagram below. If there is a big mix in the centre you are probably ready to go. If the central mix is small you need to see what you can do to increase it.

 Now you need to take all that information and write a business plan. You can make it elaborate if you wish but I'd keep it down to bullet points. The elaborate plan is when you want to involve funding or sponsors. The bullet point plan becomes a working model and should be looked at and updated daily. It will help and inspire you towards your goal.

Include a programme schedule section where you write out the programmes you want to include, details and length. This will help you focus.  If you can produce a very short video of yourself, or someone helping you, talking about your venture and expectations this can be put up on YouTube and Facebook etc to spread the word. It can be used to promote what you are doing. The main thing is to do it. No matter how good or bad it doesn't matter. All that matters is you take that first step. You can and will get better with experience. And your confidence will grow too. Be passionate because that is contagious.

This is just an outline but I hope you find it interesting and encouraging. I truly feel that the future for small independent local online TV channels is very bright. Take a look at the top YouTube channels and you will see that many are really individual TV channels, usually of one person. You will take this to the next level. So there are my thoughts for planning your online TV channel.

PLEASE NOTE. My new online course "How to set up and produce an online TV station" will be available soon. Click here to become an early bird   You can make a really exciting project out of online TV and I'm here to help you and answer any queries. Leave a comment below. Also please look at the right side of this blog and like my Facebook page. And SHARE

The Trailer Video on your YouTube Channel

 





Hi Guys
I've just launched a YouTube channel trailer. 

Setting up your own YouTube channel means you can have a specific page for your videos.I fact if you have a couple of interests you can have a separate page for each. This will mean you attract viewers interested in each interest and can encourage them to come back over again.

Having a trailer video means that anyone browsing can look at this and know exactly what to expect. It's a great idea. You can use an existing video from your library or have the latest and newest video as your trailer. But I believe that if you prepare a specific video you can explain exactly what you cover on your channel

So how do you do this? Well first of all you need to plan the type of video. Will it be a talking head, a Powerpoint presentation or a cartoon type video. There are others but these are the main ones used. If you are up to it I would highly recommend you do a talking head because it is the easiest and fastest to shoot and you will build up a fast relationship with the viewer. By relationship I mean its good to get viewers to know you and to like you. They will eventually trust you and the material you publish so that they come back and watch everything you make.

So how should you make the video. Firstly it needs to be precise. You need to introduce yourself in a sentence then talk about what you will be showing and finishing with a call to action where you ask viewers to either subscribe, go to a website or blog or take some other action.

It needs to be short, about 60-120 seconds. I's suggest an intro of about 10 seconds with a title. When you record look at the camera and be slightly off-centre on the screen. Be well lit: the best lighting is natural sunlight but when its actually cloudy because you'll not get harsh shadows. A good plane is to face a window. If not get some lights, with video these days you can use almost any type of light. I'm not going into lighting here but you can always do some test shoots. As a point of interest you could go to a park or other quiet place and do a selfie with your smartphone. This will probably be more than adequate.

When you have uploaded your video you need to make a custom thumbnail. Use Carva.com which is free. You can make all types of images with text to the correct size for any particular use such as a YouTube thumbnail or Facebook banner. Your thumbnail needs to be simple and with only one or two words max. Remember many people view on smartphones and other devices with small screens so text can't be read. There is a tight specification of recommendations that will give you the best thumbnail that will draw the most attention. There is not enough room here to cover that in detail. Take a look at successful YouTube channels and they will all have custom thumbnails. Copying their ideas is ok, but don't use the same images, use your own. 

So now you need to set up your trailer. Click on the "My Channel" button on the left. The you will see the wheel symbol on the right as in the following image. Click then you will see a drop down menu.

Where it says "Customize the layout of your channel" switch the botton across to change colour to blue as below

 Go to My Channel and as below click on "For New Visitors" and you will see the space below to load your Trailer. Complete as much on the text as you can as usual and tags.

 This is the finished result. This has been a very quick guide. I will produce a full video on this as it is very important

Good Luck. Give it a try.

I'm really happy to help you with your video problems. Leave a comment below and I'll reply or make a new post to cover your query. If you have any useful suggestions or ideas please leave hose too. We succeed by being a community

And please subscribe here and on my YouTube Channel

Your Community Station Studio Start-up

Hi Guys

Thank you for reading this blog. I do hope you find it informative and useful and that you take action. I've had some very positive feedback from the last post about setting up your own online TV show and today I want to elaborate on some issues that I've had questions about.

Gina from Ontario asked how do you start? And Bill living (I presume) in Wood Green in North London said he runs a community project and thinks this would fit well with what

they are doing. He also wanted to know how to get going. What equipment and how does he design a studio in his Community Centre?  I'll try and answer Bill's question now.

So lets talk about your studio.

You can have a studio almost anywhere provided you have a

 small space bigger than about 4 metres by 5 metres. You will need a power supply for low energy lighting and other equipment. Standard power sockets will be adequate and the quantity of power used will be no more than the power you use to light your home. So there's no big drain on energy.

Natural lighting is the best for filming provided it is sufficiently strong but I feel that for a studio it will be inadequate. If there is natural light use it and supplement it with artificial lighting. You can pick up a lighting kit for a very low cost. Lights

available on E-bay are adequate and low cost. I'd suggest a couple of these packs. Cost is less than £90/$130 per pack. These lighting boxes are called soft boxes because there is a translucent cover over he front to diffuse the light and cut out shadows. But you can remove the covers and have direct light. They hold low energy daylight bulbs that are cool when working, unlike traditional lights which become tremendously hot. With two kits you are ok for smaller sets such as interviews and also for larger sets such as panels, chat shows where there may be 3 people on a sofa and a presenter. You can of course use more traditional lighting or LED lights that are now available as direct mains powered or battery operated.

How about cameras? There is a whole range of cameras from the simple (well rather sophisticated really) smartphone, through camcorders, professional cameras, DLSRs and Go Pro Heros. The choice is yours. Personally I'd grab a couple of camcorders because they are relatively cheap new or dirt cheap second hand. This means you can work on a shoestring and grow in time. There's another bonus here. If you are going for funding then you can produce material to backup what you are looking for by showing you have started to experiment. You'll also need tripods. Hand help cameras are generally really bad. You just can't prevent hand shake and movement. To start use KISS - keep it simple, stupid!!

Sound is more important than most of us realise. So I'd recommend using separate mics, not the ones mounted on cameras. You can use the input socket and either wireless or long leads and this is ok. We use a boom mic held over the actors, interviewers or guests. And this works well. You can make a boom easily and cheaply. We'll cover that in another post. So my favourite external recorders are the Zoom range. These provide a variety of sound options and are compact and lightweight.

You will need a backdrop. Now this could be as simple as a painted wall, but you could use paper or material backdrops. You can by backdrop kits of a stand and material backdrops in black, white and green. You will move on to the green backdrop for green screen as you become more experienced. If you have a large room you could just pull away from the walls and have the background out of focus.

So you have choice. In addition you can dress the set at little cost. Remember a photo of a prop can look like the real thing on video. A planter on set is easy and you might get a local shop to donate or free loan you. Ask kindly and you will be surprised what you can get.I have tended to keep it simple. A tall planter is all I usually have on set. 

You probably will need a desk for news readers. This doesn't have to be elaborate and in fact a shallow desk is good because it takes up little space for storage between use. 

Props can be the real thing or made out of papier mache which can be used to form almost anything. I used to make puppet heads with it but also remember a huge dinosaur (probably 4 metres high) we used in a carnival made from chicken wire covered in papier mache. Once painted it is pretty well water proof and, if enough layers, is strong too.

Backdrops can also be sheets of mdf, plywood or almost anything that's firm. So you can have a window with the sun shining through, a balcony, painted backdrop like you see in Kids TV shows. The limit is your imagination.

Now with a small studio you will probably need to shoot some material around the show you are producing. So, for example when we had a music item, this was filmed prior to the show and edited in. Firstly the guitarist had another engagement so we had to film him early, but secondly he would have been hanging around unnecessarily for a couple of hours. 

So that's your studio. Ideally, if you are working  in a Community Centre you will probably have more room. A studio should be an integral part of any Community Centre at it teaches a new skill, gives users confidence and social skills, and its a a fun project. In addition it is a great way to promote everything local, particularly community activities

If you don't have suitable premises I would highly recommend approaching everybody who might be able to help using both social media and direct approaches. You may be surprised at the support you will get without having to pay.

Good luck with your venture. Watch for further posts on setting up and running a Community TV Station. And there will be a full course ready soon with everything you need to know about setting up and running one.

Selfie with a message

Just found these videos that were really selfies. I think this is what a selfie should be. It should be interesting and tell a story or give a message. 

What do you think?  Please leave a comment 

Producing your own online Chat Show

Hi Guys

Here is a sample of what we did to promote our channel. The intro was produced by Ben Hearden when he was at university here in Swansea. He is now involved in some great projects including work with Disney.

Producing a Chat Show for online TV is not difficult provided you follow some simple rules. And these are:

• Watch Chat Shows and see what format you prefer
• Write an outline show
• Surround yourself with professionals
• Find a suitable location
• Start building up an audience
• Choose your presenters who need to be experienced (or train them)
• Have a run through without the real guests
• Sort out any problems
• Run and shoot the Show
• Shoot any B-Roll or stills you need
• Edit
• Broadcast on your choice of platform 
• Promote the Show

Sounds simple? Well provided you follow the steps then it is easy. So I hope this post will inspire you to have a go. Now this is part of my Awesome Video course so I've taken an overview here.

Number 1 Watch Chatshows 
Then you can choose the format you want to take. In my opinion the best have a good host or two, entertaining guests, some of which will do something different like musical, dancing, artistic or poetry. I like something that can run through the show plus the music which can be placed anywhere. Having some content taken outside your studio is also good because it's different and breaks up the content.

Watch different shows will also teach you about staging, how to seat everyone, how to move from one section ton the next and much more. You will also pick up on dressing the set. But don't feel bound by anything you see, you may have some fantastic creative ideas that will really work. Slip these ideas in but don't let them take over the show in case they flop, then you can leave them out of future productions.

Number 2 Write an outline. 
This will include selecting guests. And this can be a problem because no matter how good your host is you can't predict how good the guests will be. 

This should be a timed outline so you know what you can include. I'd recommend a 30 minute show to start because it's manageable and suits what is shown on national tv. I have found that 5 minute slots are best, just to get the outline working. We had an artist who drew a pictures during the show. We found that his 5 minutes was broken down into short clips plus and interview so viewers could see his progress during the show. We also included some work he's done away from the studio as he talked about his work. You will see it's a swan which was relevant as we were in Swansea, South Wales

You need to allow for your intro clip plus your host introduction and end piece too. If you are producing an online tv show about local people and events then you might have some adverts half way through to cover your costs. So take this into account with your timings. Incidentally you could have adverts at the beginning and end too.

If you are directing as well as producing then you need to take a grip when the show is being shot and ensure no piece  runs over. If one does run on then it will cut into something else. Luckily, because you will be editing then broadcasting later you will be able to trim anything you want. Just ensure there are no obvious cuts. 

Number 3 Surround yourself with professionals.
I had not done anything like this before and an not a professional camera man, lighting or sound expert. I had a partner who had a university background in film-making and had produced documentaries and other video. He was able to handle all the practical film making processes. 

We had also been working with students from the local university who where, in the main, film makers. So, although

they didn't have to do any planning or setting up, they were able to use the cameras. But even then we had to check they were following instructions. Students always seem to think they know better and that a few zooms and pans will work wonders. In fact this usually creates problems. , like a drummer.

We asked a friend to hold the boom mike and at one time they were drumming their fingers on the boom pole. You can imagine the sound but luckily it was spotted early and didn't cause too much of a problem. Whatever equipment you are using you need to have some experience, or at least some instruction.  

Number 4 Find a suitable location
You can't skimp on space. We were most fortunate to have the use of an open place shared office that was empty on Sundays. 

We were able to move the furniture away and arrange a smart set, with 2 sofas that were in the room, and a plant that I borrowed from the main reception area. We set this up facing the window and away from the walls to avoid shadows and allow a roving camera to move around. We shot the music before the show started and placed the artist in a separate area adjacent to our set. And we used a separate host to interview him so we could move across live. 
 
Thinking about locations you need to consider background noise, size available, furniture and other dressings, and convenience. We had cameras, lighting, backdrop and frame for the musician and other equipment that needed to be taken up to the second floor. Luckily there was a lift. We were truly fortunate to have such a large area when we could entertain the guests, where the presenters could

rehearse (as you can see in the photo) and room for three sets.   

Now getting a location can be difficult. Ask around. You probably have no spare cash so that's a problem. But sometimes a friend will say Where I work would be good. Go and see the owner or manager and explain the situation. Many people are really generous and will help. You can also offer to give a credit or plug about the business in the show. As far as advertising etc goes you can do what you like, there are no restrictions. I'll talk about advertising and monetizing video shows another time)

Number 5  Start publicising the Show
This is important but involved and will be covered another time. You are probably talking about letting the world know but also local people and businesses.

Basically you need to advertise and make people aware through social media and a website, Youtube and a blog. You need to let local people know by word of mouth, maybe a

press release to the local paper, fliers and posters. Here, in the photo you can see me standing at the side of the road dressed as a penguin with a large bill-board advertising an event. This was great for attracting attention and I stood on very busy roads every morning and evening for 8 working days

You need to start promoting as soon you have a clear plan and up to at least a month before you make the show. By the way, once made you need to get it edited fast.


Number 6  Choose your presenters
I used an online agency who train and showcase presenters. The biggest problem they all have when they are starting up and before they become established is experience. 

We had three presenters, all trained and professional who did the show for just expenses provided they had a credit and were able to use material for their showcase reel. We had proper auditions and spend half a day with they to get a real feel about their style and presentation skills. On the day they were brilliant.

If you have local budding presenters then get them to do the outside interviews and have them sit in on the show to observe and learn. As with anything, you need to see professionals at work then practice, practice, practice. 

Numbers 7 and 8 Run through and resolve problems
Now you really need to have a practice run. We didn't. We just ran with it and kept fingers crossed.

But there were things we would have done differently if we had done a run through. You are always going to see things that look wrong or ways you can improve and once the show is in flow it's not the right time to stop and go back. We shot in one sequence with only on double take. And that was an intro by a presenter.

Number 9 Run and shoot the Show
Get your timings sheet, prompt cards for presenters, rig set up, guests welcomed and made at home, crew prepared and ready. 

Then get presenters in place and guest cued ready. We had them all sitting at the beginning of the show, merely out of convenience. 

Then we started. The presenters had spent the morning learning about the guests and they also had prompt cards. We used some hot lights and despite being in a light airy room it did get hot for presenters and guests. I think with they new energy saving lights this is not a problem. 

I stood in front, out of camera and directed the presenters with gestures and a couple of written cues, especially when it was time to wind up on a piece. Sometimes they were so engrossed in what they were doing that it became difficult. In future I would use a mic and earpiece.

The show went very well. No stops or retakes. Guests were talkative and interesting. Although I wouldn't have two politicians on the same show, unless it was election time.   

Number 10  Shoot any B-Roll or Stills you need
Once the show is in the can as raw material you need to go through and see if there is any B-Roll or any stills you need. 

B-Roll is basically second camera material: footage that is spoken about or could complement the show. For example we had the local MP talking about the railway station so we shot footage at the station. The Artists talked about a project with local art students and we took some material.

You can use stills and zoom in or pan across in editing. 

If you are doing a lot of local work then build up a library of B-Roll with as much local footage as possible. We talk about this on the video course. and make more recommendations in this area.
    
Number 11  Edit the Show
I'm not going much into editing here. 

I believe that the most important points to bear in mind are simple quality and speed.

It is really urgent to get the finished show up and ready as fast as possible. It can take an hour a minute or even more to edit so that's a lot of time, especially if your editor is part-time or helping you out. But it's important to keep on top. 

On another film I'm making I had 3 people promise to edit for me. The last one was a BBC editor who saw the raw footage, said "no problem" and disappeared with a hard drive. Luckily it was a spare copy otherwise I'd have lost everything. 

Number 12 Launch your Show 
For the moment I'm mentioning just YouTube and Vimeo. The former is so popular and with the right thumbnail, and attention to detail on the page this can bring in great viewers. It's also a plaform that we are all aware of.

Vimeo has some great advantages. You do pay if you are going to use much but the costs are very low. There is no advertising and viewers won't be directed to other videos. The presentation is good and you do have tge opportunity bt charge for viewings.

There are other platforms of course but we will not cover those here.

Number 13 Promoting the Show 
Promote. Promote. Promote.

You could hold a launch and invite the right people along. The right people being those who can help you promote or might want to sponsor or advertise with you. 

Use whatever promotion ideas you can use.  

CONCLUSION
In this short post I hope that you can see the possibilities of producing your own show. 

Take action and set out your ideas on a single sheet of paper. Follow this post and be lucky. The harder you work, the luckier you will be. 

Want to know more then click here  and get updates, information and more. Our comprehensive course on all aspects of producing awesome video is due to be launched shortly turning you into a great video maker whether for business or pleasure turning anyone into a great producer.