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.

 

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.

Awesome video course coming soon

Hi Guys

I've now got the new course How to make Awesome Videos laid out and several videos in place. This is really exciting and I am anxious to launch it shortly. There is much to do yet, however, no matter how fast I work.

I am launching a Beta version soon, greatly discounted, and invite you to register now. There is a 100% 30 day money-back guarantee so you can order with complete peace of mind. I want you to be completely satisfied so that you share the course and are happy enough to leave a testimonial. One of the most satisfying aspects of creating a course is getting great feedback and testimonials.

You will be notified once this version is completed which will be about 50% of the finished course. As each new session is completed you will be notified.Once you register you will have everything new that I produce with your life-time access at no additional cost. In addition you can have a say about future lessons and tell me about any improvements you'd like to see. 

This is great value for someone who just wants to build a good YouTube Channel but valuable if you want to take video making to a higher level. Not only is it absorbing but can be profitable too, in so many different ways. 

Build up a popular YouTube Channel and get advertising revenue, affiliation revenue, sponsors revenue and other benefits. Make short films and you can sell them or rent through one popular outlet. If you have a business website you can make video to promote, explain, teach, grow subscribers or make special offers. Video is now immediate and you can decide on an action, shoot a short video and have it on your website, Facebook or Twitter within an hour. A restaurant can have a special event and promote it on social media for free straightaway. A retailer can see if a product will sell by making a video and gauging customer response. Raw video put straight onto Facebook or Twitter is called Native. It is now simple to upload from your smartphone or camcorder.

YouTube is now having 300 hours of video downloaded every minute. 6 billion hours of video are watched every day. I could go on there are so many amazing statistics. And with so many videos, the most difficult thing to do is to make videos that stand out from the crowd.

Here is the opportunity to register your interest. There is no commitment, just the chance to enroll at a huge discount and be able to input anything that might benefit you and other students. Click here and go to the registration page.
 

On Location with Swansea Film Productions

The Doll had a cast over over 20 actors and extras and was shot on located around Swansea in South Wales, the UK. We shot over a February weekend and were extremely lucky with the weather. It was so good that we were able to film outdoors and have a real barbecue on the beach as the script dictated.

One scene was in a pub and the manager was most kind in allowing us to make up a corner after the lunch-time rush had finished and to have his staff be filmed serving drinks. The scene involved one main character and two others sitting down at a table having a drink and cutting a cake. Most of the camera-work was hand-held in this scene to add a feeling of reality. 

We used two cameras and some shots were taken from above with the camera-man standing on an adjacent table. We had some five takes but I'm not sure whether this was to have an extra drink or because the director wasn't happy with previous takes. Carly was directing this scene and she had grown in strength in the job taking total control of the actors and camera crew. 

Another scene was in the local very busy Diner. The owner was so helpful and let us have full reign, even though they were busy. The diner is a long room and we used a table towards to rear so we weren't too much in the way. We had our waiter working from behind the counter and delivering a coffee to our actor. Then a group of her friends came in and were crowded round and talking. The scene was quite cramped in the narrow room but the shots worked really well. 

There was a great feeling throughout the filming and I believe much of this was to do with the day we all spent together about a month before when we did the read though rehearsal and familiarisation. We did this over a complete day and organised a buffet lunch which gave everyone time to talk to the others. I had an office for my business and this was an ideal place, just big enough for everyone to sit down. 

We needed a club or other venue where we could simulate a rehearsal room for the Salem Witch play. There was a play within a play. I'd arranged to use a community hall but when I sent someone along to prepare the room, they phoned me to say that the building was locked up and there was no contact phone number or address. As everyone had come together from across the UK it was really essential that we found somewhere.

As luck would have it I was involved in managing a Show Girl Dance Group and they had performed just a couple of weeks ago in a local city pub that had space at the rear of the bar where they put on cabaret. I went in and spoke to the manager who immediately agreed for us to use the space.

This was amazing as I expected to have to visit several venues to find a willing owner or manager.

This was a dramatic scene and our director was playing a main role as well so I was a bit concerned. The scene was rehearsing a section of the play The Salem Witches and involved dramatic action both in the rehearsal scene and also drama in the film script. It also involved the entire cast and obviously costumes as the scene was set in times gone bye. There was quite a bit of shouting and the cast needed to show some good reactions. Everything went well.

We had scenes on a grave-yard, on the beach where we had a real barbecue, in a local busy pub in the evening and outside the Dylan Thomas Theatre. We also had a scenes in an amusement arcade, on a river boat and in a home . It was quite varied but luckily we had planned everything very carefully. There must have been some hitches but I can't remember any. 

This all happened 4 years ago and I am really disappointed to say that the editing was never completed.  All filming incorporated sound via wireless mics if I remember correctly so there is no synchronization to do. The editing was promised by two professionals but both were unable to complete the job.I have now committed to completing this by the middle of February. So I have 6 weeks. Watch this space.

If you enjoyed this article or found it useful please leave a comment. If you have a question please ask in the comment box. 

And please subscribe to our YouTube Channel and notification of our forthcoming course. Both are to the right of this post.

Good luck in any dramatic film you are or intend to produce. If you are working on a project let s know, we will be pleased to include this in future posts.

Making of an Indie Short Film

Film making comes in many guises. You may want to just produce family video for friends or you may want to produce a drama like this short indie film. 
 
The following will give you an insight into how and why this film was made.The idea was conceive at a visit to Swansea beach just looking for ideas. Coming across the railway arch on the beach brought back vague memories of the short story by Dylan Thomas and we went from there. It was a tight schedule with script written within a day, the filming took just 3 hours in a studio using a simple black backdrop (incidentally the studio was used recently for some of the green screen work in the latest Star Wars film, The Force Awakens). The editing kept Brian Marijena working over several full nights, his favourite time for this work. I hope you enjoy and learn both ideas and techniques. Please make any comments and ask any questions. And we hope that you will be inspired to make your own dramatic film. You don't need huge sets, costumes, lighting or cameras. Although this was made in a professional studio with a professional camera and lighting that was for convenience and not necessity.

This particular story takes place entirely under a railway arch where the locomotives ran along the beach road before turning inland and towards Manchester. Although the track ran parallel and next to the road it was constructed on the sand. There was a drop from the road and path to the beach and anyone standing under an arch would have their head just above the level of the road. The scene is night-time and of course there was little, if any, street lighting at that time so the characters are lit naturally from the elements and occasionally from a match or glowing cigarette. The magnificently descriptive narrative includes many cameos and these can be filmed, or a montage of multi-media or just narrated over the face of one of the three characters. Dylan has broken the story into two sections: the first part being mainly descriptive and scene setting; whilst the second part is the story of the two strangers. Both sections can be incorporated into the film so that anyone who had read the book would instantly recognise not just the setting but each and every detail.

It is important to note that the book is set around 1933 and that it would be expensive to replicate scenes, costumes and props for the entire production. This then sets limitations for the film-maker but also gives him the opportunity to use his imagination and ingenuity. An opportunity to go back to basics. Like the original silent movies where the director used gestures and lighting to convey translation and moods, so here glimpses and suggestion can make us believe we have been transported back in time without the associated usual high costs. 

This is project particularly relevant here in Swansea and at

         

 

 
this time because Dylan Thomas was a Swansea man who died over half a century ago, was and is generally regarded by the majority of the local inhabitants as a drunken layabout but who is now regarded as the second most quoted poet in the world and who is highly regarded across the world on the celebration of 100 years since his birth in 1914. The stories are good entertainment but also, because of the factual descriptions, are of historical importance.

There have been other great short story writers such as O’Henry, John Steinbeck and F Scott Fitzgerald who have crafted beautiful stories that are like gold nuggets to film makers. Interesting, however, is that few films have been made based on stories of any of these writers. They are all of a similar period but can be adapted at little cost to the story line, characters or background. We have had the same characteristic traits since time immemorial, love, hate, greed, love of companionship, morality or not, lust and fear to name just a few. The great writer manages to weave many of these traits into their stories to give in-depth real people who often seem to stride off the page. So it is with surprise that few of these stories have been transposed into movies. Longer stories such as The Great Gatsby, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s  have worked well. Some short stories have been adapted for TV in the past.

Dylan Thomas’s stories in The Artist as a Young Dog for example are vivid descriptions of the actions and raw emotions that he experienced as he grew up in Swansea suburbia from a small boy and through his teenage years and abound with such vivid description that images just fall off the page. On first reading his stories one is struck by their simplicity and reality. It is as if you are there, in fact his stories have become woven into other peoples reality. People who read his stories whilst they were young have found that they have become part of their own memories. An incredible skill that is only obvious in others such as Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemmingway, Truman Capote and James Joyce.

It is a fact that all these writers were describing current events and so are a living history that is often far more interesting than most history books, adding fine detail about real lives, places and back-drops that bring the book, and hence the film to life.

This skill makes their work perfect for the short-film maker who can almost shoot off the page. Taking “Just like Little Dogs”, a story from Dylan Thomas’s “The Artist as a Young Dog” is a typical example. Let’s look at the opening paragraph.

Standing alone under a railway arch out of the wind, I was looking at the miles of sands, long and dirty in the early dark, with only a few boys on the edge of the sea and one or two hurrying couples with their mackintoshes blown around them like balloons, when two young men joined me, it seemed out of nowhere, and struck matches for their cigarettes and illuminated their faces under bright-checked caps.

Interestingly the whole paragraph is made up of one sentence, comprising of 77 words. It’s as if Thomas’s imagination or memory was running at break-neck speed. This could be transposed into an opening scene of long moving images fused into one silent night-time atmospheric take such as the opening sequence in the famous Orson Wells “Citizen Kane” with matching music straight off the page. Or it could be run as a single shot within the confines of the railway arch (where the entire story is centred) with a voice over reading the words as if reminiscing of a past experience. Both work, the latter more suitable for a low budget production.

This is followed by a descriptive paragraph about the two young men so that they can be cast to perfection. In fact the only drawback in filming the work of theses authors is that the images conjured up are so real that by miscasting the spell over those who have read the story will be broken. And interestingly the attention to copying the detail from the book by Truman Capote in creating “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” has brought the book alive for many readers. And it was possible because so much detail was included in the book.

“Just like Little Dogs” is a typical well crafted short story (of just half a dozen pages)  that has a beginning, middle and end, complete in the old-fashioned style compared to many stories nowadays that leave the reader baffled and confused. This also helps to  make the film-maker’s work easy because the finished product will be rounded and the film-maker can concentrate on film techniques rather than interpretation of the text. He can make small additions or changes if he wishes without unnecessarily altering the wording or style.  

The story continues with superb description that could narrated over material using a mix of new and old photos, live and historic film blended to match the descriptive text straight off the page. This should be in the style of the opening of Under Milk Wood. Thomas is the master of plays for voices so that many of the images used in this sequence could be suggestive and a background to the rich text. The narrative should be that of a deep male voice with a soft Welsh lilt.

Within this paragraph there is action descriptions how the two young men lounging against the wall under the archway, their cigarettes glowing and sparking in the wind. This will give the camera the chance to return to the two strangers within the descriptive filming and cement it together.

Paragraph four continues in the descriptive vein with Dylan lighting a cigarette so that the light reflected in the two strangers faces and gave Thomas further opportunity to describe Swansea life as it was then.

Here Dylan’s thoughts about each stranger and what he should be doing and where he should be builds a lovely picture of Swansea “where girls were waiting, ready to be hot and friendly, in chip shops and shop doorways and Rabbiotti’s all-night café, when the public bar of the “Bay View” at the corner had a fire and skittles and a swarthy, sensuous girl with different coloured eyes, when the billiard saloons were open, except the one in the High Street you couldn’t go into without a collar and tie . . . . “

The overall story finally becomes a dialogue between Dylan and the two young men and a story within the story is drawn out. This is a simple story about the two young men and their marital arrangements but Dylan has managed to embroider some fine detail about area and social aspects.

In fact this story, more than any other Thomas wrote, is so descriptive that it can be compared to Under Milkwood in that both are really plays/stories for voices but both have transformed well, and I have tried to follow the narrative with as much descriptive period photography as possible. I have produced this film using a single set, black and white throughout and with a montage of old photographs and some movement where I caught some people having a barbeque under the arch and was able to shoot them as if they were vagrant characters from the Thirties as described in the short story.

Looking at other well written stories they show remarkable authenticity for the period and everything associated so that clear descriptions of speech, people, clothing, furniture and other background detail is included. Interestingly the films made have become of historical importance. Included are Breakfast At Tiffany’s by Truman Capote, the story of Holly Golightly a larger than life character, the Great Gatsby about the young mysterious, but larger than life,  millionaire Jay Gatesby, and the range of John Steinbeck’s stories with what appear to be humdrum normal families but are in fact big personalities – in Grapes of Wrath which grew out of a series of newspaper articles about the Great Depression of the Thirties.

As I said before. Your comments are really appreciated as are you questions. This could have been filmed with a smartphone, in either a home studio or on location in the open using either street lighting or a low cost portable video light, costing around £20 ($30). We used a full black backdrop. You can buy a set of 3 backdrops (black, white and chromakey for greenscreen with a stand from around £40 or $55 on Amazon)