Filming and Editing Workshops
It’s not all big lenses and cinematic lighting…
Last updated: July 2021
Vlogging, self-shooting, call it what you will, there has been a massive uptake in capturing content quickly and easily, without the cost or time to hire a professional videographer, camera operator or film production company (such as ourselves). Picking up your phone or camera may seem like an easy idea, but what about getting clear sound, background noise and consistent lighting and after filming, what on earth do you edit all of this in and how do you get it on YouTube?
Case Study: Birchwood House
Filming content for a care home during a pandemic isn’t easy. However, the staff at Birchwood wanted to show their beautiful home to potential new clients. Without access to visit the property, the staff filmed the content themselves, before digitally transferring the content directly to our edit suite.
Case study: Active Digital
Working quickly and efficiently, we edited Active Digitals iPhone content for there client Baxall Construction.
“Birdhouse totally got what we were trying to achieve, collaborating seamlessly, within Covid safe working rules, to achieve and, in many ways, improve our creative vision. Amazing quality, from personnel to final product.”
The Birdhouse Studio have been approached more and more over the past 12 months, to support our clients as they film their own content, self-shooting on iPhones, iPads and other mobiles devices. The benefits are clear to both our clients and their customers; costs are lower and content is distributed quickly. We have had the opportunity to shoot hundreds of workshops and are combining our experience in filmmaking, storytelling and everything we’ve learned from watching professionals teach their own skillsets. We are now offering workshops to train all levels of our clients and their staff, so they can confidently capture the content needed, whilst making sure there are options for the edit and additional content options for social media.
Each stage of production can be tailored to your needs, whether you need to understand the pre-production and planning stages before filming the production, or if you have additional support to understand post-production and the different aspects of an edit, including sound design and colour grading. If you have a time sensitive project, as an alternative we can edit your content quickly and affordably, making sure that your self-shot videos are professionally packaged.
Additionally, we can support you on the day of filming, either in person or over video calls as well as in post-production, walking you through any questions you may have within the edit. Birdhouse will lead a fun, engaging and value-adding video workshop, to give you the confidence to capture your content professionally through a series of tutorials, leaving you with the skilled needed to create quick, eye-catching short films using your mobile device.
Pre-production (It’s Got To Start Somewhere)
Camera training and check lists
You can shoot professional quality videos with little more than your phone.
Through our camera training we equip you with the skills to create content that engages and inspires and takes your audience on a journey. We run through a series of scenarios for shoots and what would be needed to capture all of the content effectively. Additionally, you have PDF check lists for extra support, to make sure you have everything you need on the day of filming and recce/location scouting.
Importance of narrative
We have extensive experience of working directly with clients and collaborating with communication agencies to produce award-winning content that enhances your business.
Combining our knowledge and experience, we’ll show you how and why the narrative is so important, using our emotional infographics you will understand how we steer an audience to feel differently at each point of our films.
We’ll show you how to get great content from even the most nervous of contributors and tell the story that you want to tell.
CV-19, H&S and waivers
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a huge impact on our sector and everyone working in it. We’re following government and industry guidelines to ensure the safety of our clients and colleagues and we’ll give you the guidance, help you get certified and follow the APA guidelines and operate a safe set.
We also cover contributor waivers, disclaimers and who to notify when you’re filming on either private or public land.
Production (The Fun Really Starts Now)
Lighting
We will teach you how to ‘read’ the light in any location, and teach you the fundamentals of lighting in a way that can be easily, and practically applied. Natural light may not always be available and fluorescent lights can give a dark and drab image, that isn’t always noticeable until the edit. We walk you through the options available, what to do when the sun looks great but is far too bright for your contributor and how to achieve natural looks easily.
Framing, composition and working with subjects
You’ve chosen the right camera for you, but how to correct frame for your platform and audience and creating consistently high quality images is another thing entirely. How do you work with subjects, contributors and even the general public.
How to stabilise your shot, tripod, monopod, selfie stick or even a gimbal? We’ll show you how to experiment and get great footage, but also maintain a consistent look throughout your film.
Sound
Sound is so often over looked, but can make such a huge difference to your audience.
We introduce you to different type of microphones, such as shotgun and clip-on lavalier mics, and choosing either wired or wireless, for use in noisy environments.
Post-Production (Where Your Planning Really Shows)
Editing
Understanding what software is right for you, how to organise and import your clips and create the structure. This is where your film can really come to life. We also offer a cost-effective junior editing service, should this stage be a bridge too far.
Balancing Sound and Colour, adding graphics and titles
Sometimes this is considered a nice-to-have, occasionally time feels too limited to even contemplate balanced colour and sound, let alone lower-thirds and animated text or logos, but we’ll take the pain away and show you just how important and enjoyable this stage is.
Uploading
Great, its all packaged and ready to do. But now what? Where should you host your content? We help set up your YouTube and Vimeo accounts and show you how to export and upload in the correct formats for all social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. Oh wait, lets not forget about LinkedIn, TikTok and even Pinterest.
Post-Post-Production (The Debrief)
As with all of our shoots, we offer a debrief following this entire process, so that we can learn more about what worked for you and what may not have worked. We want to continue to support you even after your shoot, so that your confidence can grow, your videos become more engaging and ultimately your audience feels that the message resonates with them.
Gah, that sounds really difficult and time-consuming
Don’t worry! We can take the pain out of this whole process, showing you how you can create your own content easily and efficiently. However, this isn’t for everyone and some clients will always be too busy or have such a time deadline, that they need a professional. We can help! We can shoot your branded content quickly, easily and deliver on time and on budget.
During the CV-19 pandemic, we have worked with multiple clients safely, including filming and editing over 240 films on time and on budget, for Audition Ready, Simmonds Ltd, Honda and Estrella Galicia for Southpaw, The Hygiene Bank and Lotus Cars for Foxtrot Papa.
Connect with us at @goforbirdhouse
