education

Find a Hobby That You Enjoy

“I do think another outlet that you really enjoy will really balance your life out.”

Marc Nieto’s quote reflects on how participating in another activity that helps foster your creativity can assuage any feelings of being burnt out. Marc is an LA-based artist, skilled app developer, and Twitch streamer. Revisit this episode as we discuss topics such as the prioritization of education vs. pursuing your passion, having a full-time job to fund your creative hobbies, and the benefits of live streaming.


Listen to episode 36 on Apple Podcasts here: Prioritizing Education VS Passion, Having A Side Hustle To Fund Your Creative Business, And The Benefits Of Livestreaming.

Kydsteez Colgate Teaser

How do you want to give back to your community?


In the 3rd installment of the 3-part video series that I directed and was partnered with Colgate(R) and YouTube, we interview and follow Kydsteez. He talks about how he was able to find refuge and strength through the positive role models he met at Homeland Cultural Center in Long Beach, CA and how he wants to do give the same support and education to future generations.

Watch the full episode on our channel here: https://youtu.be/gYt4ZA53kas.

Evolving Your Art Without Constraint

“I think that one thing artists can do is you can still have art that your audience likes that sells and  you can kinda tweak it and evolve it and at the same time, say, hey, I have this other body of art that’s very experimental that I’m developing”. This quote came from episode 18 as Nancy Hillis explained that you don’t have to conform your art to what galleries wanted while trying to evolve it. Nancy is an abstract artist, author and a Stanford trained existential psychiatrist that runs a program counseling artists with psychotherapy to overcome creative blocks. Revisit the podcast episode as we touched on topics that include finding freedom in constraint and structure, embracing ugly paintings, significance of working consistently on your craft, creating a safe and vulnerable space for ideas to flow and more.

Click to listen to the full podcast episode here : Finding Freedom In Constraint, Embracing Vulnerability, and Trusting Yourself To Create Innovative Artwork Through Ugly Paintings

Free Webinar - How To Shoot Awesome Videos With Your Phone

You have the ability to make better videos on your phone than most amateur videographers with cameras.

I'm hosting a free webinar this Saturday, May 23rd at 11 AM PST on How to Shoot Awesome Videos With Your Phone. Made for beginners and people who don't have a camera, I'll teach you basic video fundamentals (framing, lighting, sound) and ways to optimize your phone so you can get the best footage and sound possible.

Sign up at the link below. Thanks and see you there!  

https://free.videocontentschool.com/phonevideowebinar

Aspect Ratios In Social Media

As a filmmaker in the modern era, it’s crucial to promote your content on various social media platforms. But you may notice that the way video appears differs between platforms.  For example, YouTube displays video as a rectangle, while Instagram is more square-shaped. This is because of a video’s aspect ratio. There are multiple aspect ratios out there, and it can be confusing to keep track of which platform has which aspect ratio. We’re here to help you with exactly that.

So first of all, what exactly is an aspect ratio? Aspect ratio is a ratio of the width to the height of an image. So an image with an aspect ratio of 1.79 to 1, or 16 to 9, will be longer than an image with an aspect ratio of 1 to 1, which will be a perfect square. 

1 - 16:9. The 16:9 is the rectangular aspect ratio you have likely seen more than any other. The platforms that use 16:9 include Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and Linkedin.

2 - 9:16. The 9:16 aspect ratio is designed to roughly fit the size of the average smartphone. Sometimes 16:9 videos are put in a 9:16 aspect ratio, with the rest of the space being filled with colour, text, or graphics. Platforms that use 9:16 are Snapchat, Instagram (IGTV), Tiktok, Pinterest and Facebook (Stories).

3 - 1:1. The 1:1 aspect ratio is, as its name would suggest, a perfect square. Platforms that use it include Instagram (Thumbnails) and Facebook.

4 - 4:5. The 4:5 aspect ratio is slightly bigger (taller) than the 1:1 aspect ratio. Platforms that use it include Instagram and Facebook.

How to light a video interview

woman interview.jpg

I’ve worked with numerous brands and corporate clients on creating videos to promote their products and services, and one of the most common videos we produce are “Founders Videos.” These videos explain the background of the company and its founders through archival footage, animation, day-in-the-life footage, pictures, images, and most importantly, interviews. When shooting these interviews, I’ve found myself in difficult situations and settings where lighting is not ideal. In a library basement, an artist greenroom, a dark night event, to the middle of a busy street, I’ve been through it all! What I’ve learned is that a good interview requires 2 technical elements: sufficient lighting and clear sound (which we’ll talk about in another post). You can shoot on an iPhone or a RED Camera, but if your subject isn’t lit well or can’t be heard, the interview is ruined.

So how do I light a subject correctly? The basic and most effective way is 3-point lighting.

3 point lighting.jpg

3-Point Lighting

For interviews

I learned this in film school and is the most effective way to light a person in any situation. The key light is your main lighting source, in which you would have on at the highest brightness when compared to the other 2 lights. The fill light “fills” in the shadows on the face so the subject doesn’t look like a Mobster Movie Villain and has their face fully visible. This shading of shadow on the face gives your subject more character and depth rather than a flat look. This is of course your preference so feel free to use the fill and key lights differently as a balance between a contrasting look or a flat look.

Interview-Lighting_contrast.jpg

Contrast

More key than fill

Interview-Lighting_flat.jpg

Flat

Key and fill equal

The position and height of the lights are also key (pun intended). It can be placed overhead, pointing down on your subject, at eye level, or from below - each contributes to a specific look and feel. For corporate and basic interviews, the simple way is to have the key and fill light at eye level with the subject and positioned in the V formation like the image above.

What if the lights are too harsh? Use softboxes or diffusion gels, silks, and panels to soften the lights. What I do as an easy and inexpensive option is buy diffusion silk fabric from Amazon, cut out pieces that would fit onto my lights, and clip the pieces of fabric to the barn doors of the lights using clothespins or C-47’s (film terminology). As for lights, there are a lot of options. For an inexpensive setup with versatility, I own a set of Neewer LED Lights with barn doors (crucial for controlling your light source!). I also love Arri Skypanels, KinoFlo Select LED’s, and Litemats but for the sake of budget video production, you can do a lot with the Neewer lights I mentioned, especially if it’s just a one-person interview.

Remember the last important piece to 3-point lighting? Don’t worry, I’m not going to quiz you … but if I did and you passed, you would’ve won a trip to Starbucks with me and a cup of coffee lol :) The backlight is an essential piece to the puzzle because it creates separation between the subject and the background. Why do we want separation from the background? Because we want depth in our shot and the subject to not blend into the background. This is important to me because I feel that the human eye is accustomed to focusing it’s attention on objects that are in the foreground so creating that separation through lighting helps the viewer concentrate on the subject and not the brewery or live band in the background. The backlight also create a “halo” effect around the subject so you can see their outline, and is also called a “hair” light because it emphasizes the shape of the person’s head and hair, giving them a clear outline for the viewer to focus on.

As for the intensity of this light, I like it at 25% with diffusion. This is also your preference and also depends on your subjects’s hair - a bald man’s head can look quite shiny and distracting with a hair light. The position of the light should be out of frame and is usually placed above the subject pointing down, although I’ve backlit subjects with the light pointing up from the floor or from eye level off camera. The reason why is that in some situations, you won’t have the ability to hang a light above the subject and place it directly behind their head, so you have to find a way to light the back of the subject without having the light in the shot. My preference is off camera to the side at eye level at 25% with diffusion. A cool halo effect does happen when you place the light on the floor facing up towards the subject’s back, depends on the kind of look you want.

What if you only had 1 or 2 lights? How about no lighting equipment? I would use the sun or “practical” lights (what’s available on location like room lights or lamps) as the key or fill (depending on the intensity) and your other light as the fill, key, or back light. For example, if I was filming an interview in the day and all I had is one light, I’d use the sun to light my subject as the key light, and my one light as the fill light to illuminate the shadows on their face. A bounce board or reflector is useful in daytime exterior shooting because you can use the sunlight’s reflection to “bounce” back on to your subject’s face to fill in the shadows. If I was at an event and there were overhead lights that fully lit up the room, I’d use my other light as a back light to help separate the subject from the background since the subject would already be lit by the room’s practical lighting. And if you had no lighting equipment, you’re screwed! Not really, just challenged. The best source of light is the sun so you can light people next to windows, in the shade, or under the sun; just remember the position of the sun during the day to anticipate for shadows. At night or inside with no lighting, then you have to find some light source and use your camera’s settings to get the image possible with the lighting you have, more on that in another post.

So there you have it, film school lighting in one post. There are so many other factors that I should mention and all you film school graduates out there are already typing in my comments, but I want to keep this short and simple for people that just want the best possible solution for an affordable price with consumer equipment. If you want to nerd out on lights and lighting, email me! I’d love to share and learn more :)

I hope this was helpful. Remember the brightness ratio of your key and fill lights depending on your shadow and depth preference (I like 100% key, 75% fill, 50% backlight). Your backlight separates your subject from the background to help your viewer focus their attention. Diffusion is very helpful in creating beauty lighting and soft features. Use bounce boards and reflectors when working with the sun. And of course, experiment and practice! I’m not an master, just an artist that loves making videos :) Email me if you have any questions, thanks for reading!

Gratefully,
Mitchel Dumlao