Creating a Video From Start to Finish

Reviews

• m'k? ok? k? right? As others have said victor has lots of energy and lots of good stuff going on - but there are some really irritating ticks in this one making many sections of these vids almost unwatchable: after just about any explanatory statement - especially where it seems Victor is less sure of the technical rationale - he concludes each observation with an "ok?" and then leaps into the next sentence. On waveforms and scopes (vid 8) for example: we start with a discussion of an Atamos monitor "...it tells me how saturated i am in relation to that center point, ok? These are things that may be so daunting and scary [???] when you look at it, when you talk about it, but again, i didn't know about these three years ago and i was still doing content. I'm only telling you about this now because i think it's important for you to learn about what we call waveforms and scopes, ok? So waveform: confusing. Really really confusing, ok? [!!!?????} But it's a great way to check yourself on set, ok? Because there's things sometimes [hand waving gestures] we just don't know where we're at and we just have to check the overall scene value, as opposed to the exposure of a person, ok? So... And then at the end of the next run through this rather large if unmotivated section he asks "any questions"? here's where John Grengo would run a short exercise to see how folks were processing the information just imparted. It's not inspiring confidence, either, is it, to start by assuming /asserting that a concept is confusing - especially before it's been introduced. It suggests that it's still confusing for the instructor. The rest of this section continues in this way: with the ok's and concept jumps - by the end of the section, somehow the monitor as gear has entirely disappeared and we end up in adobe premier, and da vinci "Bring these values down in production - not in post" though, victor asserts How? with what? Victor doesn't make the connection between how the Atamos makes this "in production" adjustment possible (does it? i'm guessing) - or what the tradeoff is IN doing this adjustment in post - with the tools premier or davinci has with its various scopes. "Did you guys understand the concept there? i see some heads nodding. I love teaching: this is great." Actually, no, it's not clear that people really get this: so how about a scenario to test what to do to see if people get it? But really how about finishing the discussion about the monitor? We then get into vectorscopses (Victor doesn't distinguish between vectorscope as the tool and the chart generated by the scope - or why "vectors" vs any other kind of representation) we're then presented with a chart from the scope -but not the image from which the graph is generated - so we have no visual reference for an image that is "hue shifted, ok?" vs. not hue shifted. "the further the colors are away from center the more SATURATION you have. How cool is this tool" - how about showing an example of such an image? Still looking at this chart we learn: "You can immediately tell that your blues are oversaturated and shifted in hue, right?" - Again, seeing the image to map to this chart would have helped understand what was being asserted. "you show the chart, BOOM, perfect white balance" - YOu show the chart to what? when? "everything is on vector except the green that is slightly shifted" On vector? What is that? "Use this target in post" - Now we're talking post again. What happened to do this in production? So if post can do this and Davinci 12.5 is "free" - why buy the monitor? What we still don't know: the role/value of the monitor that has a vectorscope - where "vectorcsope wil save you" - which one? monitor or post? Kind of a big hole when that's a piece of kit well over a grand. How many students are going to go add a 1300 piece of gear to their camera for doing corporate profiles? how crucial is it? Plainly Victor is excited about it, and it may be fantastic. Intriguingly when talking about the monitors - esp the less expensive of the two Atamos models, he doesn't talk about why else one might want one - what the 4:2:2 ratios they offer mean (perhaps head to Ryan Connolly's Guerilla Filmmaking for that) How does this massive section end? Clean your sensors; have a monopod; bring a white card and light meter. What?? I'm sorry there's only a thumbs up or thumbs down for this rather than some kind of scoring. it sounds like i'm slashing this. I'm not. But there are some basics that would make this material even more effective and accessible. - Mr. Ha could watch himself on video to see all the "ok's" and work to kill them - they seem to be a sign of nervousness lack of clarity /confidence as shown in this section. - When going through v.new (for photographer concepts) use more images - he has lots of example vids in his first course - same thing needed here. - use example scenarios a la grengo (and good teachers everywhere) to test a concept rather than saying "any quesitons?" and feeling validated from head nodding. - complete the circle: if talking about gear - talk about the gear before skipping into a new concept. I still have no sense from this of whether or not these monitors have real value - should be on the list ahead of a new camera body or glass - or are just treats if you have everything else. Again, lots of useful material; the course is worth it for the grounded progressions through the cycle of video crafting, but if you can only afford one vid course in the Victor Ha set, the HDSLR basics is a better organised, illustrated and presented course.
• Victor is an incredible instructor, clearly passionate about teaching videography to photographers. His teaching style is engaging and energetic, and the content is interesting and useful. I was very fortunate to be part of the audience for this course.
• Victor is a wonderful, knowledgeable and enthusiastic teacher - I learned so much. Thank you.