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Music as a Character

Lesson 58 from: The Outdoor Enthusiast's Guide to Photography & Motion

Ian Shive

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Lesson Info

58. Music as a Character

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Bootcamp Introduction

06:35
2

Storytelling with Stills and Motion Overview

14:35
3

Elements of a Well-told Story

22:12
4

Storytelling in Motion

34:19
5

Choosing the Best Gear for Your Outdoor Project

16:24
6

Gear for Drones

02:53
7

Gear for Motion

05:23
8

Inside Ian's Gear Bag

20:07
9

General Advice for Preparation

14:19
10

Virtual Scouting

03:54
11

Weather

10:17
12

Permits and Permission

03:09
13

Model and Property Releases

04:43
14

Health and Fitness

03:04
15

Checklist

03:20
16

Location Scouting Overview

15:18
17

Location Scouting in the North Cascades

15:24
18

Drone Introduction

14:59
19

Drone Safety

03:26
20

What Kind of Drone Should I Buy?

02:58
21

FAA Part 107 Test: How to Prepare

06:18
22

Telling a Story With a Drone

06:15
23

Drone Camera, Lenses and Movements

04:34
24

Selling Drone Footage

02:39
25

Why Does a Photographer Need Motion?

10:59
26

Establish the End User

06:35
27

Identify Your Audience

03:12
28

Build a Production Plan

05:28
29

Create the Story Structure

04:26
30

The Shooting Script

07:08
31

Production Quality

08:37
32

Composition for Stills

08:04
33

Composition for Stills: Landscape

08:15
34

Composition for Stills: Telephoto Lens

14:48
35

Composition for Stills: Macro Lens

07:50
36

Techniques for Capturing Motion in the Field

25:15
37

Lenses and Filters for Outdoor Photography

26:20
38

Capturing Landscapes - Part 1

28:12
39

Capturing Landscapes - Part 2

23:36
40

Capturing Movement in Stills

32:17
41

Shooting Water, Sky and Panorama

29:40
42

Understanding Stock

20:45
43

Editorial vs Commerical

03:57
44

Pricing Stock

05:40
45

Producing Stock

14:49
46

Shooting for Social Media vs Stock

11:37
47

Choosing an Agency

08:58
48

Assignments and Capturing Stock

13:49
49

Stock Photography Market

05:28
50

Create A Style Guide

05:30
51

Stock Shoot Analysis

21:29
52

Workflow for Selecting Final Stills

27:43
53

Initial Editing in Adobe Bridge

21:02
54

Reviewing and Selecting Motion Footage

11:02
55

Keeping Track of Your Story Ideas

22:40
56

Script and Story Structure Evolution

04:34
57

Editing to the Content

05:00
58

Music as a Character

05:41
59

Business Diversification

07:07
60

Business Strategy

04:57
61

Pillars of Revenue

17:09
62

Branding

06:36
63

Partnerships and Brand Strategy

05:12
64

Galleries and Fine Art

03:11
65

Budgeting

05:21
66

The Future of Photography

26:12
67

Q&A And Critique

1:09:39

Lesson Info

Music as a Character

the way that those characters were built, um, are on multiple levels. And I talked about music a little bit, whether you're purchasing from a stock library having something scored. There's a lot of wonderful, talented musicians out there who would love to be part of doing these projects. So I recommend looking for people to work with. Ah, great to build relationships Early on, I've worked with same composer from the beginning, James Cody Westheimer. He wrote Just absolutely beautiful incredible score for this film. Um, and you know, one of the things we talk about our our, how the score itself is a character. I keep revisiting this, but you know the main theme for your opening. It's using your intros, the scenes and end credits, right? That's your main theme. That's the big one. But then what about the characters themselves and assigning sounds to each of them? The albatross. It's kind of goofy when doing the dance, but it's a beautiful bird that flies of the ocean from midway to Japan...

to California without ever hardly ever even moving its wings to go 100 miles without a wing beat. So you want to show that gracefulness, but on land, they're cookie, but they're graceful. So how do you do that? You augment that auditory wise right out of automatically musically. So the albatrosses, goofy sound doing it stance would otherwise graceful to show their long flights of the Pacific, the Hawaiian monk seal, critically endangered. I think there's I think, of the latest number I heard. Think we say 39 1100 left. They're breeding Habitat is basically gone. They probably will last to the next generation. Critically endangered but still beautiful. So it's a rich, beautiful sound, but it's a little more somber has its more of a somber tone. You know, when it's on Lee time, you hear a guitar in the entire score. The guitar is assigned to that creature exclusively. So if we were to bring that creature back in different point, you can pluck the guitar a little subconsciously, you'll tie it to that character. You'll never think of movies the same again once you start to realize this is what happens. The Dolphins Cody had such a cool idea. He's he's awesome because he is like is always getting kind of It's a cello, Tino. I think it was a real thing, he said. He found it on, like eBay or something like that, and it looks like a cello. It's miniature. It's like a violin, but as, like, a long stem. And he has some both thing, that he pulls across it, and it almost sounds like a cross thing, like a whale and a dolphin. It's an instrument and has this, um, sound that he mixes into the soundtrack. So when you're watching this, it sounds like you're underwater. It's not a dolphin sound that's a musical instrument that represents the character and carries it forward. The next piece and character and story development is your sound design and final mix again. You know all these things I'm walking you through. You have the foundation here from this class to apply them to your own work, and none of this stuff is crazy. You can get a professional broadcast mix on a two minute film for a couple 100 bucks. If you've spent few months working on this thing, it is worth it. It will sound great on anything. You play it on, whether it's in this room, on a television screen or on a laptop or any repair headphones always sound the same, and you want to make sure people sounds the same. So and that's even expensive. There's other places where is probably even more affordable one. And there's other ways to do mixes a lot of us becoming automated, so sound design is a very much important part of the story, the script and much time of the mix. I'm talking about the sound so most of us are probably going to shoot motion without audio. Unless, of course, they're interviews. But if you're in the field shooting nature, you might catch ambient. You might want it on there. Honestly, at some point like me, I finally just said, It's not worth having a lot of it. I'd rather go out for a couple hours and capture it or have somebody capture or go out, capture it and literally just try and get the sounds of the birds or whatever. There are, of course, exceptions to that. But good sound is very, very important. It'll make you a better cinematographer because it brings life when you hear the waves crashing and all that other stuff. But the truth is, if you're filming a wave from 500 feet away. You're not getting a good sound of it anyway. You have to get up close or added in and fully after the fact. And that's usually how most of its done, especially nature docks. And then the final mix has lots of options, really, for photographers. Transition emotion. There's two kinds of mixes You want something called a broadcast mix, which means it's safe, certain levels and then usually either want stereo. Two years or 5.15 point one is five speakers and a subwoofer. Five speakers being one in the middle, two in the front, two in the back, in a subwoofers. The 0.1. That's what that means. So this is all you really need to know at the end of the day, about story development for bringing this stuff together. Keep your ideas, bring them together, write them down, think about how they're gonna fit two minute film, 40 minute film. Either way, bring them all the other ideas from other projects, and other places might apply on a whole nother film. Another project that you're working in the future. But ultimately your story will be constructed this way and it will be so helpful when you get home to take all your footage that you worked so hard to gather all that money you spent on your equipment. Make that investment sing and make sure that you have a really great story. So keep all your ideas in one place, make sure they're backed up sometimes your earliest concepts of your strongest and embrace them. That's a very, very true statement. Um, you know, story is an evolution. Keep the different iterations and refer back to them, you know, and be open to change. And don't forget that music is part of the story and that your sound effects are also all part of the story.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Slides

Ratings and Reviews

monica4
 

Ian was an amazing instructor.; very fun, enthusiastic, encouraging, and comprehensive. I hope to be able to return as an audience member for another of his classes. It is a privilege and a gift to have access via Creative Live to such a wealth of expertise. Thank you!

Cindee Still
 

Ian Shive is a dynamic speaker with a wealth of knowledge he is willing to share. He has had a magical path that led to his success. He touches on so many aspects of making, selling and creating images as well as how to market them and make an income from your work. It is so much fun to be part of the studio audience. The Creative Live staff are always so warm and friendly and they feed you like your on a cruise ship! Wonderful experience.

Cindy
 

What a great class this has been. Thank you Ian Shive and Creative Live! Recently retired, I have set out to learn everything I can about photography and pursue this passion to capture the beauty in the outdoors. Creative Live has served as an amazing educational platform to help me learn everything from how to use my camera, the fundamental technicals, and learn about software and tools. This class brought it all together. At the end of this class my approach to photography and my images are different. Ian shares so much valuable knowledge that will change the way you go about taking a picture; from scouting a location, to thinking through the story and adding elements to an image to evoke an emotional response. My personal growth has been significant and I have changed to the way I approach creating an image from an Outdoor Landscape to an Outdoor Experience. Loved every minute of it, sad the class is over.

Student Work

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