Even More Free B-Roll Sources

Here are some more sources of free b-roll that I have used lately.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has b-roll from their missions in Asia & Pacific, Africa, Americas, Europe & C. Asia and MENA.  http://www.ifrc.org/en/news-and-media/newsroom/

The International Committee of the Red Cross has different video than above also highlighting their activities in Asia & Pacific, Africa, Europe & Americas and the Middle East. http://www.icrcvideonewsroom.org/content/embed.asp?ID=8b56617.5m1352245hn53914.26

The United Nations Offices of Drugs and Crimes has b-roll from around the world highlighting their anti-drug activities.  http://www.unodc.org/unodc/video.html

Bing has a lot of product videos of their product being used on other products such as cell phones, I-Pads and computers.  http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/bing/videoGallery.aspx#channel_contentListTop

Walmart has b-roll of their stores which often show merchandise. I got some good shots of television sets here. http://walmartstores.com/Video/?id=1525

For more b-roll sources and information, visit the B-roll category.

Mary Kay looks for women to produce Domestic Violence Videos

“The Mary Kay® Inspiring Stories program hopes to inspire, educate, and create a conversation on the issue of Domestic Violence through the creation of three empowering documentaries.

Three all-female crews will each create, produce, and direct a documentary that will share inspiring stories of women – young and old – who have been affected by Domestic Violence. In the past 3 years, 80% of shelters report an increase in women seeking assistance for Domestic Violence. Creating these documentaries will allow participants to offer support and inspiration to women to help end the cycle of violence. The films will be viewed online and at a Premiere Event to spread a powerful message of hope and prevention.”

RSAnimate presents big ideas in a cool way

I love these RSAanimate videos from theRSA.com.  The invite guests to speak at their institution and then get cognitivemedia to make a video of a hand drawing out what the presenter is saying as he/she says it.  My favorite so far is Changing Education Paradigms but I still have a lot to watch.  In case you are wondering, RSA stands for the Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce and their motto is “ideas and actions for a 21st century enlightenment.”

Proper Claboard Use

The clapboard is also known as a clapstick, sound stick or slate board.  I’ve been on two television shoots recently for national, professional productions where the crew did not use the clapboard properly.

There are many types of clapboards.  Some are made of blackboard material, some are wipe boards and some are digital. The iPad has a clapboard app that I don’t like very much.  Most of them have a place where you can write in information about the production or takes.  It is common to see spaces that allow the user to add the name of the project, the take number, the scene name and some crew names.  I particularly like the digital ones that allow you to jam sync time code to each camera.

By far, the most important role of the clapboard is to allow the footage from each camera on a multi-camera shoot to be easily synced up in the edit room. The loud “clap” sound that is made when the stick slams against the board creates a visual waveform on the audio line of the editing system.  This allows the editor to easily line up all of the footage saving both time and money.  In order for this to really work, ALL CAMERAS must simultaneously shoot the clapboard when it makes the “clap.”  If you find yourself without a clapboard, you can just clap your hands together or slap a clipboard loudly.  As long as it makes a loud, sharp noise and all of the cameras are rolling on it at the same time, it will work.  If you need to “slate” the shot, in other words, share the written information on the clip board, you can verbally say whatever information needs to go with the take.

One common mistake are just showing one camera the clapboard.  Although each camera can hear the “clap” sound, seeing the visual of the stick hit the board on each piece of footage can really speed things up in edit.  Another mistake is clapping the board to each camera individually.  I’m not sure what that is supposed to accomplish.  I supposed if the clapboard has digital time code, it could help line up the footage but you will still miss that synchronized “clap.”  Either way, you end up frustrating your editor more than anything.  A frustrated editor is not creative nor very fun.

A word about the iPad clapboard app.  It doesn’t work very well for two reasons.  One, to make the clap sound, you have to push a little button. By doing so, you cover up the iPad screen which takes away your visual.  Two, the clap just isn’t that loud.  Sometime there can be too much technology.  An old-fashioned hand clap works better.

In some instances when the cameras are in shooting position, they are unable to see the clapboard at the same time.  For instance, one camera may be shooting an arrival from outside a house and one from inside the house. In that case, bring the cameras together, start rolling and “clap” the clapboard.  Then move back into position while the cameras are still rolling.  When all else fails, do the best you can.

For more production insights, visit the How To category.

Documentary “The Scroll” to air at the American Black Film Festival

The Scroll will be shown at 2011 American Black Film Festival.  The companion website looks great and has lots of great clips and information.

“Parrish Smith the son of a preacher always fell asleep in church when he was a child

… until his father started telling stories.

It was the storytelling that engaged him and those stories made the Word relevant to him in his every day life. The story of “The Scroll: Evidence of Life Unseen” some might say has been in the works for over 30 years.

With so much calamity and uncertainty in today’s world, insights from our faith based leaders is needed more today than ever. “The Scroll: Evidence of Life Unseen” is a collection of stories told by the most prolific religious leaders of the 21st century. This movie is an intimate portrait of the hearts of pastors and ministers out of their robes and pulpits. They share inspiring life stories and commentary on their global societal outlook. There are moments where you will split your sides with laughter and other moments where you will want to fall to your knees in tears. This is their living and breathing testimonies. These are the stories that will make you sit up and listen. These stories will give you amazing history lessons and subtly prepare you to answer your own life journey questions.”

Interviews include:

T.D.Jakes, Eddie L. Long, A.R. Bernard, Al Sharpton Jr., Alyn E. Waller, Bernice A. King, Charles

E. Blake, Noel Jones, Marvin L. Sapp, Shirley Caesar, Kenneth Ulmer, Hezekiah Walker, Floyd

H. Flake, Paul S. Morton, Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., Frederick K.C. Price, Calvin O. Butts III, Dale C.

Bronner, DeForest T B. Soaries Jr., Della Reese Lett, Vashti M. McKenzie, Jamal Bryant, Johnny

Ray Youngblood, David Jefferson Sr., Joseph Garlington, Tudor Bismark, Donald Hilliard Jr., E.

Dewey Smith Jr., Gardner C. Taylor, John K. Jenkins Sr., John L. McCoy, Keith W. Reed Sr.,

Lawrence Powell, Beverly Crawford, Mark Tyler, Don Johnson, Perry Simmons Jr., Stanley

Dumornay, Stephen Hurd, Wess Morgan

Click here for more info.

“In” Script Cut Sheet to quickly tally duration

Look for other templates and samples in Templates Category.

You can purchase this downloadable Cut Sheet template for ONLY $0.99!

This template can be changed to fit your time tally needs. Purchase will be emailed to you.

                        

This is my favorite tally sheet because it is so quick and easy. It let’s me know how much time is going “INTO” my segment, show or video.  I use it a lot for discussion series where the graphic packages and music are standard on every show.  The “in time” is subtracted from the “out time” to give the duration of the clip. All the clip run times are added up to give the total duration of the show.

Look for other templates and samples in Templates Category.

You can purchase this downloadable Cut Sheet template for ONLY $0.99!

This template can be changed to fit your time tally needs. Purchase will be emailed to you.

                        

PBS Challenge Fund

The PBS Challenge Fund is accepting proposals for television project proposals will national appeal that will attract new audiences.

“The Program Challenge Fund was created to support high-profile, primetime, limited series for the national public television schedule.  The Program Challenge Fund is jointly administered by CPB and PBS, which make funding decisions based on mutually established programming goals and objectives.

CPB and PBS have refined the purpose of the Program Challenge Fund in an effort to bring additional impact to the National Program Service schedule. The Program Challenge Fund funds high-visibility, high-impact, limited series that offer a definitive take on a subject or break new ground in popular, public service media.  CPB and PBS expect a successful Program Challenge Fund program to be the highlight of a given season’s schedule, have the potential to generate publicity, and attract new audiences to PBS broadcast and online content. ”

For more information, click here.

Find out more about grants and funding in the grants and funding category.

To purchase a download of the Funding Your Dream Documentary seminar, click here.

Latino Producers Academy

“The LPA is an intensive ten-day professional development workshop for Latino/a film and public television documentary producers. It is designed to support both emerging and mid-career professionals with projects in development and pre-production. The purpose of this program is to prepare you for what lies ahead both on your productions and your developing career as a professional producer. It will provide strong and practical information about the components necessary to develop, package, produce and distribute your next project, from development and material acquisition through post-production, marketing and distribution.”

Click here for more info.

“Out” Script Cut Sheet To Quickly Tally Duration

Look for other templates and samples in Templates Category.

You can purchase this downloadable Cut Sheet template for ONLY $0.99!

This template can be changed to fit your time tally needs. Purchase will be emailed to you.

This is a sample Excel cut sheet that can be used to tally up how much time you are TAKING OUT OF  the show.  I use this template if I have a long discussion that the editor will be chopping down. I use this instead of scripts  for panel discussion style show that don’t require a lot of graphics. It is also helpful for recutting existing programs.  I use it to get a quick sense of how long a show is going to be. Then, I give graphic and other notes at the bottom of the document or later on in the editing process.

Here is how it works.

1. The “Out Time” gets automatically subtracted from the “In Time” to give the duration of what is being removed.
2. Everything in the duration column gets subtracked from the total lenght the of the master clip.
3. I put the target time just so I remember what is the actual length that I am trying to meet

Look for other templates and samples in Templates Category.

You can purchase this downloadable Cut Sheet template for ONLY $0.99!

This template can be changed to fit any scheduling needs. Purchase will be emailed to you.

                        

PUMA Offers Documentary Development Grants

“An international documentary development fund, offering 40 awards annually of up to 5,000 euros each.”

“This is a rapid response fund, providing resources in the early stages of documentary projects, to shoot and edit a film trailer. The fund is open to filmmakers of any nationality and grants will be awarded on a quarterly basis.  These awards are open to emerging and established filmmakers working anywhere in the world.
We welcome one-off, creative documentary ideas of any length and subject, in any style and form, but we are particularly keen on ideas that speak to PUMA.Vision’s core values of safe, peace and creative.”

Click here for more information.

Find out more about grants and funding in the grants and funding category.

To purchase a download of the Funding Your Dream Documentary seminar, click here.