Distilling A Powerful Vision
Creating a great story on video is a lot like distilling whiskey: you start by gathering a lot of material – and then spend the bulk of your time trying to get rid of most of it. Let me explain.
Whiskey making starts years in advance of the final product. It begins with grains that took at least a season to grow and finding a reliable source of yeast. You also need to build a distilling apparatus, something that can withstand heat to a boiling temperature and a mechanism to collect and cool the escaping gas. And wood barrels, you’ll definitely need those. After you’ve spent a great deal of time harvesting the grain, you’ll combine it with yeast and water to create what’s known as “mash.” Starting out, you might have an alcohol level around 6%-7.5%. Then the real work begins.
From here, you’ll spend the rest of the time getting rid of almost everything you have gathered to create the best and most concentrated version of the liquid grain. That’s what the still does. Inside, the water evaporates away and a more concentrated alcohol gas cools and condenses into liquid form that will eventually be 40% alcohol or higher. And then you’ll spend even more time refining it into something truly unique and smooth by aging it in the wood barrels. Finally, if things work out you’ll have something almost magical.
The video equivalent of grain, mash and barrels are notes, scripts and footage. In both cases you apply energy and effort to reduce the raw materials in order to concentrate it’s power and impact until it achieves its most interesting and palatable form. Here are some tips on gathering material and creating video magic that will have a nice memorable kick.
Harvest Your Notes
- Gather information from a variety of different sources, online, books, anywhere you can find.
- Talk to your audience. This enables you to have an understanding of their issues and interests.
- Outline the most critical points.
- Edit that list to the most critical, then do it again until you absolutely can’t cut anymore.
- Cut it one more time. You need to remove all of the chafe and present just the most interesting points.
Mix A Script
- Expand the points you wrote above to actual copy that explains the points required.
- Read it aloud and see if the current order flows logically. If it does, move to the next step. If not, repeat.
- Show it to someone else with a fresh pair of eyes to see if the order makes sense to them.
- Once you have the order right, start editing the copy for length and diction. You want to keep the words tight and easy to say and understand, eliminating trip words.
- Edit the copy again.
Distill The Footage
- Grab the outline of the most critical points and become familiar with them.
- Storyboard the outline in a format that works for you.
- Show it to someone else with a fresh pair of eyes to see if the order makes sense to them.
- Create a shot list of the images required to fill out the storyboard.
- Shoot and record the shots listed – and then some.
- Compile the footage into a story.
Bottle It
“When you follow the recipe in the proper order, the process delivers a powerful result,” says Jason Kimerling, Digital Production Designer at Wilson. “But when you try to skip a step, the process can become inefficient and go over budget rather quickly.” Stick with the steps, be patient and your yield will be pleasing, straight up.
Consider this example .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwO1-1vs3Hw
Tell Us What You Think
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Learn more about how legacy brands can connect with new audiences in our ebook, Five Gates of Branding.
Want more of taste? Check out our work page, or contact us and stop by to see for yourself.
Want to see real whiskey making in action? Many distilleries offer tours of their facilities. If you’re in our neck of the woods, check out Flat Rock Spirits Distillery.
Distillery Tour
Source: http://www.clawhammersupply.com/blogs/moonshine-still-blog/