Not long after 911 I decided to leave my upper west side apartment on 85th and Riverside and move to the country and by the country I mean Williamsburg. I lived there for a little less than a year before making my way back to Manhattan and into Nolita where I lived above John Gotti's old Social Club on Mulberry Street between Spring and Prince.
247 Mulberry Street - The Social Club - I lived on the 2nd floor with my dog, Harley Michael Davidson
New restaurants were popping up every weekend in Williamsburg back in those days. A good friend of mine and I could not resist but check each one out as they opened. On those carefree afternoons we referred to ourselves as the LADIES OF LEISURE since we both worked as freelancers and had nothing better to do on a Monday or a Tuesday or any day afternoon. It was fabulous and lots of cocktails were consumed. The title of this show tv promo is in honor of my early days in New York City when life seemed so simple compared to nowadays.
BTW... I should add, this video is my first attempt at using Adobe After Effects CS5. It is an amazing program which now allows me to animate my titles and work in a 3D world to offer a more polished and dynamic look to my videos just like the big networks. Watching the Food Network has been an incredible source of inspiration for what can be done using this program. I can never look at television, movies or even commercials the same again without deconstructing how the graphics and text animations can all be made using After Effects.
However, I downloaded the trial version which is somewhat limiting as the plugins are not availlable but I still highly recommend you try this program. It's phenomenal and will help take your videos to the next level.
Yesterday, I offered up some hot tips for shooting great videos. Now it's time to edit your footage into something entertaining your friends will enjoy and hopefully share with others. It's worth the effort, so there's really no reason to get sloppy when it comes to editing. Believe me, your friends will give you no love when it comes time to watching more. So, please spare your friends from video overdose and take some time to edit something they will look forward to watching again. It's much easier than you think and in many cases it's completely free.
Let's discuss your software options. If you're using a Mac then you're in luck. iMovie comes preinstalled in these computers and won't cost you a thing to get started. It's highly intuitive and easy to use. Nearly all my home videos were edited using iMovie but I have one complaint, it can start to crash as you start adding too many cuts and transitions. Sometimes it will crash and actually delete your original file. Don't let this intimidate you.
However, there is a solution. Just remember to save often and create a backup in case iMovie decides to slap you around a little by deleting your entire file. For the most part it's a great program. I highly recommend it for people just starting out and do not have time to learn more complicated programs like Adobe Premiere or Director's Cut. Adobe Premiere Elements also has a fairly simple interface to figure out and is a nice stepping stone to it's bigger badder brother, Adobe Premiere. If you are a PC lover then these programs should do right by you but these unfortunately are not free.
STYLIN' PROFILIN'
When watching your favorite tv shows, movies and even commercials start paying attention to how these videos were edited and even the camera angles. How are the credits or other type used. Do the scenes change abruptly or do they seem to overlap eachother in a smooth transition? Are there sound effects, music or do voices speak over other video that was obviously recorded at another time. Eventually, you'll pick up on a style you gravitate towards and will get ideas how you want to edit your own movies.
DOES YOUR FOOTAGE MEASURE UP?
OK, first things first here. Did you actually take enough video to start editing your movie? If you did it right, then you'll have waay more footage than you'll ever possibly need. Hopefully, there is a couple minutes or so of video entertaining or visually stimulating enough to use in your movie and the rest will never see the light of day. Believe me, your friends will thank you for your discretion.
Try to keep your final edited movie to 4 minutes or less. Most people do not have the attention span to watch anything much longer than that. Also keep in mind that YOUtube does not allow you to upload videos longer than 10 minutes.
To separate the wheat from the shaft, you MUST watch all the footage you've taken. What's nice about Adobe Premiere Elements is that you can load all your videos into your file and tag/organize them so they are easily referenced. Remember, if you get bored watching them your friends will too. So, choose only the very best videos or a clip of that video to edit into your movie. In this case, too much footage is not a good thing.
Don't discard video just because it's too long or the audio is messed up. Those panaramic shots of the beach from the resort balcony or random people shots at a party or on the street might be boring in of themselves but could be fun as a transition between scenes. Short snips of these types of videos are a great way to quickly offer your viewers a sense of the setting and what's about to go down. All these editing programs I mentioned will allow you to discard the audio and allow you to add music or use audio from one of your other videos to create a more dynamic movie.
PACE YOURSELF
Even video footage of a slug can seem action-packed and exciting when edited properly. Using several short clips using different camera angles can make even the most boring subject seem exciting and engaging. Upbeat music and appropriate sound effects edited into the background or replacing the audio of the video altogether will help to bring some continuity to these different clips. Using the overlap transition to simultaneously fade out one clip and superimpose a fade in of your next clip over the top of it will help to make all these cuts appear seamless. Remember to play with the timing of your overlap to set the tone and pace you want to communicate to your audience. Longer transitions offer a more elegant feel while faster overlaps are great for keeping your movie upbeat. Music or sound effects can help to determine where and how long these types of tranistions should take place and how often. There will be times when using an overlap is not needed and just a quick cut to the next scene is more appropriate.
I definitely recommend you experiement with the transitions available in your editing software to get a feel of what they do and which ones appeal to your sense of style. I tend to veer away from most of the transitions offered but that's just my personal preference. Most of them scream home movie and do not offer that polished look of a professional film.
CLASS IT UP
It's not always possible to work with great footage everytime. Sometimes the color isn't right, it's too dark or too bright. Whatever the problem not every video will convey the upscale experience you are hoping to communicate with your audience. This is most relevant for weddings, anniversaries and musical performances. Each of these editing programs offer video effects to tweek the quality and color of your videos. One sure fire way to add a little class to your video is by using the black & white video effect. You still might need to adjust the contrast and/or brightness if your video was really hurting but it's worth the effort. You can even help to decrease or remove wrinkles entirely from your subject by using this method. If you make your friends look good they will thank you and the odds of them sharing your video with others drastically increases.
TYPE
Now that you've edited your movie into something short and sweet it's time to add some movie titles and credits. The font and style you choose should emulate the content of your movie. Bubbly typefaces are more appropriate for videos of the kids while bold, simple sans serif typefaces are great for most other videos. Try to avoid using thin typefaces when laying type over video as it can be difficult to read especially when your video is converted to a less quality version to be made available for the internet or emails.
There are all types of transitions for type as well but I usually like to keep it simple. When I want to promote friends in the video I will use a rolling credit at the end. More important contributors like friends who supply original music I will give a credit at the beginning of the movie in case someone doesn't make it through the entire video which does happen.
Again, pay close attention to your favorite shows and watch how the editors use type. Personally, I like to start with a black screen with some background noise from the video that's about to appear playing while my movie title slowly fades in before the video does. I try to keep it simple and short to save as many of the credits for the end so it doesn't compete with my content. I also prefer to use only one or two different fonts that look nicely together. Anything more than that and it starts looking sloppy and unprofessional.
LATER THIS WEEK: FLIPBOOK ANIMATIONS
I will discuss how you can transform your most basic photos into a flipbook style animation set to music. This simple technique will bring a new dimension to your photography that will blow those standard slideshow presentations away. Your friends will commend you for being a master movie maker. So, stay tuned for more hot tips that will bring your photos and videos to the next level.
There is nothing worse than pretending to be enthralled as your friend bores you to tears with hours of video from their last vacation, footage of their pets or children. If you've been on the receiving end of this sort of inhumane torture than I truly feel for you. If you happen to be the sadist who traumatizes your victims with lame ass videos than know this, there is a special place in hell for people like you! Good news is that it's not entirely your fault and there is something you can do about it. Afterall, most of us are not born with an inate skill set to shoot and edit footage that is sure to entertain and delight even the most critical friends.
So, what does it take to bring boring home videos to life? It's easier than you would think and won't cost you a fortune in fancy camera equipment or take up all your free time editing movies while your significant other pesters you to mow the lawn, do some dishes or tend to the laundry. After spending the better half of the year studying, analyzing and experimenting with videos and simple editing techniques I have these helpful tips to offer.
THE CAMERA
Most likely, you already own a digital camera. If you're shooting with VHS or Beta than you're going to need to have it converted so you can edit your video digitally using software on your home computer.
Nearly all of my videos were shot using the Canon Powershot and even my trusty 3G iPhone. The advantage to using these small handheld devices is that you can easily run around town with them and they are unobtrusive when you whip them out to catch that something special you want to share with your friends.
When starting out, don't pay so much attention to what you're shooting on than what you are shooting. There are much better cameras on the market and I'll discuss those options later this week but these two cameras have always done right by me.
KEEP IT INTERESTING
Let's not even discuss editing yet and concentrate on these hot tips I've developed to help ensure you have enough raw footage to actually work with when you finally do sit down to edit.
KEEP IT COLORFUL...
There's nothing worse than home movies shot indoors where the entire video is filled with a boring, whitish, yellowy background and some talking head saying something we don't really care about to begin with. Try to angle your camera so the background of what your shooting includes a colorful wall, a nice painting, or even a window with a lush garden in view. Believe me, color makes everyone look better and your videos more interesting to watch.
LIGHT UP...
Unless you're looking to create a certain mood nobody wants to view one of your home movies where they have to squint to make out what the hell you're even shooting. They can hear voices or music or something but all they see is black. When shooting, turn up as many lights as you can to illuminate your subjects. Natural light is best but the light from bulbs can be just as good if you have them turned up enough. Also, make sure the source of light is pouring onto the front of your subject and not coming from behind them while you're shooting or you'll end up with a dark sillouette while everything else is lit. Not a good look. There are exceptions to this rule but keep it simple when starting out and keep your subject lit from the front as much as possible. Turn the lights back down if you don't want to kill the mood of the party when you're no longer shooting.
DON'T JUST STAND THERE...
There really is nothing more boring than watching a video when the camera angle never moves. Most people just stand in one place with there cameras while they shoot their subject. Try moving around. Circle your friends or whatever you're shooting to give the illusion of more action and interest. Move in to get a tighter shot of their face as they say something interesting but move back out again when they start gesturing or doing something that should be seen in its enitrety to offer a more comprehensive experience for your viewers.
Be careful not to crop the body in weird spots like at the knees or just above the feet, making them look unnecessarily like amputees. Also, watch how many times you zoom in and out because you don't want to make your friends feel sea sick from all the back and forth movement. Keep in mind, the closer your camera gets to the action the more audio your tiny mic will record. As you move away from your subject the harder it will be to hear what's going on and the odds of picking up annoying background noise increases. Wireless mics can be used to compensate for this problem but when shooting home movies no one really bothers with stuff like that.
Here is a video of my banker friend, Cliona, who decided to randomly turn on YOUtube and bust out some opera during a party at our loft in soho. This is a good example of moving around the subject, using natural light pouring through the windows and offering a colorful background to keep the video visually appealing.
PLAY WITH YOUR FILTERS...
The Canon Powershot offers plenty of filters to use while you're shooting. A particular favorite of mine is called color accent. This filter not only converts everything to black and white but makes one color of your choice pop out (like red, green, blue or whatever you choose). This effect can be quite dramatic and gives the illusion of a much more upgraded experience. Here is a video also shot at my loft using the color accent filter. It was night time so I made sure I had all the lights turned up to keep the performers and our friends properly illuminated to prevent everything from going the same color grey.
LOAD UP...
This tip is just what it implies, load up on lots of extra memory chips and have a spare battery on hand if at all possible. Keep one charged at all times and have two or three empty 4 gig chips ready to quickly replace the ones you've just filled up. Most people never shoot enough footage to even fill up a 2 gig chip. Big mistake! I find my friends act more naturally when I have been shooting for awhile and quite often. They forget I have the video camera going and start acting themselves again. Most people freeze up or act differently when they realize they are being recorded so this is a great trick for keepin' it real.
The more footage you record the better your odds will be to capture that perfect moment when someone says or does something so hysterical or adorable that even your most critical friends will find entertaining. Remember, it's better to have too much footage than to say to yourself, "if only I had the camera out". Of course, you'll never use most of these videos and that's kind of the point. Save the best stuff for editing and archive or delete the superfluous footage after the editing process has been completed.
Here's a video of my friend, Jennifer, discussing her experience using MATCH.COM. It's only 45 seconds but is a fair example of having the camera out and ready to go. I could tell this story was going to be funny but I didn't want to miss a thing. So, I pretended not to hear and asked her to repeat herself which she gladly did thus allowing me ample time to turn on my camera and start recording without interupting her train of thought. Remember, being unobtrusive is key when capturing real life moments.
STAY TUNED...(the editing process)
To keep this blog entry from turning into a novel, I'm going to save my segment on what it takes to edit all that great footage you'll be taking for later this week. You're not trying to win any awards here so start using some of these techniques I discussed above in the meantime. Stop leaving your camera at home and start packing it around with you everywhere or at least for the next few days. Shoot some footage around the house, in the yard, at work or while running even the most mundance errands about town. You never know what you might come across and it will be fun to have your camera on hand and ready to shoot it when it does. In a couple days, I'll have some editing techniques that will surely impress even your most discerning critiques.
WTF! How was this ever allowed to happen? It all started in 2003. Yes, 2003! I had just returned to fashion after some time working as a director for Antony Todd where we provided the decor for red carpet events, celebrity after parties and socialite functions. Having been away from my job working with 7th on Sixth they managed to find several people to do various aspects of my job leaving me free to manage without having to do so much work myself.
So, what else was a boy to do whilst sitting in a metal shipping container at fashion week in between barking out orders and wolfing down greasy, disgusting food from the deli? Create a guerilla fashion show of course! By the way, you should know this guerilla fashion show has gathered quite the cult following and still goes off mid-week each season (Sept and Feb).
Guerilla Fashion Show at NY Fashion Week: Part 1
Guerilla Fashion Show at NY Fashion Week: Pt 2
Erich Fletschinger, my assistant at the time, and I passed the time by creating random outfits and accessories made from the remants of fashion week (tarps, zip ties, black astroturf from backstage etc). That was fun for a minute but what's a collection without a proper runway show but there was nothing proper about what we were up to! So, the time came to build ourselves a runway from the spare 8'x'30' rental tables used backstage for the hair and makeup stations. After covering our runway with the leftover roofing paper and skirting the sides with black duvatine also from backstage we were ready to go. Instead of using supermodels we convinced a few of the men working on the House Crew to model our unique collection made from recycled items from the shows.
Our manager, Paul Solstys asked us to name our show after him which we gladly did. So, our show from that day forward became known as the House of Paul. It was a non-commercial event meant to inspire and blow off steam for everyone at 7th on Sixth so we were happy to do so.
The show was a massive success but to be neither Erich nor myself had actually given any thought to producing another show until our #1 supporter and 7th on Sixth's volunteer coordinator, Patty Hughs said, "Congratulations. I loved it! I can't wait to see what you guys come up with next season. You're so crazy!"
Erich and I just looked at eachother with raised brows and instantly began scheming next year's runway show. Fern Mallis, the mastermind responsible for 7th on Sixth and the creation of the tents at Bryant Park, invited us to have a show inside the tents a couple seasons later. Of course, we had to turn her down as this show is free and for everyday New Yorkers. So, keeping our show on the streets and keeping it free of commercialism made more sense. I mean where else can you have a celebrity sit next to someone from the cleaning crew in the VIP section at New York Fashion Week?
After our last season at Bryant Park, I didn't see any reason to wait until Lincoln Center to design another collection for the House of Paul show. So, I gathered what remants from backstage were leftover and began working with various friends and artists to create an entirely new collection called COLE & GARRETT'S SUPERHEROES.
The New York Times covered this story twice, once online and again in the Home Section a couple weeks later. Instead of hosting a runway show per se, Cole Nahal and I dressed our friends and artists in the collection and brought in various photographers to shoot different scenes.
Our VILLIANS and supenatural figures are nightlife personalities and freak chic kids we befriended on facebook or met on the scene. Some villians and supernatural figures include Gazelle Paulo of freakchic.com, Malik So Chic of High Society, Cynthia Powell, Lee Childers, Kimyon Huggins, Purple Pam, Valerie Geffner, Demanda Dhaling, Nancy Nose Candy, Matthew Herra and Defacto Obsolete. There are several others but I'll blog about all of them soon enough. The New York Times did a pretty bang up job of covering this story already. Looking forward to more action and adventure!
I haven't seen this many women congregated in one place in my entire life. The only men besides us were either peddling makeup or standing naked on platforms being completely covered in body paint from head to foot. I didn't know whether I should be shooting video or stuffing dollar bills in their Gstrings.
After making our rounds, Matthew Stetson and I met up with our friends at Makeup Forever who provided the makeup for the COLE & GARRETT SUPERHERO Photo Shoot in the NEW YORK TIMES as well as the people at Kryolan who supplied the makeup for the UNDEAD OF SUMMER cover photo shoot for NEW YORK PRESS. Matthew did the makeup for both of these shoots and has been building up quite a bit of press for himself this year. Check out his blog if you're a makeup whore and cannot live without your daily fix of makeup updates.
Afterwards, we walked over to Makeup Forever where Matthew was introduced with one of his idols, Dany Sanz, the companies founder and owner. I'm definitely not a makeup fanatic but Dany is not only a fabulous woman and savvy entrepreneur but a multi-dimensional artist and set designer. You know how I feel about creative people who have colorful and diverse backgrounds. Trust! I'll be posting more on Dany Sanz later this week.
We started drinking vodka and OJ at 10AM. You can imagine where the day went from there.
I still remember one of the first Mother's Day I ever celebrated. I wasn't even 5 years old yet but I had managed to wake up super early in the morning to surprise my dear mother with breakfast in bed. She awoke to find me hard at work in the kitchen greasing every single pot, pan, cookie sheet and bowl with crisco. Of course, I didn't know how to cook a thing but I had seen her grease a casserole dish before and thought that must be her secret to a fabulous meal.
A hundred and fifty years later, here I am in New York City celebrating Mother's Day with friends. We managed to polish off three bottles of vodka before spilling out into the streets of New York City for a fun-filled evening with friends at Crisis to celebrate our friend, Cynthia Powell's, birthday.
(UNDEAD OF SUMMER VIDEO FEATURED IN NEW YORK PRESS AND THEWENDYHU.COM BLOG.)
BEHIND-THE-SCENES
I recently spent the day following makeup artist, Matthew Stetson, around with my video camera in New York City while he created zombie looks for a New York Press cover shoot. It's their Summer Guide 2010 issue and is on the stands right now. If you have friends visiting from out of town or will be spending the summer in the city and are looking for things to do this summer in NYC then it's a must read.
I was excited to put together my first video using Adobe Premiere Elements to help promote Matthew's new blog. If you really love makeup you should definitely check him out. He covers everything from new products not yet on shelves and existing products to help you look fresh all summer long without your face melting off.
Wendy Hu, art director and stylist, for New York Press not only shared this video on her blog but also with her editor at the magazine who loved it. That's when Undead of Summer became my very first video to be included in a major online publication. This is very exciting for me as I have spent the last couple weeks scheming how I can position myself as that guy who makes cool behind-the-scenes videos for online magazines and newspapers here in New York City.
THE MODELS
(EXPERIMENTAL VIDEO USING SPLIT SCREEN EDITING FROM DISCARDED FOOTAGE FROM UNDEAD OF SUMMER.)
Kelly Hartie, zombie model and new friend, was great. She spent the better part of the morning running around topless being airbrushed by makeup artist, ADOLFAUX, who was brought onboard by Matthew to paint the models' entire bodies with that pale undead look while Matthew painted their faces using Kryolan Professional Makeup to look like zombies. Kelly had the right spirit and kept me laughing all morning.
Dina Sheyn, fellow model and zombie, certainly surprised me. Not only is she a pretty woman, Dina very much has a head for business and has recently started a new firm with her partner to write business plans for startup companies. During a time when many people are still losing their jobs or want to leave their unstable work situation to start their own business, Dina is ready to offer her expertise to realize that dream. I wish her all the best!
Alex Dong, actor/model and zombie, was fun to work with too. As Wendy points out in the video, Alex has some great zombie moves. Alex was the first model completely made up by Matthew Stetson and ADOLFAUXand he's all amped up and ready to go. He asked me to record him freaking out and acting like a zombie. It was awesome and instantly I knew that was the footage I was going to use to start my video, Undead of Summer.
ART DIRECTION
Let's get real. Nothing goes right everytime on every shoot. There's always something that goes wrong or differently than we'd originally planned. I couldn't tell you what any of that was because Wendytook the entire day in stride and made the entire day look effortless and seamless. I've seen many directors breakdown, throw hissy fits and tantrums when things don't go their way but not Wendy. Always the professional, friendly and personable. I really enjoyed watching her work and believe me she works her ass off! Just after this shoot she was off on a jet airplane for another gig in a distant land.
WHAT'S ON THE HORIZON
I'll be making many more of these types of behind-the-scenes style videos of special events, nightlife and photo shoots in New York City this morning. If you have something special going on and think it would make for an entertaining video then email me at info@garrettbowser.com and tell me all about it.
