Shooting the promo

I thought of making a promo because it would be fun to do, and for a lot of people, watching a video is more fun than just reading.  I also think I'm more effective speaking than I am writing.  

I made 3 or 4 takes of this promo.  I want to write a little about my process.

My first thought was just to speak at the camera and then hold up little cards, like that old Dylan video...

Just me talking, and holding up some hand-drawn diagrams.  Thinking of the diagrams really helped me compose the piece.  So, wrote a script, including descriptions of the cards.

Take 1.  This was just reading the script from the screen.  Fairly unsatisfying.  It wasn't right to be saying all these "punchy" things, but obviously reading.  Also, because the script was on top and I was right in front of my computer, the light was reflecting off my glasses.  

Take 2.  I decided to memorize the script and put shopping bags over the glowing screen to cut out the glare.  This helped with the quality of the video, but I was still dissatisfied with the result.  It seemed to false, too staged.  Too much of a sales pitch.

BIG REALIZATION!

I've been "selling" this idea to a lot of people over the last couple of weeks, and I realized that if I just talked about the show, it would okay.  I didn't need a script so much as I needed at outline and just talk extemporaneously.  Take 2 was really about me trying to be someone appealing.  Trying to be someone else.  For this show, I just want to be myself.  I'm usually pretty good at that, but you know, you just put things on every once in a while in the hope you'll me "more" "something".  Screw that.  My old pal Toby always says, let your freak flag fly.

Take 3.  This is the final.  I'm very happy with it.  I crack myself up at a couple of points.  It has odd pauses.  I especially like the moment early when I adjust my butt and sit forward, like, "this is serious now, people".  Goofy and interesting.  Works for me.

Editing.  I pulled the video into iMovie.  I've never done anything in iMovie.  I couldn't figure out how to add images in the middle of the video without cutting the video up.  So, I added text instead of the cards I had been thinking of.  I think it works well.  I have now exhausted all of the cool effects of iMovie and can never do another video using them again.  Oh, well..