In this fifth episode of Corporate Film School we look at an essential element of film language, particularly in documentary, that, despite its snappy name, gets very little attention: B-Roll. We propose that, in fact, B-Roll is so elemental to filmmaking and yet so invisible in the discourse around it, that it is the Dark Matter of the film universe, holding everything together and determining the shape
Yes, I’m upset about how cavalierly many productions now treat this vital signifier - where is the person on camera looking - but, I’m not nearly as angry as Travis Bickle is about this issue so, count yourself lucky. In this episode of Corporate Film School, we pin down the meaning and importance of eyelines. The thing is that eyelines are one of the MOST powerful aspects of a filmed pres
It turns out that where we can shoot video is the aspect of production perhaps most disrupted by the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 Pandemic quarantine. And, with most communication - both business and personal - happening through video - almost exclusively shot at home - the focus on setting has been, well, kind of hilarious. The fact is that, while there may not be a Twitter account dedicated to it (
IMHO we spend too much time and resources on making images look good and not enough on what we’re trying to communicate. In other words, on style versus content. That’s not to say that style and image quality aren’t important. In fact, image quality or, more broadly - to include lighting, sound and setting - production values, make the first impression on the audience and set expectations for the conte
When the pandemic suddenly stopped business as usual, we took a new look at our almost twenty years of making films and videos under the Pickerel Pie banner. One thing we became aware of, over that time, working with dozens of clients on hundreds of projects, is that our clients would benefit from a better understanding of the language and grammar of film. First, because the language of visual co