Our Product is Explanation
All posts for “Behind the Scenes”
Behind the Scenes: Making Cut-Outs
Posted by: leelefever on October 8, 2012- 11:00am
Categories: Behind the Scenes, cut-outs, explanation specialist, membership
Things are abuzz at Common Craft these days. The book is coming out very soon and we're working on new tools and services that will help you become an explanation specialist.
For example, we will soon be offering Common Craft members a library of over 500 colored "cut-outs" just like the ones in our videos. These high quality image files can be downloaded and used in presentations or in making Common Craft Style videos. Yay!
Of course, creating a library of cut-outs requires some strategy. ... Continue Reading
Scenes from a Common Craft Video Shoot
People often wonder what it looks like to make a Common Craft video. So, every once in a while, we take photos as we're making a video. This video shoot is for a forthcoming title that's under wraps, but will come out within a month or two.
To acheive the light we want, we work with four really bright halogen lights. They're so bright that I wear sunglasses when recording - it feels like I get a bit of a tan each shoot. This is Sachi getting things set up.
Prior to shooting, we go through a... Continue Reading
Making the Election Video: Behind the Scenes
Posted by: leelefever on September 1, 2008- 5:00pm
Categories: Behind the Scenes, election, government, home, lessons, ourwork, video
People often ask for a look at how we make the videos. When we were putting together the the "Electing a US President" video, I made a special point to take photos of the process. Here's how it works:
Every video starts with a script. If there is "secret sauce" it happens in writing the script because the script drives the video. We use Google Docs to collaborate until we feel like the script is close to finished. Then, we start looking at a thumbnail storyboard.
I draw the scenes for the... Continue Reading
The Tools of Our Trade (analog version)
Posted by: leelefever on December 12, 2007- 4:00pm
Categories: art, Behind the Scenes, lesson, ourwork, paperworks, productions
Like our videos, the tools we use to make them are quite simple. Below is a quick tour of some of the non-electronic elements of our productions...
The photo below represents a near-complete selection of the tools we use almost everyday to create illustrations and videos. You can view the photo below with "notes" on Flickr.com.
Because neither of us brought video production/scripting/storyboarding experience to the table, we've tinkered our way through and created a couple of resources that... Continue Reading