We are gathering footage for our 2009 Can’t Stop The Serenity Global Introduction Video,
“We Are Mighty!!”
This video will be played at every CSTS Event around the world. It will act as an introduction to the event before the film Serenity is played.
What We Need From You:
-One to three word descriptions of Firefly and Serenity. Words like “Family,” “Love,” and “Big Sci-Fi Explosions” (yes, sci-fi is hyphenated).
-Two or three of your favorite lines from the series or the film, spoken by you on camera.
-A description on why Firefly and Serenity are important to you (No more than 10 seconds). What did the series and film teach you? How did it make you feel? What message(s) did you take away from it?
Each reply can be around 10-15 seconds.
Now, for the technical aspect of this campaign:
Andrew can take multiple formats (VHS, VHS-C, Mini-DV, DVD) of your footage, but he asks for a few minor details to ensure no quality problems occur as he assembles the pieces from you:
–Background – In order to have a matching look for the entire video, we are asking your talent to be filmed in front of a white background. This could be a wall, screen or even a bed sheet (but iron it first). An off-white is fine, but stay as close to white as you can. Note: Those who send a video without a white background will NOT be featured in the introduction video.
–Audio – If you have a microphone and can keep it out of the frame (or hidden up the talent’s shirt), please do so. If not, make sure the talent is nice and loud when they speak.
–Timecode – its the nifty time that shows on the side of screen. It mainly indicates how far into the tape you are recording, but when it comes to importing it into the computer, he would need at least 5-10 seconds of buffer at the beginning and at the end of the piece you recorded. If you took the tape you plan to record on and tape over it all the way, you’ll be sure to not have any timecode breaks.
–Lighting – Andrew knows you won’t have studio quality lights, but he asks that none use (directly) overhead lights because they tend to cover your eyes and make facial features “not too shiny.” Be aware of the light hitting your talent. If a light is behind the person, they can become silhouetted and rather dark. Though sometimes when the light is front of the person, they can tend to be “washed out,” which means an overabundance of light overexposes their features. What a fitting term, eh?
–Composition – Don’t put your talent (the person being filmed) right up against the background. It will cause shadows right behind them and often lacks dimension in the composition. One further note: the lens of the camera should be level with the talent’s eyes. Too high and they’ll look like “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Part 6” and too low it will look like “Attack of the 50 Foot Talent.” Additionally, we are looking for a vast array of compositions: extreme close-ups, medium shots (head to waist) and full-person shots. Be creative. If there is some motion in the shot, it is fine; you don’t have to be held down by a tripod, but we are trying to avoid a lot of shaky-cam shots. We don’t want the audience to get too dizzy before the show (like my cunning cinematography last year).
Uploading or Sending:
If you can send the clip over the internet, Andrew recommends using megaupload or yousendit.com to email the files to him. He can accept .mov and .wmv files, though .wmv’s tend to lose a lot of quality due to compression. If you are trying to send this via Windows Movie Maker, please just snail mail the tape. WMM tends to import the footage already at low quality so whatever changes you make from it, it will still retain its bad quality and appearance. Once again, Andrew can accept Beta, VHS, Mini-DV, DVCam, VHS-C and DVD. The size Andrew would require for the videos sent digitally would be 720 x 480 pixels.
If you need to snail mail the tape or media to Andrew directly, he can provide his home address through his email: almarnik@cantstoptheserenity.com.
