Wednesday, December 29, 2010

How long does it take to film a two-minute video?

The answer: A lot longer than you might think.

Several weeks ago, our kollel began producing two-minute parshah videos; you can find them here. Last week we started posting them on YouTube; our inaugural video is here.

This week was my turn; here it is:



Care to guess how many takes it took before I got to this one? How many cases of bad lighting, rapid blinking or wide-eyed non-blinking, situation too far down in the frame, and so on?

I was in too much of a rush, since we were about to go away on a family trip. And, in truth, after all of those takes I’m still not happy with it. I should have dropped the opening 45 seconds, treating that as a side reference and continuing to the main point. But addressing the question of when the Torah was written, and resolving a passage in which the Torah seems to refer to events that take place after its close, is just too interesting to me. Especially when it’s a chance to highlight the Ibn Ezra in action. So I went for it, and spent less time on the concluding part, with its recommendation for the viewer. Not necessarily a great bargain, but what can you do?

Maybe I should have xtranormal’d the whole thing, to avoid all of the lighting and position issues and permit a better focus on the content. Perhaps next time.

7 comments:

  1. Your tie is crooked:) Otherwise well done

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  2. where's your right eyebrow?

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  3. I hope you're joking about using xtranormal. I'm sick of it, especially after that "yeshiva guy vort" piece, everyone seems to be using it. It's cute at first but really irritating for any serious message.

    Please continue with regular videos and yasher koach - I think the first part was fine.

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  4. Cynical (but realistic?)December 31, 2010 at 12:48 PM

    Given that your time is your most precious commodity and making a two minute video that has been viewed by 125 people, does it really make sense to invest so much effort into this medium of harbatzas torah?
    I recognize that it's becoming more popular but when someone goes onto YouTube or clicks the video, are they mentally prepared to focus on torah, are they ready to be inspired? When they get up from their seat, what do they do next?

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  5. Cynical (but realistic?)December 31, 2010 at 12:49 PM

    I meant to write, "Given that your time is your most precious commodity and making a two minute video that has been viewed by 125 people ***takes so long to put together***, does it really make sense to invest so much effort into this medium of harbatzas torah?

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  6. Michael-
    Thanks

    Cynical-
    I absolutely hear you, and I often ask that question about various projects. My own two thoughts in response, though:
    1. I do expect that this will become easier over time;
    2. Sometimes, classes and programs are "loss leaders" - they get people interested, and, ultimately, help them come to more serious study.

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