Smart Video School

Video projects often need some background music to help set the tone and mood of the story. Of course, there are dozens of stock music companies that will sell a variety of music tracks from a few dollars to thousands per track or collection. When your budget is tight, there are other options for music. There are creative commons music outlets as well as individuals and companies that are willing to allow you to use their music tracks. Most often the basic tradeoff for using a track from these sources is attribution.  If you choose a creative commons track or a track from an individual, make sure to check out the required agreement or licensing. There is some really good music out there, however, you often get what you pay for. I've discovered that the best free music tracks are used over and over again. Here is just a small sampling of sources of creative commons music. Remember to read the fine print before you incorporate any of these music tracks into your project. ...

What is a Vox Pop? Vox pop is a Latin term for "Voice of the People". You may hear the same concept referred to as a "Man on the Street" (MOS) or "Person on the Street" (POS). Source: https://www.voxpops.com/what-is-a-vox-pop/ The idea is to stop people on the street to ask a question. Stopping people on the street to ask for opinions is not scientific, and the results can't be used to really tell what any particular group, community, or population is thinking. However, there are many reasons to do a Vox Pop. Source: https://c60media.com/how-to-shoot-a-vox-pop Source:  In the Spirit of Thanksgiving Reasons to Use A Vox Pop A Vox Pop allows for opinions from real people in connection to a legitimate study. A reporter can ask people's views about the survey or study results. A Vox Pop can help get a feel for people's thoughts about a specific event or issue. The journalist needs to clarify that this is just a sampling of people w...

One of the most common tasks in video journalism is to shoot an interview with some accompanying b-roll and then edit the two together to make a story. An interview alone can be powerful, but an interview with complementary b-roll that shows or demonstrates what is being said in the interview makes it much more appealing. Tutorial Using Adobe Rush for Interview with Five-Shot Sequence Tutorial Using iMovie for Interview with Five-Shot Sequence   Example of Finished Interview with Five-Shot Sequence Guidelines for Proper Interview Video and Audio Five-Shot Sequence Directions Five-Shot Sequence Example Overview of Interview with Five-Shot Sequence B-Roll Project Time: 25-60 seconds Clips: Interview Sequence: One five-shot sequence  (Links to an external site.) Natural Sound: Include properly balanced natural sound as appropriate to the video. Interview...