Pros offer tips at Morristown ‘Video 101′ seminar

By Tom Corigliano

Michael Butler and Eric Ruhalter are no strangers when it comes to making videos.

Butler, a former senior director for Court TV and truTV, and Ruhalter, a senior writer and producer for AMC TV, were featured guests at the proposed Morristown Eco Center on Monday night for Video 101, an event presented by MorristownGreen.com.

They shared how-to’s for aspiring filmmakers of all ages, during an evening meant to encourage people to submit movies to the Fourth Annual MorristownGreen.com Film Festival, which will be held in late August.

Ruhalter, author of The KidDictionary, discussed Good For the Earth, his short comedy that was voted Best Picture at last year’s festival.

He shot the video with friends from Morristown’s Cutler Park neighborhood over three days; he lost track of how much time he spent editing the footage.

His advice was to carefully plan what you intend to shoot… and shoot plenty of extra footage, or “B roll,” from multiple angles.

Butler, who directed live coverage of some of the most sensational trials in U.S. history, including the O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson cases, showed videos made by his broadcasting students at Morristown High School.

He emphasized the importance of capturing clean audio and rock steady video: A tripod is a videographer’s best friend. He also said the best way to convey a sense of movement is to let subjects travel across the frame rather than tracking them “like a NASCAR race.”

Both men stressed that movies are about storytelling: They should have a beginning, middle and end. All the flashy special effects in the world are wasted if the underlying story is not compelling, Butler said.

Some of his students were in the audience and they chimed in with recommendations on cameras and techniques.

In the 1980s, MTV introduced a quick-cut editing style that has come to dominate reality TV. While it’s jumpy and jarring to some older viewers, Morristown High student Justin Marks said he likes the style when it fits the content of a program, particularly for action shows.

The evening was moderated by MorristownGreen.com Editor Kevin Coughlin, who compared storytelling via print and video. He suggested trying to compose every video shot like a still photograph.

Although MHS students are equipped with cameras costing thousands of dollars, excellent results can be achieved for much less.

David Wood, a member of the audience, raved about his Panasonic Lumix camera, a $400 point-and-shoot that records high-definition video. Flip cameras and iPhones also can yield surprisingly good HD video.

(The night began with a moment of silence for the affordable Flip, discontinued this month by Cisco Systems. Cisco paid more than half a billion dollars to acquire Flip in 2009, but video-shooting smart phones like the iPhone have improved dramatically since then.)

The advantage of pricier cameras is faster lenses, longer zooms, better image stabilization and better performance in low light, among other features.

Likewise, costly programs such as Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere offer powerful editing tools. Yet the panelists agreed that superb videos can be made with iMovie and MovieMaker, which ship with Macs and PCs, respectively.

Video 101 was the first of five seminars to be hosted at the proposed EcoCenter by MorristownGreen.com, in cooperation with Sustainable Morristown.

The next one will be on Tuesday, May 3. The focus will be on songwriting, featuring four top local talents: Grover Kemble of Za Zu Zaz fame, Blaire Reinhard of the Blaire Reinhard Band, Adeo of Universal Rebel, and singer-songwriter Bill Griese. All of the seminars are open to the general public free of charge.

Promoters of the EcoCenter hope to convert the former Mini Cooper dealership at 55 Bank St. into a sustainable business incubator, organic restaurant, commercial kitchen and performance space, among other things.

As for Video 101, it left one with a sense of urgency to go out and make movies. With many inspired prospective filmmakers on hand Monday, it’s a safe bet that the Film Festival will heat up the Morristown Green come August.

Editor’s note: Our thanks to everyone who came to Video 101 and shared their knowledge, and to Eric Ruhalter and Mike Butler for being great panelists. Also, thank you to Paul Miller of Sustainable Morristown and Jonathan Cloud and Lori Sandler of the Sustainable Business Incubator for their hospitality at the EcoCenter, and to Melody McGinley Whitelaw of The Main Event for her delicious brownies and cupcakes.

Still to come at the EcoCenter, at 55 Bank St.:

MG Songwriters Night, May 3: Where do great songs come from? Gifted songwriters talk about the magic behind the music.

MG Cartoonists Night, May 13: Want to start a comic strip?  Three cartoonists tell you how.

MG Fun With Words, May 17: Poetry, hip-hop, beat boxing, improv and more.

MG Kids Art Show, May 25: Kids art, tips on green cooking for kids, a live art project, and more. (This event starts after school, at 2:30 pm.)

READ MORE ABOUT THE PROPOSED MORRISTOWN ECOCENTER

WATCH VIDEO: ‘GOOD FOR THE EARTH’

And the winner is…’Good for the Earth,’ as voted by spectators at the Third Annual MorristownGreen.com Film Festival

It’s hunting season for Litterbugs! 

We saved the best for last–on the program, and online.

Good for the Earth was the overwhelming spectator choice for Best Picture at last week’s Third Annual MorristownGreen.com Film Fest.  This short comedy by Eric Ruhalter made everyone laugh with its riotous sendup of overzealous environmentalists.

We’re not sure if all the prescriptions in this film are good for the earth. But they’re certainly good for the funny bone, and that’s a start.

Congratulations to Eric and his cast for an inspired bit of whimsy that delivered food for thought in a tasty serving.

READ MORE:

Eric Ruhalter’s ‘Good for the Earth’ wins Best Picture at Third Annual MorristownGreen.com Film Fest

Morristown native Eric Ruhalter makes a serious message fun for Friday’s Morristown Film Fest

Complete coverage of the Third Annual MorristownGreen.com Film Fest

Playlist of all the videos from the Third Annual MorristownGreen.com Film Fest

‘Elegiac Dance’ remembers a fallen friend; from the MorristownGreen.com Film Fest

Today we post the final two entries from the Third Annual MorristownGreen.com Film Festival.

Elegiac Dance was conceived as a tribute to Lauren Failla, a lovely young woman who left us too soon.

For this year’s festival theme, I asked filmmakers to incorporate music from local artists. When I heard composer Jim Hicks’ hauntingly beautiful submission, Elegiac Dance, it instantly reminded me of a dance piece by Daniel Knapp.

Danny now is famous for his Morristown High School rap valedictory.  But he also is a champion ballroom dancer. At a scholarship presentation earlier this spring, the Arts Council of the Morris Area showed video of Danny and his instructor, Adriana Chessa, performing an original waltz routine.

They were elegant and lyrical–just like Jim’s piano piece.

When I matched rough video of the dance routine with a fuzzy 1993 cassette recording of Jim’s composition, it was eerie how well they matched.

On a muggy July day, Jim patiently re-recorded several takes of Elegiac Dance inside the Morristown Presbyterian Church on the Green, where he will celebrate 25 years as music director next month.

The next stop was the Nash Dancenter in Randolph. Brian and Jennie Nash generously allowed use of their pristine studio on a Friday night/Saturday morning.

I was fortunate to collaborate for the second straight year with Brett Glassberg, a Chester resident who is studying film at the University of Texas at Austin. (Watch for his transition sequence between the ballerina and ballroom segments.)

The Nash Dancenter is a busy place, and our shooting time was limited. So Brett and I set up two cameras to capture multiple angles as quickly as possible.

A couple of experiments–notably, a hastily rigged wheeled contraption for a rolling “trucking” shot–ended comically. (Look for the blooper outtakes in a subsequent posting.)

Our dancers were a dream to work with.

Ballerina Alice Nemecek, who was recommended by MorristownGreen.com contributor Diego Ortiz, choreographed her routine and performed it for our cameras several times, on a steamy evening (even with air conditioning), after a long week at her day gig.

The following morning–another sweltering day–Danny and Adriana donned costumes and cheerfully repeated their three-minute routine for an hour as Brett and I repositioned cameras.

Archival footage was shot last September at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown.

Our thanks to everyone who helped us on this project.

Kapow! Superhero rap video ‘Way Too Young’ takes third-place at MorristownGreen.com Film Fest

You’re only young once, so make it good. Sounds like a serious message, but it’s delivered with comic book flair in Kevin Ruth’s Way Too Young, a music video featuring Jesse James and Universal Rebel.

The video’s catchy melodies and fun graphics earned Kevin third place–good for tickets to “An Evening with Kevin Smith” at the Community Theatre–at last week’s Third Annual MorristownGreen.com Film Fest.

The 19-year-old Morris Plains resident plans to mix some film courses with his engineering studies at the University of Maryland this fall. We hear he may minor in crime fighting.

‘Time Has Flown’ celebrates longboarding at MorristownGreen.com Film Fest

Yes, they should wear helmets. Putting that aside, Time Has Flown is really fun to watch. We didn’t know anything about longboarding before seeing this video at the Third Annual MorristownGreen.com Film Fest.

Actually, we still don’t know much about it, except that it’s like surfing on pavement and Morristown’s Connor Bosworth & friends seem quite good at it.

E.J. Enright provides the music, and some of the footage, as a member of the longboard team.

‘Quaking Fourth Graders,’ from the MorristownGreen.com Film Fest

Who knew earthquakes could be educational?  Morristown teacher Jeff Brown always seems to find a way to motivate his students, as he demonstrates in Quaking Fourth Graders.

The movie was shot at the Thomas Jefferson School, and it was screened last week at the Third Annual MorristownGreen.com Film Festival.

The soundtrack is by The Community and the Blaire Reinhard Band.

No speed traps here: ‘Scenes from an MG’ races through the MorristownGreen.com Film Fest

Nial McCabe and Linda Lower live in the fast lane.

Scenes from an MG offered proof at last week’s Third Annual MorristownGreen.com Film Festival. And if ever a movie was made for Busterman’s song Home Team, it’s this one. Like peanut butter-and-jelly…wolfed down at 100 mph.

Video: Getting to the bottom of Morristown’s Lake Pocahontas legend, from the MorristownGreen.com Film Fest

A study last year suggested passive recreational uses for Morristown’s Lake Pocahontas.

Lake what?

I knew about Speedwell Lake. But where was this Lake Pocahontas?

Some investigation uncovered a secluded splash of nature about three minutes from the bustling Morristown Green.  I dug deeper and learned a dark secret that has haunted this urban oasis since… long before the dawn of urban.

That mystery forms the core of The Legend of Lake Pocahontas, set to the music of No Use for Humans, Universal Rebel and Christine DeLeon. The movie premiered last week at the Third Annual MorristownGreen.com Film Fest.

Someday, perhaps, a “Director’s Cut” will be released. The back story of this movie has many twists and turns, including a startling encounter with police.

I was filming on the shores of Lake Pocahontas with my cinematic sidekick, college film student Brett Glassberg, when not one, not two, but three patrol cars came roaring down the dirt path. Through a speaker, an officer ordered us to move our parked vehicle to let them pass–NOW!

Moments later, one of the officers returned on foot.

The patrolman said he did not want to alarm anyone, but cautioned us to stay alert. Someone had reported seeing a man with a gun walking through these woods.

One of our actors had brought along his two little girls. They looked scared. We tried to conceal our fright.

Needless to say, we shot our scenes very quickly and got out of there!

Later, it occurred to us that we probably had seen the gunman, too.  We think he may have looked something like this:

Video: ‘Glutenfolk’ finds static in Hollywood-on-the-Hudson, from the MorristownGreen.com Film Fest

Glutenfolk, by Maxwell Rudd, was among the more unusual entries in last week’s Third Annual MorristownGreen.com Film Fest.

As he explains, this movie explores the dark side of young Hollywood-in-Jersey: Struggling actors, sketchy writers and self-destructive directors. Max, who is 20, told MG correspondent Nayna Shah that he aspires to break through all that and make his mark in the movie industry.

The film’s soundtrack includes Runnin’ and Hidin’, written by local jazz wizard Grover Kemble and performed by his up-and-coming kids band, The Members.

Video: ‘A New Day,’ second-place winner in the MorristownGreen.com Film Fest

For last week’s Third Annual MorristownGreen.com Film Fest, we asked aspiring filmmakers to use songs contributed by great local musicians.

The second-place entry, as voted by the audience, was a splendid marriage of music and imagery. A New Day by Diana Wilcox, an Episcopal seminarian, chronicles the Morristown Church of the Redeemer youth mission trip to Louisiana, set to Christine DeLeon’s shimmering New Days.

Diana won a tripod from Sandrian Camera and tickets to a great show at the Community Theatre.

We’re posting movies in the order that we showed them last week. This was the third short film on the bill. Congratulations to Diana and her youth group for a lovely video, and for a week well spent down south.

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