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I’ve seen alot of people try to learn motion graphics and videography, and I’ve obviously learned it myself in the past. I’ve also seen alot of videos posted on the internet as a result of these learnings. One thing that I’ve noticed is what separates the better videos from the others are the little details in the video.

What do I mean by the little details? Well what I mean are things like, a little bit of easing on those keyframes when the object moves, the composition of the shot, the tightness of the edit, the little bounce as the layer comes into frame or the way a particular shot is lit.

These are the things you develop and learn the more you do motion graphics or make videos, and these are the things your peers will look for when watching your video. Don’t worry about not spotting these straight away, your eye will develop for these things with your experience.

So next time you make that video what should you be looking out for?  Well how about some of the following.

• Composition of the shot
• How shallow or deep your depth of field is
• The lighting
• Tightness of your edit
• Pace of your edit
• The music or sound effects
• Sound Levels
• Easing in your animation
• The timing of your animation (is it too quick or too slow)
• Have you added motion blur (this tends to make things look better when they move)
• The colour scheme
• The typography
• The story

Remember to have a think about all these things when you start and as you work through your next project. Is there anything else you would add to the list?

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So, what does professional mean? I decided to write this article a little after the release of Apple’s Final Cut Pro X and the fallout from that.  On the day of it’s release, there were numerous people on Twitter and various blogs crying foul of Apple saying the app didn’t have some professional features, and it couldn’t be used for professional use. This got me thinking of what features of an app make it professional and, in general, what does it mean to be professional?

So what does professional mean?

What exactly does being professional mean. Does being professional mean using specific apps? Does getting paid for your job make you professional? Can someone making a video for free not be professional? Is it the way a person acts that makes them professional? Am I not a professional because I use this piece of hardware and not that piece of hardware.  Let’s have a look at some of the things we mentioned and consider what being a professional means.

Hardware

What hardware make us professional? I think this is something that constantly moves. If we look back at the history of making video, what constituted a professional video camera in the 1980’s or 1990’s would probably look antiquated and some people would consider it unprofessional to use it these days. It can’t shoot in HD? It doesn’t have an SDI output? Well, then maybe it isn’t professional these days. You also have to look at newer technologies such as the DSLR [camera] and how these are slowly being accepted as being able to shoot professional video in some circumstances.

The computer you use was also considered, by some, for a short while, to denote whether you’re professional or not. Some years ago, being a creative professional and owning an Apple Mac went hand in hand.

I also think we can look at my previous article ‘Grab a Bargain and Don’t Always Buy New‘, and [ask yourself] does buying brand new or the latest and greatest equipment make you professional, or are you still a professional if you buy second hand or slightly out dated equipment.

Software

What constitutes professional software is how I came up with the idea for this article. I think software is a similar situation to hardware. Just because you have the latest release from Apple or Adobe, can you automatically make professional video?

If you are an editor who still edited movies by hand these days, would you be considered a professional or just someone who had an interest in the ways films use to be edited.

Even if you are using a non linear editor such as Avid, Final Cut or Premiere Pro, etc., which one of these constitutes a professional applications. Does using Avid automatically make you a professional? I think until the release of the previous version of Final Cut, unless you could edit on Avid then you were not considered a professional editor. Can you still be a professional if you use Final Cut or Premiere? You have to look a the fallout of the release of the new version of Final Cut Pro X and people crying foul that it wasn’t professional. Does that mean if you use Final Cut Pro X to edit then your not a professional? The same goes for Sony Vegas. If I edit with this, am I not a professional? I think all the applications mentioned can be used to create professional video in one form or another.

Pay

If you make money out of making videos are you a professional video maker? Also, with this, how much money do you need to make to be considered a professional? $20,000 a year?  $40,000?  In a junior role, are you considered a professional yet, or do you have to wait until you’ve moved up the ladder before you can truly be considered a professional.

We can also consider the issue of outsourcing here. Increasingly, in all industries, outsourcing is taking place where projects or parts of projects go overseas because it is cheaper (often due to currency exchange rates). If people are working for less than you but still have the same skills, then are they still professionals? Surely they are because there using the same hardware and software as you.

So can we answer what professional is?

As you can see from the previous paragraphs, there doesn’t seem to be a particular set up of software, hardware and pay that constitutes being a professional. Sometimes being a professional is also moving target–what it took to be a professional in the past would probably only get you so far to being a professional now.

In my opinion, what it takes to be a professional is various things. I think which software you use is getting less and less relevant these days. I think you can make professional videos in Avid, Old Final Cut, Premiere or even Final Cut Pro X! Certainly being a good editor is more about having good solid editing skills rather than using a particular piece of software to edit. I even think I could make a good attempt to edit with windows movie maker!

I think for some hardware there is a level that is professional, when it comes to video cameras for example, having manual controls on your camera and sometimes things like having XLR inputs make a camera professional. Although with some good lighting you could certainly make a good video on a Handycam to!

I also think getting paid for making videos also makes you professional along with what software and hardware you use. Not that just because you don’t get paid doesn’t mean you haven’t got professional skills.

Overall, I think it takes a combination of the hardware, software and pay to make you a professional. I also think that having certain skills is what makes us professional. If you have the skills, you can make decent video using a lot of different hardware and software. But, as we previously mentioned, all this a moving target so we all have to make sure we keep up to stay relevant in our industries.

So, what does professional mean to you? Let me know in the comments below.

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With a recent surge in the number of 3D movies being released, it seems that 3D is certainly enjoying the spotlight. The last year alone has seen the release of My Bloody Valentine, Bolt, Coraline, G-Force, Monsters vs Aliens, The Final Destination and Up, and that is by no means a definitive list. This begs the question of why now, and is the rise of 3D movies worth talking about? In order to obtain more insight into this matter, we need to think about the good, the bad, and the future of cinema.

The Good

Perhaps the biggest advantage 3D movies have right now is that they are still a novelty. Yes, this year has seen an influx of them, but they do have a long way to go before they outnumber 2D movies. For now, 3D movies do seem to be high on studio’s agendas, and they are being used to breathe new life into otherwise forgotten or badly reviewed movie franchises. Only time will tell as to how successful this will be.

Another string to the 3D bow is that there is the potential to take audiences into the reality on the screen. I recently watched a 3D horror movie and people were jumping in their seats and grabbing in the air. There was a fun, social energy in the auditorium; one that I have never experienced with a 2D movie. 3D undoubtedly makes what we are seeing more vivid and dare I say it, real. We can almost touch the world the characters exist in, and there have been a few rare moments where I felt like I was at the same table as the characters I was watching. But ‘rare’ is the key word here; it isn’t always that easy to blur the boundary between our worlds and the worlds on the cinema screen, which leads nicely onto the downside of 3D movies.

The Bad

Some movie-goers have experienced motion sickness during a 3D movie. It is yet to be determined if it’s the 3D itself or the glasses. Either way, there has been a strong correlation between 3D movies and headaches and sickness. The glasses are another argument against 3D movies. Some may have no qualms, but for others, they can be uncomfortable and distracting. Thankfully, we have moved away from the days of cardboard glasses, and cinemas now offer plastic specs at an extra cost.

Another negative aspect is style over substance. A 3D movie might well break all box office records but it could be awful in terms of narrative, character development and emotional impact. The Final Destination was a recent example of this. The story was ridiculous, the acting less than impressive, and the characters forgettable, yet it managed to find an audience and was by no means a disaster.

Currently, 3D is an exciting experience on the big screens, but what about when we watch these movies at home? I recently watched Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D at home and it didn’t quite work; not for me anyhow. My TV is of average size, and the 3D effects simply did not translate well. At this moment in technological time, 3D movies provide little to no dimensional impact on the small screen, and that isn’t the only area where they fail to transcend.

Lastly, modern 3D genres are limiting. The majority of 2009’s 3D releases fall into the category of animation, placed alongside a few horror movies thrown in for cheap thrills. When will we see a stunning 3D movie from another genre?

The Future

In a recent issue of Empire Magazine, Peter Jackson was reported saying that he wants to make 3D versions of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, but the Warner Bros. says there aren’t enough 3D screens to justify this. Jackson also has 3D visions to release a remake of the classic 1954 film, The Dam Busters. With a budget of £24 million, this will certainly be on everyone’s watchlist. There is still a long way to go before 3D can really dominate and as it currently stands, such movies can only be shown in selected cinemas. James Cameron’s action/adventure/sci-fi  movie Avatar is imminent, and if we believe the hype and the articles to date, it may change the face of cinema forever according to CNN. It is also reported that 2010 will see the release of a 3D television, and we are also promised 3D versions of Toy Story and a tie-in 3D computer game. Regardless of all the arguments against it, 3D looks to have a big future ahead of it.

Further Reading

• 3-D Film at Wikipedia
• The Illustrated 3D Movie List
• AMC’s Top Ten 3D Movies