2 Educators providing Video Production courses in Edinburgh

Do you use video as a tool to promote your charity, business, organisation or campaigns? And if you don’t, do you feel as if you ought to? Videos account for more than 80% of all consumer internet traffic. So the pressure to use video as a marketing and PR tool has increased enormously. But the cost can be prohibitive. Using a video production company, such as ours, might be ideal, but for many it is out of reach – particularly if, like many of our clients, you’re a charity. However, there is an alternative, which more and more organisations are choosing, especially those which need to produce regular digital content. That is to produce the video yourself. Nowadays, you do not even need to invest in a video camera. All you need is your smart phone, some simple equipment you can buy on Amazon for as little as £80, plus your laptop or PC. This is why we have developed a new smartphone video training course, Smart Video. Our smartphone video training course covers: Equipment – including setting up your phone, microphones, tripods and editing programmes Planning your video Techniques to give your films broadcast-quality polish Getting the perfect shot – including shot sizes, positioning the camera, framing, lighting, sound, sequences and backgrounds Filming interviews An introduction to editing Producing videos for social media Bespoke training The course can be tailored to the type of videos you need to make. If most of your videos will be interviews, we’ll focus on presenting your interviewee in the best possible light – literally. If, on the other hand, you need to film buildings, events or products, we’ll tailor the course accordingly. If your video needs a script, we’ll give you tips and techniques on how to “write to pictures”, so your messages comes across well. And on all our courses, we’ll give you a guide to the best equipment and apps to use to enhance your filming and editing. The smartphone video course will be led by Paul Curran who has many years experience producing, filming and editing films and videos, for the BBC and corporate clients.

This 6 week course will support you to make the most of the range of applications Adobe Premiere Pro offers in the production of video. Sample footage will be provided for you throughout the course, but you can also bring along your own video files to work on. The course is quite technical so some computer experience is required. We use Macs on the course – the Premiere interface is the same across operating systems but some shortcuts and menu items are different. Week 1- The basics This week we’ll start with some of the basics, introducing you to editing and Premiere Pro through: A short history of editing; from analogue to digital Getting to know the layout of Premiere Pro Working with ‘bins’ (folders) and creating edit Sequences Making selects from the rushes and sound files by creating in and out points Introducing clips to the timeline and making a simple edit with music Understanding rendering for smooth, full quality playback Week 2- Editing narrative sequences This week we’ll get further stuck into editing by building narrative, focus on offline editing‚ better organisation of your projects and breaking down footage through: Re-linking lost or moved footage Video ingest – importing and organising clips Organising and breaking down rushes using annotated markers and sub-clips Basics of the effects and motion settings Using our skills to create a simple narrative sequence Editing a dialogue sequence Considering the best ways of exporting your film for online Learn Adobe Media Encoder for more efficient exporting Week 3- Video settings, effects & titles This week we will focus in on what makes up video from a technical standpoint. We will then look at how we can work with and alter these parameters for different uses in our films through: Transcoding – converting the footage into an editable file and understanding codecs and meta data Adjusting scale and positioning and using motion keyframes to create movement over time Adding titles and animating them Applying transitions and various stock video effects Layering tracks and using opacity and different layer blending effects Creating masks and using motion tracking Working with green-screen footage, creating mattes, mask filters and working with multiple layers Week 4- Audio & sound This week we’ll consider the importance of sound design and music for narrative and atmosphere in film and experimental video through: Learning how to enhance your film with sound and music Introducing audio and music to the timeline, cutting and leveling Laying down music and cutting the footage to fit Building sound design around an existing edit with sync-sound and SFX Common practice and different approaches for syncing external microphone audio and video Mastering the audio and making sure that it is all levelled Learning how to create subtitles for our films and different methods to export/embed them Week 5- Colour This week we’ll start looking at colour in our videos and what role that plays. We will look at the process of colour grading and changing the mood in our films through: Using Lumetri Colour, the colour-correcting function within Premiere Pro CC Matching the colour of different cameras to create a similar look Creating different “colour grades” to create different atmospheres Stylising our footage Understand the colour limitations of video files and the importance of exposure when filming Working with tracked masks to isolate certain areas within your image to colour correct Week 6- Putting it all together In our final week we will get the opportunity to experiment with all the skills we’ve learned to create an opening sequence for a tv series. This is also a great opportunity to revisit any topics from previous weeks.   Courses are subject to minimum enrolment. Please register early, within five days of the start date, to reduce the likelihood of course cancellation. Please read our cancellation policy before booking. Students, anyone over the age of 65, and those in receipt of any form of benefits can claim the concessionary price, offering a 10% discount on the full course price. Valid proof of eligibility must be produced on the first day of the course. Please use the code CONCESSION when prompted at checkout.