Ah, the holidays!

Chestnuts roasting, noses being nipped, and hours of incomprehensible video being shot of people you can’t see or hear all that well doing… I don’t know… something near a fireplace.

Each year, websites, magazines, and newspapers publish millions of column inches on cooking the perfect holiday turkey, and virtually no column inches on shooting perfect holiday video. Which seems wrong, in that burned turkey lasts four days, but tedious holiday video is forever.

Fear not! Your video doesn’t have to suck. Here’s my checklist of the 10 steps you can follow to perfect holiday video. (For even more detail, click on the embedded links:)

Think about your story

Stories have a beginning, middle, and end. “The night we got our Christmas tree” starts with the family piling into the car, THEN shows us the kids walking through the tree lot checking out the Douglas firs, and FINALLY Mom finding that one perfect tree and everyone agreeing. Beginning, middle, and end. Just thinking about how your story goes—before you shoot it—will make your video better.

Shoot Action

Every shot in your video should have a noun and a verb, just like those sentences Mrs. Cooper taught you about in 3rd grade. “Sarah whisks the gravy” is a shot. “Sarah” without action? That’s a photograph.

Shoot short shots

You don’t need 30 seconds of Uncle Larry snoring in front of the TV after dinner. Five seconds is enough to get the point. Which is my point: when nothing else is going to happen, it’s time to end your shot. Practice shooting 5 or 10 seconds (of action, remember?) at a time.

Shoot for the face

Home video is always about people. Everyone you know will look totally different in five years. Make sure you capture who they are now. As a bonus, faces are where emotion lives. If you want to really feel your video five years from now, show us your relatives’ faces—well lit and close up.

Zoom with your feet

Zooming in from far away makes your shots look shaky. Walk closer to your subjects and zoom out (stay wide). The other advantages: 1) being closer to the action involves you and the viewer in the action, and 2) the sound on your camera mic is always better when you’re closer.

Watch your camera

Pay attention to that little video window on the back of the camera. If it looks bad when you shoot it, it will not magically look better when you watch it later. If someone’s face is too dark, move until your camera finds the light. If they’re out of focus, fix it. If you don’t like the way the frame looks, reframe. Now.

Interview your relatives

We often forget to interview people at family gatherings. But kids say the darndest things—things you’ll want to remember (and play back to embarrass them at their wedding) when they’re adults. Grandmas say the darndest things too. And so does anyone who’s been hitting the holiday cheer. Frame your questions so they don’t yield one-word answers. “Are you excited to get presents?” gets you a nod. “What do you think about Santa Claus?” gets you a story.

Represent your kids

They may be too young to shoot their own video now, but in a few years they’ll watch yours to help fill in their memories. They’ll want to know more about Grandpa, they’ll want to see what their little friends looked like then, they’ll want to see that long-lost doll unwrapped from its Christmas box. Great video with lots of detail is one gift that costs nothing.

Don’t shoot the boring stuff

If you’re bored shooting it, you—and everyone else you inflict it on later—will be bored watching it.

Change your point of view

Put your camera in front of the fireplace and shoot back at the living room. Shoot on your knees at kid height. Put a GoPro on top of the tree. Or in the refrigerator. Get creative. Have fun!

The video looks beautiful, Sandy. Nice shooting.

But you’re right that as a story, it’s lacking. Story needs 4 elements:

A Hero—who is the story about?

A Beginning—where we are now;

A Middle—some challenge or journey;

And an End—What is the result of the journey?

The folks who say "just prove your skills" for a career in film are correct. Film is a "portfolio" business.

Your film portfolio– the stuff you've done– gets you jobs in two ways: First, the finished work shows people what you're capable of– your skill and artistry. Second, your experience creating is what lets you talk with authority about the set, about your creative work– things people need to know to hire you.

Sorry, parents, but a college degree is not required for a career in film. It may help you get in the door, but so will your work, or people you've met.

Now let me go into dad-giving-advice mode (sorry, I am one):

The real question for you at 16 is how to maximize your growth for your first four years after high school. The answer to that lies in what you need to learn, and how you learn best. Try these questions to help you make your decision:

Where am I going to be pushed / inspired / managed to do my best work

You actually can just hand in a script to a producer and get work– if it's brilliant. But how do you get to be brilliant? How will you know what "brilliant" actually looks like for you? Some people learn best in a classroom. Others learn experientially– they just need to put their hands on a camera (or keyboard) and figure it out all by themselves. Still others work best as apprentices, and will thrive starting as a production assistant for a great boss in the camera department.

What's your style of learning? How will you excel?

Where am I going to do the most film work?

It might be college or art school– someplace with a great film program or a great film club. Or maybe a great school that happens to have a free equipment rental program for students. But it might also be freelancing on set as a PA or working a job while you write and shoot in your spare time, or bumming rides from coast to coast and documenting all your travels.

How will I meet other people who will grow with me?

If you go to a school that excels in a creative, artistic environment, you can meet a lot of people who share your interests. But given the choice between working as a PA in LA or taking Film 101 at Podunkberg Community College, you'll probably meet more people, and more motivated people in Los Angeles.

Do you like to take courses?

Some people thrive on the reading and writing and classroom discussion. But if not, why go? If you do go to college, you don't have to major in film (I majored in psychology.) Just be sure there are opportunities to work on film and writing in electives or extracurriculars.

What sounds like it will be the most fun?

Do you want to explore topics of interest in addition to film? Go out with friends? Not worry about a job for a bit? Then if you can swing it, go to college. It's a great place to grow up. Do you want to move to LA and just immerse yourself in the biz? People do it all the time. What you want to avoid is the choice that will make you anxious and miserable for 4 years when you should be spreading your wings.

Finally, I know these are anxious times, and this advice can sound a bit optimistic. But the film and television industry is huge. The video content creation industry is huge. The gaming industry is huge. Writing, shooting, producing, selling, production accounting, assisting– those jobs exist in all of these multi-multi-billion dollar businesses all over the world. And somebody needs to have those jobs. Why not you?

Give it your best shot. What you learn will be usable in a whole bunch of different fields, for the rest of your life.

Got Questions? I bet you do! Ask them here.

The good news is that you're on the right track. Funny, entertaining videos will always do better than dull, boring videos.

Your next step is to focus more on your audience. The more your entertaining video meets their needs, the better they will perform. So let's short-hand a process to better Audience-Focus any video:

Start by doing some quick work to brainstorm: a bare-bones planning document and shot list.

We’ll start with Audience Needs, use that to think about Look & Feel, and then make a quick shotlist. I’ll make some real estate stuff up as an example, but you can do this for any marketing video. (DISCLAIMER: You know way more about real estate than I do! But the process is what’s important here.)

Audience Needs

First, lets make a list of what the audience might want in a real estate video– from their point of view. Write down all your thoughts, then we’ll pick some to plan into the video.

• A good tour of the house
• To see it pretty quickly, and not be bored
• To see it well– enough detail to intrigue them
• To get a feel for the place. How will emotion play a part in your sale
• Some surprising facts that they’ll remember
• An entertaining host (salesperson) they will enjoy working with

Mark any of these ideas that particularly excite you and then let’s brainstorm:

Look and Feel

Think about audiencn needs as you brainstorm how the video should look and feel. Think with your emotions here: 

• Keep things bright with open windows, doors and lights
• Backyard at sunset?
• Real fires in the fireplaces
• People in some shots to show scale (kids playing?)
• Frame with clear points of interest so people know where to look
• Nicely framed shots.
• Not much camera motion.
• Close-ups of cool details.
• SHORT videos– if long break into sections
• A great voiceover
• Music

Here again mark the stuff that intrigues you. Finally: 

Shot list

Let’s use both lists to make one more: must-see shots for your video.  This list goes with you to the house as you shoot. As you brainstorm, consider: What will the audience LOVE about this property? What will they LOVE about me?

• The sunset view of the mountains behind the house
• Tilt up to the stairs in the two story entryway
• the kitchen cooktop and vent
• Avoid the guest bath
• Get details on living room molding and baseboards.
• Show how close kids room is to the parents’ room
• Shoot on-camera narration
• Shoot as if you are a person entering the house from the street for the first time
• Put out deck chairs and drinks in back yard
• GoPro shot of a a roasted chicken going from oven to dining table.

Your ideas will vary, of course. Shoot what you’d like to see– your style– based on what you know the audience would love.

Putting It All Together

You’re going to shoot and edit your shots  in a way (look and feel) that satisfies your audience’s needs. Thinking about your audience first– before you shoot anything– is the key to creating a real estate video the audience will want to watch. 

Want to ask your own question about video?  Don’t be shy!

The path to becoming a movie director can seem confusing for people trying to break in, mostly because—it is. There's no test you can take, no one who stamps your report card “ready” and points you to the hiring office (which there also isn’t one of). In fact, there's no single right way to get your first feature directing gig—everyone's story is different.

But from hearing many stories from peers, I think there are two guiding principles to getting to direct a movie:

You Have to Be Ready

You need to know how the job goes, have practiced, and created work people can look at. You need to know your craft. You can do that by working on sets and getting your pro friends together on a weekend, or you can make pretty great-looking films with your phone. Seems easy, but it still takes a lot of work, trial and error, and commitment.

While there's no “official” path, most feature directors started in web, TV, commercials, or music videos. But anything works as long as you end up with a portfolio of your work—something people can look at that you can discuss with them in a meeting. That will give them confidence in giving you their time, money, or support for your film(s).

Nobody Will “Let” You Direct.

You have to make yourself the director. Directing a feature isn't about asking for permission. It's about standing up and saying, “I would like to direct now, and here's why you should support me.” How?

If you write (or buy) an amazing screenplay, you can tell the financiers or studio, “You can only have this script if I direct.” If they want your script badly enough, then you are the director.

Or if you have a relationship with a woman who was in your acting class 10 years ago and you both absolutely loved collaborating, and now she is a famous actor, you can say, “I brought this script I acquired to Jennifer Lawrence, who loves it, and the only way the film gets made is if I direct.” If they want Jen and the script, you are now the director.

Or if you become so good and hot (i.e., well known, exciting, and expensive) in whatever TV or web videos or music videos or commercials you've been directing that producers and executives want that “thing” you've got—then you are the director.

Or you can bring money to the table: “I've raised 3 million for this script I've acquired. I will be directing.” Done.

Putting these two principles to work goes like this – when you've got the portfolio that proves you can direct, ask yourself:

• Do I have the talent to make this movie? (your own, of course—but Jennifer Lawrence's attachment helps too.)
• Is my script good enough to attract an audience?
• Will studios or friends or financiers see in my previous work a reason to invest the money?
• What can I do to upgrade my answers?

The better you do on each element, the more likely it is that your film will get made and you will be the director.

The one thing I can't help you with is how long it takes. I'm a committed “destination” guy, so I'll spare you the “journey-not-the-destination” speech. But I can promise you that the “overnight successes” you see scoring with their first films worked on their craft—and their portfolios—for years before they got to direct their first feature. I know I did.

(Hmmm... maybe it is about the journey.)

Creating a successful video is a series of decisions: why am I making a video? What will it be about? How does it begin and end? Where am I shooting? Who’s in it? And on and on.

A lot of choices, right? You know you're making your video for an audience—but you can’t stop shooting and poll them about how you should shoot a closeup of your daughter’s face, or where to put the camera in the kitchen of your restaurant.

But one audience member is always in the house. You can ask… yourself. What choice makes you happy? What choice is more beautiful, or exciting or emotional or intriguing? What will thrill that first audience?

We develop a habit of making great choices by remembering that we’re all we’ve got. We are the first audience. Whether you’re a film director on the set or a real estate agent shooting the interior of a house, the only thing you can do in the moment—the only thing anyone can do—is choose what they prefer.

You are the one making the video. You’re in charge. For each decision, your first question should be: Do I like that?

As “First Audience Member” you get to drive. To try things. To have fun. To say “I need more” from an interview or to turn the camera in a different direction on a location. The more you own those decisions, the better you get at shooting video.

This is harder than it sounds. Ownership of our creative decisions doesn’t come naturally to most people. We’re not used to publicly saying what we like. We defer to a boss or a committee. We check to see what everyone else thinks first, or how everyone else does it. We worry about what happens if we make something and nobody likes it.

You may not be sure of your abilities yet, but that comes with practice. For now, just know that you are much more like your intended audience than you are different—if you love something, they probably will too.

Will all your decisions be genius? Nope. But I guarantee that if you DON’T like what you’re shooting, nobody else with either. (Plus you’ll be kicking yourself every time you have to watch it again. Not that this has ever happened to me.)

Do you have a burning question? A smoldering question? A question not quite on fire? Ask them all here!

I do a lot of speaking and consulting on video, but by far the most rewarding is the teaching I've done since 2000 at Summer Stars Camp for the Performing Arts. 2024 is the camp’s 25th anniversary, and I’ve managed to attend 22 sessions, teaching 12–17-year-old disadvantaged kids from New York and Boston (who pay nothing to attend) how to shoot a music video. Much of my book comes out of my work teaching those kids. (I'm also on the camp board, so now must suggest that you donate at www.summerstars.org.)

One of my favorite videos over the years is the one pictured, from 2019. Here's how we taught it: