A Conversation with Seth Hancock
Seth Hancock is the Production Manager for the Convention and Visitors Bureau for the city of Indianapolis. He produces an amazing video podcast called 'Doing Indy' and most recently he directed a music video/branding piece for the city with Indiana crooner Jon McLaughlin titled For You From Me.
Seth and Michele Yamazaki from Toolfarm discuss the finer points of green screening and Seth gives some terrific tips on getting the perfect time lapse.
Check out the Doing Indy Podcast and the Doing Indy MySpace.
Chat transcripts
Michele Yamazaki: Hi Seth.
Seth Hancock: Hi Michele.
MY: Can you fill our readers in about your most recent project, the Indianapolis branding video with Jon McLaughlin?
SH: Sure. We were looking at various ways to create a new video that really showcased what Indianapolis was all about. It is easy to do a 1-2 minute video set to fast music with a lot of images. We've seen that before; everyone's done that.
SH: So we wanted to find something unique that we could call our own. I came across musician Jon McLaughlin and thought "Here's a great guy from Indiana would could bring a fresh, young and hip aspect to what we are wanting to accomplish." I started contacting him and his people and 5 months later we have a finished product.
MY: Very cool. He seems like the perfect choice for the video. His music has mainstream appeal and he's good looking
SH: Well, that was one of the elements in contacting Jon (the whole appeal thing). And, yes, he is a good looking guy as well as a nice guy. We needed to make sure we chose someone who wouldn't end up "coked-up in a hotel room with a couple of hookers." Thank goodness Jon is not "that guy."
MY: Haha, yeah, very good thing.
MY: The footage in the video is beautiful.
SH: Thank you very much. We shot almost everything with the exception of the sports footage (i.e. Colts, Pacers, Motor Speedway, etc.). We used a Panasonic SDX-900 set to 24Pa mode with a Chroziel Matte Box equipped with polarizing soft focus filters for all shots (for continuity purposes).
MY: It really shows off Indianapolis.
MY: Can you talk a bit about the green screen sequences you shot for the video?
SH: Well it first started with shooting the back plate. We knew when we conceived this video that we wanted to put an element of green screen work into play. So, to make things easier we went and shot three hours of traffic in downtown Indy on an absolutely beautiful day. So, the hard work was done.
SH: There was a lot of work in making this happen though...
SH: We made certain we measured the distance my stand-in was from the camera as to emulate Jon once we had him at the sound stage, took notice of the lighting (with a light meter), focal distance, iris settings and shutter. We wanted to re-create the same information and scene once we were at the sound stage and working with Jon.
MY: The compositing is spot on. What were the challenges that you encountered with having to be so precise? I can imagine changes in lighting might be an issue.
SH: Where do I start?
SH: The hardest part was making Jon fit the background. You know you can make all the preparations you need to match foreground and background but until you have shot the back plate and the green screen footage and you start to composite you really don't know what you have or what you are going to be up against.
SH: For instance, the most difficult element of this particular composition was the heavy, heavy contrast in the buildings on the back plate. The contrast was heavy but the shadows on Jon's face were not. This posed a number of problems.
SH: Color correcting the scenes to match each other took a couple of days with a couple of variations on each shot.
SH: The second hardest element is the chroma key work. This was done in Shake and After Effects.
SH: While it doesn't seem like Jon has a lot of movement, his hands posed the biggest problem when trying to key him out for the shot.
SH: I basically did the key in four segments... First, I rotoscoped his pants since they were light enough to cause problems against the green screen. Then I keyed his torso, arms and neck. Then I keyed his face and hair and finally rotoscoped and keyed his hands to get the best key possible.
MY: Do you use Keylight or something else?
SH: I used Keylight in both AE and Shake.
MY: Did you learn any good tricks during the process?
SH: You know, I had done some keying before but nothing this complicated. What I have found is that so many people (especially in online tutorials) try to make keying look easy. Good keys take time and people really need to learn that. Make your minimum and maximum mattes, rotoscope if you have too. Really utilize a light wrap, etc. Good keys take a lot of work but make the final scene that much more believable and compelling.
MY: I always tell my students to make sure they light the background evenly and don't light the subject too hot.
MY: Good keys do take a long time. Your keys look terrific.
SH: Well, I had the luxury of being able to hire a local company "Hammer Lighting and Grip" who are skilled in the art of lighting. Derek Hammer has worked on countless commercials and films and knows his stuff. The one thing I learned from him that will always stick with me is that he makes sure to light the subject first (to match the back plate) and then lights the green screen to make certain everything is nice and even. This was something I had not seen or heard before. Most everything I have read says to light the screen first then the subject. I like Derek's approach.
MY: That's a really good tip. I've always done it the opposite way, too, with mixed results
SH: It was important to have the back plate shot first. I had a meeting with Derek before the GS shoot to show him the footage, light readings, focal distance, etc. While we were at the shoot we had some color stills printed from the footage to use as reference points. Since we had those stills, it was easier to light Jon while constantly looking at a visual reference instead of trying to imagine or guess what it might look like. We don't always have that luxury so that really helped.
MY: I love the glow and lens flare effects on the sports footage. Can you talk a bit about that?
SH: When looking at the sports footage, I wanted to add some visual elements to the mix to break up the monotony of seeing players over and over again. With the Colts footage, I wanted to take the scene with Peyton Manning throwing the ball to Marvin Harrison and add something to really highlight what was being said by Jon in the song.
SH: So, I took that clip and roto'ed Peyton then roto'ed the ball and then roto'ed Marvin for several frames. Once I had the three elements on their own layer in AE, I was able to add the Trapcode Shine effect to Peyton and Marvin and a Knoll Light Factory's Lens Flare with a couple of animated keyframes on position and rotation on the ball.
SH: For the Pacers footage, I wanted to highlight the ball. So, I motion tracked the ball and, once again, used Knoll Light Factory's Lens Flare to add a simple, yet classic effect. To be honest, I really did that to take your eye away from the empty seats at the game. We were not happy with the overall footage we received from the Pacers and had to do something to give it that visual appeal it was missing in excitement.
MY: I didn't even notice the empty seats.
SH: Job well done, Seth (pats himself on the back).
MY: He he.
MY: Your role was 'Director' on this project, but it sounds like you did quite a bit more than that. Did you edit it also?
SH: I did direct and was responsible for the post production as well. However, the majority of the editing was done by my right hand guy, Zach Rutledge. While I was supervising editor on this, the day-to-day stuff was all done by Zach.
SH: You know what I am really proud of though, Michele?
MY: What's that?
SH: I really love the time lapse stuff that we shot. Simple, but effective and beautiful. There is a great way to get good time lapse footage that can benefit your readers.
SH: For night time - take the camera, lock it down, blow the iris out so that as night fall begins, the camera will ultimately adjust to the sky. This makes the overall shot fluid. We set up the camera to take one frame every 10 seconds. I think the morning and evening time lapse stuff is GORGEOUS!
MY: Yes, it is really beautiful footage.
MY: I always wondered how to get good time lapse when changing lights is an issue.
SH: That's how. The night shot makes me smile every time.
MY: That's great to know.
MY: Where will the video be shown?
SH: The video will be shown all over Indy, of course as well as all over the country for people interested in coming to or having their convention/meeting here. And, we just learned that Jon's people are so proud of this video that they are going to be posting it on Jon's web site and his MySpace page. So, this thing will be seen by hundreds of thousands of people. Not bad for a little boy with a dream, huh?
MY: Wow, he has over 52,000 MySpace friends. Very cool! They should show it in Michigan and Chicago, where it's just a couple of hours drive.
SH: I am sure they will.
MY: ...for the weekenders.
SH: Well, the TV spots I directed were shown in Chicago this year too. Not only did I direct this video but I also direct, produced and post-produced television spots for Indy (regional and national) and host a weekly AWARD-WINNING video podcast called Doing Indy. I don't know if you saw our spots in Chicago this year or not. The campaign is (since they are still airing) "This is my Indy. What's Yours?"
MY: Man, you're on a hot streak!
SH: I am blessed and give thanks EVERY DAY!
MY: Your 'Doing Indy' podcast is one of the best video podcasts online, no exaggeration. The production quality is so high.
SH: Thank you. We pride ourselves on that. We hope that while you are watching you are laughing and learning about Indy rather than being distracted by poor audio and video. The production quality is very important in all aspects of the show.
MY: Seriously, it makes me want to visit Indy, or maybe even move there
SH: The one thing I commented on earlier about being blessed... Well, I really am but I have worked my tail off to get where I am. I left a job as a Regional Brand Manager with Valvoline to start making videos/motion graphics/editing. It was a leap of faith and a lot of unpaid gigs. But, I never quit, never stopped learning, never stopped growing and never complained about doing something that I absolutely love.
MY: That was my next question. How did you get into video work and podcasting?
SH: I owned my production company. When I moved back to Indy from Novi, MI I started working on a lot of video projects. Somehow the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association found out about my work and asked me to create some video projects for them. I think they liked the fact that not only was I creative and a good video person, I also had an extensive background in marketing and advertising. I also worked for McCann-Erickson advertising on such accounts as Coca-Cola, Kmart, Sega and Buick. So, once I made three "test" videos for them they liked what they saw, bought out my company and asked me to come to work for them. To my knowledge, I am the ONLY full-time video production manager for any CVB (Convention and Visitors Bureau) in the country.
SH: In terms of podcasting, the ICVA was looking to get into having more and more video content on their site. Once I was working here, I started talking with them about video podcasting. I subscribed to a few of them and really like how the messages were relatively short but effective. They had been wanting to do something like this but didn't know how. Once they hired me... they had the how. The very first episode of Doing Indy was hosted by a woman who works for our company that used to be a sportscaster with a local television station. I shot and edited the first episode but told my boss that it is too "newsy" and need to be more free-flowing. Since I also performed with Second City in Detroit, I asked if I could give hosting a try. The improv approach worked and I have been hosting since.
MY: You seem like a natural in front of the camera.
SH: What we are doing here at the ICVA is very unique just like our city .
MY: It really is. I see other cities stealing your idea in the next year or two.
MY: Are you launching anything new and exciting in 2008?
SH: We are going to continue with our "This is my Indy, what's yours?" television campaign, however we are dreaming big this time with the people we will be featuring...Think Tony Dungy having dinner at his favorite restaurant in Indy. Helio Castroneves dancing at a local swing dance club, Danica Patrick shopping with friends, etc.
SH: We also have BIG plans for Doing Indy Season 3 (DI3). We are going to take average, everyday, normal people and have them show us their Indy. Our first season was all about the major attractions. This season has been about what makes Indy unique. Next season will be personal. If you go back and watch the episode we did this season with Rupert Boneham (from Survivor and Indy native) then that's what we are looking to do. We enjoyed that episode and format so much that we are wanting to make a full season of that type of experience with everyday, average people. It is going to be cool. But it also presents challenges on how to keep it fresh so that it is not the same show, different week.
SH: I am concentrating on taking a break at this point and resuming everything again in February. When you have done 40 podcasts, 21 television commercials, a music video that took 5 months to complete along with various other projects for internal customers; I have earned it at this point!
MY: You definitely earned a break.
SH: I am already lining up the coke and hookers!!!
MY: Haha... I missed them in the video....
SH: I hope to goodness your audience knows I am kidding!
SH: Drop me a line - I would love to hear from people about anything and everything video and travel related.
MY: Thank you, Seth, for chatting with me today. I wish you the best in 2008!
SH: Thank you, Michele. It is always nice talking with you - a fellow Crowded House groupie - and I really enjoy what your company is doing for visual artists and those of us in the media industry. All the people at Toolfarm should be proud of their work and growth. It is a lot of fun to watch your company grow.
MY: Aw, thanks!
SH: Just being sincere.
MY: :-)