The Dilemma of Too Much Video Footage

I was going to make a Twitter tweet about this, but there was no way I'd be able to express this fully in a single tweet.  And so, we turn to the old blog to expand on the matter.  The matter is:

The dilemma of too much video footage.

This direction of contemplation is prompted by my receiving of several inquiries about the release dates of various videos we have filmed.  For one, I want to state that I never have set release dates for videos.  The release date is always: as soon as I can.  However, "as soon as I can," is affected by a number of factors.  Let me tell you about these factors.  Let me tell you especially about the vital factor of "too much footage."

My fastest ability to process and release video footage comes when I do a single-video shoot.

If I film only one video in a shoot session, I can usually process and release that video almost immediately.  When I do a single-video shoot, I can concentrate entirely on that video while I am filming it, I can get totally invested in what is happening and get an intimate sense for the action.  Once the filming is done, the material is fresh in my mind, and I know exactly what I want to do with it.  Not only is the material fresh in my mind, but my mind is fresh as well (i.e. not exhausted, not over-full).

I can then process the footage right away, riding on inspiration from the shoot, and I can release the video quickly into the general store, because I am immediately intimately familiar with the material.  The more familiar I am with the video release, the more quickly I can write a description and create a cover image.  The process all flows into one continuous process:  film, finish, release.  All in one shot.  All driven by one wave of focused energy.

Years ago, many of our shoots used to be single-video or two-video shoots.  And this made for a quick turn-around ability for general releases.

However, factors beyond my control have changed.

And I have ended up facing the difficulty of too much footage.

When visiting models and wrestlers come into town these days, my scheduling manager finds she needs to offer these visitors a shoot that consists of many videos in order for the visitors' time to be best spent.  My scheduling manager will not just offer 1 or 2 videos to these visitors.  Rather, she will schedule a multi-hour shoot day of at least 3 videos.

Not only is she trying to meet a minimum for the visiting model / wrestler, but if she calls in another model / wrestler, she will often try to give that second person at least 2 videos.  If only one of those videos is with the visitor, than that means we have to create a whole 'nother video to film.

Due to people's complex schedules in our region, my scheduling manager will often try to make long, complex shoot days, where she tries to get as many different people to coordinate to come and film on one single day, often crossing over with visitors.

At the end of these long, complex shoot days, I usually have very little exact memory of everything I've filmed.  I will film each new video with total and complete focus, and I will be totally committed to each individual piece, in the moment.  But as soon as I have to switch gears and move to the next, I have to wipe my mind and start over again for the next.

This is not necessarily a problem.

When I am filming custom video commissions, this is absolutely not a problem at all (I love filming customs!).

I can film hours and hours of custom request videos, and I can process them quickly and immediately.  I am not worrying about writing a description, assessing the "essence" of the piece for the sake of creating marketing materials, or looking for the perfect images to convey the overall aspect of the video.  With a custom request, put all effort into simply crafting the video itself.  The request already exists, and my job is to deliver it directly.  This is very specific and focused.  There is actually no excess.

But it is the pile-up of non-customs that creates the problem.

When we don't have enough custom requests for a certain visitor to meet a certain minimum, then we need to create "general store" videos to fill in.  This is not a problem in a controlled situation.  But when those multi-person, in-and-out, long and complex shoot days require the creation of many "general store" videos, then I start to have problems.  These are extra videos that are not crafted to meet a certain request, and they do not have a definite time-bound deadline for delivery.

When I have to create a stack of "general store" videos to meet a certain minimum set by the scheduling manager for the sake of visitors and other models, this is when I run into the dilemma of Too Much Video Footage.

Because these long shoot days do not only happen once in a while.  They can happen multiple times in a week.  Even if that is only ONE week in a given month, it is a huge whammy of footage to drop on my head.  And it's footage that I usually only have a foggy recollection of.

Too Much Video Footage.

After a long shoot day, I immediately process and deliver all custom requests.  This ties up my machine for the rest of the day and possibly the next.  By the time all customs are delivered, I may be facing down another long shoot day.  Rinse and repeat.  And not all days are shoot days.  I have a lot of tasks involved with maintaining the studio and office spaces, which can take me away from the computer for an entire day.  And there are also SO many computer things to do that take up a lot of my time, such as handling direct sales or keeping web presences up to date.

Before you know it, it is mid-October, and there is still "general store" footage from a long shoot day from August waiting to be released... or even processed.

General footage from long shoot days is easy to get pushed to the back burner.

I can usually manage to bang out one general release after processing all customs, but then I am hit with another shoot day -- be it a long shoot day OR a rare-yet-beautiful single-video shoot day.  If it's a single-video shoot day, I process and release that footage immediately.  But that means even more waiting for that general store footage from a long shoot day.

I hope this all makes sense.  It is all stream of consciousness.

Anyway.

I wish more shoots could be single-video shoots, or even 2-video shoots.  I wish I had more time for focusing and crafting.  I wish I didn't have to be scheduled for these long, multi-hour, multi-video shoot days that result in exhaustion and excessive general footage.

But when management wants to hit more targets with a single shot, the best I can do is hang in and try to hustle along as best I can.  And try to remember what is getting overlooked or stuck on the back burner.

I'm trying to keep all parts moving relatively in sync, without losing too much along the way.  I thank you all for your patience with the general release videos.  Onward and upward!