Arts North Digital Media Centre sees professional videographer Jeff Gruending host a one-day Cinematography Foundations Workshop that goes April 25 or 26, May 23 or 24 or June 27 or 28.
This workshop is suitable for beginners right on through to more experienced videographers who want to round out or hone their skills.
Arts North Digital Media Centre has a variety of vignettes set up within the space above the Artisan Gift Shoppe at Studio 2880 that is part of the services provided by umbrella organization the Prince George & District Community Arts Council at 2880 15th Ave.
Participants of the workshop will have access to all the equipment in the studio and learn every nuance of video, including lighting and sound, right up to editing to achieve that compelling final cut.
“If you’ve had your camera on the 'auto' setting all these years, you can expect to learn within the first hour of the workshop what all those other settings are for,” Jeff Gruending of Precision FX, said.
“During the second and third hour we’re going to get into lighting because lighting is what changes your video immensely so we’re going to get into all the different lights here in the studio.”
Gruending said about half of the success of a video is due to proper lighting.
“So we will spend a lot of time working on lighting,” he added.
“We’re going to work with natural light, we’ll do single point, double point and three-point lighting. There’s quantity and then there’s quantity and there is so much to it.”
Once Gruending goes over camera fundamentals and lighting, audio is next on the list.
“Audio helps make your final video more cinematic,” Gruending explained.
“And that’s a bonus we’re throwing into the workshop. We want to make sure people know about it because without good audio you have this beautiful piece of cinematography with horrible sound and you can’t have that.”
The last portion of the workshop will look at the storytelling aspect.
“Looking at different camera angles and how to mix and blend them to tell your final story,” Gruending said.
“So it’s all stitched together to give you that final video.”
It’s so much fun, Gruending added.
“I didn’t go to film school, I’m just teaching people what I’ve learned from my experience,” Gruending said.
Growing up, Gruending’s family had one of those camcorders that sat on your shoulder and when he got old enough to have his own camera it was all about shooting as he and his brother took to the trails on their bikes, he said.
“That was where the first video editing came into play,” Gruending said.
“I was probably 16 by then and I didn’t get my first digital camera until I was 19. Video really came into effect during COVID. I got a GoPro and a drone for Father’s Day and while we were all kind of locked up and not going to work me, my wife and two children were out exploring Moore’s Meadow and doing video. We’d also go to Cottonwood Island Park, Forests for the World and those videos got seen.”
That led to offers to shoot video for local businesses and non-profit organizations and much of his time and skill creating videos have been donated to good causes.
“I want people to be connected to those videos on an emotional level,” Gruending explained.
He wanted to inspire people to support those organizations by donating or volunteering their time, he added.
“It’s so much fun to talk about it and see people go from that one video where they might just be walking with the camera following a person and trying to tell that story to actually adding cuts, using different camera angles and different camera movements and different focal lengths and it still might just be that 10 or 12 seconds but now it just looks so different,” Gruending said.
“So that type of storytelling is a big part of the workshop and those aspects of cinematography is what keeps people’s attention on the screen. The goal is to have the participants make way better videos that are way more interesting, way more exciting for your viewers to watch and ultimately to get that engagement that you want with your audience. People who take the workshop will make videos they never imagined they could make.”
For details and to register visit www.studio2880.com/arts-north/cinematography-workshop.
