The Tools of Our Trade (analog version)

Like our videos, the tools we use to make them are quite simple.  Below is a quick tour of some of the non-electronic elements of our productions...

The photo below represents a near-complete selection of the tools we use almost everyday to create illustrations and videos.  You can view the photo below with "notes" on Flickr.com.

Because neither of us brought video production/scripting/storyboarding experience to the table, we've tinkered our way through and created a couple of resources that help.  One is our thumbnail storyboards. Once a script is written, the first draft of visuals are done on small squares.  This one is from Blogs in Plain English.

Of course, we couldn't do what we do without paper.  We go through more of it that I would have ever imagined. It's nothing fancy - just HP inkjet paper.  And yes, we recycle the waste.

OK, this is a electronic, but still fits. We couldn't be as productive without coffee and have fallen in love with our Keurig coffee maker.  It makes a consistent cup of great coffee or tea anytime. 

I see this as one of the iconic tools we use - a traditional paper cutter.  Sachi is better than me with the scissors, but neither of us can cut a straight line.  This does it right.

I spent too long with my art supplies spread all over the house.  Finally I invested in a toolbox.  Now it's like my own portable bag of tricks.

You might have noticed more color in the videos.  We invested in some Tombo watercolor brush pens that I love to use.  We have a set of color pens and a set in shades of gray. Inspiration from Nancy Margulies.

This looks kind of gross, but it's putty and we use it in almost every shot to stick paper to the white board.

Of course, Amos is a part of everything we do (see photo above). One hair at a time, he appears in every video.

We're very big believers that we don't need big investments in production to make our videos. We'd rather invest our time in developing what matters most - the script. 

View With Comments

Investing in Paperworks Videos

If someone told me back in March of this year that we'd be making videos as our full time job in July, I would have said it was preposterous. What do we know about making videos? Such is the current state of affairs - we're booked through the summer doing paperworks videos on commissioned basis and feel 100% confident that this is the right direction for us.

Of course, having people paying us to make videos means we have to learn fast and make some investments in our equipment and software.

View With Comments

Common Craft Video Productions

Common Craft (the company, not the blog) is in the midst of a change. It appears that we're becoming, quite fortuitously, a video production company.

This is our story:

View With Comments