🧠 5 Visuals for Your Next Video

Happy Sunday everyone,

Glad to be able to send you another edition of RNDR this week! I feel like I learn so much and feel so inspired after writing each newsletter so I can only hope that you feel the same way.

I’ve recently made a significant investment to my camera gear by upgrading from my Sony kit lens to a Sony GM 24mm f1.8 lens. I really want to document my life a lot more and I think this will help me get the shots I want. It’ll be on a Sony A7IV body but I’ll also have my GoPro and my DJI drone. Hope to have content out for you guys real soon, but I’m still in the conceptualizing phase.

Enjoy today’s edition!

- Rickie

5 Visuals I Loved This Week

1. This Cinematic Intro Montage

Video: "Embracing Discomfort"//Tim Spisar

• This is the second time I’ve featured a clip from Tim Spisar and I think his stuff is absolutely stunning, even if it doesn’t get the number of views it deserves!

• This video is one you have to go watch yourself because of the music and sound design.

  • It’s also beautifully shot in 4K to fully immerse you in this experience.

• An interesting point about the end of this clip once were introduced to the waterfall.

  • Usually, conventional film thinking has you start with an establishing shot, then provide more detail and context with every shot thereafter.

  • The reason this is done is the establishing shot is responsible for setting the stage. In real life, you almost always see the wider view before the details.

    • You approach the waterfall before looking closely at the rocks.

    • You approach a car and then you focus on pulling the handle.

  • What Tim Spisar does though, is flip this around and start with the details - running toward the waterfall, the shot of his two friends hugging and spinning.

    • I believe this is done to show the pure excitement of seeing the waterfall. He starts with a ton of movement and emotion before zooming out and showing us the full spectacle.

    • I think it works in this scenario because of how grand the view is. When you’re really excited about something, maybe you don’t take in the wider view of it all. You lock in on the most exciting aspects of whatever you’re excited about.

      • And then you soak it all in, and zoom out. Great execution!

2. This Reel Shot and Color Graded for a Vintage Look

Video: A day at the Masters, but cinematic.//The Masters

• This is the first time that I’ve featured a TikTok in my newsletter. I don’t usually look to TikTok for visuals because I find that vertical video has different motivations than traditional long-form content, but this was a cool video!

• I’ve been loving cinematic content lately and this video published by The Masters does a really good job at capturing the aura of the tournament.

  • It’s THE biggest golf tournament there is, at arguably THE most prestigious golf course there is in the world - I think everyone has Augusta National in their top 3.

  • The colors and the way this video is shot give off a ‘dreamy’ look to it and it’s done in part through a pro mist filter likely on the lens (or in post).

    • It gives a softer look to the video. A stylistic choice but when trying to achieve a certain look, can be the difference maker in achieving it or not.

  • The Masters has a lot of history and tradition and I believe the stylistic choice to get that ‘dreamy, soft’ look was an attempt to tie the modern day to the rich history of the tournament.

3. This Text Visual

Video: Tokyo's Map, Explained//Daniel Steiner

• Usually, when I’m tasked with these ‘read out’ text visuals, I resort to either highlighting or underlining.

  • I’m always looking for different ways to do this kind of visual since they’re so common in the kinds of videos I work on.

• I like this because it’s so simple, but also dynamic enough to keep a viewer following along.

  • Although, a highlight effect is definitely easier since it involves one shape layer and animating that one shape layer across. To achieve this, it would take at least 3 layers: two copies of the text, and a white solid in between them at an opacity of ~60%.

  • Then, I’d imagine that each word needing to be made black is its own separate layer.

4. This Method of Showing Webpages

Video: Why the era of cheap streaming is over//Vox

• Webpage screenshots are something that almost every educational YouTuber has to do.

• Generally, I’d guess 99% of research for a video is done online using news articles and journals so finding new ways to show the webpages is always welcome.

• Whenever I see creators popping up articles in their videos, it usually involves maybe a swipe up effect, a slow zoom in, and a highlight on the headline.

• What’s cool about this is you still get everything you need to know from the actual article itself (which is usually just the headline and who published it) - but you also see it in a different angle than what you’re used to.

• The best part about this is that while it takes a little bit of extra effort to set up the camera and shoot it, it’s really not that much extra effort!

• Will definitely try and incorporate this in a future video that I’m working on.

5. This Creative Use of Motion Design

Video: how i fixed my attention span//Answer in Progress

• This is a continuation of the previous visual of showing screens in a video.

• I’ve featured Answer in Progress in previous editions before for their impeccable motion design. It’s honestly some of the best stuff I’ve seen on the platform.

• While the previous visual points a camera to a screen to show off an article, Answer in Progress decides to use the set as the screen.

  • They combine great cinematography and skilled motion design to achieve this look.

• The best part about this is that it’s not a complicated look to achieve - you just have to have the vision to achieve something like this.

  • It just takes a screen recording, a mask effect, and a glow - all in 3D space, but not too many moving parts.

• I love visuals like these because they’re not often seen on YouTube (very few people are this skilled in the conceptualizing and execution of VFX). It shows that extra effort they’re willing to put into a video to make the intro as intriguing as possible. Well done!

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