Raw Footage


When I used to go out with a cameraman (or woman, but women schlepping Betacams around are relatively rare), we would return from a "shoot" with two to six videotapes of "raw footage". While not every tape would be filled with material, we would have considerably more pictures and sound bites than we could possibly use for a news item, which averages less than two minutes in length. For a documentary with days of shooting, we might end up with a cardboard box of tapes.

The next stage after the shoot would be reviewing all the raw footage and figuring out what we wanted to keep and what we wanted to discard. From the days of film, when film editors physically cut the unwanted portions, comes the metaphorical term "end up on the cutting room floor" for unwanted video and digital images. In fact, digital editing, done professionally in fancy computer suites, allows you to put the portions of sound and video into electronic "bins" , because of the way film editors place the strips of film they wanted to save into soft cloth bins until they were ready to splice the film strips together into a finished product.

As you prepare to storyboard your week, why not take a look at the raw footage of this past week. What in your raw footage pleases you and is worth keeping for next week? What belongs on the cutting room floor?

Have you taken on too much and need to slow down? Would you be better off if you did fewer things well rather than try to spin off in all directions? Are you neglecting areas in your life, such as your diet or exercise? Are you being short with your family members because you're overtired?

Sometimes an inventory like this can help you determine what it is you don't like. If you know what you don't like, you can try listing what you don't like, then writing the opposite of what you don't like. That will show you what you do like!

Then storyboard what you do like into your plan for next week. If there are things you don't like that are important commitments, then storyboard a new attitude. See yourself in your mind's eye enjoying the great feeling you'll have after meeting that commitment.