I have been a full-time photographer for roughly a decade. A couple of years ago, I added video creation to my skills, which helped me expand my potential client list and job pool. And over the decade that I have been a full-time visual creator, I have been 100% self-taught. I never had a formal education in visual arts. Actually my background in software was the exact opposite. But while working my 9-5 job, I would relentlessly study YouTube videos, online tutorials and photographers and filmmakers that I admired. And a decade later, I am still spending hours per week watching online tutorials to improve my art and my business skills. So each year, I dive headfirst into the ‘5 Day Deal’ where a number of educators and creative professionals band together to provide a jam backed bundle of goodies at a crazy low price. This year that savings is 95% off of the full price of all of the assets sold separately. What’s even better? The deal runs in conjunction with a $10,000 prize package giveaway. And the best part? Each sale provides a financial donation to the company’s charity partners.
The entire collection of video software programs, educational tutorials, video music, and LUTs would run you around $1,800 if purchased separately. But for the next five days only, the bundle can be had for a remarkable 95% off, costing just $89. Do I make a small commission if you purchase from my links here? You betcha. But that doesn’t mean that this isn’t a phenomenal deal on video tutorials, tools and resources. I myself will be buying this and taking advantage of all of the resources included. As a relative newcomer in the video world, I wanted to tell you which tools included in the bundle I am most excited about and why. I hope this inspires you to jump on this deal and join me on the journey to become a better filmmaker.
Cinema Grade Pro
I feel that I can take hours and hours worth of video footage and craft that down into an interesting story. But often time, I get stuck on the color grading, resulting in finished videos that appear slightly flat or just lack that cinematic ‘pop.’ Cinema Grade Pro has been on my radar for months, as it is geared towards less than advanced color graders, which is definitely me.
Learn Adobe After Effects for Beginners
Last year, I was hired to do a music video for The Brothers Comatose. Ben Morrison, the singer, really wanted a ‘trippy’ feel to the video that included our ‘alien’ characters having super powers that played out on camera. Uh, what? Needless to say, I was lost. Luckily my buddy Tony Hart is great in After Effects, so I simply outsourced the special effects to him. But man, I really, REALLY want to learn how to do some cool things in After Effects myself, so this class will be at the top of my list. Check out the video I made below!
How to Interview Like a Boss
Oh man, interviewing. I love,love, love doing two-camera interviews. But I hate, hate, hate, doing two-camera interviews. I always feel like my questions could be better, and most important, I always feel like I am not doing a great job of getting my subject comfortable enough to really open up and sound great on camera.
I am lucky to call Fredrick Van Johnson a friend, and boy, is he one fun dude. So if anyone can make a class of how to interview someone interesting, it’s Fredrick Van Johnson.
The Complete Background Music Pack
If you have ever made a video with music, you can most likely agree that the most frustrating moment of editing comes when it is time to find the accompanying music. Urggghhhhh. Seriously, it’s horrible. Somehow, no song sounds right, the length is wrong, you finally find the perfect song, only to hear vocals pop in at the 15 second mark. And on top of all of that, it’s damn expensive. So, the more music we have access to, the better. I am sure I can find use for these 30 tracks somewhere, sometime.
Living Pictures Masterclass
This is just downright cool. Living Pictures, otherwise known as Cinemagraphs, are still photographs with movement. Sound crazy? It is.
There are now tools out there that can create Cinemagraphs for you, but if you really want to get serious and deliver top-notch Living Pictures, you should learn how to do this in Photoshop. If photo and video production is your career, there are few things that will set you apart from the competition that adding this unique skill to your portfolio.
Being a Photoshop novice, this is most likely going to be an intense experience, but I am excited to start creating some of my own Living Pictures.
Serge Ramelli Urban & Landscape LUTS Collection
I told you above, I suck at color grading. While I look forward to doing my own using Cinema Grade Pro, every so often you just want some damn cool as hell looks with no work. Enter LUTS, the filmmakers version of presets. Serge Ramelli has two separate LUT packs in the 5 Day Deal bundle, but this is the one I know I will get the most use out of.
Practical Filmmaking With Barry Andersson
Look, we creatives love creating our art. But if we aren’t making money from that art, we have to go get a real, adult-type job, which then leaves us less time or energy to create our art. So, why not make money and save money while doing it? Sounds like Barry Andersson can help us learn how to do that.
So there you have it. The seven things I am most looking forward to diving into after purchasing this year’s 5 Day Video Creator Bundle. Again, if you do wind up purchasing (and why the hell would you not?) I do appreciate you using my affiliate link. It not only helps keep the power on to fuel video and photo editing on my Mac trash can but it also helps me self-fund my travel adventures which I share my tips and photos from!