If you’ve not yet made a Stubborn Old Gardeners video, you’re probably curious how it works. How much time should you plan to spend, how long will the process take, and how soon can you show off your finished video to your friends?
The production of your video breaks down into seven simple steps. Let’s take them in order:
Step 1: After deciding on your topic, you send Lee Borden an email (his address is in the CAMGA Directory, and any CAMGA member can give it to you). This process takes about 15 minutes.
Step 2: A CAMGA videographer contacts you and arranges a telephone meeting. You and the videographer agree on a date and time for the call. This process takes about 15 minutes.
Step 3: You meet by telephone with your videographer. You and the videographer flesh out your topic, narrowing it if necessary, and build a rough script outline that describes who will appear, the general idea of what each person will say, and in what order, as well as the opening and closing shots. There will be lots of blanks in this script outline when you finish, but you and the videographer will share a rough idea about the focus of your video. At the end of your phone conversation, the videographer will produce a draft of a script and send you a link so you can check it for accuracy and make sure you feel comfortable with it. The telephone meeting takes 30-40 minutes.
Step 4: You, the videographer, and your production assistant set the date and time for shooting. Usually this happens by email and takes 15 minutes or so.
Step 5: You shoot the video. This is the big day! Together with your production assistant, you and the videographer meet at the site location and shoot the video. Generally, the shooting happens in one block of time at one location and takes about two hours.
After the shooting is finished, the videographer will get busy editing. Editing takes several hours of the videographer’s time, but you won’t need to spend any time on it.
Step 6: The videographer alerts you that the video is ready for your private review. At this point, your video is not yet available to the public, but you can see it to make sure what you’re saying is accurate. This takes about half an hour.
Step 7: You get the final alert from the videographer that your finished video is available on Stubborn Old Gardeners. This won’t take you any time other than your telling your friends about your starring role!
So if we put all that together, that means the seven simple steps should take a little over four hours of your time, so let’s round it up to five hours. And of course you’ll want to report those hours on your Master Gardener Service Report!
So how long does all this take on the calendar?
Here’s a dirty little secret about Stubborn Old Gardeners videos: most of the delays come from the Master Gardener rather than the shooting and the editing. So if you complete your steps quickly, it’s possible that your video could be complete within just a few days after you submit your idea. Of course it’s rare for everything to go smoothly, so let’s talk a typical turn-around time. If you start with the assumption that the time from your submission of your idea to the final release of your video will run about four weeks, you probably won’t be too far off.
Can I make a video if I’m not in CAMGA?
If you’re an Alabama Master Gardener, we would love to help you make a Stubborn Old Gardeners video. We’re based in central Alabama, so if you’re reasonably close by, we’ll come to you. If you’re in a remote part of the state, email Lee Borden and we’ll explore it together.
If you are not a Master Gardener, we appreciate your interest, but we will not be able to feature you in a video. Stubborn Old Gardeners presenters are always Master Gardeners.
So to get started, send an email message to Lee Borden. That will start the process rolling.
