Cullen's Media Production Portfolio

Given such a short timeframe to produce a video showcasing the differences between the Canon 77D and the Canon C100, my group simplified its goals to make sure we could film the task in the two-hour window that we had. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time to do much pre-production planning as a group, but we all came up with ideas and shared them once we met to film the task. I did some research into the technical specs of the 77D, since I had never seen the camera before, but apart from that I didn’t have a clear idea of what the video would be like when we started production. Neither did anyone else. 

As soon as we got our kit and arrived at our space, we sat down and tried to brainstorm the vision for the video. We knew it had to illustrate some key differences between the 77D and the C100, and it had to be 4-5 minutes long. Since we were having trouble deciding what we’d talk about, we reckoned that we’d film some beauty shots of the cameras first, since we knew we’d need to include some form of b-roll. As I was acting as director, I just told the camera person in our group what kind of shots I wanted and stood back. While they filmed, I continued brainstorming about what our presenter should talk about. I managed to come up with a list of differences between the cameras that someone advancing from the 77D to the C100 could expect. I bounced those off all the other group members, and they provided more suggestions for the list. 

The main difference between the cameras we thought of is that the 77D is a camera aimed towards photography that happens to record video while the C100 is specifically meant for filmmaking. The C100 has proper audio connections to record synchronized audio, and it has more buttons on the body for adjusting the ISO, white balance, and shutter speed/angle, instead of needing to dig into menus to adjust each of those as with the 77D. We also made it a point to explain the advantages of having 2 SD card slots on the C100 instead of just 1 on the 77D, as it lets you record more video or have a backup of your footage made at the same time. Plus, built-in ND filters on the C100 are a huge bonus over the 77D. To complement our presenter’s explanation of these differences, we filmed close-ups of each of the functions and how they worked so that we could put them as b-roll over our presenter as they spoke. 

Trying to make the video fit the 4-5-minute length requirement was the toughest part of the task for us. We didn’t have the time to plan out an in-depth video to explain the comparisons between the cameras, but we rested our hopes in the fact that we could include some example footage from both cameras. In the edit lab, we ended up needing a good amount of that example footage, as what we filmed only ended up getting us past the 2-minute mark. Luckily, one of our group members had some footage that they filmed with the 77D for a previous module, so we were able to incorporate that, along with some C100 footage from our previous travel vlog and music video tasks to lengthen our video to the 4-minute mark. 

I learned from this task that the people you work with are a huge part of how efficient production will go. I had worked with all these group members before, and we all worked extremely well together. We had skills in the different areas of production, so we were able to delegate ourselves and quickly record lots of quality footage without any hassles. If we didn’t work so well together, I fear that our video might’ve had to sacrifice quality for time, as any problems during production would cost us from the two-hours that we had to film. Thankfully, that was not the case with this task, as we all knew each other’s strengths and could use trust each other to do their job well.

Link to video:

With this project, my group and I set out to make a music video for the song ‘Make it Forever’ by George Clanton. From the start, we knew that we wanted to make something abstract and almost psychedelic. However, we also wanted it to have an overarching narrative to give our audience a sense of direction throughout the video. We decided on having a character walk from one place to another, as some of our group members described listening to the song like taking a journey somewhere. To emphasize the dreamy feel, we thought the style could incorporate an extensive use of shallow depth of field, with the character surrounded by the bokeh of lights behind them. We ran into a slight snag when deciding how to convey an end to the journey, but eventually concluded that the character could meet someone. We developed that idea further and added another character who could also be walking throughout the city. The end would be their meeting. 

Most of our problems came during production. It was difficult to have everyone involved in the project. We originally were going to have two units filming, one filming our male character, and the other filming the female. Out of our 8-person group, 2 were going to act; 2 were going to act as camera operators, including myself; and the other 4 were going to act as assistants. The day of production, however, we only had 5 people show up – our two actors, two assistants, and me. Since it was raining, we decided to only shoot with one camera, as we needed someone to hold an umbrella over the camera as I filmed. Filming was a challenge, as with abstract story lines it’s almost like a double-edged sword. On the one hand, having an open story line means there is a lot more freedom to what we filmed. We could just find cool shots as we went along and throw them together somehow in the edit. On the other hand, it also meant I had no idea what I wanted to film or what kind of shots would work best. 

Once we were out and about filming in the city, I decided to have all the shots of the male character with him on the right side of the screen walking to the left, and I would do the reverse for the female character. I thought it would give a good visual contrast between them. I also attempted to get a variety of angles of both our actors as I had no idea what we were looking for. I knew we wanted pretty bokeh balls behind our subjects, so I did lots of closeups with them. I also looked for cool reflections in the street puddles and stark lighting conditions, such as with the table lit by the red light. Some of the locations we just happened to stumble upon, such as when the female character is walking through the passageway with the lights above her. While we were stopped and I was thinking what I wanted to film next, I happened to turn and be standing right in front of that passageway. Movement was also a key factor in the video for me. I took my lecture’s advice to always have some sort of movement to keep the energy alive, and I experimented with following the subject, having them stand still and moving the camera around them, or just looking for some sort of movement within the frame like with the reflections of water. I only wish I had some sort of stabilization rig for the camera. A dolly would’ve have been great, but too much of a hassle given the public spaces and rain, and the tripod shots felt too different from the natural feel that a hand-held shot gives. Setting up the tripod in the rain was also a hassle, but I appreciated that I could have a steady shot with it. I even carried the tripod with the camera on it for some moving shots, as it acted almost like a steadicam.

From this project, I learned how to get the most out of a single lens. We only used a 50mm lens for the entire video. It was a challenge for getting wider shots of our subjects, but it also allowed me to get extremely close to them and turn once recognizable features into abstractness. Plus, the lens could open up to f1.8, which was important for getting that shallow depth of field and bokeh backdrops.

Watch the music video below:

Suppose a local band came up to you and 4 other students and asked you to make them a music video for one of their songs for ₤500, and then ran off just as quickly as they came. Well, that’s not exactly how it went, but it’s a pretty good approximation. We had to come up with an idea for a music video for York-based pop band The And Ensemble’s song, ‘Perfect isn’t Enough,’ and make sure it adhered to the bands requirements, some of which were: the band members were only available to film for 2 days and it needed to follow contemporary online trends. 

The first thing we did was listen to the song and figure out if anything spoke to us. First-off, the quality of the sound seemed almost like something a band in the 1990s would record in their parent’s garage. We figured the style of the video could reflect that of the sound if we filmed it to look like it was recorded on an VHS camera. Not only would that help with the budget, since we wouldn’t need fancy cameras or good lighting, but it also fell in line with videos produced by other popular artists like Clairo and Rex Orange County. We could use most of the budget on set dressing instead of film equipment. For what would happen in the video, we decided there’d be a small house party in it, in which the band would be performing the song to everyone, but we’d also have shots of the band members hanging out and being themselves to try and convey each of the band member’s personalities to the audience. 

In listening to the song, we determined that the lyrics about the singer trying to find a romantic partner who’s more than just perfect looks. To help push that theme in our video, we thought it’d be a good idea to include intercuts of perfectly made objects, such as a perfectly-frosted cake, and have them be smashed to reveal unappealing things inside – the cake is filled with dirt and worms. These inter-cuts would happen though out the scenes of the house party and band hanging out. 

I suppose the biggest challenge about this project was working together as a group. It was assigned right before the weekend, so many of our group-members were going to head home for the weekend, which meant that we wouldn’t be able to meet up and put together the PowerPoint as a group. Luckily, none of us had a strong opinion on any visions we had come up with ourselves, so we were able to look at what everyone else had added to the presentation and add on to it. By the day of our presentation, we had a good idea of the video’s vision. 

From our feedback on our presentation, one of the points that stood out most to me was that we managed to convey a broad vision of what we wanted the story to be about, but we didn’t have anything specific. Including ideas of how the story would progress or ideas for the scenes of the house party and band members hanging out would have benefited our presentation, as any producers we were pitching to could begin seeing a rough idea of the video in their heads. I feel like that was an important piece of feedback for me and I’ll try to implement it in any future pitches I may have.

Attachments:

The And Ensemble Music Video Pitch

Music Video Pitch Creative Brief

Given the task to make a short, 2-minute video that gives a tutorial on a product that shows off a certain lifestyle, I teamed up with my usual partner right away. Unfortunately, we found it hard to find others to work with on the project, and since we were unsure if we’d be able to find a group to join at all, we decided to start planning right away. I suggested we do the video on a Nikon FM2n film camera I have with me. My thinking was that film’s a relatively mysterious thing to this new, younger generation, as we’re now in the age of digital, so we’d most likely have a target audience in them. My partner agreed, and we sat down, wrote a script, and story boarded the whole thing. The video would explain the basics of loading film, operating the camera, and then how to get the film developed. Ideally, an experienced photographer who was curious about shooting on film could watch this video, pick up a camera like the one in the video, and be able to take pictures with it. I would be the talent on-screen as I knew how to use the camera well, and my partner would be the one operating the camera. 

Most of the difficulties we had during production were due to the size of our group. We had to lug around a tripod, camera, a heavy lighting kit, wireless-lavaliere mics, and the film camera between the two of us. However, once we got everything set up, shooting went smooth. We managed to turn my partner’s dorm room into a pseudo-studio by shutting the curtains and setting up a simple three-point lighting setup on me, and we finished ahead of schedule! The editing room was where my main problem sprung up. My video was almost 30 seconds over the 2-minute length requirement. After some groaning and watching the cut through multiple times, I decided to cut out a chunk of the video that explains how to change the batteries; this video was going to be a bare-bones tutorial on the camera. I managed to shorten the video even more by tightening up most of the cuts, and eventually I reached the 2-minute mark. Success!

With this video, I tried to push down my urge to be a perfectionist and trust my group member to compose the shot however they thought looked best. Thankfully, she had a great eye for composition, and she made a good effort to check that all the camera’s settings — like shutter speed — were set correctly. I felt confident enough to focus on my own performance and let her handle the behind-the-camera stuff. 

I think through this artefact, I managed to improve my on-camera acting skills. I’m usually the one behind the camera, so acting in front of it isn’t one of my strongest skills. I get all self-conscious about how I look and how I give my performance, so I can end up looking somewhat stiff and strange. However, I suppose that that’s one thing that’ll take much more practice for me to become better at.

Video:

Pre-production files:

Advertorial AV Script

Our objective for this artefact was to show off the city of York to potential travelers and tourists. Since another group member and I were studying abroad in York for a semester, we talked about with our group what stood out to us most about York. For the style of the video, we took inspiration from the ‘York – the Original City Adventure’ video we were shown in-class – many beautiful shots showing off various locales within the city, but we also decided to add a voice-over explaining things to do in the locations. The Minster, Shambles, Museum Garden, and St. Mary’s Abbey were first and foremost on our list of places to show off, but through much deliberation we managed to come up with interesting topics involving each location like the street performers near the Shambles. 

Pre-production and production were problematic. We’re a group of 7 people and we’re trying to all focus on one vision, which was tough because everyone had their own visions for the video. The conversation kept having ideas added to it as opposed to developing the ideas that we already had. By the time we were set to shoot, no one had a clear idea of what was being filmed and what roles everyone was taking, which was stressful for me as I hate going into a project without goals or clear ideas set. All we really knew were what locations we were shooting at. On-set, there weren’t enough roles for everyone, as operating the camera was pretty much a one-person job, so many of us were sitting around as shots were being filmed. To try and prevent a monopoly of camera-operating, I asked anyone if they had shots they wanted to film after I filmed what I wanted to, which seemed to satisfy everyone’s creativity. 

One of the main concepts we tried to apply was the use of movement in our video. We booked the dolly and some track which we took out and used extensively in the Museum Gardens. I loved the quality it gave the images – making them look that much more professional than without it. We also tried to use pans and tilts to fit more into a single shot and keep the energy of the video alive. Mixing movement of the camera with static shots of people moving allowed us to develop a flow for the video that keeps it interesting for the whole length. 

One of the main things I learned from this project was how to use the dolly effectively to make an otherwise okay shot into something incredible. Some of my favorite shots (and I must brag that they were my idea *wink*) are the dolly shot looking in the Garden with the flowers in the foreground and the city wall in the background and the extreme low-angle shot of St. Mary’s Abbey. I’ll keep in mind the dolly for future projects that I work on.

Links to the videos:

3 minute version:

1 minute version on Instagram:

View this post on Instagram

We produced a video showing off York! A longer version with narration can be found on YT here: https://youtu.be/e0zsNQuHbbA Created with @ghost_of_tazpin and five others for York St. John University. #studyabroad #yorkengland #yorksjjohn #usethedolly #studentfilmmaker #travelvlog #canonc100 #panasonicgh5

A post shared by Cullen Dallas (@cullen.dallas) on Dec 2, 2018 at 1:56pm PST

With the pitch to the people from ZigZag, my group’s goal was to pitch three services of the high-class grocery store chain Booth’s using different visual mediums for each, since they haven’t had any major advertising since 2010. Our first idea was a television advertisement that showed off the advantages and discounts of the Booth’s card for customers already familiar with the store, our second was a Facebook advertisement that appealed to young folk and sold Booth’s as a high-quality option for food, and our third was a mobile advertisement that enticed busy users to use Booth’s Christmas dinner delivery service. My role in the project was to develop the mobile advertisement idea and figure out a target audience for the service. 

Since we had just learned the differences between research and insight in our module, I attempted to find a problem that the Christmas delivery service would solve using research to back up my claims. It took me awhile, but I managed to learn that the average Christmas meal takes around 4 hours to prepare, many people in today’s younger generation don’t have the cooking skills to prepare a Christmas dinner, a vast majority of today’s generation do their shopping online, and a Christmas dinner is an extremely important part of British family society. The problem that many people in British society face is they want to cook a Christmas dinner because it is one of the few family dinners still being had, but they either don’t have the time or knowledge to cook such a meal. 

It took me a long time finding the research I needed to support my insight and find my target audience. On the one hand, I could hypothesize that lots of young people are busy and use their phones to shop, and that a Christmas meal is important, but I needed evidence to back that up, especially since I’ve had little experience with British holiday culture. Luckily, I managed to find articles online through Daily Mail and British Turkey that showed how stressful preparing a Christmas meal is, and how important it is in British culture. Stats from YouGov also helped me find hard evidence that lots of people use their mobile phones for shopping. After finding this vital information, I could move forward with developing the advertisement, since I now had an imaginary persona of a person whom I can target the advertisement towards. 

During the pitch of the mobile advertisement, I accidentally let my dislike for mobile advertisements slip through and described the full-screen mobile advertisement as ‘intrusive’ and ‘annoying.’ One of the people from ZigZag pointed that out to me afterwards and, even though he agreed with me that mobile ads are annoying, he suggested that I shouldn’t use those terms during my pitch. Describing an advertisement as ‘annoying’ or ‘intrusive’ doesn’t make the advertisement very appealing to my client, and they might not want to go through with it as it could cost them customers in their minds. I totally agree with that statement, and I learned that I should be more careful with the wording I use for selling a product I’m pitching. Hopefully next time I’ll catch myself and use more appealing words to describe my product, especially if my career as a filmmaker depends on it.

Links to our Creative Briefs:

1. Booths Creative Brief 1 – TV Ad
2. Booths Creative Brief 2 – FB Ad
3. Booths Creative Brief 3 – Mobile Ad