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This task required us, much like the Music video task, to prepare and prep a production shoot independently by ourselves in and around York. In this group I had not worked with a lot of the people before and I was one of the Camera operators which added some sense of comfort as I was quite confident with using them and enjoyed it, throughout the initial planning stages we wanted to approach the video with a relaxed and inviting theme that didn’t waste time blabbering on about specific things but rather showing directly what fun their is to be had around York, we captured inside footage of bar work and also filmed a live street performance involving fire. 

All around the day of the shoot it required us to be vigilant with our equipment as we were only  a medium sized group with a lot of kit to last the day, and getting split up and losing track of things was a big concern but we prepared for it and made sure to always do equipment and personnel checks before moving to and from locations.

A lot of the day involved being opportunistic with what was going on around us, we wait about 30-45 minutes just for the street performer to execute the fire portion of their act and went all the way around the city to film everything we needed and more as York is only a small city, so it was possible to get a lot in for filming. 

When operating the camera I felt comfortable working with the jib and slider as the did the crew, there was one point however when we got told to take everything down and move on despite having permission to film, we were patient and eventually they came back and told us we were okay to continue filming, this was a good reminder to always have the correct paperwork at hand and being ready to face issues when filming, but we were able to navigate it and shot what we wanted. 

Overall it was a very fun task and I learnt a lot when filming in a big group and handling the camera in peak busy York hours. 

For this task we had to create a music video for a song of our choice, happily our group formed so that we had worked on several other projects this semester already together and we had an instant dynamic ready to go when the assignment started and all knew what we wanted to do. The song was chosen and Cullen headed the project as well as camera operator, and I acted as assistant camera and helped set shots up providing help with using the C100 when filming. When it started raining I also aided in keeping the equipment covered to prevent damage and keeping everything generally safe when working around the public and the weather, as our crew was quite large with a lot of different tasking there was a lot going on.

This task provided the most experience I’ve had yet in regards to planning, preparing and executing a production shoot all independently. I got more experience with risk assessments and booking sheets as well as data processing before handing it over to the editors. The shoot itself lasted several hours well into the night and I felt it was a good stepping stone to understanding the dynamics of a real production, being that you have to constantly be on your toes and ready to roll as well as keeping up endurance when going about a lot of locations in one day. 

Looking on the result of the shoot and the edit, I felt it was a really successful two days, we had met our production sheet dates and were not overdue on any shots nor did we finish too early and wrapped up on the second day and had ample time to edit the video, critically of which also turned out really good and proved it was worth shooting late into the night when it got quieter on the streets so we could get the shots we wanted especially for the colored lighting.

In this assignment we had to compare two cameras, the Canon 77D and the C100. It was important from the start to shoot in a technical environment so it was good we were using the editing studio’s as they had ample lighting without requiring the use of a kit and it made the review come off as more technical which was good for viewers. George chose to present and I was on sound instead of camera for this task which I really enjoyed as I usually struggle with it as I had in Year 1. This involved using lav mics to record the audio and I had to occasionally halt shooting when there was too much distortion coming from moving around with the mic, so giving advice on how to present without disturbing the audio was a factor. 

We did not have much prep time for shooting this so we had to be quick with coming up with a shooting order, we did this by using the boards in the editing suite and as a group agreeing on what the best way to shoot the review was. From this we got ideas of how to describe the camera’s and their uses that George was able to utilize for his presenting regarding their different utilities as both professional and basic. We knew these cameras well from using them, especially the 77D having used it for our first year so we knew from the start that it was a beginners or more simple camera best suited for photography with a bit of video usage, and from using the C100 at the start of this 2nd year we could confidently state that it was heavily more on the professional side and purely for video production work, this made for a better review when knowing how to actually market camera’s we had experience with.

Reviewing things we knew made it a lot easier and far more comfortable during shooting and editing, as these were products we had used for the course, I myself learned in retrospect what is best suited for what and how to be practical with both cameras and that you can get the best results without having a big camera. It was a good experience to focus on learning the lav mics as well as I had only really used the shotgun microphones previously. 

For this artifact we were tasked with creating an advertorial guide about a product that could help improves ones lifestyle, when approaching the task we wanted to come up with something that was within our zone as young adults that we could understand and relate to. One of our crew – George – Plays the guitar and had mentioned in conversation struggling with tuning by ear, and finding it easier by using an app.

As a group of three we organised and figured out how we could film it, settling on using a trendy approach that would suit that as a young musician. It was important to capture that particular lifestyle and George’s room, where his musical kit is, was the best setting to use. Originally, we wanted to use a bland background in a studio environment but this did not capture the target audience we were aiming for with this advertorial.

This can be reflected in the storyboard we created, as we had settled on the bedroom/house idea from a description of what George gave us we could build a picture of how to best represent and capture the attention of our audience, as if we had chosen a bland studio background, it may have come off as ‘too serious’ and those we were trying to reach could have switched off.

When advertising the application itself it was also important to showcase how to both find and use it, in the original storyboard the showcasing of the app happens after we show how to use it and I later felt this was not right as it didn’t make sense chronologically, so in post production I made changes to it so it flowed better. From previous artifacts in my first year I was able to apply knowledge of being in the Camera role and taking responsibility for it whilst the rest of our crew focused on their roles. 

One issue I faced whilst filming was lighting, we had planned to use studio lights however the room was too small and there was too many items that could potentially have been hazardous next to the lights to use – so in the end we used a mixture of room, outdoor and a torch light. The end footage came out quite dark but de-saturated and flat as intended to later Colour grade and give greater warmth, I was able to fix the darkness by editing the exposure however in the future I will have to think more about space and fitting in lighting equipment.

Storyboard:

For this task we we set out to create a 10 minute presentation for a group of musicians and pitch a music video idea for one of their songs, “Perfect isn’t enough.” I have very little knowledge about the music industry and music genre’s in general so I had to really work with our crew to get the best result in the end as well as learn from it for future projects that heavily revolve around music. When sitting down together and listening to the song we felt that it was quite personality orientated and if we were going to create a video for it what best ways we could have reflected that, and we expressed that desire in the presentation that we wanted it to individually show off different personalities. 

This could have been done by using different colors and setting a sort of ‘mood palette’ in post production. These details about the production and what the ideal picture in our minds was meant it important to describe to the band so they could best understand and see how we, as creative video makers, could make their song into a visual piece. 

For creating the presentation, via power point, we all initially held the meeting in the first lesson and laid out on paper what our ideas, described above, were and how we could present it to the band. The first and most important point we agreed on was to approach it as if we were actually going to create the video, and not just a presentation. After creating a basic idea and choosing which parts of the project we’d work on as a crew we then moved to the powerpoint presentation online so we could all access and work on at the same time, this allowed for live editing and assistance to eachother and was really useful for seeing the the work come together. 

To summarize, despite struggling with really relating to or understanding music the team helped me by painting a picture of what options we had that could work with the song, and in turn this allowed me to pitch in with ideas once I understood.

Powerpoint Presentation: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XNIHwEItoo9OauB8e6EuSDxrFWQpImZI/view?usp=sharing

In this assessment our task was to creating a presentation about how we could improve advertising for a selected company and then present our ideas to ZigZag, a multimedia creative marketing company that helps businesses expand and attract an audience by using data as well as creating websites in house for them. Our group quickly got to choosing which company we wanted to focus on and ended up choosing Booths, an upper class supermarket chain in north west England similar to Waitrose. We wanted to choose this company because we felt it was in a unique position of not having had any major ad campaigns for the past several years, and that the company itself isn’t doing very good compared to the 2000’s. 

I was able to sign up for an account on YouGov’s marketing section which gave me access to extra data about companies which really took our presentation up a notch as it had figures that couldn’t be found elsewhere, this allowed us to be very specific when presenting across the board, particularly in age data and the type of backgrounds the company attracts.

Being the first major presentation, particularly for a business, it was quite nervous for everyone and I had a bit of a learning curve myself on being comfortable presenting infront of people, it was good being able to have a practice run with the class as I then became a lot more relaxed and more confident with the information I was presenting when with the actual ZigZag team, and I knew what I was saying rather than just reading words off a screen. This assessment also taught me the value of social data and how much potential there is in gathering it, as well as how powerful and used it already is by bigger companies. From this I know that in the future it is important to use this data in order to have a much more successful impact on a target audience. 

In the end, our group really came together and made what I felt was a brilliant presentation and we all knew exactly what to do and felt in touch with what we were saying, it felt more 1 to 1 with the ZigZag team rather than a presentation and their feedback became really valuable in regards to the power of data I described above.

Content Briefs:

In this assignment, our objective was to learn how to effectively operate and use the interviewing devices as well as learn how to confidently approach the public and conduct an on the spot interview. A lot of this task was learning how to be socially spontaneously but more so learning to properly use audio equipment. Specifically, the interviews were about student living and lifestyle and asking questions that a lot of prospecting and potential future uni-students may be interested in, so we had to think of the of questions that a potential student or mature student may want to hear.

This was the first usage of audio equipment and It took a bit to get to grips with the audio levels and understanding how they work. There were multiple recordings we had taken that were either too loud or too quiet, sometimes unfixable in post-production. As with other tasks in the unit, audio is something I want to keep learning and get a better understanding of to try to get it to a much better standard, as it is one of the most important factors of filmmaking so I have always known its an area of improvement I have to make. As part of our group of several people, we had to split up and conduct interviews with random people, this was solely on the St John campus so it was pretty relaxed interviewing fellow students, I’d say it was a good step towards eventually going out to the general public and really appreciated that as im a pretty introvert person. Other people in the group who were more outgoing helped me in approaching and asking questions to people when it came my turn to conduct the interviews, I was also helped several times when it came to the audio equipment as I was a bit confused on the audio levels and making sure they were correct.

This task was also another confidence booster for approaching and talking to people, sometimes getting denied sometimes not. Being clear and confident when interviewing someone is something I need to work on in order to improve my work that will involve more of the public later down the line, especially with interviews.

As a group, we made sure not to leave the uni campus and also not to go into areas where we shouldn’t bother people, certain buildings were off limits and we were told beforehand. Another important factor on our risk assessment was that of the noise levels, and to make sure they were not really high when the headphones were on as injury to hearing could have occurred. I noticed this as a loud mechanical crash happened close to us and it spiked loudly, and at the time my headphones were on my neck but it still clipped.

I felt like this unit could have been improved in terms of who we can approach, as when we went out to interview people for the task, the only people outside were us or very few people travelling to other buildings, no one was really out socially so there were not many people to interview besides each other. I’m not sure how it would work because the task block is for the hours within the lesson.

Please click here to see the video

For this task, we set out to produce a 1 minute in length video showcasing different aspects of camera movement and utilise industry standard production techniques, including but not limited to things like Close-ups, pans, wide shots and in particular shot framing and the rule of thirds.

The sequences unit was the first time using the camera kit at YSJ and it was great learning how to shoot a sequence and tie it together in post-production. During this shoot, I was crewed with one other person and together we took it in turns to do our parts accordingly, each helping each other out in regards to understanding how to use the camera and its functionality. We both had unique ideas and approaches to what we wanted to film, so when it actually came down to shooting we were able to swap and share ideas and experiment which was great for the final product and I feel it really brought in a lot of personality and uniqueness to it for just a 1 minute experiment. When it came to post-production, I was able to use my own experience with premiere pro to make a good product as well as help my partner in their own work as they were not used to the program. 

In regards to health and safety, we were shooting just outside of campus grounds so we were pretty in control and not too worried, however, we were both very cautious of the roadside and the constant traffic around us, as well as shooting on a busy footpath where there were a lot of cyclists coming through in and out of shooting that could have accidentally hit our tripod setup. We made sure to move out of the way of the public when filming to avoid these issues and only setup shots that could be done without interfering. 

Looking back at the production and how I could have improved, I felt I was far too close in to the subject, at the time I felt it was a good artsy idea and I do still like it – however, I should have shot an establishing shots and more wides to get the audience orientated correctly to the subject, as it’s a bit confusing. Post production was the best learning process for me in the unit, as I got taught how to string the footage together so it flowed more naturally, especially with audio which was another big learning curve that I’d been trying to improve on.

That being said – some dialogue would have done the shoot good, just to practice audio levels a little more. Understanding an using the cameras was also a bit of a challenge, as I’m very used to using manual focus on a completely different camera, so getting to grips and learning on the fly with the different kit was also really good and I think the autofocus helped me get a bit more creative and manoeuvrable. I do feel like this task set me up quite well for learning the kit, however, I wish at the time I was able to do it with a bigger crew but two was enough in the end.

Please click here to see the interview.

For this task, we were set to film an interview to a professional industry standard by utilising all that we had learned over the course of the first year in the module, this includes Camera, sound, and most recently and importantly for the task, 3 point lighting.
We were looking to improve our skills in communication with those we were recording and how to appropriately interact with them to be both courteous and efficient at the same time.

Before filming the interview, we got together as a group and assigned the roles that we felt most comfortable in taking, but together we all worked on the three-point lighting system as a group due to our early experience with it. I chose the camera role as I felt very confident over the course in using it in a group, and felt I could use it in a professional set up. Whilst preparing and setting up the equipment, we made sure to set up the lights correctly and safely as to avoid any fire hazards due to their heat, as well as making sure all the cables for our equipment was safely out of the way. We also made sure that the lights were not too strong for Marcella, our interviewee. Before shooting we were unaware that she would be bringing children, and she was happy for one of our team to take them outside and play with them whilst we were filming. This was done as not to interrupt the recording and also so they were not potentially in harm’s way of any equipment such as the lights.

Before filming had started and we were setting up, I began to struggle with the Tascam setup and couldn’t figure out how to use it, as audio isn’t my strong suit, and one of the team stepped in and helped me fix it and start receiving audio. Everything was functioning well and we could all provide help to each other, as it seemed our group was pretty diverse in everyone finding the roles they wanted to do.

Early on into the filming, we noticed that the lighting was off and didn’t look right on Marcella. It was then we decided to stop the recording, correct it, and try again. It took several minutes of corrections but eventually we figured out how to make it look good and were able to carry on filming, and eventually ended up with a strong looking video with good lighting. As for the editing, I believe it turned out really well and I was happy with what was produced. Looking back on the task, I believe audio is where I need to improve as I still have a lot of missing experience with the Tascam system and how to effectively utilise it.

Please click here to view the Instagram video

For this task, we were tasked to shoot a short video about and gather excitement for upcoming Christmas celebrations in York and beyond, more specifically by utilising social media and the platform Instagram. The task specified we had to build up to and document our production and use it to gain an interest and following, sort of like a breadcrumb trail leading towards the final video release. Another focus of the task was formatting in the edit and making our end product specific to the platform we intended to upload to.

The Instagram task was, for me, one of the more difficult tasks to do, I had a lot of issues during the filming and post-production parts of the task as well as adapting to a form of social media I hardly used and felt I could have done a lot better in the end. I was crewed with one other person and she helped draw up plans for our initial theme and idea for the video and I pitched in what we could do technically to achieve the idea itself. Our equipment consisted of one camera and a tripod to carry around York for the filming so we split and shared the load evenly when walking around when setting up the tripod and the camera we had to be cautious of how busy it was, as we were in the market area which gets very populated in the holiday season.

This meant having to be extra careful not to bump into people or get in the way, but in the end, we managed it pretty well and even got to talk to some stall staff and talk to them about our task and even show them our Instagrams to look at later on when it was uploaded. If we could have improved the health and safety aspect anymore,  a less bulky/lighter tripod could have been better for the shoot as we were worried about the crowds but it didn’t turn out that busy when we started filming.

One of the first issues was that we were a bit limited on what we could do with the camera for the shoot, as we were going for a ‘moving through a dream wonderland’ feeling, but it was quite difficult to do as we were limited to a tripod or handheld. In the end the shots we took turned out quite wobbly and really undercut the feeling we were trying to get, and it took a lot of stabilising and slowing down to make it less jerky in post-production.

I felt in this task I learned a lot in regards to preparation and planning a shoot properly so it doesn’t turn out a struggle, but, I feel it was also good because I learned how to fix things in ways I never thought I could using the editing programs available by slowing the footage down, stabilisation, warping etc. I did enjoy the preparation for the topic also, it highlighted the importance of social media and how it is used to enhanced projects and spread awareness of something, as well as in some cases how it can be free advertising when getting people to spread it for you. Learning how to use Instagram was odd as its not something I’ve ever used before, especially with the hashtagging system and learning how to get views using specific algorithms and methods that big companies and accounts use.