Task 9 - Evaluation

Single Camera Techniques Evaluation

Planning the video

We started off planning the video by having a discussion about what we wanted to do, we then made an a3 brain shower where we collaborated all of our ideas. We came up with the song ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ and then expanded from there, we wrote about the different camera angles we wanted to use, the equipment we would need, the type of lighting we wanted to use and who would actually be in the video.  My role in planning the video was writing down some of the information down during the brain storm.

After initially planning the video we started to gather equipment and props that we wanted to use so we would be ready to film the video. We bought glasses, drinks, food, fancy dress items and other things that would enhance our video.

Pre-Production

Before filming there was a few pre-production documents that had to be completed before, these were storyboards, risk assessments and a cast and crew list. The storyboards were allocated to Hayley, who drew out scene by scene what we would like to create, these were very helpful for when we began filming as we had a structure of what we wanted the music video to look like. The cast and crew list was allocated to Megan, who made a list of who would be coming to the party as part of the crew and she also listed all of the crew. This was important so we knew who was going to be there and also helped with the storyboards as we could decide who would be in each scene. I was allocated the risk assessments; these were the most important out of the three as they protected the safety of the cast and crew whilst filming. I filled out different sheets for potential risks and safety hazards which could occur whilst filming; the filming could not have begun without the risk assessments being completed beforehand.

Filming the video

Before filming the video we all arranged a night where we would all be available. When it came to filming we set the house up as a party scene by getting out food and drinks, and then waited for people to arrive. The filming was very simple as we took clips of people enjoying the night; we chose to do this because we thought that this way the video wouldn’t look too staged. We took different clips of people drinking, drinks being poured, people talking and people dancing. We wanted a range of different clips to edit together so there would be a lot of variety in the overall video. We got all of the filming done during the one night and everything ran smoothly. My role was contributing to the filming and also being featured in the group, everyone in the group had the same role whilst filming.

Equipment Used

We didn’t use a lot of equipment when filming our video, the only equipment we used we the Nikon D3100. Three of us have the camera so we all used our own to get a lot of different clips from different areas of the party.

Teamwork

We all worked really well within the group which is why the video was overall a really good success.  We made sure that we have properly allocated roles and everyone stuck to them. One person from our group wasn’t able to help out with the filming but we encountered no other problems when filming the video. The whole of the project ran smoothly and everyone helped each other so the group worked really well together. The project was a team effort and everyone helped out in some way.

Problems Encountered

The only problems we encountered was when we came to edit the video together we changed our song at the last minute as we were having problems with the length of the original song that we chose, we changed the song from Pursuit of Happiness to Turn it Around and the video worked really well to the song. We didn’t encounter any other problems other than this as it was really easy to edit the video together as we sat together in a group and selected different clips and edited them all together.

Post-Production

The post production stage of the video went really smoothly as it was very easy to edit all of our video together as we had a lot of clips to pick and choose from. When we were editing the video together we made sure that we were going along with the beat of the song and making sure that all of the clips blending together nicely. My role in the post production stage was to place all the chosen clips together and edit the video, I really liked doing this as I hadn’t used final cut before and I now know how to edit properly using the software.

What Worked

I think that overall the video was really effective and this was down to the teamwork of the group, there were no arguments and everything ran very smoothly because we had planned what we wanted to do properly. The filming was very successful as we managed to film the whole video in one night which made it easier for us when it came to editing as it allowed us more time to edit the video. The pre-production stage was also very successful because we allocated each other different roles which meant we could get everything done much quicker. The post production stage was also a good part as we all helped with what we wanted in the video and made group decisions.

What Didn’t Work

Overall we didn’t encounter many problems other than choosing the song we wanted to use as we kept changing our minds about which one would work best. Once we chose the song we didn’t encounter any other problems.

What Skills I Have Used

When I began this project I had basic skills in video production and I feel as though at the end of the project I have gained a lot more skills in filming and editing. My favourite part of the project was editing as I feel like I have gained the most skills in this area, I know now how to use final cut pro which I was interested in learning more about as I have only used iMovie in the past.

Video Production – How I will approach it in the future

I really enjoyed this project and will definitely approach video production positively in the future as I feel that this is a lot more to learn and it is a subject where you can experiment with  and it also supports photography.