PRODUCTION FILE
RESEARCH METHOD
Primary research methods can vary from observation, surveys, interviews, focus groups and marketing. Furthermore, out of all the above I feel surveys/ questionnaires are most appropriate. This way I can question a lot of people and getting specific answers. This is because the questions are tailored to my topic. I feel the most important aspect of my project to include in the questionnaire is more so the poster side as this is much more technical and detailed than a promotional video. For the promotional video I can look at existing footage as inspiration. People are most likely to know about posters and what would attract them.
SUM
MARY
SYNOPSIS
For my project 'Promotional Content Production' I have been comissioned to film a music event 'Hidden Assemble'. It will cover highlights of the night in the aim to attract new followers on the brand's social media and illustrate that their event is the place to be!
TREATMENT
Filming will take place on April 29th 2017 at The Spot, Manchester. This is a up- and- coming club in the rave scene with great potential to make the film look really intriguing. Through research and general knowledge, I have found that promotional videos should last around a minute long as any more would unenage viewers and any less wouldn't highlight enough of the night.
The promotional video will include four DJ sets from Kevin Over (Truesole/ Mobilee) Blasha & Allart (Meat Free), Sam Sullivan & Smokey Joe (Hidden Assemble) and Joe French. Recording audio for the night isn't essential as Sam, the founder of Hidden Assemble will be providing me with an appropriate soundtrack.
There are three major shots I will focus on through out the night. Furthermore, these include the crowd's perspective and catching an audience looking as if they are having a great time, closeup of the dj's inluding details of the decks and finally behind the dj overlooking onto the crowd. I feel that these angles are not only engaging but also simple and easy to achieve which is key as I have never filmed in this type of location.
PRODUCTION SCHDULE INCLUDING FILM AND DESIGN WORK
19/04/17- Initial meeting with Sam to discuss brand and aim of working together. From this I discovered that Sam needed a minute long video to show the highlights of his up-coming event in Manchester. He stated how he wanted promotional art- work and and a minute long video. He was quite general with what he wanted and said I had a free range of what to produce with the aim to gain followers on their social media accounts.
25/09/17- I created the first prototype poster and sent it to Sam for feedback. He said that it looked really cool and loved the background in which I used smoke brushes on Photoshop.
27/09/17- Arranged another meeting with Sam to further discuss his brand and go over my work for him, how he will measure the success of what I done, who his target audience is and when he wishes for the work to completed by (a week or so after the event).
02/05/17- Post meet-up with Sam to go over footage and discuss the type of graphics he wishes to use in the promotional video.
09/05/17- I sent Sam the first edit of the video. This did't include audio as he wanted to see what I had created first in order to find something which would be suitable.
16/05/17- I sent Sam more of what I had produced including the shorter advertisement and poster designs Sam really liked these.
17/05/17- Sam sent me the audio for the video which I listened to and agreed that it would work well. This is Gianni Cuomo- Distortion. Sam had paid to have this track which would allow me to use it on social media. Please click play to listen.
EQUIPMENT LIST
To film the promotional video I will use a Canon DSLR camera as I am quite familiar with how to use it plus I love the quality of this camera and the depth of field it gives. Additionally, I feel I could create quite a professional looking video using this. Unfortunately I am not able to get a better camera/ lens so have to work with what I can get my hands on.
Secondly, an essential is an LED light. This will be hired from the college. Overall it is a ring light which attaches to the top of the DSLR and will light up the focus point of the lens when recording. I feel this is a must as the club will be dark depending on the use of lighting but even so will be predominantly dark. I also think this will look really effective when filming close up shots of the dj's as they spin vinyls or use the decks. Other lighting includes the system already included in the club. Usually someone is hired to do the lighting however this is a newer club so I think the system will be automated without the need of a specialist.
Finally, to edit the footage I feel most comfortable using Final Cut Pro. In addition, I did consider using Adobe's Premier Pro as this is more so industry standard nonetheless I find this really tricky and lack training so feel it would be more sensible to stick with what I know. Plus, I really like the transitions and effects in Final Cut which would assist in producing professional- looking footage.
HEALTH AND SAFETY RISK ASSESSMENT
STORYBOARD/ SHOT LIST
Since I am recording a live event, it's almost impossible to create a storyboard as anything could happen on the day. On the other hand, something I have already thought abou tis the camera angles I will be using. Below are small drawings to explain each angle.
Slow- mo side angle: This will be great for capturing facial expressions from the djs. I want them to look like they're having the most fun time and espcially when they dance. The worst thing about some promotional videos is when the DJs look bored, because usually the crowd will be bored as a result.
Behind DJs: This angle will help me to bring the video alive as I plan to shoot this when the music drops to capture the crowd all going crazy to the music and hopefully having the best time. The only concern for this is, some deck spaces are really small and could prevent this as well as health and safety regulations.
In the crowd: The point of the promo video is to engange new and existing followers therefore I want to get as much footage of the party goers having the best time and in general having fun and portraying a great vibe.
DJ Detailed CU: This close up is a necessity. The colours from the buttons on the deck are usually bright and really colourful. Plus, a closeup almost macro shot will give me a really great depth of field and make the footage look more professional.
Crowd perspective: This is similar to the other crowd shot, except for it is behind. I want to create a sillhouette so I can see everyone dancing, however, the DJs at the front are in the spotlight, vica versa.
DJ profile: This angle is another way to capture the DJs having fun and also a cool way to film the lighting behind the DJs to once again create a sillhouette.
POST production
To edit my footage I opted to use Final Cut Pro. This is because I feel most confident using this in comparison to other applications such as Adobe's Premier Pro. Considering this is my Final Project and I don't have a huge amount of time. this is the best option for me.
To edit my footage I opted to use Final Cut Pro. This is because I feel most confident using this in comparison to other applications such as Adobe's Premier Pro. Considering this is my Final Project and I don't have a huge amount of time. this is the best option for me.
STEP ONE:
FINDING THE RIGHT FOOTAGE
SHOTS THAT DIDN'T WORK WELL
On the night of the event, I took quite a lot of footage but this was definitely a learning curve as what I thought was enough definitely wasn't. This is in one respect a good thing as it's taught me that it's a good thing to take lots of shots of the same scene (for instance the DJ playing from a front on view) rather than a couple because it's best to have a lot of material than not enough. I think I personally felt a little embarrassing going around filming but after a while I got over that initial fear.
My Channel
My Channel
Rosie fmp
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0814
This shot wasn't a success as it was so unplanned. It was near the beginning when I was getting used to my equipment and everyone thought I was there was a photographer not videographer! So I had to go round and explain to people that I was filming as they kept getting confused. Plus after I shot following this, I went out with more of a plan to know what I wanted to capture rather than winging it and having loads of long, unnecessary footage.
0817
I think it's obvious why this shot didn't work and that's because the DSLR was completely out of focus! Working in this type of environment was challenging as the lights were constantly changing, therefore I was always adjusting the focus on the camera. I tried using the automatic mode but felt more comfortable adjusting it myself, especially on close up shots.
0802
Once again this was another unplanned shot near the beginning and it's quite obvious I was rushing as I did feel a little embarrassed which was only since I've never publicly filmed something before. It's a shame as the visuals behind the DJs was really eye-catching and would have looked great in the promo video. This shot also taught me to not film drunk people as they just looked like slobs and won't attract the sort of crowd we want at the next event.
SHOTS THAT WORKED WELL
0816
Admittedly, the beginning of this shot isn't brilliant, however, when Kirst blew a kiss at the camera I think it came out really well espcially with the LED light. While researching what makes a good promo video, as bad as it sounds, having girls in the video is more likely to increase the brand's following. Plus it looks like she's having fun and that's the purpose of this video.
0805
Where I shot the two DJs playing at an earlier time but messed it up as I was moving, I went back and filmed these visuals as I thought they'd work really well as a cutaway between different shots in the promo. Unfortunately it isn't centered but that's okay as this is all fixable on Final Cut pro by simply increasing the scale and moving the the left.
0817
This is one of my favourite shots as it shows how technical being a DJ is. I want to portray all the artists as professionals and I feel this does that really well. Plus, the dept of field when shooting close up is brilliant on this camera along with the bright colours of the decks combines to look really intriguing and the equipment is all of a professional, industry standard which makes the event look more established.
STEP two:
FInal cut pro
After reviewing what I had already filmed, I imported all my footage into Final Cut where I began to produce an introduction. One major aspect I had to remember is to STICK TO ONE MINUTE.
STEP ONE
My favourite shot from the night was the one of Kirsten dancing because she portrays a fashionable and young vibe which is ultimately the image the brand wants to be percieved as. Here, I followed a tutorial which instructed me to chop up my footage into three sections and fast forward the middle section to create a glitch effect which I thought would work perfectly as a catchy introduction.
I found this tutorial on YouTube by a videographer called Mabo. His work is amazing especially since I'm not the most experienced with film editing. I didn't follow the exact steps he showed but similar to create as best of a glitch as possible.
STEP three:
title
I wanted my initial title to be super engaging not simply a 2D title appearing on the screen. To achieve this I used the Draw Mask feature (inverted) and drew around Kevin (the DJ) and kept pressing the right arrow on my keyboard to move ever so slightly between each frame and continued to draw around his as I wanted him to be the center of focus as he was the special guest with 'Hidden Assemble' flowing around him. This was very time consuming and didn't even come out that well however I did love how the style font in Normal complimented with the 3D prism colour effect which I also used in the short promo video.
STEP four:
OTHER SPECIAL EFFECTS
Overlaying footage turned out to be something I used a few times in this sequence and my favourite being the flashing visuals in which I reduced the opacity to overlay on other footage which maybe looked slightly boring to liven it up and also disguise any poor shots. My most preferred effect was definitly the 'Bad TV' feature along with the fade transitions to add to the glitch at the beginning of the promo video and was also also used in other parts for instance 'The Spot' logo at the end. I found that the 'White Noise' version of this effect worked best as it was a softer glitch in comparison to the alternate one.
When watching other promo videos I noticed they added loads of cool effects so I wanted to try and add something a little different. Since I had another good shot of Kirst and also a closeup of Sam on the decks, I wanted to combined them and thought a flicker effect would look engaging and also creates a fun, fast flashy vibe which is something we want to portray. Plus, where the LED light was really bright, Kirst's face looks really in focus and her makeup looks amazing plus she is having a great time which worked really well. To create this effect I used a clip of the decks and this, layered them and chopped into Kirst's clip every frame then deleted every other one so when you played the section back it looked as if the video was flicking. I thought the combination of the DJ decks and a party goer worked really well.
STEP five:
THE FINISHED PRODUCT
I tried my hardest to keep the promo down to a minute however I went slightly over due to the end title, however, I opted to still include this as it works well with the fade of the music and also I want it to be really obvious who the brand is so people will be able to easily then go and follow them on social media ect.