Research

This was the first stage of my project where I found out my topic for my "How to" video and my research on my topic - camera angles.

This stage started off my learning the different types of research and regulatory bodies like the BBFC, ASA and OFCOM. I didn't find this difficult and I found it quite interesting learning about them as I didn't there were different types of research and what the regulatory bodies did other than the BBFC. If was to research them again or in more detail I would use YouTube because I believe that method would be less time consuming and better for me as I learn more visually rather than reading a bulk text, which is what I did for this task. 

In addition, I researched 3 other "How to" videos on camera angles and I wanted to watch a range of different videos on my topic. This meant I watched one made by a company, StudioBinder, one by a youtube content creator, Rob Tha Creative, and one that was in-between the two video creators on how the videos looked professionally. I wanted to do this as a person like Rob would give me different information on filming as a one-man team than a company like StudioBinder. I believe these 3 videos all helped me to come up with my initial idea for my video, for example, my original idea was to me be sitting down talking, like Rob's video, with examples from real films, like in StudioBinder's video, and a large example video at the end on how easy it is to use different angles. Due to the project brief only allowing me to show a 2-minute video I had to rethink how I was going to make my video as I now had a time limitation which I didn't realise I had before. I really like the way I researched different videos in this project and I think that I will try to do this again in future projects as it helps me to get an understanding on how I can make my video by taking the good parts from others.

Pre-Production

This was the part of project I had to plan everything for my video including: storyboard, location recon and more.

I had to plan pretty much everything that I was going to do in this stage. This was good as it meant I was going to be organised which made filming and editing a lot easier as I knew what to do in detail. In larger productions this part is very necessary because companies need to think about cost, locations and talent. We went through most of the different documents in class and then made final pieces on our own for the "How to" videos. Sadly, I forgot to save those documents, other than the storyboards, so I can't add the to my blog. This planning helped to give my video a clear beginning, middle and end because I needed to write a script and create storyboards. This meant that I had to think about what I wanted to include and make it digestible for the viewer.

Production

In this stage, I had to film and record my voiceover. In my opinion, I thought that overall it went well. However, I did have to re-record some parts because I wanted my video to be more professional, with fewer mistakes.

When I recorded my voiceover, I used one recording and I said one sentence at a time until I was happy with my recording. This could be a small problem as it means that when I edit my audio for my video I will have to cut different parts together. I struggled when recording my voiceover and kept messing up some of my words. If I was to do this again I would make my script in a larger font as I think that helped my struggle of reading my script. Emily and I worked together to record each other's voiceovers and it was our first time properly using Adobe Audition for the first time on our own. On the whole, it went well but we only used the basics on starting, stopping and saving. In addition, I think that my audio was good enough to use in my final video, however I know for next time to stay clam and try and keep all my word sound the same as some of the words seemed more emphasised which I don't really like.

When it came to filming we changed some of the ideas for some of the shots. After reviewing the footage, some of the shots that we changed didn't come out the way I wanted or gave the right tone that I want to show for the overall tone of the "How to" video. This meant that I had to reshoot some shots using my original storyboard. I wish that I was more controlling and said no to ideas as it was my video as this would have meant I wouldn't have had to reshoot, especially the dutch angle shot as that shot deviated a lot from the originally planned shot.

I had also planned to use a 3 point lighting but I didn't realise that it would put shadows onto the green screen. So before I started filming I decided to use the normal classroom lights to avoid shadows and make my job easier when it comes to editing the backgrounds in. At the time of writing this, I haven't started to edit my first version of my video yet so I do not know whether this was the right decision but I am confident that it will work as I expected it to initially. 

Post-production

For this post-production stage, I had to edit my video using footage and the audio that I recorded during the production stage of my project. I also had to add suitable music for my video and an introduction and end card.

I created a ruff version of my video to get feedback from Sam and Paul as well as the final version I could submit at the end of the week. I found this task relatively easy as I have had the experience, previously, of editing clips and sound together on iMovie and Premiere Pro.

After reviewing my footage from the production stage, I had realised that I needed to reshoot some parts like my dutch angle shot and close-up shot. This wasn't necessarily bad; it just postponed me starting my editing stage by about 20 minutes. During the editing of my final video, I learnt how to use green screen properly as I used YouTube videos to help me achieve this effect properly. I also came across some issues with saving my project which I've now learned to fix using the help of Paul and Tom. 

I worked well with my time scale as I was able to get ahead in the production stage which gave me a bit of a head start on creating my two edits.

When adding my audio, I realised that Emily had recorded my audio in stereo rather than mono. This meant that, the voice over was only playing through the left side of my headphones. However, this was a simple fix, I added a fill right with left effect which made the audio mono.

When it came to adding my green screen effect, I needed to reshoot my last shot as I had cut the top of Lewis' head out of the frame. This was another simple fix of reshooting the shot and then making it fit in the frame.

One thing that I have learnt is that I should ensure that I take more than enough footage of each shot as it means that I don't have to settle for bad shots. Next time, I think that I should listen to my voice over before filming because, this time without doing that, the majority of my footage was shorter than my voice over and I had to slow it down to increase the length of each shot. I have really enjoyed the post-production stage of my project because I found the satisfaction of seeing the last months work come together into a video that I can be proud of. I think that my final edit was really good, this is because I didn't over complicate the video and was able to learn new techniques like using green-screens and fixing audio when it only plays from one ear.

Final Reflection

I feel that I was well organised and planned during this project. I think this as I tried to make my pre-production paperwork as detailed as possible to make the filming, voice recording and editing as simple and easy as I could. I also think I worked well with the timescale because I was able to complete my pre-production paper work quite quickly which gave me more breathing room for the rest of the project. One thing that didn't go to plan was the lights. I wanted to use a three point lighting set up for filming however this didn't work as I needed even lighting for fulfil my green-screen effect which I desired more than the 3 point lighting set up. Another thing that didn't go to plan was my audio recording in stereo rather than mono, which I explained in more detail earlier. 

Overall I was happy with my camera work but there were a few shots that if I did this project again I would have reshot. One shot was the long shot as Lewis, Oli and Tom weren't in focus for the majority of the shot. This could have been fixed using manual focus and making sure the full shot was in focus before filming. Another shot was the close-up shot because of the wobbly camera shot. I didn't use a tripod here and it shows, I was reshooting the shot and wanted to film it quickly and I should have spent an extra 5 minutes making it perfect. I wasn't really happy with my audio due to the fact I felt that I emphasised lots of words when I didn't need to. In the future, I may record someone else reading my script as I feel that I may be slightly bias against my own voice. I think that I have a created a good quality on my final edit, my favourite part of my video was the title and end screen, where words popped up at the same time that I said them. I only used one transition but I think it worked well at the start of the video to show when the main bulk of the video started. I think that my final version looks professional however, I think that I could have done some colour correction and tried to do a bit more on the green screen effect. In regards to the overall sound mix I think that it was all really good. The voiceover was very clear and dry. You can hear every word clearly because the music is too quiet. I think that the voiceover could have stayed the same but I should have increased the music more. I am really proud of my graphics I made, I used powerpoint and created every word separately and added another word on each slide. I then exported them as .jpg and added them to the video and sinked the images to the audio.

To conclude, I am really happy and proud with my video. If I was to do this project again I think that I would do the majority of it the same way but I would make sure that film more so that I don't have to keep reshooting. I would also watch a video on how to use audition so that I have a better understanding on the basics.