Our task was to create a short video advertising a product designed by an A-level student in the technology department. The product chosen was a chest of drawers by Steven Mclean that was designed for a hair dressers. We set out to make a commercial that was both informative and enjoyable, so in terms of our final product I believe we achieved this. Planning a video is always very hard as you can’t allow for hiccups and mistakes, but I believe we planned the session throughly as everything ran smoothly. In fact any troubles we had arose in editing as understanding the software was quite a complex task and we had to overcome many obstacles. But we ended up with a final product we were happy with.
In terms of missing deadlines, the day of filming we spent around 3 hours doing recording as the 3 members of my group had no lessons. I feel we managed our time very well and finished well within the deadline, as we had allowed 5 hours for filming and it only took 3. We never expected to take as long as that but we allowed extra time in case. This allowed us to have an easier solution if we had not allowed extra time. Due to this I feel we managed our time very well, but in the extra time we had left we could have re-done shots or thought of ways to improve our commercial. The only time we didn't had bad time management was in editing as it took longer than expected. We were able to complete this task as we all worked round the clock and reached deadlines very well for the most part, we all pitched in on filming and editing; even uploading we took shifts as it took a while. If I could have done this differently I would have been more prepared for the editing as this took longest. This involved us taking a break from other work and waiting for the video to load. This was around the equivalent of twenty minutes each. At one point we felt we were going to struggle to meet the deadline as we were having many issues with editing, but we did achieve it by hard work in the end.
To improve this in the future we could read up more about editing in advance, so the software does not seem so complex to understand when it comes to a project. To do this we could of asked for extra help in our spare time and tried to have found some training. I now know this for the future. I was in a group of 3 consisting of me Sarah Parker, Ruhee Ali and Shaunice Mohammed. We are all friends anyway so we got on very well together, and worked as a collective. We all listened to each other's opinions and had no disagreements as we all shared the same idea. So in terms of working in a team we worked very well as a team and had no problems with each other. In the team we all had different jobs we divided filming, editing and uploading between us equally. But we also had specific jobs in terms of the written work. Ruhee did Reeces and risk assessments, Shaunice did the production diary and tracked our progress, and I focused mostly on the technical side of things such as filming and editing; but I added input to their work and wrote up my own thoughts. The same as they also did filming and editing to work on their skills. We tried to make everything as fair as possible and did swap the jobs around quite frequently, this allowed us all to practice and hone in on specific skills. We accounted and specified where members of the team had done specific things, like a particular shot or a certain part of the editing. This allowed us to keep track of who had done what and made sure everyone was credited for their part. Therefore we also all worked well independently as we all had our own individual tasks, in my case I worked well in terms of the organisation as this was an area I was good at. We also all worked well in filming and editing individually as we all had different talents like creativity that were useful in different ways.
In term of our organisational skills we planned and prepared everything in advance, such as where we were filming, how long it would take, when to take out the camera, and who and what was needed. In terms of actually planning the video, we did a script and storyboard, and also had agenda meetings to plan what we were going to do and when. Our filming was very well organised as we had the camera, location, actors and everything ready and set in motion. However editing could have definitely been more planned for, as we were thrown pretty much in the deep end and had to work everything out for ourselves. Therefore we should have looked up what we needed to do in advance, this could definitely use more planning in the future. The only real problem that occurred in the making of the film was needing an extra, spare of the minute. As some of the smaller details were changed very quickly and we decided we needed an extra actor all of sudden that we hadn’t accounted for. Luckily we were able to grab one of my our friends last minute. But it all worked out fine as we were able to overcome the sudden issue. The editing process was difficult to begin with as we were pretty clueless in how to achieve our final product, but once we read some instructions it was pretty easy and we fixed any editing issues that we had encountered before hand. Our communication skills were generally very good, we worked well as team and completed our own tasks. We were not always great at giving each other feedback but we did talk to each other well enough that we knew when something wasn't working or needed opinions. Especially when filming we communicated well as we gave each other feedback on what was good and what wasn't.
In our production we didn't use a clapper board, this is a device used to synchronise sound and visual in media. This is technically a missing item but it did not cause us any issues, it would however of been helpful in certain aspects. Like knowing when to stop and start. in editing. This is usually used by stage hands and crew on film sets, it is sometimes even used in TV shows. It is more commonly used to end scenes but can also start them, this is when you hear the stereotypical action or cut being yelled. This is suppose to be used to show where scenes start and finish. We did not have one at hand but we understood its use and the impact it had by not using one. The lack of a clapper board can make it more difficult in editing as if cameras keep rolling it makes it easier to know when to edit in and out of shots. In terms of our advert this meant that we needed to stop and start editing various clips together. However we were able to easily overcome this it just meant more work later on, as we had to decide on what to use and what could be considered a blooper.
During this project I have learnt many new skills such as how to edit including the use of imovie on a Mac, this was a challenge but I now feel more knowledgeable about editing; I also learnt how to work well as a team as I struggle to work with other people and hand over responsibilities as I like doing everything myself, I also learnt how to add effects such as transitions and sounds which is actually so easy to do, and how to produce a final cut commercial; all of which was done through the development of the other skills like team work and editing. Our finished product is exactly 59 seconds long. The effective qualities of our commercial are the effects used, a backing track, a voice over and a very dynamic setting. It does however have some weaknesses such as the fact the material of the voice over is of quite a bad quality, as it was recorded in a unhelpful surrounding. To improve I would create a better voice over and align it better with the speech. But also remember to pick up a tripod so that all panning and tilting does not have to be done so roughly. It really effects the type of shot that is created and ours was a bit rough cut because of it. Other people’s opinions of our promo have generally been positive but like I said about the voice over being a weakness, some have noticed that it wasn’t very good quality. That has been people’s main criticism and generally the only area of improvement, other than maybe using a slightly bigger set. However they have said that is sort of comical and produced quite well, for the sort of deadlines and surroundings we were working around and in.
During this project I have learnt many new skills such as how to edit including the use of imovie on a Mac, this was a challenge but I now feel more knowledgeable about editing; I also learnt how to work well as a team as I struggle to work with other people and hand over responsibilities as I like doing everything myself, I also learnt how to add effects such as transitions and sounds which is actually so easy to do, and how to produce a final cut commercial; all of which was done through the development of the other skills like team work and editing. Our finished product is exactly 59 seconds long. The effective qualities of our commercial are the effects used, a backing track, a voice over and a very dynamic setting. It does however have some weaknesses such as the fact the material of the voice over is of quite a bad quality, as it was recorded in a unhelpful surrounding. To improve I would create a better voice over and align it better with the speech. But also remember to pick up a tripod so that all panning and tilting does not have to be done so roughly. It really effects the type of shot that is created and ours was a bit rough cut because of it. Other people’s opinions of our promo have generally been positive but like I said about the voice over being a weakness, some have noticed that it wasn’t very good quality. That has been people’s main criticism and generally the only area of improvement, other than maybe using a slightly bigger set. However they have said that is sort of comical and produced quite well, for the sort of deadlines and surroundings we were working around and in.
If I were to make the commercial again I would change a lot as I feel I have now developed more as a media student, and therefore now have more knowledge of technology; that could of been helpful the first time around. I would definitely change the set to somewhere bigger and think of more depth for the script. Though I definitely would make sure the voice over was so much more clear and understandable. I have also compared my commercial with that of Oak furniture lands, which is a professional product; as we are both trying to advertise pieces or a piece of furniture. Therefore I wanted to compare them and see if there were any similarities and or strengths of mine or theirs in comparison. They match up in that they both make a point, demonstrate the furniture, and promote the product in a positive way. However ours falls below in terms of camera quality as it was shot without a tripod, and also the standard of professionalism. In comparison ours definitely seems amateurish but it would be because of the compared budget we had to theirs. Even the voice over was of a completely different standard in terms of it compared to ours. But we had about around about the same skill in terms of the effects. Here is a link to their advert:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVMrInD8hy8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVMrInD8hy8
The point of the commercial was to advertise the product in a new and inventive way, and I feel that it has been achieved very well, even if it is of bad quality. It does satisfy the client’s needs as it has achieved what it set out to do, especially as it gives a brief description of the product and promotes it positively. It fulfils his needs which were making a commercial which would promote his product in a positive light and bring in business. Now we don't know if the latter will but we have given it our best attempt to help the product succeed. He also wanted it to be promoted for his aimed client base, which was a hairdressers, even if it is done badly it does promote the concept well. Therefore not only is it meeting the client's needs but our original proposal as we exactly stuck to what we were going to do, therefore it has also satisfied the client's needs to a certain extent, as we did what he asked just not well. It was not as successful as the concept in our original proposal but the idea was still there, it just wasn't executed well.
When it comes to originality I would say our video is very original as it uses a lot of strange effects and techniques. Some were added in editing but others were done while filming such as varied close-ups. I can say its definitely not like any advert I have ever seen, not all for good reasons but one thing that it certainly is; is original. The methods used to make it are pretty average as they are the same as most editing and filming methods, but the end product was unique to its own. We used technology such as iMovie, a mini DV camcorder and Youtube. Through these we did use appropriate production techniques as it was made using the correct software and devices. Therefore we made a lot of use of the techniques; such as recording, cropping, trimming, audio adjustments, project theming, uploading and sharing. When planning our advert we made sure that we didn’t copyright anything by coming up with completely original ideas, thereby considering legal and ethical requirements. Other legal and ethical issues we considered were public liability as the premise's would have to pay out for any harm caused to the public while filming. Also performing rights as we need to comply with laws as to where we can record, this is why recces are essential. Two other issues that are also quite similar are non-disclosure and privacy as we need to keep information private about any people or places involved. These are very important when making a new product as you don’t want to break any rules that will stop the product being shown.
When it comes to originality I would say our video is very original as it uses a lot of strange effects and techniques. Some were added in editing but others were done while filming such as varied close-ups. I can say its definitely not like any advert I have ever seen, not all for good reasons but one thing that it certainly is; is original. The methods used to make it are pretty average as they are the same as most editing and filming methods, but the end product was unique to its own. We used technology such as iMovie, a mini DV camcorder and Youtube. Through these we did use appropriate production techniques as it was made using the correct software and devices. Therefore we made a lot of use of the techniques; such as recording, cropping, trimming, audio adjustments, project theming, uploading and sharing. When planning our advert we made sure that we didn’t copyright anything by coming up with completely original ideas, thereby considering legal and ethical requirements. Other legal and ethical issues we considered were public liability as the premise's would have to pay out for any harm caused to the public while filming. Also performing rights as we need to comply with laws as to where we can record, this is why recces are essential. Two other issues that are also quite similar are non-disclosure and privacy as we need to keep information private about any people or places involved. These are very important when making a new product as you don’t want to break any rules that will stop the product being shown.
We also made sure we didn’t use any offensive material so not to offend viewers when it is watched. Our lack of experience with the materials at the time did not help with making the product so quality in sound and visual did consistently full behind the amount of effort. To rate the overall quality of our commercial I would say it was a decent final product but has many improvements that could be made to it in the future. I feel it was a success but could be much better in terms of standard. The only real missing element of our video is a kind of hook, there is nothing that makes it very memorable. So this could have been avoided by being a bit more creative or spending even more time on it. To make sure this doesn’t happen again I would make sure that in the planning stage, we had a back up plan and always other ideas we could of used if we didn’t like it.
No comments:
Post a Comment