For our promotional unit, we (Jack & Lewis) produced a short show reel style video for our college's annual award show, Spotlight. We started by contacting the event's organiser with the idea to record it and produce a video, which they agreed would be useful. Then we got all of the talent release forms signed for all the participating students that would be in the video. On the night we took two cameras and two tripods and filmed a lot of the night so that we would have a large selection of footage to edit with.
The biggest problems that we encountered were technical issues to do with our shooting gear. Firstly, one of the tripods would not lock into position meaning that a few of the shots were handheld. Obviously this is not ideal but we combatted this by using things like the handrails as a resting platform for the camera so that the camera shake is kept to a minimum. To further minimise this we used the 'Warp Stabiliser' effect in Premiere Pro to stabilise it in post production.
Another problem that we had was that the cameras that we took out from college both had low battery. To combat this problem, we had to alternate between us recording and charging the battery so that we had a good coverage throughout the night.
For most of the night, Lewis was behind the crowd capturing wider shots that encapsulated the whole stage and Jack was on the side of the stage, getting close ups and medium to long shots. This worked well for us because it allowed us to intercut between varying shot types to maintain a high energy in the edit. To also further this, Jack moved around from one side of the stage to the other to try to keep the footage as varied as possible between each shot.
In terms of parts that went well, I think that the video itself came out well and is completed to a professional standard. We decided to keep it short and show the parts of the night with the highest energy rather than make a long winded and slow paced edit. I think this worked well for us because the video shows the night in an exciting and fast paced manor which will attract more people as opposed to the latter. Also, I think our communication skills with our client were good, as we conversed back and forth discussing the purpose of the video and gained feedback from the client. At the start of the video, music was the main concern for us as we were skeptical about getting a suitable track that would be free of copyright but we were quickly able to find a Soundcloud account that specialised in original copyright free music and after browsing the tracks we find an upbeat jazzy style track that suited the energy that we wanted to convey.
In terms of other improvements to our video, I think we could have looked in to bringing lighting of our own to brighten up the stage a bit. While it looked pleasing to an audience, the camera's were less sensitive to the light which meant that the footage was all shot at around ISO 800 meaning we had a bit of grain and the footage wasn't as clear as it could have been had we considered the lighting situation more. Another improvement would have been to use a handheld stabiliser for the cameras to give us a smoother look with the handheld shots. Although it didn't cause a major problem, some of the shots shift and move around a small amount which in the eyes of a client would signify unprofessionalism.
There was a lack of planning when it came to measuring the success of the video, due to it being unclear how we would see if we had succeeded in creating an effective video. Over time, it will become clear if the video does it's job, based on the amount of people that turn up to the event in coming years as compared to this year. However, we would've benefited more from a quicker way of seeing. One way we could have done this would have been a questionnaire that we could have sent out to friends and college students, asking questions such as "Did this video increase your interest in the event?".
Altogether I think that this unit was a success and we are very pleased with how everything came out, from the forms to the video, the editing and the feedback from our client.
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