Unit 54 - Film and Video Editing Techniques

One of our last units of the course was Film and Video editing. This unit is all about different editing and learning different filming techniques such as different shots and different editing techniques such as cutting footage.

Tutorials

One of the first videos that we made was learning about different angle shots and different camera shots that's used in making films. We experimented in different camera shots such as close ups and extreme close ups and we also experimented with different and angles such as being from a worm's eye view and from a bird's eye view also. This was quite a fun task to do and a nice introduction to the film unit.

Our next video that we made was a small sequence about someone putting rubbish into a bin and we added a twist to it by adding another person catching it while it's being thrown in the air and then it being chucked into the bin by the person that caught it. Since this was the first time we began filming and learning how to make a short sequence, we came across a lot of errors such as errors in continuity and it not seeming very realistic.

As we knew the errors, we then redid the film and fixed a lot of the continuity errors and made the film a lot better. We also managed to add our music and sound that we wanted and it really did feel a lot better that we redid it and are happy with the final product.

Our final video that we made was a small project called 'Spy VS Spy' and had an option of different sequences. The sequence that we were given to use was about delivering a package to one spy to another. We used different techniques and shots in this video such as long shots and close up shots and different techniques cutting from different points of view. This sequence was fairly fun to do and I feel that our group had quite a blast doing it and was just a fun, relaxing task overall. 

Ideas & Proposal [P2 M2 D2] and Ideas & Development Research [P2 M2 D2]

We were given our brief on what our teacher wanted us to make which would be a two minute sequence of a video that we wanted to make which could be anything such as a advert, documentary or a trailer.

Before we started jumping straight into the project, we began developing ideas for what we wanted and came up with six ideas each of different types of videos as said before. I made a list of different types of videos I made into little subheadings and then put in ideas that I thought would work. Below are the ideas that I thought up with, along with the types of videos that they would be. I thought of at least ten ideas to give me a wide range of different things I could do and review each one to see if it would be possible and if it could work.

Film Project Ideas

TV Advert Ideas

·         A compensation TV advert, loads of people having accidents while talking and walking around, falling and slipping over and causing accidents left, right and centre.

·         A TV for a video game using silly amounts of persuasion and using rhetorical questions etc.

·         A TV advert selling something expensive e.g. jewellery, object. Ends up breaking it on live TV.

Tutorial Ideas

·         A tutorial on how to make something simple but screws it up while doing it.

·         A tutorial on how to be social. Acts stupid and doesn’t act social making the tutorial uninformative but funny at the same time.

Fight Scene Ideas

·         Over the top, slapstick fight scene, very cheesy and produces a lot of comedic value. Add funny music to go along with it such as Benny Hill etc.

·         Fight scene based from a video game such as Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, very over the top.

Music Video Ideas

·         Popular chart song, do a stupid cover of it with wacky costumes etc.

·         Doing a music video and getting the lyrics wrong, getting annoyed and frustrated.

PSA Video Ideas

·         Warning of a natural disaster coming, pretending to be a news reporter and acting scared through it.

Comedy Sketch Ideas

·         Person in real life feeling like he's in a game and getting slow down/lag and other gameplay issues.

Once we had thought up our ideas, we chose three of them and went more in depth with them and provided examples of videos that have already been done to show what it would be like making it, what techniques and shots would be used, what music would be used and more. Below, are the three videos that I chose that I would like to do as a final idea and something that would be fun and allow for a lot of use of different filming techniques and allow a range of different shots to give more depth, continuity and atmosphere.

First Idea - Compensation TV Advert

 A compensation TV advert, loads of people having accidents while talking and walking around, falling and slipping over and causing accidents left, right and centre. Causing damage everywhere by knocking things over on purpose and allowing people to give themselves accidents. Takes the serious tone away from those sorts of adverts and changes it to a humorous tone. Using slapstick sounds and other sounds such as a sly whistle to make it a lot more humorous also.

Example 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bnmvf-2Uu2E

Example 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5U4s_tnXZM

Example 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk3uK5tW7q4

Second Idea - TV Advert for Video Game

A TV for a video game using silly amounts of persuasion and using rhetorical questions etc. Would interview people that play the specific game and have them rage at me and tell me to leave them alone as I’m disturbing them. Using rhetorical questions such as ‘Are you bored of the same old game year after year?’ Uses gameplay pictures and videos to advertise, very over the top and compares to other games of that genre and calls them terrible/horrible compared to the game that’s being advertised.

Example 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TZwKKokNak

Example 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8pJKynRPus

Example 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-XOw0IT-vU

Third Idea - A Lag Life

           

This idea will be about someone living an ordinary life as a video gamer in the real world, but like all gamers, is experiencing lag in his every day life and gets worse and worse as the day goes on. Some things would happen such as him walking around and getting slow down, talking to friend and his sentences getting cut and jumping from different points etc. 

Example 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy6C1Gm4ALA

Example 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04HyQa6dVKY

Example 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxcOj0fsqbE

One thing I also looked into was the aspect of comedy and slapstick comedy which I wanted to use in my film as I feel it would make it a lot more funnier and sillier which is what I want to achieve out of this film and would make my project a success. I looked into different films and videos that have slapstick comedy and see what things they use to make their video successful to the audience that enjoys that sort of comedy. Some popular examples of slapstick comedy include Charlie Chaplin, The Marx Brothers and The Three Stooges. It's also popular in cartoons such as Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes to appeal to a young audience and to give them a little laugh from the different scenes that happen. Below are some videos with examples of slapstick comedy and the different techniques that you can see in the video that are used in slapstick comedy. I would like to incorporate this into my video in some way by adding a slapstick technique such as a sly whistle or an eye poke for example.













Once we had looked at the ideas and chose our final idea, we then wrote another paragraph describing about what would happen and to just give a short, basic synopsis of what's going on for people to understand. This information would also include what soundtrack were going to use, where we would film it, what would be happening etc. Below is my final chosen idea with this information.

Final Chosen Film Proposal

The final idea that I have chosen for my final project will be the compensation TV advert which will be a parody of compensation TV adverts and making a joke out of it and making it quite over the top. I will be using slapstick comedy such as using sly whistles and other forms of jokes to be able to show the accidents that go on and other forms of comedy also. It will be going through different scenes around the college and using the different areas to my advantage with people around the area having accidents. The soundtrack that I would be using in this would be a like waiting on hold tune or some sort of elevator music as this is the music that’s used in compensation adverts and I feel, with the jokes that I will use, this will go well and make the accidents seem a lot more unsuspecting.

A basic synopsis will be that a person begins walking along in a corridor doing their work and slips over like in most compensation adverts. When this happens, the person then tries to call for help and a man teleports in from his company that helps with compensation and getting you your money in an injury. The man then notices him injured but ignores him and decides to talk about his company and what he achieves in the company to help people. The person injured, still calling for help begins to get weak and eventually dies while the man still talks about his company. The man then notices and asks the cameraman to cancel filming and leads to static. The film then transitions to the same man being in a room talking about the rest of his company and telling people to ignore what happened previously. While he is talking, he hears an explosion in the background which he then says that he must go to check on the incident and see what's going on and saying that he'll see everyone next time and proceeds to lead to the credits.

I would like to aim this video towards a quite immature audience as this I feel would be perfect in the sense of what comedy I want to go into such as slapstick comedy and just basic comedy in general. Overall, I feel that this would be a good idea to do and quite a fun idea to do and something that would want to get me into film making in the future if I wanted to.

Storyboard [P2 M2 D2]

Like all video projects and ideas, we had to come up with a storyboard to show our idea and how each of the different scenes would work and what sort of shots and angles would be used. As this was just my first sketch storyboard, I was missing quite a few things but wanted to get the basic outline of how the video will turn out. Below is my first sketch of my storyboard with the information of what's happening under each scene.

Once we had our basic outline of what to do with our video and how each scene will work out, we then improved on it by adding more scenes and even removing scenes if needed and going into more detail on the drawings so that the scenes could be understood clearer. Below are my improved versions of my storyboard with some scenes removed and some changes made to the drawings. I also added some new shots and improved on some previous ones also.

One of the problems that I noticed with my storyboard while filming is that he has a very lack of shots and repeats some of the scenes that are used in previous shots such as the person being injured on the floor which I feel makes the short film quite bad. I decided to cancel filming and go back to my storyboard to add more scenes and shots to give it more depth.

Once I had the main layout of what my storyboard would look like, I then began constructing the work on my film with my new improved storyboard to be able to help me out.

Evaluation [P1 M1 D1]

Jordan’s Compensation Samation Evaluation – Jordan Cleverley 25/6/2014

Student names and Production roles:

Jordan Cleverley: Actor, Editor

Thomas Mcnicol: Cameraman

Brad Hahn: Actor

Process

For our final task of this unit, we had to make a short two-minute film that would involve a lot of editing and different shots to show that we understand the different aspects of film making. For some of us, this was our first time making a film that would be used for a project and for me, it was exactly that.

I enjoyed this task and found it quite fun as I expected it to be quite boring and mostly just like other units of films that I’ve done in the past in previous courses and I found it quite fun this time as I feel I got a lot more into it and had a lot more control in it rather than in the past courses where I've worked with groups.

During my production of my film, I had to redo my storyboard due to a number of reasons. One of the main reasons is the lack of shots and angles and that most of the scenes repeat quite a lot and I feel that this was very unprofessional and needed to be improved on a lot. Once I had improved on it and added new ideas, shots and angles, I then found that the storyboard was a lot better and has had a lot of depth put into it.

One of the other problems also that I had during production was that I had to re-film all of my footage due to the lighting being quite bad in the setting that I was in, I also had problems with the setting that I was in being quite busy and having a lot of people in it which was quite annoying but quite hard to stop so I just had to do it at a certain time that wouldn't be so busy.

Once I managed to film it all, I then began editing and finished the film. However, I then asked for feedback from people and got a lot of feedback of lack of transitions, effects, sounds etc. that I needed to improve on, I then went back to the work and added the different things I got feedback from and just from doing that, I noticed a massive improvement in the quality of the short film and it looking a lot more professional and showing that a lot of effort has went into it.

I done a lot of different roles for my filming process and learnt a lot of new skills from it. I worked on two main roles, which were acting, and editing which I felt was really fun and enjoyable. Through this, I learned new skills and improved on previous skills that I had such as my acting skills and editing skills which it was my first time editing and adding sound effects very well. I found both of these roles very enjoyable and something that I would like to do again in the future and improve on for future projects.

If I were to do this project again, I would improve on a number of things such as my acting skills, which I felt that I did not put a lot of enthusiasm into, and something that I feel I need to improve on if I were to do this again. Another thing I’d like to improve on also if I were to do this again, would be my editing skills as I feel that learning that as a new skill in filming, I feel I could make my film look a lot more professional and something that has been put more into depth.

Overall, I really enjoyed this film process and would definitely like to do it again with these new techniques that I have learned and developed on.

Final Digital Video [P3 M3 D3]

Below, is my final digital video that has been uploaded to YouTube and has been given to my teacher in a DV-PAL format.



As I noticed there were quite a few problems to it when it uploaded, I then improved on editing a bit in IMovie and added some extra things to make it a little better such as sharper editing and some music to go in the background of the video.



Research & Presentation [P1 M1 D1]

One of the final things we did in this unit was a presentation of a film and to take a sequence/scene from that film and talk about the different aspects it uses such as sound effects, visual appearance, the style.

The film that I had chosen to do for my presentation was Tron Legacy and chose a specific and quite iconic scene in the film of a chase/action scene between the protagonist and antagonist of the film. I constructed my presentation on PowerPoint and below are screenshots of the different slides that I've used. Below are the different slides that are in my presentation in chronological order.