For assignment two I decided to experiment with two different video elements/ideas to try and figure out what sort of style and approach I wanted to take for my call to action video. I got my talent Fhermary to send in her response to one question I want to ask her in a piece to camera setting. I decided to cut this footage in two different ways to create my two experimental videos. I followed the house style of my production house that we outlined in our pitch which included, the piece to camera filming technique and fast paced editing with text on screen. Obviously due to coronavirus pandemic there was a few constraints which meant I was unable to be present with my talent whilst filming for this assignment. So a lot of variables including quality, image control, sound, lighting etc were out of my control. However this was good to know now for this experimental assignment so I can adjust accordingly for the final Call to Action shoot which I will be able to shoot myself.
Within the first prototype video, I did my best to cut down the footage to get the punchiest grabs from the video she sent me. I ended up cutting down the original footage (about a minute long) to about 20-30 seconds which was really good and what I wanted to do for this first prototype. As I was cutting the footage I found myself looking to put in b roll footage at time which made me think it might be useful to get some b-roll for the actual call to action video. It also got me thinking how I can best utilise different angles for an effective piece to camera shoot, maybe zooming in more on important points, or getting different perspectives. This prototype was very basic but it has helped me realise that I need to do a lot more, and get a lot more out of her responses to be able to create the video I originally envisioned and get the impact I’m after.
In the second prototype video I really decided to challenge myself and try to make a typography video, and for a first attempt I don’t think it turned out too bad. After sitting with it for a few days I do think that I should of used a different font, and maybe tried different text formations to try and get a more impactful feeling and response from what she was saying. However, this is all a part of the process and if I do decide to do a typography video (solely or partially) for my final call to action video I do know now that I need to be super attentive to detail in regards to fonts, animation, text formations, colouring, sound etc. I really enjoyed making this video, despite how inherently frustrating and time consuming it was, whilst making it I realised that sound plays a big part of it so if I was to continue with this prototype I need to really work on the sound track before starting in After Effects. For the sound in this video I ripped the sound track out of the first prototype, tried to tidy it up in Audition as best I could and then placed it into After Effects. I had issues with sound in both prototypes because she speaks a bit muffled in the video she sent me which meant the sound waves aren’t clear and it’s really hard to pace, cut and get rid of backing noises. This makes me think that for my next shoot I might use an additional iPhone to record audio to get a more clear and crisp sound, and film solely on my iPhone. Despite this, I am glad I decided to step outside of my comfort zone to make this type of video even though I have never really used the After Effects program before solely for a project.
Overall, I’ve learnt a great deal about what has worked/not worked as well as what achievable with the current constraints. I also just want to note that my group wasn’t aware that the 2-3 videos was from our group as a whole – we thought it was individual. Which at first was a tad frustrating but all in all I think might work out for us better in the long run as we’ve all tried two different techniques for our videos which will help guide us for our final call to action video.