https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiv-nKHEiAk

Elise and I were assigned the topic Institutions, which to be honest was quite daunting to begin with. We were yet to learn about institutions in class so Elise and I struggled to come up with a way to present our artefact. Originally, we had the idea of doing a website which contained vox pop style interviews. However, after spending some time brainstorming and discussing ideas with Rachel we decided to scratch the website and focus on doing an educational style film.

The educational film centred on a question/ answer format, which I believe, was accurately achieved and contributed to the films consistent flow. We effectively presented the information in ways that furthered the constructive engagement of interpretation. We managed to keep quite a heavy and in depth topic, light hearted and interesting. Eventually, after sifting through the archives of found footage and filming over a three-day period, the B-roll effectively illustrated the story. Although at times some footage I believe can still be altered, as it lacks significance to the text.

We faced many challenges both in the production and post-production phases, mostly to do with audio. Firstly, on day one of filming we used the attached shot microphone on the Sony MC50, this captured far too much atmospheric sounds, which differed greatly in contrast to the interior footage. To resolve this issue we re-filmed all of Elise’s exterior dialogue scenes using a lapel microphone. However, due to lack of expertise in the area of audio, the lapel, though better than the shot microphone, blew out the sound levels and even after some mixing in post still sounded quite muffled. Secondly, due to an error on the Adobe Premiere software, some audio files were corrupted. Luckily, after much struggle finding ways to fix the error, we managed to salvage some footage from an exported draft. We were also disappointed that we were unable to tee up an interview with underground film director, Richard Wolstencroft. Finally, we had minor issues in terms of colour grading as we were cutting between footage from a Canon 5D mark iii, 60D and the Sony mc50. Although these are all minor issues it is important to understand what went wrong so as to avoid repeating them. At the same time, reflecting on discoveries also helped identify successful principles to use again.

It was also my first experience using the editing suites; perhaps I could have developed my skills through means available beyond the course. I am yet to learn about titles, which is something I feel reduces the overall aesthetic of the films I produce. Perhaps further research through YouTube videos and other websites could have improved the production.

I have learnt a lot in the process of this brief. I have learnt about the importance of staying positive and being open to change, looking at the issues we faced negatively gets us nowhere. Elise and I collaborated extremely well together. We stuck to our meeting arrangements and communicated well through all social media platforms, this included shared Google documents so that we could simultaneously work on tasks such as the script or annotated bibliography. Setting an agenda before meeting really helped, we were able to get started immediately based on our weekly goals. Which at times went longer than expected but in setting the goal we were determined to achieve it at all costs so as to avoid falling behind. Perhaps at times when our levels of motivation dwindled we could have built upon our media networks. Asking other peers what they thought and generally involving more people could have progressed our work beyond a level that could only be achieved with the two of us.

As Elise and I collaborated we developed and understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Elise took the reigns in terms of constructing the script and logging the minutes, I assisted when possible but putting into words what we wanted to communicate was definitely her stronger side. I on the other hand, had previous experience with premiere and took the roll of editing all our footage together. Elise was very good at learning lines and speaking clearly, so we decided it was best for her to play the reporter and for me to play the filmmaker. Overall, we couldn’t have done it without the strong teamwork we sustained throughout the creative process.