I would like to open this post with the fact these next few weeks are the busiest of my semester. It seems as if everything is due at the same time. One particular thing that is due is a continuity video assignment for CMS340 Field Video Production. As a partner and myself were filming the project I figured that this entire process would be something worth sharing with the world.
Pre production: This is the planning part of a video project where we figure out what kind of project that we want to shoot and what is needed to complete it. For this project a storyboard was needed which really helps with filming. Story boarding also gets your creative mind flowing and helps create a better overall production. The project called for a short sequence of shots that focus on cutting to continuity. This is the art of editing a story together with a series of cuts to appear that the action in front of the camera is one constant motion. My partner (also named Kyle) and I decide to shoot the process of someone getting up and going for a run. I will be acting in this particular project.
Production: We shot the project using one of the school’s Sony PD150 cameras. As we shot we followed the story board as close as we could however while shooting we found out that some shots just are not possible or just do not work. The storyboard sort of served as a reference manual as we shot. We ended up shooting the project over three separate days because of unexpected problems that arose. On the first day my roommates were enjoying a sports filled Sunday and could be heard screaming profanities in the next room. This limited our shots to the first page of the storyboard only. We then met up in the middle of the week to shoot the rest of the shots. First issue from day two was that it was now clear outside and then sun was on its way down making it much brighter in my apartment then the previous Sunday. The second issue was with the shots themselves to which we realized later that day. The shots from the fridge’s perspective featured the other Kyle in the background and a lot of our shots were out of focus. So we then met up for day three. We reshot a lot of the shots that we felt were too out of focus or washed out with light. The fridge shot is one of my favorites and required the use of a wide-angle lens. We also used this lens in a final outside shot where I run out of the frame.
Post Production: Now the real fun begins. We have to log and capture the footage, then edit the shots together into a finished product. Using a rather old but fully functional VHS deck I logged the footage. This log is essentially a list that has the name and time codes of every shot that we will be using. Once this information is entered in to the computer using the editing program Final Cut Pro it will capture all the needed footage from the MiniDV tape.
While logging the footage I quickly realized that we probably should have reshot the rest of the footage from the second day. Once I got looking at it on a bigger screen it was very evident that a lot the shots were quite out of focus however it was too late. I figured I’d just make the best of it during editing. For the most part, the editing went very smooth except for the bathroom shots. We really didn’t have enough shots from the bathroom but I think I made it work the best I could. I ended up having to reverse a shot because we were missing a pivotal part (ten points to whoever can see which one). Once the rough cut was finished I went through and sweetened all of the sound including the yelling from football Sunday and shorted up unnecessary long shots.
In the end I feel as though the final project came out ok considering some of the shots weren’t the best. The biggest thing that I learned during the pre production phase is that when planning a time to shoot there is a lot more to consider then I thought. Next time we will definitely consider the lighting and time of day when using outdoor light. In addition, by the third day of shooting we started saying, “focus” right before we said “action”. So here it is, the final finished product. Enjoy. - Kyle
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