Assignment 3: LIT Promotional Video

For assignment 3, our assignment is based on a promotional video for Limerick Institute of Technology.

The main purpose of this video is attract potential students at both a national and an international level; to increase awareness of Limerick Institute of Technology especially in terms of the diversity of courses and for the diverse of social platforms such as, Twitter, Facebook and the official LIT website.

This assignment also attracts a target audience:

• Potential students, who are socially aware with people who engaged with digital media platforms.

The first thing our group did was sit down as a group and discuss our new roles. For the last assignment it was duty to be the Director.

The roles are as follows:

• Director- Shannon
• Producer- Clodagh
• Camera Operator/Sound Director-Lorraine

As I am director, I will be working close with both other people to ensure that the aims of the assignment are met. The assignment includes a scripted dialogue. This dialogue will be recorded by our producer Clodagh.

As a group we have decided we will begin recording footage on Wednesday 23rd. We will use both our own footage and footage available online for this assignment.

Assignment 2: Video

NIghtmare from Clodagh Guerin on Vimeo.

Assignment 2: Report

For the second assignment as part of our Digital Video course, we had to produce a video based on moving one or more people through space. As the video is moving people through space it must include a narrative story. A narrative story must contain a

• Beginning
• Middle 
• Conclusion 

to the story.

As a group, the first thing we did when we were introduced to the assignment was a discussion of what options we could chose from for this assignment, We had two options, these options were:

1. A chase or follow sequence involving two people moving through space
2. A task sequence with the emphasis on moving your character through space

Upon discussion, we decided to go with a chase or follow sequence involving two people moving through space. A chase/follow sequence centers on a pursuit in a certain location.

Because of this options we had to focus on various aspects while shooting. These aspects included:

1. Change of scene direction
2. Music
3. Location
4. Pacing in the frame
5. Point of view of chaser or the person being chased

Once we discussed which option we were going to take, we decided on our roles for this assignment and what story we would portray.

Firstly, we decided I would be Director but due to circumstances each of us had to change role for this assignment.

Because of this our roles were:

• Director - Clodagh
• Producer/Chase Victim - Lorraine
• Camera Operator/ Sound Operator - Shannon

Once our roles were distributed we decided on our plot. Our plot included a chase of a person (Lorraine) being followed by a clown toy. With this plot in mind we began to develop storyboards for our plot. 

The storyboards produced:

Once the storyboards were complete, we scouted our location. This time,we decided to keep it simple and used the college as our chosen location. Within the college we planned on filming in 

• Room 1B20
• Stair well outside 1B20
• The street 
• Bathroom facilities

With our scouting completed, we decided we would shoot our scene's during the midterm as the college would be empty and it would be easier to shoot without people in the background.

As camera operator for this assignment I worked closely with the director, Clodagh. Clodagh and I both took turns using the camera as she has more experience with the camera and provided me with knowledge on how to achieve the best scenes.

We used our storyboards to discuss how we would capture the shots. For each scene, we captured multiple shots of the same scene from different angles to ensure we had enough footage for editing. Shooting took approximately, 4 hours. 

After shooting was complete, we sat down as a group and watched through our shots to ensure we contained continuity within the scenes.

A week later when midterm had ended, we sat down together and discussed which of the many shots we would use. 

We began editing, our producer Lorraine worked closely with the director Clodagh. As Clodagh has experience with Premier Pro, she went through the software with us again about various transitions, editing, audio and rendering.

When importing the shots into Premire Pro, we encountered problems with importing. Unlike our first assignment the shots did not go in, in the correct order so before we could put our assignment together we had to sort our shots into different bins. Bins included:

• Start shots 
• Chase shots 
• Clown shots
• End shots

Once the shots were imported correctly and were put together in Premier pro, we watch the video and listened to the background noise we gathered on the day. We decided we would keep some of the background noise and enhance the noise with audio. 

We replaced the audio for various shots including:

• Lorraine running out the door 
• The noise from the rolling dolly was too loud and interrupted the scene
• The clown sitting on the stairs 
• The sound the clown played was too loud and did not suit the scene correctly

To modify this audio, we used what is known as a wild track. A wild track is an audio recording intended to be synchronized with video but recorded separately from the shots.

Overall, the whole process of the assignment went very well from start to end. As a group we enjoyed the switch in roles in comparison to the first assignment and became more knowledgeable with how the camera works, editing software and the structure of how scenes are shot.

For this assignment as camera operator, I really enjoyed the experience of getting familiar with the camera.

Assignment 2: Editing

Editing of the video took us approximately three days. Over the last 3 days we spoke about our shots gathered and what audio we would replace and what audio we would keep from recording.

Once we decided on what audio to keep, we made decisions on what audio we would use for the other shots. Audio we had to change included when Lorraine ran out the door as the noise from the rolling dolly was too loud and interrupted the scene. We used a 'Wild Track' to modify the sound. A wild track is 'an audio recording intended to be synchronized with film or video but recorded separately from the shots'.

Another shot we had to change the audio for was the clown sitting on the stairs as the sound was too loud and did not suit the scene.

During importing of the shots into Premier Pro we had difficulty with how the shots imported. Because of this we sorted our shots into 'bins'. These bins were labelled: start shots, chase shots, clown shots and end shots.

Editing was really enjoyable for all because Clodagh thought us about different transitions, how to import audio to play alongside a shot and how to render the video our correctly.

Assignment 2: Production

Today we filmed our assignment. After changing roles I was in charge as camera operator. As camera operator it was my job to work closely with the director to ensure the shots were taken correctly that was initially set out as storyboards. While filming we took multiple shots at different angles and directions to portray the point of view of the actor.

Shots taken today included:

1. The bathrooms in college
2. The stairwell leading to 1B20
3. The computers in 1B20

Once filming ended, as a group we sat down and watched the shots we took to ensure we have all the footage we need for editing. We have over 30 shots taken at this shoot and hope to edit the video this week also.

We did not meet any problems during production and we all enjoyed the day.