Preliminary Task

The Misbourne Promotional Video 

By OTB Productions

(Holly, Saliya, Michael, Daniel)

The Task

The task for this class was to advertise the school using a promotional video. This video could contain any sorts of information the team agreed on such as the types of subjects which we included into separate scenes, how long (how many seconds) each of the subjects will be in the video, types of angles used, types of characters as well as places. We were told the video had to be no more than 30 seconds. This made the task a lot more challenging since every scene had to have a specific length.

There were different sorts of themes from which the group had to choose from such as funny, informative, happy, sad, enthusiastic, etc. This is what the mood of the video was based on. Our group decided to go with enthusiastic and mainly informative because we thought that the more the audience finds out about the school and how good it is, the more people will have the courage to join.

Our Ideas

We as the group came together to discuss the group's overall task and how we could put together an amazing video. We came up with ideas about which subjects are the best to show to the audience. Since Misbourne is a talented art school, we thought it would be a good idea to show off all the types of paintings and arts the school takes part in. For example, showing the Art department is a great way of making the school look like a place for commitment. Furthermore, we also thought about including Photography which is very similar to art. Music is a very diverse subject and is not comparable to any other subjects which is why we had to leave it to the end where everything was separated although the pace of the clips we filmed was similar to the pace of the song.

We then moved on to choosing our song for the video. The first one we started working with was ''All star'' by Smash Mouth. This song has a positive message and is also recognizable due to its historical success. Therefore, we as the group thought that the more people recognizing the song while watching the video, the more they would be engaged with the content of the video. However, the downside of this classic song turned out to be too old for the modern generation. As a result, we had to consider choosing another song because the modern generation to which this video was intended to would not feel so relieved with the overall message.

The second song was ''Somebody else'' by The 1975. It had a good effect on the purpose of the video as well as it was a modern song from well-known artists. Unfortunately, the content of the song did not relate to school in any sorts of ways as well as the pace was too slow to work with the clips. By this time, all the needs for the song were analyzed. For example, we knew that the song had to be fast-paced, uplifting, happy, modern and finally respectful in some way (e.g. no curse words or inappropriate interpretations). In conclusion, the group decided to choose a final song for the last time with these personalities.

The next and last song was ''Paradise'' by George Ezra. All the things mentioned above were related to this song. It had some bit at a fast pace and it also had some parts where it slowed down. We knew this wasn't a problem because we were going to edit the song before actually putting it into the video. It had no inappropriate language so students of all ages could view it. The guitar was a good instrument to give an uplifting effect.

Intro

The intro and the outro were supposed to be the shortest parts of the video because they contained the least content. They were only included for effect. The primary plan for the intro was to put the camera onto the floor while starting the video. This would've followed up with one of our group members picking up the camera and slowly rotating it 90 degrees to the right to give a view of the landscape. Next, the person holding the camera had to walk towards the school gate and either place the camera through the gate or above it. By the time we finished filming this, we not only realized the clip was too long, but also we figured it would've looked too shaky if the clip would've been speeded up. In order to be able to go outside of school to try to shoot this scene, Michael asked for permission from the receptionist although we had to stay at the school site which we did.

As a result of the clip's length, a different angle, place, and lighting composition had to be used in order to achieve a better outcome. Michael and Molly found out that the tree near the gate of the school provided us with a great lighting effect making the clip look much better than it looked like with artificial lighting. Each member of the group started filming the same part using the same camera to see who could hold the camera in the most stable position. After the lens rolled from the sky to the front of the school, the viewer could get a better look at it. In the actual video, the intro starts off video fade from black to the sky.

PE + Physics

To give a better flow to the video, we tried to connect the subjects to each other in some way. For PE and Physics, the main way in which they were supposed to be connected was the colors. For example, the color of a basketball could be the same as the flame of a Bunsen burner. As soon as the intro was finished, the screen skipped to the bit where I kicked the ball. This scene was filmed by Molly from 3 different angles and positions. For the first cut, the camera was zoomed in to the football but not close enough so both the background and I stayed in focus. While I started ran towards the football, Molly zoomed out with the camera as well as walked backward at the same time. By the time I reached the ball, we made a cut to the next bit.

This is where the camera was held in a stable position by a tripod. For this cut, the camera was zoomed in fully although it gave a harsh quality to the clip so instead, we placed the camera as close to the football as possible. When I kicked the football the slow-motion effect was applied so it made it look more cinematic which in this case suited more to the audience and built tension.

The final cut was filmed from the side of the goal. Since I already kicked the ball, we had to cut into the scene where the ball was already in the air to make it look faster. This was necessary because, at this point, the song was speeding up. Molly stood directly next to the goal as if the ball was going to hit the camera although it wasn't close enough to it. When the ball started bouncing, the transition was applied to get to physics where the orange color of the ball and Bunsen burner's flame seemed to match keeping the same effect for that part.

Physics + PT 

In physics, 3 different shots were used with the same angle to give different views of the Bunsen burner. The first shot gives a clear view of the subject whereas the remaining bits start to zoom in. The last shot for his scene was not only focusing on the Bunsen burner but the background surrounding it. Then the camera was moved to the beaker filled with water which is where the fade effect was applied to darken the screen which is where the next scene began. As a result, instead of changing the colors to get to the next scene, we created our own transition using the sinks in the rooms.

While Molly, Michael, and Saliya were filming for Physics, they decided not to use the lights in the room because they would've only made the screen look yellow which is not natural at all. Therefore, the scene was filmed in a dark environment because we thought it would be better to add artificial effects afterward to make it brighter and uplifting instead of natural.

PT + ART

When the group came together to discuss photography, there were many ideas considered and we also tested some of them. For example, the very first idea was filming a student who was taking pictures of the school. This scene would've started in the PT room. The person holding the camera was supposed to walk out of the room and zoom on the other student's back where the camera would've rotated to the left side where the screen would've changed with a rotating transition from left to right. After we tried to shoot this bit, we realized it's too simple as well as slow. Therefore, we moved on and started thinking about other ideas.

My other idea was a lot more relatable to the subject and it also looked kind of cool in our opinion because I had to make a draft of it so that the group could see what I meant. After I filmed it, I used Adobe Premiere Pro to select roughly every 5th frame and edit it in Photoshop applying a night vision effect. After all the frames have been edited, I placed all of them next to each other in order (in Premiere) giving each of them approximately 0.4 seconds on the screen to play one after another. It ended up looking cool but it also looked slow and a little bit depressing because of the dark colors. As a result, we changed it again. There was no transition applied just a single cut to Art. 

ART + Music

For art, I included several paintings, drawings, and painted structures to show off all the different segments of the school's talent for art. I used clips instead of exported frames because I thought a little bit of motion would make it flow better with the song and so it did when I first watched it. Some of these clips were short whereas the other ones have been longer so that they created a specific effect. The transition we wanted to apply to skip from art to Music was a bit complicated to do.

We were supposed to film the music scene first and then export the very first frame from this clip. Using a plain paper, Michael was supposed to draw the frame onto it as similar as possible. I used the ''glow'' transition tool in Adobe premiere pro to fade the picture into the first scene of Music. However, we could not film this because we struggled to export a frame that was simple enough to draw as well as we knew we would've not been able to hold the camera in a stable position for so long. Therefore, I edited the first frame in Photoshop several times applying different effects. When all the frames were done, I put them together to give a quick slideshow. I used the ''Cross dissolve'' transition effect to change the scene between the last edit and the non-edited version of the guitar which was also the first clip for music.

Molly, Michael, and Saliya did several shots for the subject. They filmed different instruments from different angles such as the piano, drums, guitar and different parts of the drumset separately. As soon as the guitar started playing, I introduced the second instrument using a split screen. Then I have placed two other ones splitting the screen into four separate parts.

Outro

The outro is made up of 2 separate cuts. One is where few students including me are revising together in a classroom and one where the camera is rotating from the school's music department to the sky which is where the text came into context. The text includes the schools' website's link, some paintings from the website as well the most rememberable quote of the school.

The First Draft

Here is our first draft of our first attempt. We edited on Premier Pro, and then asked for feedback from a range of individuals.

Difficulties we came across

One of the major problems the group came across had something to do with the length of the clip. When we finished the first draft which was realistically based on the final version, we were told that we could extend the video by 15 seconds which meant extra shots and transitions since the team tried to maximize the content. Luckily, we have kept those extra shots which were removed from the video that the members of the group have filmed. We also had enough time to put the material together and edit it.

The weather was constantly changing during the days of filming. It was always raining or if not, the sky was cloudy which was unable to provide a natural looking lighting for the video. The song and the overall lighting composition had to deliver the same feeling to the audience. The video was supposed to have at least a little bit of lighting which would then make it a lot easier to adjust it in Adobe Premiere Pro. In order to overcome this problem, I checked the weather news to predict the rough time at which we could shoot the new clip.

Before the group actually started filming, Molly brought her camera to school so that we could experiment with different angles and lighting compositions. However, sometimes the camera wasn't charged enough to be used so I started bringing in my camera too. They both had the same image quality so we didn't have to worry about that.

The last problem we faced with had to do with the final piece. Both me and Molly had a lot of resources of clips and editing material. Furthermore, the number of ideas of how we could edit the clips was enormous so we decided to make two separate pieces. We used Instagram to communicate with each other and eMails to send the extra clips and shots. Since then, every time we had a lesson together we discussed the pros and cons of each piece so that we could select the best parts. After every lesson, we knew what to edit and how leading to the final piece. In the end, both clips had some minor differences and based on those ones, the better clip was selected which was Molly's. This was mainly because of the ending and the pace at which the clips were cut so that they matched the rhythm of the song.

My Version

The final piece

Overall Difference

Both videos had some clips which were unique and appropriate for the background context. In other words, we used different scenes for different purposes to test which effect would fit better to the idea of promoting the school. For example, Molly included a few clips where I and Michael were talking as well as a different one where I and two other sixth form students were talking. In comparison, I only included the second part.

The storyboard

After finishing the video (final edit), Michael (the group's graphic artist) had to create a storyboard explaining all the things we included in the video and how each of these scenes looked like as an animation. This was necessary because it gave all the group members an overall view of what we had planned so far and how it was all going to take place.

The PowerPoint Presentation

Before starting the video, a member of the group (me) had to be selected to put together a PowerPoint presentation where I had to write down all the things we took into consideration for filming. This was based on 5 major topics which include: story, rationale, tone, casting and look & feel.