Video & Sound Production: Task 1 - Exercises

22/4/2024 - 26/5/2024 (Week 1 - Week 6) 

Aisya Diva Anwagodsa (0365505)

Video & Sound Production / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Task 1/Exercises

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JUMPLINK

1. Lectures
2. Instruction
3. Exercises
• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
4. Feedback
5. Reflection
6. Quick Links

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LECTURES

Week 1: On week one, Mr. Martin briefed us with the module and upcoming tasks.  He also taught us how to compile videos in Premiere Pro.

Some things that we should do:

1. Document Editing exercise 1 & 2 (Mints & Doritos) in your blog under Exercises section
2. Watch stop motion short, share 3 of your favourites in your blog under Final Project section.
3. Purchase Tripod for Phone (with bluetooth remote control)
4. Watch Everything, everywhere, all at once (before week 3)

Material: 

• Shot size: The amount of space that is visible within a single shot or frame.  Different shot sizes can be used to convey different types of information or create different emotional effects.
• Camera angle: Refers to the position of the camera in relation to the subject being filmed.  Different camera angle can be used to create different perpectives.
• Composition: The arrangement of visual elements within a shot or frame.

Week 2: Three act story structure, common narrative framework used in storytelling, particularly in film and literature.  There are three parts of it.

1. Act one: The Setup The first act establishes the protagonist, their world, and the situation they are in.  This kind of act usually ends with an inciting incident, which sets the story in motion and creates a problem that the protagonist must solve. 
2. Act two: The confrontation, this act is the longest and the complex one, it is where the protagonist faces a series of obstacles and challenges as they work towards their goal.  Generally divided into two parts (the first half: the protagonist makes progress with their goals; the second half: they encounter setbacks and complications).  This act typically ends with a major turning point.
3. Act three: The climax, the protagonist must confront their final challenge or conflict and overcome it in order to achieve their goal.

Week 3: Storyboard is a visual representation of a film, animation or video games and the crucial part of the pre-production process.  It is made up a series of illustrations or images displayed in sequence.  Storyboards are used to plan shots, understand the narrative flow, and to communicate ideas to the production team.  They can include details such as camera angles, character movements, dialogue, and even notes about special effects or sound.  Storyboard helps the director, cinematographer, and other crew members visualize the scenes and prepare for the shooting process. 

Week 4: Production stages, there are 3 main phases of production stages, they are:

1. Pre-production: The planning stage of filmmaking, the necessary preparations are in this stage.  This includes tasks such as writing the script, creating storyboards, casting actors, scouting locations, designing sets and costumes, and hiring crew members.
2. Production: Where the actual filming begin, the production team will work together to capture all the footage needed for the film using the plans and preparation made during pre-production as a guide.
3. Post-production: The stage where the footage is edited and compiled into a final product.

After these stages, there might be additional stages, for example: Promoting the movie, distributing, etc.  Beside of the stages, it is important to know the role of production crew:

1. Director: responsible for overseeing the entire production and ensuring that the creative vision for the project is realized.
2. Producer: Responsible for logistical and financial aspects of the production.  They secure funding, hire the crew, coordinate the schedule, and ensure that the project is complete on time and within budget.
3. Cinematographer: Also known as the director of photography (DP), responsible for the visual aesthetic, they work closely with the director to choose the right camera, lenses, and lighting to achieve the desired look and mood for each scene.
4. Production Designer: Responsible for the overall visual design of the film (sets, costumes, and property), they work closely with director and editor.
5. Sound Designer: Responsible for the audio aspects of the film, including recording and editing dialogue, sound effects, and music.  Sound Designer work closely with the director and editor.
6. Editor: Responsible for assembling the footage into a coherent and compelling story, they work closely with the director and sound designer to shape the pacing, tone, and structure of the film.

Beside all of the role mentioned above, there are many other roles that involved in a production crew, including grips, gaffers, makeup artists, etc.

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INSTRUCTION

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EXERCISES

Week 1

On week one, we were told to 4 things that are listed below:

1. Document Editing exercise 1 & 2 (Mints & Doritos) in your blog under Exercises section.
2. Watch stop motion short, share 3 of your favourites in your blog under Final Project section.
3. Purchase tripod for phone with bluetooth remote control.
4. Watch Everything, Everywhere, All At Once movie before week 3.

Beside that, Mr. Martin also taught us to operate Adobe Premiere Pro.  We learned to input the video and compile them together.

Exercise 1: Mint Ads

On this exercise, Mr. Martin taught us the basic of assembling footage in Adobe Premiere Pro.  We were given files with videos then we need to compile it into one video.  The files was already labelled with number, so we know the arrangement.

Process:

Fig. Mint Ads Process Documentation
(18/5/24)

Final Outcome:

Fig. Mint Ads

(18/5/24)

Exercise 2: Doritos Ads

After learn how to assembling videos, students were told to do another exercise.  It was arranging random footage into one video.  This exercise was challenging for me, because I had to watch the scene one by one and rename all of the files so I can easily arranging all of the footage into one video.

Process:

Fig. Doritos Ads Process Documentation
(18/5/24)

This one was quite overwhelming to me, because footages are randomly named by number, so I had to watch it one by one and rename it with the real arrangement number, but that is the point of this exercise right?

Final Outcome:

Fig. Doritos Ads

(18/5/24)

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Week 2

On week 2 we're supposed to learn to shots videos with different angle, but because it was a public holiday, so the shot were done on week 3.  However, Mr. Martin provided us a google form quiz, so we can test our understanding on the materials.

Fig. Shot Size, Camera Angle, and Composition Quiz
(17/5/24)

Fig. Three-act story structure quiz
(18/5/24)

After filling up the quiz, we were told to answer these question below according to Lalin and Everything, Everywhere, All At Once.

Lalin:

1. Which part is act 1, act 2, act 3 respectively? Describe each act with ONE paragraph only.
• Act one is where we are introduced to Lalin with the narrative scene and compilation of her past life before she became an influencer.  It shows what kind of world she's living in and tells the audience the problem she faced with her insecurities.  Act two, when she moves to Japan and starts a new life, but she has to face the fact that even though she's famous on the internet, she's still not confident to show up with her real face, and things get hard when she's falling in love with a guy that she's always talking to through social media where she believes that the guy won't like her natural appearance.  Act three: This is the turning point where Lalin refuses to meet the guy, without Lalin realizing that the guy already knows her and loves her with all of her flaws.  As the truth has been revealed, Lalin realizes that someone loved her no matter what.
2. What is the inciting incident in the movie?
• The scene where the backstory of Nut and Lalin revealed, it was the point of the movie, where Lalin read Nut's book and discover the truth about Nut.
3. What is the midpoint scene in the movie?
• Where Lalin started a 'new' life in Japan and change the way she lives.
4. What is the Climax scene in the movie?
• A scene at the cafe, where Lalin read Nut's book.
5. What is the theme of the movie?
• Romance & drama.

Everything, Everywhere, All At Once:

1. Which part is act 1, act 2, act 3 respectively? Describe each act with ONE paragraph only.
• Act One: The beginning, scene that introduces Evelyn and her family to the audience, showing their life and their problems where Waymond (Evelyn's Husband) had a plan to divorce Evelyn and their daughter who seems to act rebellious from Evelyn's point of view.  Act two: The scene where they're in the office, where the weirdness starts to begin.  Evelyn met his husband from another universe who suddenly gave her odd instructions and telling that they could be in danger, where she believes that Evelyn is the only one who can save her universe.  Act three: Evelyn finally gets to the point of the madness that has happened that day, she realizes that the problem is her daughter from another universe who trying to drag Evelyn to be gone with her.  It also shows the development of Evelyn's character, where she finally accepts and bare all of the problems in her life, and starts to calm all of the ego inside of her.
2. What is the inciting incident in the movie?
• The first real appearance of Alpha Waymond, who warns Evelyn of the grave danger to the multiverse.
3. What is the midpoint scene in the movie?
• In Evelyn's real world, she and Alpha Waymond follow Alpha Gong Gong to an office room where Evelyn has doubts that she is the one who can stop Jobu.
4. What is the Climax scene in the movie?
• The climax takes place in an IRS building where Evelyn and other agents of the Alphaverse take their last stand against Jobu Tupaki, a variant of Evelyn's own daughter Joy and whose multiversal powers resulted from Alphaverse-Evelyn's experiments.
5. What is the theme of the movie?
• Family, absurdism, etc.

Camera Shot Exercise: John Lewis Christmas Advertisement Page 7 - 8

Fig. Exercise: John Lewis Ads Camera Shot Size

(18/5/24)

Page 9: Why the bottom shot is not over shoulder?

Fig. Over Shoulder Shot From John Lewis Ads
(18/5/24)

• The bottom shot was not over shoulder because the bottom shot was the point of view of the viewer and the view was starring straight at the kid.  While the first shot was showing the point of view of the mother who saw the kid looking at the penguin, which make it over shoulder, because the mother can see the object (the penguin) over the kid's shoulder.

Camera Shot Exercise: Unsung Hero Page 11 - 14

Fig. Exercise: Unsung Hero Camera Shot Size

(18/5/24)

Page 15:

1. What are the foreground, midground, and background in composition?  (Provide an image for explanation)

• Foreground is the element of the photo closest to us, while the furthest element away from us is the background, and the middle ground makes up the area in between.  

Fig. Foreground, Midground, and Background
(18/5/24)

• From the picture above, we can see that the foreground is the part that closest to us which is the mountain rock on the right, and the midground is the space/gap between the right rock and the left, while the left rock is the furthest element from our sight, so it is the background.

2.  What is depth of field?  Depth of field is the area of acceptable sharpness in front of and behind the subject which the lens is focused.  It is simply how to adjust the blur and the sharpness of the area around your subject.

3.  What is deep depth of field?  (Provide an image for explanation)

• Deep depth of field is keeping everything in the image sharp and clear, or simply captures a larger area in focus.

Fig. Example Of Deep Depth Of Field
(18/5/24)

• This picture focus on the larger area which is the scenery, that is why this picture is one of the example of deep depth field.

4.  What is shallow depth of field?  (Provide an image for explanation)

• Shallow depth of field refers to a small area in focus.  Often subject is in focus, while the background is blurred.

Fig. Example Of Shallow Depth Of Field
(18/5/24)

• In the picture, we can see that the focus area is referring to the ladybug while most of the area is blurred, it is because the amount of focus in shallow depth of field only require to focus in a small area.

Page 16: 

1. What is 180 degree rule (static screen direction)?
• 180 degree rule in filmmaking is the 180 imaginary line that should govern the camera movement for the scene.  This is the rule that applicable for dialogue scene in a movie or a video, the key is to keep the camera on one side of the imaginary axis along this straight line for the duration of the scene.
2. What is continuity in cinematography?
• Maintaining the consistency of both time and space in the film.  It helps ground audiences in the reality of the film while establishing a clear and structure narrative.
3. Watch the video below.  Does it adhere to the 180 degree rule?
• Yes, it is.  As we can see from the video, the shooting area was maintained in the imaginary axis, it shows from the point of view from the shot that going back and forth form right to left, and highlighting the two characters while doing their dialogue.

Fig. JWT Vintage - Cheers Beer "Crab Claw" by JWT Bangkok

(2005)

Page 17: 

What is dynamic screen direction?

• Dynamic screen direction is a part of screen direction that functionalize to convey action, emotion, and narrative progression.  This includes tracking shots that follow a character, or complex choreography of actors and camera to create visually captivating sequences.

Page 18 - 20: Recording videos

In this particular exercise, we were told to practice by recording our friend with 8 different sizes shot.  They are:

1. Close-up shot
2. Frontal MCU (soft background)
3. Frontal MS (soft background)
4. Extreme close-up shot
5. Side angle MS (soft background)
6. 3/4 angling MCU shot (with blurry/soft foreground)
7. Low angle shot
8. Eye-level medium-wide shot

For this exercise, I practiced with my friend Alya and recorded her as a model for these shots (all of the shots are compiled in one video).

    Result:

    

Fig. Shooting Practice

(8/5/24)

Music In This Video: Daystar - SOSO

Page 21: Editing Practice

We were told to edit the Lalin short movie, following the story board provided on the google drive file.  Mr. Martin also provide us a tutorila video on youtube.

Here are the process:

1. Inserting all of the videos.
2. Cropping the video part by part and arrange it.
3. Placing the elements such as 'bubble chat' etc.
4. Adding transition effect using cross dissolved.
5. Adding the sound effect for the text.
6. Export the video

Fig. Process Documentation

The documentation including Inserting, cropping, arranging, and adding the effect.

(18/5/24)

    Result: 

Fig. Lalin Exercise

(18/5/24)

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Week 3

Page 10 - 21 already done in week 2.  Click link below to refer to the particular task:

Page 10 - 14

Page 15

Page 16

Page 17

Page 18 - 20

Page 21

Project 1: Video Dubbing

Quiz Exercise: 

Fig. Storyboard Quiz
(15/5/24)

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FEEDBACK

Week 3: 

• Extreme close-up should be focus on one part, for example while recording eye, the camera should focus to the eye until we can see reflection in the eye.
• Medium close up including part of chest to forehead.

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REFLECTION

Experience:

Throughout the exercises, I learned the basics of video editing with Premiere Pro.  I also gained experience in applying the knowledge of camera shooting with different angles and perspectives.

Observation:

Different camera shots are mainly divided by proportion, we can use human anatomy to help us shoot different angles, depending on what kind of shots we want to get.

Findings:

The film industry is more complicated than I thought, but it made me learn new things and gained my experience.

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QUICK LINKS