DVD Menu Design Planning – Task 2

A reference for my DVD design would be the english surgeon, it has a very simple design, but i feel i can draw inspiration for it for my own. A key aspect i am taking from the design would be the use of stills instead of looped video content for the menu’s.

Although the aesthetics of this main menu are not very appealing, the format is what i will use, For instance, buttons against a still.  The use of the red for the title of the film is not great as it clashes with the still, However it has been used because it matches the DVD front cover. The simple use of buttons down the side of the frame is a key aspect i wish to implement in my DVD menu. Explained in another piece of work, you can see how i have taken this format and applied it to my own Main menu.

Mood Board

 

As you can see from the stills above, taken from my short documentary film “The Mermaid”, there is a common theme of the colour blue. I plan to stick to this theme in my DVD menu to continue a continuity of aesthetics.

 

So incorporating the blue colour, i want my chapter menu to resemble the simplicity of the design above. Also i plan to incorporate this style within other sub menu’s, such as the Extras and Commentary.

 

Rainbow Centre Brief

 Company:

The Organisation we have been tasked in helping is The Rainbow Centre. The Charity has been running for 30 years, helping people in Crisis, Providing basic needs for people, such as Food and a place to wash. The Rainbow Centre has a number of branches in east kent.

Target audience:

The film we planned to produce is aimed at people of any age group, but mostly males as this is a Key demographic for the Rainbow Centre.

Aims: 

The Aim of the film is to encourage people in crisis to seek help, secondary it is to provide an education resource to those watching that not all homeless people are alcoholics and drug addicts, as in some cases that is something that comes after the initial plunge in Crisis.

Social networks:

We hope the film will be shown on the social network sites associated with The Rainbow Centre, and it is planned to be shown at their 30th Anniversary Dinner.

Budget:

There is no budget for this film, we are doing it for the Rainbow Centre, to help towards completing out Unit 58 at college.

The Rainbow Centre – Task 2

After much discussion with The rainbow centre and breakdowns in communication with potential actors, we decided to tone down the assignment to one story and one actor. I thought this was a good idea and made the whole operation a lot simpler. We still plan to shoot with the young actor we auditioned “Jack”  but alter the story slightly to address some issues the Rainbow centre where keen to include.

During a meeting with The Rainbow Centre, they explained to us that a large percentage of people who come to them usually are in the process of becoming homeless and have had their benefits taken away. I thought this would be much easier to work into a script and change the focus from a victim like storyline to a more truthful and honest presentation. I thought allowing the character to speak instead of being spoke at was a key change too. For example we plan to implement lines such as “Now my benefits are gone, what do i do know”.

Shoot Day

We organised for Jack to come in and Shoot the sequence and record some dialogue. Jack was great at improvising and i felt that he connected with the subject matter. I worked on camera. Rhys was on sound and Josie Directed Jack.

We kept the lighting set up the same and the camera locked off, except this time we rigged up the Polly to a magic arm on the track and had the tracked pushed in slowly to reflect light, Ultimately Meaning light gradually lit up Jacks face to suggest that there is a ‘Light’ at the end of the tunnel for those in need.

For my edit, i plan not to use any other voices other than Jack’s and simply provide information about the Rainbow Centre at the end of the film, with logo’s and text. However i will continue to use a Tracking in effect on Jack’s face to create a feeling of being trapped in a situation.

Dreamland! Shoot Diary… – Unit 28

Here is a diary of the events of the Dreamland Renovation Archive film being shot by “The Edge”. My role is that of a camera operator. Throughout the shoot the equipment we used can be found listed below.

Equipment –

2 x Panasonic GH4’s

14 – 140mm Lumix Lens

40 – 200mm Lumix Lens

Movi M5

2  Tripod’s

3 x Red Heads + Lighting Jells

Ice light

The entirety of this film is shot on 4k.

Day 1 – Thursday 12th February – Winding Gear, Scenic Railway & General Shots of work.

We set of over to Margate to film the installation and delivery of the winding gear for the scenic railway. The Scenic railway is a grade 2 listed roller coster and the only protected roller coster in the world, dating back to 1920 it was and will be again a worldwide attraction.

The scenic railway is currently being rebuilt along with the rest of Dreamland, the cinema and the heritage centre. This was a particularly important stage in the renovation as this was one of the first bits of the old scenic railway to be re installed after being repaired. Currently the railway is being rebuilt out of wood and placed upon a series of concrete plinths to stabalize the structure and make it safer than before.

We captured the installation and also recorded some footage of general work to be placed into the film where needed. This was a great experience seeing the ride being rebuilt as i remember visiting Dreamland during its final years and having a go on this ride!

We shot this footage using a mixture of the Movi and smooth panning movements on the tripod. We shot lots of nice reveals and Pans of the structure itself, workers and the installation. The lines of the structure and movement of the diggers provided us with nice angles and our shots where good.

Day 2 – Monday 16th February – Hartsdown Pupils & Donna Watford Interview

Our first task was to interview the pupils of Hartsdown Academy who had entered a competition to design postcards for Dreamland to be sold to raise funds for the Dreamland Trust. We interviewed 3 of the participants about their ideas and how they felt about their finished postcards. We shot this in the Pie Factory Gallery in Margate as this was where the Artwork was displayed. Donna Watford who runs the gallery helped guide the students and talk about the specifics of their work. We shot this with a hand held rig linking up a monitor to the GH4. The overall look of this was okay, but the bright white of the gallery and echoey sound was not helpful.

Later in the day we arrived at the Heritage centre which is an Arcade full of old pinball & Arcade machines that is open to the public on saturdays to raise money for the Dreamland Trust. Also within the Arcade are some old parts of rides from the early days of Dreamland. We decided in Pre – Production it would be a good idea to shoot our interviews in the old rides to add a fun element to the film.

Our first interviewee was Donna Watford. She is a volunteer for the trust and works with schools in the area, We interviewed her on the jobs of the volunteers and what she is doing in regards to the renovation.

We shot the interview on two GH4’s on 4k, this will allow us to cut into all out shots and allow for us to have a variety of close ups when editing.

Day 3 –  Tuesday 17th February – John Cripps & Wayne Hemingway

We arrived early, having left some of our equipment there over night, we set to work re arranging our lights and finding camera position A & B. We shot Wayne up against an old 35mm projector and used the traditional 3 point lighting set up, we also stuck in another light to get a beam of light to shine through the projector to add something to our shot.

 

As you can see we nearly achieved it, a small light shines through the old lens. Wayne mostly talked about his involvement with the design of the project and his hopes for the future, how he is trying to make the project finically successful rather than just a renovation project.

We also interviewed John Cripps who runs the heritage centre, i felt with this shot that the eye line is too much, it curves around and is slightly strange to look at, however on the monitor it worked but when blown up to a bigger screen it did not, we will be able to cut in and make do. John talked about running the heritage centre and how it is a very successful attraction already, with lots of people coming to use the facilities when it is open.

Day 4 – Wednesday 18th February – Cllr. Iris Johnston

We shot the councillor in a twister car, we pulled of a cool effect of having some glass reflect the rest of the arcade while the main focus was on Iris.

Day 5 – Monday 25th February – Guy Holloway

Come day 4 we were to interview Guy Holloway, another architect who has been with the renovation for 5 years, he talked extensively about the process that he has gone through with the project manager Jan, to get the renovation off the ground. He gave us a brief history of the architecture and how important Dreamland is to margate.

Day 6 – Wednesday 25th February – Madeline Homer & Nigel Breadman

Shooting at the council offices in margate proved to be an annoyance to the crew, as the style of the building did not go with what we where doing. We decided it would be good to create “windows” in the background that we could fill in post with images of the dreamland or footage. Madeline spoke mostly of the benefit dreamland will bring to margate.

Nigel was a very interesting man, showing us images of a time long forgotten in margate, when men would wear suits on the beach. He showed us some amazing photographs shot on glass that had pictures within pictures because the quality was so good. He talked of how he and a small team are trying to organise and collect historic documents of dreamland for a website.

Day 7 – Friday 27th March – GV’s, A boring foreman and a strange man who knew a lot about dreamland, Jan Leandro.

We set of to pick up random shots of the scenic railway while the weather was good, we where instructed to only shoot the railway because this was the focus of the film in a sense. We where accompanied by the foreman who talked about the details of the construction. This was a nice change for the camera as i got to operate it shoulder mounted.

We then headed back to the arcade and recorded an interview with a peculiar gentlemen who knew an awful lot about the history of dreamland. However it was difficult to use the interview as he would not keep his eye line.

Shortly after we shot our final interview of the day, with Jan, the project manager, she mainly focused on filling in the gaps of information that other interviewees forgot to say. We tried to shoot her in a cinema and have the flicker of the screen bouncing of her face, instead it resulted in me flickering a reflector for the entirety of the interview!

Conclusion

This project was excellent to work on, i think dreamland will be a great renovation for margate. The shoot allowed me to gain more experience in the field of documentary film making, but also working with a client who has a strict brief.

 

 

 

 

Tunbridge Wells Shoot – Sound Man – Unit 28

A half day corporate shoot for a local business, designed to help with the scoring of meeting’s. This shoot was a great example for how not to prepare for a shoot, with no pre production and barely a brief, me and Steve arrived ready to roll.

We were taken into a big office building and shown the locations where the mock meeting will take place and we set to work on how to shoot the scenario. The task was basically for the actors to act out a very bad sales pitch and the managers to score the applicant. I say actors, but actually businessmen dragged into this! My role was boom operator, we decided to feed the sound straight into the camera, to save time in the edit and to quicken up the shoot. We set up our equipment for out first scene, a pre meeting before the big meeting.

Shot on a sofa, with two “Actors” , this was a simple set up. I boomed between the two of them, and felt i did okay, i found it easier as the scene went on to move the mic in time for the other person to speak. Something i noticed after the edit, was that sounds coming through headphones are more defined in the sense of being 3D but when edited and played through speakers there is next to no 3D effect. When shooting i was conscious that there where these huge jumps from left to right in the headphones.

Moving on to the main chunk of the film, an excellently poor sales pitch. A simple set up from a crew point of few one master take and a few cut aways for the edit. The only slight discomfort was the length of the takes, i perched myself in a chair and used the armrest as a cantilever so i wasn’t holding the boom in the air for 5-10 minutes at a time!

Overall i enjoyed this shoot, it is all good experience and allows me to branch out into the world of corporate filming.

Unit 58 Burning Up – DVD Menu Design Authoring – Task 1

DVD Conventions 

What are conventions?

Conventions are the expected and accepted elements of design, efficiency and general usability of a product, in this case, DVD’s and DVD Menu’s.

Lets take a look at the technical aspects of DVD’s.

Types of DVD.

DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc, previously Digital Video Disc, but the name evolved to allow for a broader spectrum of data to be put onto the Disc’s. There are different formats the disc’s come in for different uses, and they are clearly labelled on the DVD’s upon purchase, Each single layer disc has a data storage of 4.7gb, the types of disc’s are…

+RW 

 

+RW stands for Read & Writable, this is the process of Writing data, E.G a Film, then the ability to Read it on a DVD player and view the film, then the DVD can be Erased and something new can be written on the disc. This is not an Industry standard disc for the sale of DVD’s in the sense of “Buying a film” as the data can be faulted with and this would break copyright law. DVD +RW disc’s do not have a long lasting life as the disc can be worn out easily due to the erasing and re-writing. DVD +RW is a rival disc to the DVD -RW which is primarily used to the purposes of backing up data, it still offers the same ability of erasing and re writing data.

+R

 

+R Stands for Read, this disc can only be written on and read, data can be added until the capacity of the disc is full, so if you where to put 2gb’s of data on the disc you could still add more, but once the data is added it can not be erased. Typically you will find this as a home use DVD as the data can still be faltered with to a degree.

-R

 

 

– R also stands for Read but this disc can only be written on once, the data must be closed off after being burned, after this the disc can not be altered with. The disc can be read many times so it is ideal to for use with anti piracy software for distribution.

Blue Ray

The Blu Ray was designed to allow for more storage on disc with a higher resolution, which is basically the ability to not have the data compressed to have to fit on the disc. The Storage of a Blue Ray disc is 25gb, with a potential of 50gb with a duel layer and 100gb with dual layer double sided disc’s.

 

ML

ML stands for Multi layered, this is the process of increasing the storage capacity of DVD’s by adding another layer of dye for data to be laser’d on to. So with any of the disc’s above, after their creations, technology was developed allowing 4.7gb disc to increase their storage to 8.5gb with a dual layer.

 

In the above graph the capacity of storage is demonstrated, also there is the mention of Double sided DVD’s which is basically having any format of DVD with two sides, instead of having one side with a printed layer on the other.

Writing Speed 

Writing speed is the time it takes for data to be written onto a disc, all modern discs support a speed of 52x with some supporting a speed of 16x and higher. The writing speed of 52x means it writes data on the disc at 52 times the minimal writing speed of 1,385,000 bytes per second.

So…

52 x 1,385,000 Bps = 72.02 MBps

16 x 1,385,000 Bps = 22.16 MBps

When writing the data onto the DVD, writing at 52x as opposed to 16x would result in the data being of a lesser quality as it is writing more in a short space of time, this can result in missing bits of data, so when burning DVD’s some opt for writing at 16x.

Regional Codes

Regional Codes are a method of protecting data, and a way of controlling price and release dates of DVD’s. There are 6 regional codes across the globe, the reason for this is that in afferent parts of the worlds, different people will pay different prices for DVD’s and expect different release dates. Regional Codes are controlled through the regional setting within a DVD player, however, DVD players now exist that are capable of playing back DVD’s from all regions. Computers also have the capability of changing there DVD regions.

The 6 regions…

1 – United States, Canada, Bermuda, Caribbean, US Territories.

2 – Europe, Middle East, Japan, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Greenland, British Overseas Territories, British Crown Dependencies, French Overseas Department and Territories.

3 – Southeast Asia, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau.

4 – South America, Central America, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea and a large proportion of Oceania.

5 – Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Africa (Except, Egypt, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho) Central Asia, Mongolia, North Korea.

6 – China.

There also is the addition of a few more codes…

0 – Or Region free/Worldwide is not an official setting but has the capability of being played in regions 1-6.

7 – Reserved for future use, MPAA-related DVDs and “media copies” of pre-releases in Asia

8 – International Venues such as Aircraft, Cruise ships or Spacecraft. 

9 – This code allows the DVD to have all of the above settings, allowing the DVD to be played anywhere in the world in any player.

Inserting the Disc – Trailers, Anti – Piracy, Disclaimers and Menu’s

Upon inserting a DVD into a DVD player, depending on the budget of the production you are about to view, you are met with trailers, Anti piracy warnings, disclaimers and a DVD menu.

Trailers

Most DVD’s that are showing films from big production houses like Universal, Paramount or Dreamwork’s will have trailers on there DVD’s, especially from new released films as this is a great way to publicise other films that are set for release on DVD. You have the ability to skip these trailers on most disc’s. You may not find trailers on DVD’s for classic films, such as Citizen Kane, On the Waterfront or It’s a Wonderful Life. Films from lower budgets or less known production houses will mostly likely not have trailers. Once the trailers have been shown, you are usually met with a Anti – Piracy notice.

Anti – Piracy Notice

An Anti – Piracy notice is a warning about the law in regards to making duplications of copyrighted work.

 

Here is an example of a warning notice, you are unable to skip this as Anti Piracy Software is written into the DVD, this software also makes it difficult to copy the content of the film, however it is impossible to stop copying of the film, but these steps are put in place to make this harder. Typically copy’s of DVD’s are of a lesser quality as the copier must use either illegal software or a third party device, such as a cam corder.

Disclaimers 

DVD disclaimers are statements from production houses to remind the viewer that the content of the film is not a representative of the views of people working on the film, this is important as films can depict a wide range of offensive and upsetting content. Here is an example of a Disclaimer.

Menu’s  

DVD Menu’s are a fundamental part of he DVD design, no matter the budget, if a DVD is made it will probably have a DVD menu. DVD menu’s also consist of certain conventions that have become the norm upon purchase. DVD Menu’s will gernally consist of these elements.

– Main Menu –

This is the core of the menu design, all options can be selected through this window.

Lets take a look at an example from Citizen Kane.

Here is the main menu taken from the DVD, this is a highly professional DVD menu, as every menu and sub menu has transitions and windows with moving images. The start up of this menu has a transition from the boy playing into the snow, then into a still from the film, as the moving image becomes a view through an actual window.

As you can see, the menu has a simple text layout, with the text acting as buttons into sub menus. To select each menu, Kane’s signature from the film is provided as a ‘Cursor’ like device to select the sub menu’s.

Play Movie 

This option takes you straight into the film, if you want to watch it as the director intended, select this option as the film will play with no extra content. You may see a few more disclaimers of certificates of certification for the age requirements to watch the film.

Scene Access

Scene access, Scene selection or Chapters is a menu dedicated to allowing you to select bits of the film to start from, so if you stopped watching the film and wish to resume watching from the point you left or to start from a specfic chapter.

This menu has lots of windows with moving images in them, and other buttons to allow the selection of scenes late on in the film. We can also see a still from the film behind the windows. If you were to select a scene it would take you straight to that part of the movie.

Audio Commentary 

Selecting Audio Commentary takes you to another menu, this menu has no stills but a loop of a small part of the film. Selecting On would take you back to the main menu, selecting play movie would play the movie with audio commentary.

There is also a option to select main menu again to take you back to the main menu if you wish to not select ON or OFF.

Subtitles

The subtitles menu allows the user to select subtitles for the film, this film only allows for english subtitles for the hard of hearing, but some DVD’s have options for foreign languages and dubbing.

Once selecting “On”, you will be taken back to the main menu where you can play the movie.

These are the general conventions for a DVD menu, some menu’s will vary with specifics, for example ‘On The Waterfront’ allows users to select what aspect ratio they wish to view the film in and ‘Pink Floyd The Wall’ allows for the selection of different sound playback options e.g 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound or Stereo.

Audio

Most DVD menu’s have some sort of soundtrack looped on the main menu, usually from the film itself, Citizen Kane has a looped version of the main theme, within the other menu’s the dialogue from scenes are looped continuously.

Conclusion

Overall, DVD’s are a complex digital system that has allowed for the spread of video content throughout the globe, and the technology only advances further, to allow us with an ever growing spectrum of video playback.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unit 28 Corporate & Promotional Programme Production Task 1

In your own words, what is the meaning of the word Demographic?

Demographic is the term given, to label the divisions within a population, for example, Men aged 18-49 who are the “Key” Demographic for Television in the UK for men.

Find three differing corporate and three promotional productions of your choice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXiJBp7HK5o – “We Buy Any Car.Com” – Advert – Promotional.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8teZZ-loaI – “Intersteller” – Film Trailer – Promotional.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hzrDeceEKc – “Oasis – Wonderwall -Music Promo” – Promotional.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noE1YzvfA08 – “Airplane Safety Video – Delta” – Corporate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSSMZgo1640 – “Barclays Recruitment Video” – Corporate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwYEXi5PXzs – “Browning Branding Video” – Corporate

What is the purpose of the production? 

“We Buy Any Car.Com”

The purpose of this production is to advertise the company “We Buy Any Car” and what they do, and that is, buy any car. It is done with an incredibly annoying and frustrating jingle that attempts to brainwash the message “We Buy Any Car” to its viewers, and it does it, exceedingly well. With the fake scenario of a news announcement that breaks the story, “Selling your car, well here’s some great news from We Buy Any Car.Com” the presenter then indulges in a peculiar dance routine with some Hip youngsters to emphasise the message. All of the information about the company is composed into lyrics for this jingle, with repatitions on the word “ANY”.

“Intersteller – Trailer”

This 60 second trailer for the movie, Interstellar, is designed for TV. A condensed version of the full length trailer to fit in ad breaks from television. The trailer focuses on a single narrative from the film, rather than multiple ones like in the other trailers for it, it is mainly focused on the main character and his daughter. The crisis that is presented for these characters is not really touched on, we are given clues that it is to do with space travel, finding another habitual planet and that one man, the main character is trying to save the world. A simple trailer to promote the film, to those who may not have seen the trailer in cinemas. It tells us who the director is, because some may watch the film just because he directed another film they liked, in this case it is Christopher Nolan, and they tell us he Directed Inception and The Dark Knight, Two hugely successful blockbusters. All this is helping to promote the film and mainly make you want to watch it and spark an interest.

“Oasis – Music Video Promo”

A music video’s main aim is to promote the song that accompanies the imagery, it is another method of getting a song “Out there” with the boom of MTV, music videos are almost a necessity for bands. Sometimes, the video is made for artistic purposes but the majority are for marketing reasons. This video, was made to promote the hit single Wonderwall for Oasis and the album it is from (Whats the story) Morning Glory?

“Airplane Safety Video – Delta”

This short video presentation for the passengers of delta airlines intends to point out certain safety procedures for passengers aboard delta flights. The video is presented by a staff member of delta airlines, it is upbeat and cheerful. It talks us through the process of seat belts, floatation devices, exits and many other important aspects of air travel.

“Barclays Recruitment Video”

A role playing short recruitment advert for Barclays Bank, the purpose of the production is to brand the company and advertise them as an attractive company that its target audience will want to work for. They have used a dramatised story based video to send a message to potential employers that they are the best banking service in the world, and you should work for them and they only employ the finest financial minds.

“Browning Branding Video”

Browning – The Best there is, its a simple tagline and a short branding commercial for the company Browning, who sell weapons for hunting and manufacture weapons for the military. The purpose of this video is to send a message to its viewers that if you are going to buy a gun, buy one from browning as it will be the best, it will be reliable and made better than any other manufacture out there, it will perform better and thats just it, it is better. What makes this purely a branding video is there is no mention of specific products, it only mentions the brands name and what the brand will do for you.

What Demographic is the production aimed at?

“We Buy Any Car.Com”

The demographic for this advert would be Drivers, of any age i suspect, but specifically those in the used car, lower end of the market. The advert says that they will spend anything from £50 – £100,000, but only pay out on average less than 20% of there maximum figure. Is there a reason this advert is perpetually played throughout the adverts on Jeremy Kyle, This Morning and Top Gear re runs on Dave, maybe its because the majority of people watching fall into categories, of Unemployed or Part time work = they have little funds and might be tempted to sell. If you take a look at other adverts throughout those programmes, you see adverts for companies, such as Quick Quid or Wonga, all companies dealing in the transaction of small amounts of money to customers.

“Intersteller – Trailer”

This trailer, is aimed at TV viewers, so for people who may not regularly go to the cinema but do enjoy the odd film. Because of the finical backing of this, the trailer will be played during peak TV hours, when the maximum amount of people are viewing the TV. The rating of this film is PG-13 so the film is open to people of any age, as long as they are accompanied by an Adult. As Chrisptopher Nolan is so popular, he himself creates his own demographic, Fans of Christopher Nolan will want to see the film, Science Fiction fans, General Blockbuster lovers and regular Cinema goers. The trailer casts

“Oasis – Music Video Promo”

The main demographic of this music video will be people viewing Music channels, so mostly young men and women with an interest in chart music of the time. The plan being these types of people may come across the video, like the song, buy it and then become Oasis’s fans. Fans will also fall into their target audience who may be aware of the song but will enjoy the video for artist reasons of seeing the band.

“Airplane Safety Video – Delta”

The demographic of this video is simply Delta Airlines passengers, it is intended to be shown before each flight to ensure health and safety is carried out.

“Barclays Recruitment Video”

Barclays main demographic will be university graduates with degrees in specified subjects, things such as economics, maths or other core subjects to the world of banking. This advert also serves as a mini branding advert for Barclays as people who are not interested in working for them will still see the message that they are the best bank in the world, but this is not their main target audience.

“Browning Branding Video”

This commercial is aimed at Americans with gun licenses who take part in hunting game or gun sports. It is likely that this advert is mainly aimed at men, from multiple professions. Owners of gun clubs may also fit their demogrpahic who are looking to buy guns to rent to members on their sites. Also using a only men in the commercial highlights the masculinity of the hobby.

With regards to the demographic, does it meet its aims? Explain why, if it does or does not. 

“We Buy Any Car.Com”

I think this advert does reach out to its demographic very well, it is the no.1 place to go to, to sell a car online. Especially if you are looking for a quick sale which the majority of its customers are looking for, with a fair price for your car, no matter the state its in, We Buy Any Car, reaches out to its demographic. Through its annoying adverts, they have managed to alert a nation to its services, i can’t think of another place online to sell a car to a company, so yes it has achieved in reaching out.

“Intersteller – Trailer”

This trailer reaches out to its intended demographic, the evidence being in its huge grossing figures on opening weekends around the world, due to great advertisement. This trailer targets a specific audience and reachers them through TV. Alerting the non cinema goers to this hugely exciting film. The trailer is quick and to the point, a success.

“Oasis – Music Video Promo”

I think it the video does meet its aims, with Wonderwall becoming one of Oasis’s all time most popular songs and a hugely successful song of the 90’s the music video can of only enhanced the sales, performance and popularity of the band.

“Airplane Safety Video – Delta”

Yes, this production reaches out to its demographic, mainly because it is compulsory to watch it. The video has a light and slick feel to it, it is well presented and has the hallmarks of a corporate video with stock soundtrack, overly happy people in all the shots and general disconnection to the real world through its simplicity. However it serves its purpose very well.

“Barclays Recruitment Video”

I think the target audience of this video are quite unique and in some cases difficult to reach, for example there are few programmes played on popular channels that are more likely to attract people who are interested in the world of banking, finance or economics, for example, i doubt you would see this advert during the adverts for Loose women as the majority of people watching that are stay at home female parents, unemployed people who most probably do not have degrees in the above subjects, however you might find this advert played during the adverts for a business related programme.

“Browning Branding Video”

I believe this commercial reaches its demographic very well, its a commercial for men, by men, all about guns and how slick and stylish the brand is.

Legal and Ethical Issues 

From the above examples, i have selected two that i think would be useful to explore there legal and ethical issues.

“Airplane Safety Video – Delta”

This video will be subject to scrutiny from the clients, it must include certain aspects of airplane safety, for example, it must explain the process of how to put on certain pieces of safety equipment and other procedures aboard the aircraft. Failure to include this precise information would result in the video being unable to be screened as an induction before take off and would therefor not help to complete vital procedures before the plane can take off.

“Browning Branding Video”

I selected this video as i feel it comes into the criteria of being criticised for potential ethical issues, the video is about the sale of guns and features men hunting animals and a shot of a man raising a shotgun to shoot a bird. I feel that this could cause an issue for anti-gun law protesters and anti-hunting. I think the implied shooting of the bird could be potentially upsetting and it is something editors, and film makers would have to consider when making the film.

 

 

 

Corporate Filming – What is it? – Task 1

Corporate filming is the process of producing video and audio content commissioned by and for a company, corporation or organisation. Corporate videos are usually aimed at a specific audience and written to target a specific aspect of the clients business, for example a new product.

A corporate video production company will usually be contacted by a client who wish to have a video made, the company will liaise with the client and begin the process of pre production, discussing delivery dates and the focus or theme of the content. The production method of the video will be similar to other productions following Pre Production, Production and Post.

The Production company will take the clients brief and develop a script or treatment and possibly a storyboard. The size of crew and production costs vary, from small skeleton crews with minimal equipment and low budgets to high end, big crews with multiple camera teams and big budgets.

A good example for a small crew would be that of a training video for a business, shall we say health and safety, A large crew with high end equipment could be that of a Gucci Advert.

Corporate videos will most often appear on Television, Websites run by the clients or kept internally for the use of the client. A website with well made videos dramatically improve the marketing of a product or company.

There are many types of Corporate film, here is a list covering the different genres.

 – Staff Training

Health and Safety, Safeguarding or Detailed videos on specific roles. Ideal to be repuetavtivly shown to new employes either on a one to one basis or to a big audience.

– Investor Relations

Explanations of what investors money is doing. Great for one to one’s with new clients.

 – Company Promotion/Band Videos

Promotion of the company or brand itself, not a product. E.g We Buy Any Car. This type of video would be used to further increase the knowledge of the brand to the public, for example to make them a house hold name. TV or the Internet is where you would likely find these videos

 – New product or Service Presentations

Promotion of the Service or Product a company has to offer. E.g New Iphone, New Technology. Similar to branding videos, the idea is to promote the product or service and make it known to the public, client or customer. Great for TV this kind of video.

 – Role Play

A actor based, theatrical video, sometimes themed around popular programs and films, E.g Direct Line Advert, Rip off of Pulp Fiction. Ideal for spicing up a advert or brand, more of a format for furthering an idea, brand or product. Likely seen on TV or the Internet. Noy on a one to one basis.

 – Client & Customer Testimonial Videos

Reviews of the company or products. These kind of videos could also be used as a format for furthering branding or promotion but also in their own right, for example on a one to one basis between clients at meetings, but could also be worked into adverts to provide a reality like approach.

– Promotional Video

Promotion of a specific thing or company in a whole.

 – Corporate Event Filming

Filming of an Important event. E.g Sainsbury’s Grand opening of a new store.

 – Live Broadcasting

Broadcasting of a program E.g X-Factor.

 – Technology and Product Demonstration Videos

How to use a product, E.g Adobe Editing Software. Great for one to ones or small group meetings. Explanations on how to do something or use a product.

 –  Business Television

Profiling of Business for TV.

Corporate filming is a multi million pound industry with its presence growing stronger every year, the introduction of the internet stressed its importance to business even more with the demand to have an online presence, Corporate filming is constantly in demand and is a industry in which many film makers throw themselves into either as a full time job, or something they do to keep themselves in work.

Screen Test + Audition – Jack Farrell

After we had sent out a information leaflet advertising the position of our screen actors. We were contacted by a young actor named Jack Farrell who wished to audition for one of the parts. So we invited him into The Edge to  start the process off.

 

When he arrived we discussed what we wanted him to do as the Audition did not consist of any lines for the screen, just the portrayal of emotion through his face. We decided that it would be ideal for him to audition for the role of the teenage drug addict.

 

We all felt that he performed brilliantly, he had superb control over his facial expressions and we had no difficulties in communication. He approached the audition with a very professional attitude and was confident in front of the camera. I feel that he would be perfect for the part, with the added benefit of make up and costume it will only enhance his performance.

We also decided to use him for one of the voices in another part of the film. He brought the lines to life and improvised some extra content when we recorded him. I offered him the part for both immediately after the audition was over. We all look forward to working with him when we start shooting.

The Rainbow Centre – Idea

For our unit on corporate filming, we have been given the opportunity to make a film for the Rainbow Centre. A charity organisation, dedicated to helping those in crisis.

We met with the CEO Jon Wilson of the organisation to discuss potential ideas and to get a feel for what they would be looking for, it became clear that they would like to reach out to the public and advertise what they do, and also to address the issues around a stereo type of homelessness, A key issue that the rainbow centre deal with.

The Rainbow Centre wanted to target young adults and families in the film, they wanted to reach out to a more “Normal” setting rather than that of the stereo types of a alcoholics and drug addicts sleeping on the street, they though this would be a great way of addressing how “Normal” people who go about there everyday lives are really only a few pay cheques or family arguments away from crisis.

On the day of the meeting, Rhys instantly came up with a quick idea on how to take on this task.

His Idea based around a single mid shot of a person, that would slowly track in as multiple voices say statements and give clues to the situation of the character. Here are a few stills from some test footage we shot to explain the idea.

 

 

As you can see the shot ultimately tracks into a close up on the character. We decided to use a black background in this test to experiment with the idea that this character is isolated. The character never speaks, she reacts to statements, we did this to try and create a victim like persona.

We did not create a situation for this character as it is just a test, as we wanted to show to our client the range of problems we could explore with multiple protagonists, so for example, Four characters, Four stories and multiple Antagonists as voices for each character.

We settled on four themes.

Teenage Pregnancy

Teenage Drug Addiction

Job loss

Domestic Violence

We thought each of these themes could relate to young people, families, couples and single men and women.

When working on the voices we thought it would be nice to explore a range of effects, we felt that trying to create a sense of space with sound would help to create a bigger emotional impact. When an Antagonist speaks, we want the voice to seam very close, to feel like it is being spoken right into their ear, and to accompany the voices with apropriate background noise to create more space.

By using these techniques we are implementing a Kuloshov like effect, by combining Audio and Imagery to provoke emotion within the audience.

We have also written a first draft of a script for out client to present the idea. Please find it below.

 

 

We plan to audition people for the parts in the coming days, to kickstart the project should it be authorised by our client.