#sba's

[ijustrealised]

Brief

Brief

With their ninth year around the corner the Somerset Business Awards have asked Bridgewater to film 42 videos in 14 categories to promote the companies which are up for the awards to find out why they believe they deserve the awards which will be shown on the night of the awards.

We have been told to be as creative as possible and try and make the interviews sweet, shot and let the people try and shine through the words they say. A mix of long shots and media shots will be shown to show the company to the best we can.

As we are working with clients we have to be professional with them, making sure that they questions are sent to them, making sure you are nice and polite and try and create the best video you can.  Time, date and location need to be organized in advise, making sure they are okay wit you filming them as well as their work building. You also need to check all the equipment before going out filming, checking that is all works and that it is all okay. While filming you must ensure that you maintain a high standard attitude and not to be immature. Also, when writing out the questions and before asking them it is vital that you have done a background check on the company and make sure the questions reflect the award. You also must speak clearly when asking the questions. Having knowledge of the company and therefore its site will allow us to arrange appropriate transport, equipment (risk assessments), and crew. This also includes a set of relevant pre-discussed questions and also if you sound like you know a little bit of the company they will feel a lot more relaxed when talking to you.

With this project there are strict deadlines, the short list is too be said on the 19th September and the moment we have the questions it is important that you begin to look up the companies and starting planning the dates, the questions and everything else you need to make the best vide you can. All the films should have a first raft by October 7th and you need to wait for feedback and any you have means you have to re-edit and get it completed by October 17. On October 24, is when the SBA’s take place and Bridgwater College will also film the event.

[ijustrealised]

Task Two

Every corporate video has certain aspects which need to happen, style, content and form are what draw attention to the video and decided weather it is a good video or a bad video.

In co-operative videos they all have similar conventions and styles which are used to either inform us about products or to promote their brand name. if it is to inform us about a product the pace of the video will not be fast and will be slow enough to see the product rather well. Long and medium shots are mostly used in these types of videos. There is a minimum amount of items in the background, if something is there it’s normally the brand name, this is to create a spacious environment.

What I found out with the content in the cooperative videos that a mixture or a combination of interviews, illustrations, voice overs, with lively, happy and upbeat music being used. All these aspects are used so that the audiences know a little more about what the companies do and what they will receive.

The way the videos are made has to draw viewers and inform about the companies, it will have to be different if they want people to remember, some video’s use songs so that they stay in your mind a little bit more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZH6kslt30Y

For example this video is to sell a website, and it uses the mix of long shots and medium shot as well as using music. The main convention in the video is the use of the song, this it to sell the product and is to make it hard for you to forget it and therefore you are more likely going to check out the product which is sold. Instead of using interviews to get what they are selling across, the lyrics of the song tell you everything you need to know. The music is catchy and although most people hate the song it’s not something that will leave their mind any time soon.

Promoting programs and music videos are done in a very different way. Music videos lately are often promoted through social media. Also you also have much music TV shows will tempt fan with little clips of the music videos. There’s also the fact that many singers also release behind the scenes of the music videos to bring even more attention to the music videos. Promoting TV shows is normally done through TV and they will take clips of the show and they will be spread across TV shows. But if it is an important spots match they have another way of doing, it and the style will be fast, with fast cuts for example boxing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAdEkqT3En8&feature=player_embedded

This video is for boxing and it is edited very fast and had intense scenes it also shows highlights of the fights, it also shows little interviews but it is all to promote more fights and get people to pay even more attention to this.

The SBA’s is an opportunity to work with companies and to learn how to deal with people and film something professional. You get a better understanding in questions, phoning and becoming a lot more confident for anyone and are the best you can be. This is the opportunity where you can learn something new, and that aspect of working to a brief means you have certain things you need to show. The point of the brief is to make a corporate to promote the company, show what the award means to them, show the company working and trying to make it look the best you can.

[jakefilmstudies1]

Somerset Business Awards Review

We have come to the end of creating our films for the companies selected for the SBA's and its gone by very quick. I've learnt a lot from going to the shoots and meeting the clients. I've learnt how to act professional when meeting a client and how to talk to them in a mature and professional way. I have also learnt even more when shooting the actual films. I learnt how to properly set up and use the H-1 hand recorder and how to use the Canon 600D to achieve the best shots. The whole experience of dealing with a professional client and going through all of the task to set up a shoot such as calling the company up, arranging the date to shoot,  compiling all the research and putting that into a folder with it all being on a professional standard level.  When we got a statement from a company our team of 3 or 4 would research and write a brief history and put together a SBA guide to accompany all the other pre-production documents such as; shot lists, equipment list and questions. Getting a lot of research was a must for me as I wanted to achieve the professional standard on this assignment. I would look at a companies website and find all the valuable information I could, when I had done this I would produce all the information I found into a short summary explaining what the company do what award they are nominated for, and I would add other bits of information such as call sheets: to call a company if we are going to be late and directions; so the bus driver knew where he was talking us, this would keep the team together so everyone knew what they were doing and we would all be organised when going out onto a shoot. The pre-production is the most important part of the whole task as it would set the foundation for the rest of the production.   When we decided we had everything needed for the pre-production we would get Alan or Mino to look over all our documents and make sure that we knew what we were doing at the actual shoot. When all the pre-production was signed off 3 out of the 4 in a team would head to a company and interview a director or promoter of a company and film around the work environment. I worked on a variety of shoots with my group of 4 and without them. Some of the shoots I was on were late notice but I was happy to help as I wanted the experience.   The first company we were given was Pips Pubs. As it was our first shoot it didn't go as well as I thought it would as too many of us came to the shoot and they were in the way and not needed. For this shoot we didn't go along with the shot list so we improvised when we where there, although the final film came out very well on the day of the shoot it was awkward and stressful as we didn't know what shots we were getting and we were running around trying to find nice things to film, this made us look very unprofessional. Apart from that it was a good shoot and the interview wasn't awkward nor was our interviewee nervous. I learnt a lot from this first shoot and it helped me and my team out in our next shoots. The post-production for Pips Pubs was done by me and it took way too long. I think it was partly because I didn't know how to use the software we were using to edit (Adobe Premiere Pro) and partly because it was the first film and I wasn't sure what we were looking for. I had to fix some of the sound because one clip was louder than another so I added a audio effect called 'dynamics' and this levels out the audio in the clip. Another clip I had to fix was a shot of a door opening to the restaurant. The clip was too dark so I used the '3 way colour corrector' to brighten it up and add some contrast. I also used the colour corrector on the interview shots as the 600D settings were slightly off and the white balance wasn't correct. 

The second statement we received was from Evosite. Evosite are web designers so we were a bit worried that their office would be dull and this would create a problem but it would force us to be more creative with our film. The shoot for Evosite went very well, Dan got some really nice shots using the steady cam that made the film have a good flow. James Shakespeare, the Managing Director wasn't nervous so the interview was easy and we got that out the way quickly. I don't think there was anything wrong with this shoot, all the pre-production was correct and overall it was a good day. 

The next company we were shooting was NVB Architects. We were shooting 3 Solutions and NVB in the same day, NVB was Dan and Luke's shoot and I was helping out and 3 Solutions was my and Ollie's shoot and they were helping us out. The NVB shoot was probably our worst shoot as we had to arrange another shoot with them as the sound in the interview was being silenced out by background noise. The sound was my fault, I didn't really think about where I was standing (to the side of the interviewee) so I didn't capture all of his words, I was capturing more background noise. It was unprofessional coming back for another shoot and the Managing Director at NVB wasn't too happy about it.              The research for 3 Solutions was mostly done by myself as I knew what to do and how to do it from doing other bits of pre-production for other groups and that helped out the team as we could just get the pre-production done and go out and shoot and the film would be finished quicker without us breaching the deadline date. When we got close to the location of the company we couldn't find where they actually where but this didn't interfere with the time of our meeting. We met the three guys who we then interviewed and that went well, we then got our cutaways which Andy at the company was really helpful with. The shot list for this project wasn't very good or detailed as I didn't know what it was like at the companies office. I was really happy with the shots we got, overall it was a good day of filming.

Our fourth company was Western Air ducts. The start of this shoot was a bit unprofessional as we forgot to print out the questions and we had to ask one of the team at the company if we could print them off. We got some good cutaways at the company. The interview was god apart from the sound which had the computer server in the background making a noise. We couldn't get away from the noise as the server was in the factory and we didn't want to film any where else because the factory had the best look for the interview. The final film for Western Air ducts was good but it could of been better. Some of the shots were shaky and they needed the 'warp stabiliser' effect to straighten the shot out and make it less wobbly. The audio was partially fixed by Dan in post-production but it wasn't perfect. As I was on the audio for this shoot and I messed up the audio again like I did in NVB I definitely learnt a lesson to pay attention to the sound and make sure it is absolutely perfect before we leave from the shoot. Straight after this shoot, Me, Ollie and Dan had to fill in for another team at a company called Rebecca Bevins HR Consultants as they were very unreliable and had no idea with what they were doing. I was happy to fill in for them, I had a lot of experience on other shoots and when I was doing the audio at Rebecca Bevins, Alan taught me how to properly use the H-1 recorder and the sound was fine on that day. 

The next shoot I did was late notice and I was told on the day of the shoot. It was at a company called Hilton Herbs and I was helping Ross as he didn't have a team. I was on audio again and unfortunately I messed it up again. The interview was in a room with a big computer server and you could hear a constant noise in the background of the interview. I did say to Chris, who was on camera and leading the shoot if we should move to a different location but he said it was fine. I should of told them to change them to interview in another location but I didn't. It was pretty embarrassing for me as this was the third time I messed up the audio and it was even worse as it was for Ross' film and not my own. I want to work on my audio skills so I can get them to a near professional standard, although I don't think I will be working on audio in the future unless I am confident enough to. I happily helped Ross out on another shoot as he either had no team or a unreliable one. Me, Ross and Zac headed to a company called the Wooly Shepard. Mino also came on the shoot just to look over us as we weren't the most confident team. For the shoot I was filming and I was happy I had a role change. Unfortunately for this we had to use a SD60 as Ross didn't book out the Canon 600D's and they were all booked out, I think that was a lesson to be learnt for all of us to book out equipment a day or more before a shoot. Using the SD60 felt weird and unprofessional but I think we got some good shots on the day and the interview went well. The team at Wooly Shepard were very friendly and overall it was a another good experience. 

Finally, throughout the whole project there was times were I messed up or I got something wrong but apart from those mistakes I gained confidence and experience which can be used towards working in the professional industry in the future. Working with the Somerset Chamber of Commerce, with college and with all the companies in Somerset was a massive experience that I enjoyed a lot. I learnt so many skills used in the industry in about a month and I will be taking these with me towards the future. I also learnt to take my time when doing certain roles such as audio. I worked so much in all stages of pre-production, production and post production and I'm glad I got so involved with this project.