[Unit 29]

1.1 

Ideas for a production can be done solo or in a group scenario. There are several methods that can be used to organise ideas and they can be done with or without other people present. General discussions with others in a group can be useful to get preliminary ideas on to the drawing board. Talking freely with each other may spark ideas within the group giving each other ideas that can really benefit a project. Brainstorming and spider diagrams are other techniques that are effective for generating ideas. Initial ideas are noted down and then similar things associated with that idea are branched off to create ideas. An example of this could be the mind map a colleague and myself made to come up with the name of a time lapse video of a bus depot overnight. 

 

Mind maps could be described as a more in depth version of a spider diagram. It begins at the centre with a project idea/name and then key aspects of what must be needed in the project branch off. These branches allow further development of details that should be included in the project. Ideas can also be produced around current trends in the media. Social media can be a great resource for inspiration when working on a product. Having something in line with a current trend can also be beneficial due to more people likely being interested in it. 

1.2 

When being involved in a project, there are certain aspects of the production that need to be considered. Taking these things into consideration can be beneficial to the creation process, making it clearer and to the point. We will take the time lapse video mentioned previously as an example.  Format: For our time lapse video we obviously want the format to be video. This then raises the question of distribution and where the video is going to be viewed. The videos we produce for NCT are more often than not used on social media. Having worked with them previously this wasn't too much of an issue to decide. YouTube and Facebook support FHD video so our editing resolution will be 1080p. 

Style: NCT have specific brand guidelines that have to be followed when adding graphics and overlays to video. These guidelines include specific colours and types of font that should and shouldn’t be used. Due to our main theme/setting being in a garage and in a sort of pit stop scenario, we felt it would be appropriate to include graphics that add to this theme. The video could look more fun when adding graphics such as buses, wheels, fuel pumps to accompany the text that will appear at certain points. 

Budget: I am not usually involved with discussing budgets. However, if I was I would have to take into account the type of equipment we're needing to use and how much of it. The time it would take to complete the project and how many people would be needed on the job. With these factors a potential cost could be discussed. For our time lapse video we had planned to use 5 DSLRs with a four man crew working from 4pm to 9am the next morning. This is obviously quite a substantial amount of equipment and time needed on the job. 

Target Audience: As it was a social media video and people of all ages use the NCT bus service, the video would have to be made suitable to match this demographic. Having the video be light hearted, fun and informative appeals to most audiences. The music used should be quite upbeat and the editing will consist of quick cuts to make it look exciting. Statistics should also be included about Parliament Street garage such as how much fuel is used and they should be concise and understandable .

1.3 

With any project there can be strengths and limitations that can benefit or limit you when trying to implement your ideas into practice. The availability of equipment we have will really help with our time lapse idea because it will gave us flexibility to capture lots of footage. Being able to set a camera up to record for a  given amount of time but still have another camera available to capture footage means we can incorporate many shots so the final result isn't limited in the stuff we can show. This does mean however that we need to take extra care when setting up the static time lapse shots because we have no way to remotely monitor what the camera is doing due to it being placed up on scaffolding. To add to this, the static shots need to be left for a long period of time to give us usable and quality time lapse footage. This means that batteries need to be checked every now and again which can take up quite a bit of time. The amount of time we have is a certain limitation we need to work around too. Time lapse photography can take a considerable amount of time to shoot and to make look decent so we have to plan our shots. We also need to make sure we capture them first time because having to reshoot would be difficult. On the other hand, another strength we have is that we'd have a 4 man crew meaning each individual can be shooting their own footage and there will be no points where we're just waiting around. Finally, our crew will have the correct PPE for working around in the garage. This will ensure smooth working as we won't be in violation of any site safety rules. 

2.1 & 2.2 

After making your initial brainstorms and ideas it's usually good practice to go back and review them to see whether they're going to be feasible and if they're going to produce a good product. The main idea behind the video is to provide an informative and fun time lapse of one of NCTs garages. As it's main platform will be on social media, having the video shared between people and liked will hopefully encourage more people to look in to NCT and potentially use their service. A considerable amount of people use social media so it would be a good platform to post the video. NCT also have their own YouTube channel and Facebook page with quite a few people already following. This is useful for getting it in to the public eye. As mentioned before the age range for people using the NCT bus service is huge so the plan to make the video fun and exciting will appeal to this wide audience. Very few people will know how the garage system at Parliament Street actually works. Because of this we hope the included footage and statistical content will prove interesting to the audience. These statistics will be presented in a way that fits within the branding guidelines. Overlays will be green in colour and text will be NCTs font type they use for most of their marketing. 

2.3  

Identifying changes is done at various stages. If the client wishes for something to be changed or one of the team notice something doesn't comply with the brand guidelines of the client then changes are made accordingly to meet the production requirements. When looking through footage we need to be careful we're not infringing anything ethically or legally. This would mean showing any private information or including anyone in the video that may not have given permission. 

3.1, 3.2

I'm not usually involved with presenting the idea to a client. However if I were there'd be a number of things that I'd do to ensure a good proposal. I would give thorough detail on how the production would take place and what we would be trying to achieve. This would include things like how we could convey a message using images and text and how we could incorporate the clients branding to advertise themselves. Here is an example of how I would have set it out for a Project we just completed for Barratt Homes.

This particular project is fairly simple and doesn't necessarily require a really detailed treatment outlying all the things that will go on during the day. No body other than the main crew will be involved in the shoot so it is much easier for them get on with what they need to do to ensure they can complete their filming in the given day.

A brief treatment could be as follows:

9am-5pm - Main shoot - 2 man crew shooting footage of showhome
9am-5pm(3days) - Post production - will involve 2 people editing and creating graphics.

3.3

Barratt Homes' brief doesn't contain anything which suggests there needs to be any kind of performer or presenter in their video. We therefore don't need to worry about finding/choosing one. If they did need one however, it would be in best interest of the video, in terms of quality, to use someone with good speaking skills and good on screen presence. They would need to have good enunciation and pronunciation and speak at a good clear volume. If they were ever on screen then being modestly animated adds to the authenticity and quality of the video.

3.4

Depending on how busy we are at work, sometimes we will have to record footage on the day and then hand it off to someone who will edit it. This is not usually the case as the same people will work throughout the whole production from start to finish. In instances where someone else it editing, to keep the process smooth we will provide instruction on how the timeline should be laid out, what issues need to be fixed and any other points that need addressed.

4.1, 4.2

There isn't really any need to worry about copyrighted material due to everything that was being shot was property of Barratt Homes. It is however good practice to be conscious of legal and ethical considerations and the implications of using such material in you production. Any copyrighted material used in a production needs to have had a license bought for it so you have permission to use it. Not having a license for intellectual property is a breach of the law and in some extreme cases you can be sent to jail. It's obviously therefore a good idea to make sure you're always within the law during your productions.

See Unit 22, section 2 for some more information on ethical considerations and certain Acts that you should abide by.