Research Project - Reflect and explore

For my final project last year I was tasked with making a film trailer. I decided to make an alternative James Bond film, where the main character doesn't yet have a licence to kill, but instead is a young activist hacker who can take down a cooperation from the comfort of his bedroom.

3 things that I felt I did well with regarding the project was the editing, the locations we got permission to film at and putting across the overall idea of what we were trying to do. The editing made it look pretty close to a proper hollywood style trailer and that was only complemented by the locations we used. These two elements, along with a ton of others, contributed to having a product which put across the ideas that I wanted it to.

However, there as defiantly some things that I won't be doing next time. The first and most important being not working with someone who is totally incompetent when it comes to media. They may be a lovely person, but that doesn't mean they have a clue what their doing. There were also things which fell on my head, such as leaving things to the last minute and not focusing enough on the audio side of the production.

Overall though I'm happy with how it turned out. It is a decent piece of work that could have been better, but also could have been much worse.

Two examples of past work

Dirty Paws- Music video

My first example of past work is a music video I produced as part of my college course back in Bristol. I decided to go with the song "Dirty Paws" by of monsters and men. I looked through the lyrics and came up with a concept of what I wanted to make.

I liked the overall tone of the video. It really put across the idea that I was going for. That being of a man who had lost his child like sense of adventure due to the strains of growing up. You know you have done a good job at conveying your idea when people watch it and come away with the ideas that you wanted to put across.

 Another thing I liked was the use of both visual and practical effects. A big part of the video focuses around visual effects but I knew it would take more than just some post work to make it realistic. To better sell the effect of an orange flying ball, we cut a orange medicine bottle in half and taped it on to a torch we created a orange glow. This was then used to give the Fake ball a practical light source, really helping to sell the effect.

The finally thing I like about the video is the acting. The two actors are far from professional. In fact they had never acted before in their life. Yet they both delivered great performances which really help sell the concept. One of the biggest things for me when watching peoples work is being sucked out by bad acting, this wasn't the case with Dirty paws.

However, as always there are things I dislike about the project. For example, some shots are far more shaky than I wanted. Also, some of the VFX work could have done with a little more work, making the ball more of the 3D object I feel would have helped sell it better.

The only things I would change about the project would be the shaking, a couple of VFX shots and I would get more coverage of the wood scene.

Strengths- Cinematography, story telling/narrative, character development, conveyance

Weaknesses- VFX, shakiness from handheld filming style, gitters in some scenes from compression issues

Opportunities- The only opportunity I was presented with was in the forest. The swing we found gave from some really great shots which were not planned at all.

Threats-  The only threat we had came from filming out of the back of a moving car. Luckily, we own a landcover discovery which always you to open the boot while still keeping up a tailgate. This also happens to be a vehicle preferred by shows such as Top gear when filming.

Metris leadership - Client promo 

My next example is a client project I did for Metris leadership, a company specialising in cooperate team building. They came to me asking for a promotional video which would go online highlighting what the course focuses on. So that is what I did.

The thing I liked most about the video is the soundtrack. I worked closely with the website musicbed to create a soundtrack that fitted the visuals and tone that I wanted. What we came up with was amazing and really tied the whole thing together. I also like the overall cinematography and coverage of the piece. We shot a good amount off footage which came in very handy when it came to editing.

Other thing I like about the video is the colour grade. It was the first project I used my BMPCC on so I was a little apprehensive when it came to grading. However, with a little blood sweat and tears I feel it really came out well.

Things I dislike really boils down to one thing. I hate the text that comes up on screen explaining about the company. I understand why there are important but it feels like there are better ways to do it or at least ways to have them bend better into the video.

The only thing I would change would be the text and also perhaps filming more activities they do on the course just to had some more diversity.

Strength- Cinematography, colour grading, soundtrack, editing.

Weaknesses- On screen text.

Opportunities- Basically every shot in the video is us taking advantage of an opportunity that's just how filming stuff like this works.

Threat- The biggest threat came from filming off the side of a cliff face. Luckily we were filming with some highly trained mountaineers who did all the roping for us