Reflections on being a sound supervisor

I have now performed sound supervisor functions on at least two HND student films, plus a number of student exercises in the classroom.  Responsibility for levels and ensuring that we had clean and usable audio at the end of the shoot.  This was with a mixture of Zoom H4N and H6N recorders.

This is quite an important role in any film production as if the sound is poor then you either need to re-shoot, do a lot of ADR (Additional Dialogue Recording), or risk people abandoning your film due to the poor sound quality.

In addition to the sound levels and recording, there is also the boom and microphone position … ideally, boom from above, ensure that the microphone is pointing at the talent’s mouth and that you follow the dialogue and keep the shotgun mic pointing at the talent’s mouth throughout the scene.  Booming from below may be an option, especially if you are trying to avoid boom shadow, however in doing so you may well pick up sounds from above including birds or leaves rustling (if outdoors) and other sounds from overhead.

You can use lavalier mics instead of (or as well as) a boom.  Lav placement takes additional time, especially if you want to keep them hidden from the camera, and there can be a lot of noise from clothing and your talent moving (which takes additional precautions, and more time to deal with in the setup phases).

Lavalier microphones (credit: sennheiser.com)

On my own films, I have experienced several issues with the sound being unusable due to noise transferring through the boom, levels being incorrectly set and/or background noise (people talking loudly in the next room, aeroplanes flying overhead, police cars zooming past with sirens blaring, and more).

In my role as sound supervisor, I wanted to make sure that none of these problems impacted the productions I was working on, and in doing so it did mean that I had to repeatedly talk to the boom operator and address issues with the way they were holding the boom (every slight hand adjustment would transmit through the boom pole and cause parts of the dialogue to be unusable).

Monitoring levels and ensuring that adjustments were made promptly to account for any raised voices or whispered words so that we were able to use the recordings.  The last thing you want is the audio to clip/peak and to lose the higher frequencies, or for it to be too quiet and miss the low frequencies.

One issue we had on location was trying to get everyone into the room, but not in the shot.  This required some ingenuity and a certain amount of contortionism as can be seen from this photograph of the boom operator squeezing into a small gap and then trying to position the microphone just outside of the wide shot.

 

Other issues included the hum of fridges, ticking clocks, mobile phones going off or just simply hunting for signal leaving a bzzt bzzt bzzt on the audio track.  On one shoot we had to hunt high and low before eventually finding an errant Windows Mobile on a desk which belonged to a parent .. We then had to try and work out how to put the phone into Airplane mode as no-one was quite sure how the Windows mobile actually worked! (we ended up just turning it off).

In this photo, we see a slightly more spacious location with better separation between the talent and crew.  The trick here was to ensure that the boom was pointing at the talent as they spoke and keeping the mic pointing towards the mouths of the talent as they moved in shot.   

There will always be challenges when filming on location, the trick is to work around them and to try to get to know your environment before the shoot starts, in order to minimise any wasted time during the actual shoot.  Locating analogue clocks and ensuring they’re removed from the room, making sure that mobile phones are turned off before shooting starts are all good pointers.

One additional issue we had on one of the shoots, which took a while to locate, was a 50hz hum on the audio in certain rooms.  We eventually tracked this down to an XLR cable being routed alongside a power cable (I had carefully ensured that the power cables were down one side of the room and the XLR cables were around the other side, even through doorways to ensure the maximum separation), however someone had very kindly decided to tidy and thought it would be a good idea to bundle the cables together, which resulted in a hum when the lights were on.

Lesson learned – just because you have painstakingly taken the time to keep power and audio lines apart all the way around the location, someone may quite happily come along and “tidy” and mix all the cables together without you noticing.  

If I were to do this on a more regular basis, I think I would definitely buy a “GaffGun” and use it to tape down all cables, making it a lot harder for busybodies to come along and move the cables when you’re not looking.

This is definitely on my Christmas list, Santa please take note!

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Reflections on being a camera operator

This is a strange one in a way, I need to reflect on being a camera operator since starting the HND course and note challenges faced, lessons learned and basically identify learning opportunities, however, I have been a relatively keen (hobbyist) photographer (and cinematographer) for many years so most of this is not new to me.

That said, working in teams with other students (some of whom this is completely new to) has helped me appreciate the knowledge gained over the last 35+ years of being a photographer, and many of the things that I otherwise take for granted such as the Exposure Triangle.

 

Credit: michaelpyoung.com

 

I have seen many students simply increase the ISO because the scene was too dark, without giving any thought to the aperture or shutter speed, let alone the available light (practical, natural or otherwise) in a scene.  Where possible I have tried to share that knowledge and help the other students remember early classroom lessons, and demonstrated the impact of changing one setting (such as increasing the ISO to 12,800 and the associated noise that this brings to the image) or reducing the shutter speed, and so on.

 

First of all, some basics.  The responsibilities of the camera operator are simple, but important.  To ensure that whatever you’re filming is in focus.  That you are capturing the scene as envisaged by the Director/DoP and that every frame you capture tells the story.  You’re responsible for making sure that the camera settings are kept how the DoP has specified (ie don’t randomly change the ISO, shutter speed or aperture without first discussing it with the DoP).  You are responsible for ensuring that whatever you’re filming is properly exposed (see above comments about working with the DoP), and that whenever you frame the shot that you’re only getting the set and not the lights, reflections, gaffer, grip, boom operator, or any other “non scene” related ingredients in the shot.

I recently helped one of my fellow classmates (Josh) film his Public Service Announcement (PSA) video on littering, he had not had the best of luck with the weather and crew resources, so when the weather improved and with the submission deadline looming, I volunteered by help (and camera equipment) to help him shoot his video in a local orchard.

This also gave me the opportunity to experiment with a new toy I had just acquired with a hefty discount and some Amazon gift vouchers from a supplier, namely a DJI Ronin-M.

This was the first time I had used the Ronin, having previously battled with a Zihyun Crane gimbal and had issues with the GH5 being slightly too large in the body to use the gimbal efficiently.

Josh had decided that he wanted to shoot in 1080p, and not 4k, which was fine, I had chosen to deliver 1920×1080 @ 25fps in ProRes 422, shooting at 180 degrees, with the original content recorded as H.264 on the GH5, so his laptop and editing software should be able to keep up with things. As it was, he was able to use the original H.264 material without needing the converted footage.  We also shot in VLOG-L which meant Josh needed to do a bit of colour grading – I supplied a basic LUT to give Josh a head start, and as you’ll see from the above footage, the results are quite nice.

We were a 3 person crew, including Josh and his girlfriend Sarah who were going to be in front of the camera (Sarah was hiding in, and animating, the bushes), and myself behind the camera.  A small crew which helped get things done quickly.  We had the odd issue with passers-by (and their dogs) wanting to get in on the action, but otherwise, the shoot was pretty painless.

There were a few handheld shots which required Josh and myself to effectively climb into the undergrowth/trees, and a couple of shots ended up with more than we bargained for, with bits of me in the shot as I tried to hold the camera far enough into the bush without the benefit of a monopod.

 

 

In the above (ungraded raw) image, we see part of my fleece on the left-hand side, as well as Josh being eaten by the bush.  Easily cropped out, but missed in the first rough cut (Josh said he’d thought it was just part of the bush!) 🙂

Through the exercise I learned the most optimum way to handle and use the Ronin, smoothing out movement with the “crab walk” as much as possible.  

For this shoot all of the sound effects were going to be done in post, so whilst we had sound recording equipment with us, we chose not to use it.  I think Josh may have used some of the on-camera sound for the rustling of the trees, but the rest of the effects were foley.

In a perfect world, we would have probably had an extra body on hand to help with lens changes and swapping equipment around.  There were a couple of occasions where I needed to remove the camera from the Ronin, and the only place to put the Ronin was on the muddy ground.

For the shoot, I primarily used a wide angle Leica 8mm-14mm (16mm-28mm equivalent full frame) lens, this provided a good balance between focal length and available aperture (f/2.8-f/4) to provide clear images on an overcast day, a handful of shots were taken with a Leica 42.5mm Nocticron f/1.2 lens (MFT) which gives an equivalent full frame focal length of 85mm.  This introduced some nice portrait imagery as well as depth-of-field, enhanced by a 35-100mm (70mm-200mm equivalent full frame) for certain shots to make some of the shots seem more compressed and give the feeling of the space being tighter than it actually was.

The whole shoot lasted little more than an hour and was efficient.  Josh had outlined what he needed and I constructed the actual shots on the fly, working with Josh to ensure that he got what he needed as Director and delivered the performance he needed to do as the talent. 

What would I have done differently?  I guess it would have helped to have seen the location before we started shooting, and if I had thought about it ahead of time, I would have brought a blanket or similar to rest the equipment on rather than dumping bags on the muddy grass (a few days earlier the grass had been covered in snow which meant it was now quite damp and slightly boggy in places).

Getting the content to Josh after the shoot was a little problematic.  I had originally said I would simply upload the content to a Google Drive and send him the link.  Unfortunately, Google somehow managed to munge the 11GB of video so the file(s) he received via download were unusable.  In the end, I just copied the whole lot onto an SD card and delivered it by hand to his house on the Saturday morning as that was by far the quickest and easiest method of getting the data to him.

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Dating Dilemmas – Reflections on the scriptwriting process

Reflecting on Dating Dilemmas

 

My original script was written as no more than an exercise in script writing, set in the warm summer months, in a complex location in Westminster, without any thought as to how it would be filmed.  This was primarily due to a misunderstanding with regards the original assignment. I had attempted to develop a scene from a Detective Drama I had in mind, the scene’s goal being to explain the motivation or inciting incident behind a serial killer, a “Jack the Ripper” of modern day London.  

 

Once it became clear that we were meant to be writing a script that could be shot in January-March 2018, and that we were shooting this as our first short for the HND track, I had to go back to the drawing board and start again.  My second script was written quickly, with “resource-based filmmaking” in mind, rather than “just write anything” and being overly creative. I think a few students fell into this trap, writing scripts set in Space or on a cruise liner at sea.  By the time this had become apparent and the need for an alternative script was understood, I had lost more than six weeks of development time, and had to act quickly. Dating Dilemmas was a parody I had in mind based on my experiences of internet dating over the previous year or so.  As a result of the lack of development time, I think the script suffered from a lack of depth and I certainly did not have as much time as I would have liked to think through the idea and craft any subplots. The best I could do was to introduce the “sexy smoothy” as the protagonist in the whole affair.

 

What we did have were the atypical huntress, out on the prowl with her friends, along with the typical lothario looking for a good time, every time, without any consequences, and we have the geeky flatmate who’s more interested in playing games on his console and drinking with his friends than with finding a woman.

 

As part of the assignment, we were required to arrange a table read with actors as part of the script development process.

 

We had a table read prior to filming, using the same actors who ended up performing in the short film. Their feedback was invaluable and a number of modifications were made to the final script, bringing the language into “the modern day”, correcting technical terms and adding some levels of intention.  It also helped the actors develop their character traits and personalities.

 

I learned and benefited a great deal from the process, hearing others read my words aloud.  It brought the words to life, they were no longer just mutterings and sounds in my head or words on a bit of paper/computer screen.  Hearing them spoken aloud by a 3rd party also helped me to shape and develop the tone of the conversations, to try and make them seem more natural.  It didn’t always work in practice, and in certain cases the actor’s delivery was so wooden on the day, despite rehearsals and direction .. but by this time I think everyone was fatigued and just wanted to get the final scenes wrapped so we could go home.  Another lesson learned – make the shooting schedule less hectic and allow your actors more time to rest between scenes – if possible.

 

The process of writing the script, with my limited knowledge or experience of scriptwriting and without any knowledge of “the tools” (Truby’s 22 steps, script form or structure, etc) was challenging, and I think my next script will certainly be better having since covered the basics of these tools, and having been introduced to development ideas.  The initial process was very much akin to being put on a boat, taken out to the two-mile marker, thrown into the ocean and then told to swim back to shore – when you’ve never actually been in more than 3 inches of water in your life. It was very much a “sink or swim” affair.

 

As a result of the table read, it became apparent that in 20 years since WAN gaming was invented, the terminology has changed and been simplified .. now it’s just “a party” rather than WAN party or raid / etc … we live and learn 🙂

 

Some of the actions and interactions between the couple were softened and/or expanded, and it became clear early on that the actress wanted to do more “nude” and risque scenes than I had originally planned (I hadn’t planned or written any)  .. these added to the believability of the short and were welcomed.

 

Thankfully, being resource based, we were able to implement the film fairly easily – even though we had three locations fall through in the days/weeks leading up to the shoot (due to leaks/water damage, shooting dates changing due to the theft of lights/etc from my car, and so on) … we were still able to shoot the scenes relatively easily and adjusted (on the day) the final location when it became available.  The only downside was the presence of a mirrored fitted wardrobe which extended the full length of the one bedroom wall which meant we were unable to shoot one of the scenes exactly as we had intended.

 

From a visualisation standpoint, I had already chosen the colour palette to use for the film, we then chose costumes to match this palette.  

 

The shot design leaned heavily on screen grammar, positioning the female character to the right of the screen (the more dominant position) in every shot where she was “in control”, and the male character on the left being “lead” by the lead character.  There’s a final point where he regains control and becomes centre stage once more (having started in the dominant position at the beginning of the film).

 

Beyond that, the set was designed simply and effectively as a standard flat share in London, coke cans and pizza cartons strewn around the “lad pad”.

 

The kitchen much more “health” focussed with Spirulina bags, bananas and other health foods dotted around the blender.

 

The bedroom was more minimal, a girl’s bedroom, but with the spoils of a debauched night, condom wrappers all over, an open bottle of lube, etc … to show that she’s in control and means business. (This was “her place” after all).   The empowered female huntress, in a world otherwise dominated by men on the prowl for hookups and one night stands.

 

In summary, I felt the script was weak and could have benefited from considerably more depth.  On the day, the acting was too slow paced and a little wooden .. from a Director’s standpoint, I should have timed the performances and worked with the actors more to ensure they knew the timing requirements (as it was, I didn’t really appreciate any of this myself until in the edit suite).  During the table read we were consistently under 5 minutes, however on the day, with more visualisation and less verbalisation, the initial recording time with all scenes came in at closer to 7 minutes, and as a result some of the slower scenes were cut to improve the flow of the film an keep the tempo to a certain level.

 

Personally, I think the title package at the end of the film is possibly the best part of the whole comedy, sadly these have also had to be dropped for the HND submission due to the requirement that the film is under 5 minutes.  (I have asked the question can it be longer, and told in no uncertain terms that a) no it can’t, and b) no the 5 minutes includes the entire title sequence / etc.) 1 second over 5 minutes and it is a fail ….

 

So I have submitted a 4’59”.7 version for the HND course on YouTube, and have a 7’24” version for public consumption on Vimeo.

 

What would I do differently next time?  I would spend more time developing the script, I would get the assignment in writing rather than verbally and try to get the full intent of the assignment prescribed before starting down the wrong road.

 

How could I have improved this script, knowing what I know now?    Within 5 minutes, there is only a limited window to deliver your message.  The message in this instance was meant satirically, as a dig against society using online dating like they would use Amazon Prime, to find a hookup for the night and to return it the following morning “used”, but in the original packaging … and of course the fact that no matter what a woman thinks of their conquest, they will always try to remodel and change them if they’re in a relationship with them. A man always dreams the girl will never change, as she is perfect just the first time he met her, whilst the girl wishes her man would change, and she knows she can improve him, given time.

 

The dialogue could have been snappier, some of the scenes were irrelevant, and the punchline being what it was, perhaps needed a little extra on the end to drill home the message.


The edit was effectively the final rewrite, albeit taking the delivered performance and attempting to reshape it into something humorous and entertaining.  To date, responses to screenings have been mixed. The video has been watched roughly 50 times and feedback has been on the whole positive, with a number of people (male and female) getting the nuance, and laughing at the jibe at vegans.  Many vegans have themselves found the premise and story funny, although a few were offended, however on balance they seemed to take more offence at the implied sexualisation of the characters (sex on a first date, how unlikely) rather than the swipe at vegans in particular.  The younger audience (18-30) found it funnier than the older audience (50+) which isn’t overly surprising at the end of the day as few 50 year olds are (or ever were – obviously the swinging 60’s never happened!) into hookups and meaningless sex, whilst most 18-30 year olds are definitely being more promiscuous (I believe studies do actually show that pre-marital sex is both on the increase and also leads to less stable relationships and an increase in divorce rates in recent years) (Institute for Family Studies)

 

(Source: Institute for Family Studies)

 

References

Institute for Family Studies. (2018). Counterintuitive Trends in the Link Between Premarital Sex and Marital Stability. [online] Available at: https://ifstudies.org/blog/counterintuitive-trends-in-the-link-between-premarital-sex-and-marital-stability [Accessed 10 Apr. 2018].

 

HND Term 3 SWOT and SMART Goals

By Sunday 29 April, I will have submitted by short film for assessment.

By Friday 25 May, I will have started to learn and understand node based compositing software such as Nuke, or more likely Fusion

By Saturday 30 June, I will have started working on a new script with more detail and depth than the previous versions, applying the tools we’ve been introduced to such as Truby’s 22 steps and the 3 act structure.

By 01 October, I will start to plan and shoot scenes from the above script

 

Updates to my SWOT can be found here

 

Josh’s Anti Littering PSA

So, after several aborted attempts due to weather (snow in March!) and with a looming deadline, I offered to meet Josh on Friday and head down to an orchard near his house to film his PSA.

The plan was simple … a guy walks through a park, throws an empty bottle into a bush and the bush fights back.

I had just taken delivery of my new Ronin-M … so I thought this would be a great opportunity to fire it up and give it a test.

Josh only wanted to film in 1080p, so I reduced the GH5 to the lowest quality it could do (150MB/sec 1080p) and off we went.

 

An hour or so later we had more than enough coverage for his PSA, and job done.

An easy, painless and fun shoot with Josh and his better half Sarah.  

Getting the footage (11GB) to Josh proved slightly problematic as Google Drive ate the footage, however, I threw it onto an SD card and dropped it around to his house on my way to Bamba’s shoot on Sunday.

 

Oh, and Josh had to learn how to colour grade as we were shooting in VLog-L … but the end footage looks quite good!

The Power of Max – Sound Recordist

  • Directed by – Josh Farrell
  • DoP – Julian Deane Jon Morby
  • Boom Operator – Bamba Diop
  • Camera – (Josh’s Friend)

Josh’s shoot was the easiest to get to by far, just a mile down the road from my house.  The snow caused problems for some of the crew (notably Julian who dropped out at the last minute due to fears over trains), although Orlando made it in and he lives in the same area as Julian.

 

During the day I saw some flashes of brilliance in the directing, mainly editing in camera (which I think Josh’s friend, who is also editing this, had guided Josh on in their rehearsal a week earlier).

There were some logistical issues in Josh’s kitchen due to a huge centre console, however, we worked around them.

As Julian pulled out at the last minute, Josh asked me to step in and act as DoP/Cinematographer, which I was more than happy to do.  

We got to use fairy lights, and Josh’s redheads which he’d acquired on eBay a week earlier.  

I brought my sound gear, including my brand new Rode NTG4+ which I had literally only taken delivery of the day before (Julian had been scheduled to bring boom pole and an NTG2)

The shoot went well, it seemed like a cast of thousands, all very well choreographed and scheduled.

 

Hat tip to Josh, with rehearsing the week before, and pulling in some professionals to steer the ship whilst also employing several HND students, the whole thing went very well and was a fun shoot to be on.

Lenore – DoP/Camera

  • Directed by – Julian Deane
  • DoP / Camera – Jon Morby
  • Sound Recordist – Alex (who left due to allergies) and Jon Morby
  • Boom Operator – Bamba Diop
  • 1st AD – Josh Farrell?
  • Script Supervisor – Josh Farrell?
  • Grips – Sammy OA, Hamed and Orlando Bryant

Lenore was the first of the student shoots, Julian had managed to sneakily schedule his shoot as an overnight shoot the weekend before my 1st day of shooting in Covent Garden … it was going to be “fun” doing an all night shoot, having Sunday to recover and then going straight into a 2 x 12 hour day shoot for my own project, however, I had agreed to assist, so here I am! 🙂

Rush hour traffic through Wimbledon was fun, and once there, finding Julian’s mansion was a little difficult, however, we were soon there and went through a quick briefing.  I will commend Julian on his preparation work, and the storyboards which his mother had drawn up.  All very professional.

 

I did originally think Julian had gone a little overboard with the equipment rental, including two 2k HMIs in the back garden, a Black Magic Ursa, as well as his own kit (Redheads, Strobes, etc), however by the end of the night we had raided the boot of my car for additional LED panels as Julian actually didn’t have enough lights to complete the scene as he had wanted it.  Thankfully, I had packed lights, camera, reflectors, etc just in case (what self-respecting DP turns up to a shoot empty-handed?!)

The shoot went reasonably well, although the sound recordist had a serious allergy to cats which meant he didn’t stay for long, the other help Julian had been promised from the local school failed to turn up, so I doubled up as sound as well as camera and lights for the night.  I did miss one reflection, which is annoying, especially as we can’t pretend it is moonlight due to the angle / position of the windows vs the picture that is reflecting the light.

Owing to the size and nature of Julian’s shoot, we really could have benefited from walkie-talkies for communication.  As it was I was cueing strobe effects on a countdown (3 …  – silent 2, 1) … and in the latest rough assembly, you can hear me shouting to the lighting guys outside … you can also hear the strobes “beep” as Julian had been unable to turn off their alarms, however, this should all be fixed when Julian completes the sound design and foley.

All in all, a well-run shoot … Craft services were acceptable, made all the better by Orlando bringing some hot food from Pret which he prepared lovingly in the kitchen during the lunch break.

Momentum – Sound Recordist

  • Directed by Sammy OA
  • 1st AD – Ana
  • DoP – Julian Deane
  • Camera Asst – Josh Farrell
  • Sound – Jon Morby
  • Boom Op – Bamba Diop
  • Runner – Arabella

Today I was co-opted onto Sammy’s shoot as a sound recordist, working with Bamba on boom.

The shoot went reasonably well, although everything did seem a little haphazard and it felt like no-one (including the 1st AD) really knew what was going on.  

Sammy chose to steal a few shots early on that weren’t on his shot list as we were waiting for crew to arrive, and we then found ourselves running behind before lunch.

The shot list, such as it was, was numbered in the most random and confusing way I have ever seen, with shots labelled as 1.1.a.iii and so on … Boy were we confused! 🙂

Sammy stole 15-20 minutes from lunch which started to get things back on track, and by the end of the day, we were pretty much on schedule.

There seemed to be some friction between the DP and his AC (different AC, but again??!) however Josh coped with this pretty admirably and didn’t let it get on top of him.

The location was Sammy’s house, plus a park just down the road.  The internal location was so confined / cramped that we couldn’t always have everyone in the room when needed, and on occasion, I had to assist Julian by making lighting changes or lense changes as either Josh couldn’t get through the bedroom door, or Julian couldn’t get from behind the camera to the lights.

It was also worth noting that Sammy/Julian didn’t allow enough batteries for the shoot and ended up having to borrow my Canon 60D to complete the shoot.  Fortunately, I always have 3 batteries and a mains adapter with that camera … and quite fortuitously I had decided to take that with me rather than the GH5 in case they needed any BTS footage.  As it was, Sammy hadn’t thought about BTS, but as I was now camera-less, I ended up taking what few BTS photos I did manage to take using my iPhone (oh the shame!) 🙂

Charity Beer Festival Promo Video

 

The assignment was to produce a promotional video for a client, either Raindance or an agreed alternative which needs to be approved by the tutor in advance.

 

After discussions with the tutor, it was agreed I could create a promotional video for Bushey and Oxhey Round Table’s (BORT) Charity Beer Festival.  I have long had an association with BORT, and have been involved with their beer festival since the inception in 2007 and it seemed right that a charity should benefit if possible.

Traditionally, being charity affairs, Beer Festivals rarely have the funding for professional promotional efforts and are instead at the mercy of the best efforts provided by volunteers.   As can be seen, by the examples below, these are not always the most professional (or stabilised) of productions.  It also seems that, apart from North Leeds, Harrogate and Chester – there are barely any promotional videos out there.

 

BORT is no different, and to date has only been able to make use of posters and word of mouth marketing.  It has been my goal to change this, and in both 2016 and 2017, I attended the festivals, with camera in hand, to record some footage to use for promotional videos.  Sadly, time and resources meant that, until today, I have been unable to actually complete the task.

The traditional format appears to be to create the video much like a TV news segment, with lower thirds and reporter style commentary.

And sometimes, the festivals do make local news channels – such as “StaffsLive” – Staffordshire University’s media channel created by their BA and MA students.

 

 

The videos seem to be, on the whole, considerably longer than the 1-minute segment requested for this assignment.  North Leeds Festival have posted 30+ minute videos showing the festivities including live music, drinking, competitions and more.  Several of the videos I’ve seen were incredibly shaky, handheld, iPhone footage filmed from the back of a crowd.  The few things they all have in common are Live Music, Beer and of course “fun” whilst emphasising the charity nature of the festival.

 

Having been involved in the Beer Festival for many years, and in fact having been Chairman of Bushey & Oxhey Round Table for a total of 6 years (6 festivals), I have a fair knowledge of the workings of the festival and the “client requirements” which meant that, apart from running through a basic checklist, I only needed to spend the bare minimum of time in research phase.

My checklist went along the lines of

  • Highlight the charity nature of the festival
  • Make sure Round Table is seen in a good light
  • Ensure the current Round Table branding is utilised
  • Ensure the current Ladies Circle branding is utilised
  • Round Table is a young man’s organisation (18-45), try to ensure that the portrayed demographic includes the younger generation
  • Highlight the live music aspect
  • Highlight the ciders – it is more than just a beer festival
  • Highlight the association with Ladies Circle (this wasn’t possible in the 1-minute time frame, although should be possible in a 90 second or 2-minute promo)
  • Arrange interviews with other stakeholders (this was impractical in the initial time frame due to the loss of 3 weeks with laryngitis).
  • Make something which can be re-used each year
  • Ensure that the venue (The Three Crowns) is seen in a favourable light
  • Highlight that the event is one for all the family, child-friendly beer garden, etc
  • BBQ food on offer throughout the weekend, as well as the usual restaurant menu.

At least for the milestone, I have been unable to arrange interviews with the Ladies Circle Chair/committee.  A mixture of snow and illness (both myself and the ladies) meant that interviews have been cancelled on more than one occasion so far.  I am hoping to be able to conduct the interviews and include them in a longer edit prior to the April 26th submission deadline, however, the 1-minute version is unlikely to change much and is already “packed” so adding content may prove counterproductive.

I will consider doing a Ladies Circle specific version, as well as a joint/co-branded version as the project develops.

 

Stylistic Design

I chose to run a voice over / commentary by the landlord as he talks about the historic nature of the venue, coupled with images of the beer garden, people relaxing and having fun.  We highlight the live music, as well as the large selection of real ales and ciders that are available, without naming any specific brands.  We show young men standing around, laughing, having fun, whilst also showing the older generation in an unhurried an unrushed environment, enjoying a half a cider.  

The festival covers 3 days, and is a joyful, family experience.  Unrushed, unpressured and it was important to encompass this in the visuals.

We show members of Ladies Circle working behind the bar, as well as the young members of Round Table.  We show a local dignitary turning up for a beer, paying for the beer, and then being invited behind to pour his own beer (used for press coverage after the fact).

What would I do differently?

As with all charity productions, you are limited by a volunteer’s available time.  If this were a commercial presentation, being paid for by a company, then the company would be more invested in the production and they would make their staff available (paid and during office hours) to record the necessary interviews or b-roll.  In this instance, we were hampered by the fact people needed to work during the day, were only available on certain evenings, and then these dates having to be postponed at the last minute due to illness.

 

The brief was for a snappy, 1 minute, delivery.  The content itself doesn’t really lend itself well to a 1-minute slot.  The whole idea of the beer festival is to spend a relaxing weekend chilling, not a hectic/frantic visit. 

There are issues to consider regarding the advertisement of alcohol, ensuring that we do not promote over drinking or binge drinking.  There is a voluntary code, as well as legal requirements which need to be adhered to.  In this case, I have erred on the side of caution and steered away from any direct marketing of any alcoholic drinks or brands.

For television, the slots would be 15-seconds or 30-seconds and would follow a simpler, more prescribed format – this said, the 30-second advert slot is now effectively dead [1][2], instead, being replaced by 6-second “bumpers” and skippable infomercials advertising products online (Google, etc).

Feedback and Peer Review

We went through a peer review session in class.  Comments related to the placement of the mic on the talent (done this way to avoid pops that we were experiencing), and about a transition at the end of the video – now covered.

There was also a lot of uncertainty about what is Round Table .. something the organisation as a whole does need to combat, however not something for this brief.  Fortunately, our target audience in Bushey is familiar with Bushey Round Table as we do a lot to promote our presence in the community.  Nationally the organisation really does need to do more to promote itself I agree.

Other than that, the feedback related to poor audio due to the quality of the Raindance speakers, and some confusion about whether this was promoting a beer festival, a music festival, or Round Table.  The answer was _all of the above_ so I guess it had the desired effect and brought in those who would prefer music and those who would prefer beer.  Only one respondent said that they would not attend the beer festival, simply because they do not drink alcohol.

References

  1. Time is running out for the 30-second advert, The Guardian
  2. Time runs out for the 30-second Television ad, The Financial Times