Editing Organisation and Bins

Editing: Organisation and Bins

Throughout this course and unit, I was learning how to edit, coming from minimal experience so I had to learn all of what I know, one thing that I found crucial when editing was the organization of my clips. I learned to organize my clips through the use of Bins helping me keep track of all my clips and separate them accordingly. I started using Bins during my very first task in which I used them to organize which clips included what, such as footage of the deer I shot went into one Bin, whereas footage of establishing shots went into another Bin.

Photo from
"https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/organizing-assets-project-panel.html"

Another form of organisation I used was during my music video production in which I used the timeline as a way of planning what shots went where using it as a shot list or an edit decision list as such. I found this a useful way of planning where I wanted the footage to go and for how long exactly, helping me know what I still had left to shoot and edit and how long it had to be.

When planning I opened up Premiere Pro with the song in there and listed my desired shots at what time stamps I would like them at, in doing this it helped me set out my plan for the music video and gave me a better idea of the footage i would need to gather.

Edit Decision List

Edit Decision List

Throughout this course, I have been planning multiple practical pieces of work, on my final piece I used an edit decision list to help organize and plan what exactly I wanted to be in my final product, I found this process to be very helpful and wish I incorporated it into more of my work.

Edit Decision List Promotional Video 1

1. Establishing shot of dinner table with the family sitting at it eating dinner.
2. Mid to short shots of each family member talking while eating dinner
3. Cut to a wide shot of the family laughing at what has been said.
4. Fade out to the product logo
5. Shot of the Apps interface while a voiceover explains its features
6. A close up of a hand using the app to share stories
7. Fade out to a long shot of the family enjoying themselves laughing
8. Fade to logo again

Edit Decision List Promotional Video 2

1. Establishing shot of bench in a garden with grandad sitting.
2. Mid tracking shot of father joining him at the bench.
3. Mid shot of both sitting at the bench talking.
4. Long shot of children playing in the garden
5. Cut back to mid-shot of father and grandfather talking
6. Shot reverse shot while the conversation continues
7. Fade out to the logo of the product.
8. brief shot of User Interface of the App while a hashtag is present.

Although not exactly an Edit Decision List another style like this that I used to plan was during my music video production in which I used the timeline as a way of planning what shots went where using it as a shot list or an edit decision list as such. I found this a useful way of planning where I wanted the footage to go and for how long exactly, helping me know what I still had left to shoot and edit and how long it had to be.

When planning I opened up Premiere Pro with the song in there and listed my desired shots at what time stamps I would like them at, in doing this it helped me set out my plan for the music video and gave me a better idea of the footage I would need to gather.

Editing Techniques Evaluation

Editing Techniques Evaluation

Throughout this course, I was tasked with editing together different pieces of practical work that I created, the software I used throughout this course was Adobe Premiere Pro. To start this unit off I researched the history of editing software while slowly moving onwards looking at the software I would be using and how to use it. Once I had familiarised myself with this software I started editing together different short films that I had shot prior until eventually editing together pieces of work for my different units.

Firstly I looked into the history of editing software looking first at the early forms of editing where people had to manually cut the film and stick it back together, researching into this I discovered about the importance of women in early editing as they would have these editing roles due to the similarities between sewing and editing. Technologies advanced and the Moviola was introduced letting editors view their work giving them more of an idea of where they are cutting. At this time all editing was done linearly meaning they had to cut the film in order not letting them go back and make changes, unlike non-linear editing software that came around much later like Premiere Pro.

Once all the research into the history of editing was complete I started using my editing software Premiere Pro practically, editing together short films that I was tasked with making under a strict time limit, this helped improve my editing skills with my chosen editing software. The first short film I had to edit was based around using different camera angles. When editing this piece of work I had to look at how to cut these different camera angles together effectively, this improved my skills with contingency editing through having to organize these different shots in a way that looks right for the viewer. The next film challenge I had to do was more editing based where I had to edit to the beat of the Wii music, this drastically improved my skills when editing making sure I had the cuts match up with the beat of the music, this improved my understanding of editing precisely. The final challenge I edited together was finding footage online and editing to a chosen song, the skills this helped me improve where choosing the correct tone of the clips I was using giving me an understanding of how to match the tonne of visuals with audio. Overall these short film challenges set to me by the teacher helped introduce me to the software I would be using more later in the year. 

One of my first pieces of editing I had to do within this course was my New Wave film that I had previously shot, I had gathered my footage (Although I had some trouble doing so) and started editing it together, I threw all my footage into Premiere Pro and organized them into different Bins, which I just learned how to do during this time. Once I organized all my footage I began editing soon realizing that I needed more footage and some reshoots. Once I had gathered the extra footage needed I ran into a problem with editing, the problem was that the footage from the different shoots was visually different in style, creating a little continuity error. Continuing on from this I edited this piece to a soundtrack and showed contrasting visuals between cuts showing the differences and similarities between nature and humans I was shooting. To make this project New Wave I had to edit this production in a new way that goes against most conventions I was learning, to make it new wave I used different techniques popularised during the time of American and French new wave cinema, following this I incorporated techniques such as prolonged cuts and a jungled non-linear order of shots to help give my production that new wave feel. During this task, I believe that my cuts were placed effectively to help me show off my points that I was trying to make showing the similar nature between my two shots, however, going back I would provide myself with more time for shooting allowing me to edit without feeling like there a change in visual style as I would have been able to shoot until I was happy with the footage I gained. Throughout this task I improved my editing skills overall, however specifically, I learned how to use Bins to organize my footage making it easier for me to find the clips needed, organizing them into folders while labeling them specific names as to find them within this folder.

Later in the year, I moved on to the music video unit in which I had to produce a music video to be marked and graded (Along with other theory work). Having done my first shoot for this music video I threw all my footage into Premiere Pro and organized it into bins and labeled the clips much like what I learned to do during the New wave task. Once I had done this I proceeded to edit the clips I had gotten matching them up to my chosen song (Summer by Imagine Dragons). From this, I could see what footage I was missing at the time, and by learning from my previous mistakes a began planning using a sort of shot list with the title features on Premiere Pro, matching them up on the timeline to the times I want that shot playing (Visual examples of this in my work). Having a greater understanding of what shots I wanted and how long they needed to be due to this shot list I created I went on to shoot 2, although I had more time due to my extra planning, a problem similar to my New Wave work crept up, this was the two different visual styles between my different shoots, the reason this was a problem this time rather than time management was the fact I couldn't gather the lighting equipment I used in the first half, giving the second shoot a colder feel to the first shoot, with this being said I believe this to be my biggest weakness during this task as the different styles take away from my finished product making it look less professional. However, what I think I did right during this task was the editing to the beat, when first picking the song I decided immediately I wanted certain shots edited to the beat of the song such as a shot of clapping to the claps heard in the song, I believe I did this effectively during this edit as I effectively cut between two different hands clapping, matching it up to the hands clapping in the song. What I would change during this task would be making sure I had the equipment on hand for any reshoots and extra shooting days to create the same visual feel within my video.

In conclusion, I believe my editing skills have grown and improved massively throughout the year going from never using the software or anything like it before, to editing towards a beat effectively matching audio with visuals. Although I believe my editing has improved a few issues have still crept up throughout the year, mainly being that my different shoots tend to have different visual styles making it hard to edit them together effectively. The different ways I have run into this problem are through not having enough time/poor time management, to not having the same equipment in different shoots. I wish I had the opportunity to show my improvements within this area however with my promotional video brief having to be changed last minute due to unforeseen circumstances I never had the chance to show I could improve this however the blame still falls on me for making the mistake multiple times. Another thing I would change throughout this unit would be choosing to produce and edit a short film for my film studies unit to help show off my skills, however at the time I did not know I wouldn't be producing a video for my promotional video unit so instead, I prompted to write an essay instead. Overall I believe that my editing has improved over the course however I can still see areas to improve on in the future.

Practical Skills Evaluation

Practical Skills Evaluation

Throughout this course, I was tasked to develop different practical pieces of work in correlation to the units I was working on at the time. I developed a total of 2 final pieces for my work as well as a few short film challenges set to me that did not correlate towards my other units.

I started this course researching into DSLR cameras and how to use them, although I had basic practice before, this element of my research really helped me develop my understanding of the different features the camera I would be using had such as finding out about different iso’s and how it increases the lighting while also increasing the grain allowed into the shutter meaning I would have to have my ISO set to a lower level with sufficient background lighting to make up for the low light allowed into my shutter to help give me the best-looking shot. Other elements I researched were the F-stop value and the Shutter speed. Through this research, I found that Appature/F stop Value controlled how much light was allowed into the lens with every time the F-stop value halves, the lighting area quadruples, during this time I also discovered that a camera's lower F-stop value correlates with a shallower depth of field witch determines what in the shot is in focus whether if its just a face or a full background. The research I did into Shutterspeed helped me learn about how this affects lighting and shots with the shutter speed and lighting correlating at a 1:1 ratio, for example when the exposure time doubles, the lighting in the shot will double. Following on from this I began to research different lighting techniques that are used within film and media production to help improve my understanding of the importance of lighting as well as the different ways I could incorporate these techniques into my practical work. The different styles of lighting I researched were: Rembrandt, Edge, Butterfly, Highkey, and Lowkey. Not only did I look into these different styles of lighting I also experimented with them too, for this I took to the studio and photographed some of my peers. 

Once my researching into the practical side of film was complete I was tasked with creating short film challenges to help me get used to the controls of the camera and to develop my skills with my chosen editing software. For this, I created 3 short films, my first short film I was tasked with using different camera angles in a unique way to help me develop my skills and to get me to think about different shots. The next short film I developed was based around the Wii sports music,  in this video, I edited towards the beat helping me develop my skill editing in a unique way. The final short film I created was editing based, in this short film I had to use footage found online to edit together a music video, this short film drastically developed my editing skills allowing me to be as creative as I wanted and not limiting me with footage that I could shoot. Overall I believe these short films I created, although looking back now maybe basic, helped develop my skills allowing me to create better content further down the line. What I learned during this was how to properly use the camera and edit, although I already researched into these topics I believe allowing myself to use them in a practical environment helped develop my knowledge more.

Moving on to one of my first practical tasks, the creation of a new wave film, for this task I planned out a shooting day so that I knew what sort of footage I was to gather, The day of the shoot came round and I headed to Bradgate park, during this day I ran into a few issues when shooting, the main being I forgot to turn the camera off in my camera bag, thus causing me to have very little battery, any other time this would not be too much of an issue however due to the shoot location being a 40minute drive from my home I couldn't turn around and come back. This complication meant that I could not gather as much footage as I would have liked however, I still got some pretty good shots that I managed to use within my work. Adapting to these problems that I faced during production, I used some of my previously unused footage to help patch together my new wave film that was based around the similarities between nature and the deers that I shot with the behavior of humans. To improve this task I would have set out more time for shooting and take spare batteries for the camera with me as to help plan for the unexpected. However, the elements that I felt like I did well were the shots of the deer I managed to take.

The next practical video I developed was a music video, for this task I had to choose a 3minute long song without a music video as to not influence my ideas. The song I chose for this unit was "Summer" by imagine dragons. When planning this music video I analyzed 3 videos and studied the codes and conventions within them. from this, I also created a questionnaire to ask audiences what style of video they would prefer. Once I gathered all this information I started planning my video opting for a very warm style of video, to bring this idea to life I gathered extra lighting equipment that helped give my shot a very warm feel to it. Filming began and I gathered a good portion of the footage. moving on from day one of shooting I threw my footage into premiere pro and started editing, this helped me develop an idea of what footage I was missing helping me plan out my next shoot. Some ideas that I thought worked well were the clapping to the beat of the song, I feel this was edited well and matched up, giving my video a professional look while showing off my editing skills and how they've developed. With most of my video edited I went on to shoot the remaining footage, this leads on to one of my weaknesses for this task, this footage from shoot 2 has a different tone to that of shoot 1 because of my lack of lighting equipment this time around, to change this I would make sure I had the equipment I had in my first shoot as to create the same visual style.

Finally, one of my final units of this course and the last opportunity to be able to show off my practical skills came around, in this unit I was originally tasked with developing a promotional video for a real client, however, due to unforeseen circumstances this could not come to fruition and the unit was changed. The new unit that I was tasked with was fairly similar to the previous one with exceptions that I would not be shooting and instead I had to fully plan out a series of videos for a specific client my teacher set to me. This change of unit although preventing me from expanding my portfolio, helped me understand more deeply the importance of planning my shoots in every step such as storyboards screenplays and budget management. I feel like forcing me to look at these areas of production planning really helped me understand the importance of them as now I feel more comfortable with the ideas I planned out and I feel like if I had to shoot them then I could very successfully. Another element that I got to experience within this unit is the communication between the client and me as I was having to work towards their set needs while questioning everything I had planned to see if it would be suitable for them, I communicated with my client through Microsoft teams in which I would ask them questions about what style of video they wanted or what a certain element of the brief meant, I also had weekly meetings with my client over a voice call to go over what I had produced so far while working with them to find areas I could improve on to meet their needs. This gave me plenty of professional experience and I believe this being my strongest area of work during this unit as I worked ways of promoting towards the client's target audience into my plans and treatments such as through the use of psychographics and how I can target audiences through them. My weakest part of this unit I believe is my health and safety and legal and ethical research, although I don't believe this part of my work to be bad I do believe if I had spent a little longer researching it I could improve it maybe through providing more examples for example.

In conclusion, I believe my units were a success in showing my gradual improvements within practical skills, going from not being able to use a camera to fully shooting and editing together a music video. Areas that I would have changed during this course was maybe because of not being able to shoot a promotional video due to certain circumstances maybe instead testing myself by creating a short film for my film studies unit that I decided to write an essay for instead. I believe this would have helped show off my practical skills however at the time I did not realize I would not be able to shoot a promotional video. One of my strengths throughout this course would be my in-depth planning throughout the promotional video unit, I believe this was my strongest piece of work as I worked towards client requirements effectively trying to target a specific audience through my research into psychographics. The weakest area of my work would be the continuity between footage, I believe this would be my weakest areas throughout my music video and new wave film it is clear what is part of the reshoot and what isn't to improve this I would need to make sure I use the same equipment and cast between different shoots as to make my finished product look better and to hide the different shoots that are obvious in my work. I believe I could have improved on this if I have the opportunity to shoot again such as if I made a short film for my film studies unit or if I got to shoot my promotional video. Overall I am very happy with this unit as it showed my development throughout the year with each piece of work improving on the last, whether that be through planning or production as I feel like my skills have been nonstop improving and will continue to improve through the lessons I learned during this year.

Promotional Video Screenplay

Going over the treatment I created with my client they requested that I create a script for the promotional videos I have planned to help visualize what the final product would look like.

Promotional Video 1 Screenplay

Int. Busy Dining Room - Night

A diner is being eaten around a diner table, there are six people there: GRANDFATHER, UNCLE, MOTHER, FATHER, SON, DAUGHTER. They are laughing and joking around.

Cutting between shots of family members

UNCLE

(Laughing and Joking)

So that was the time I chipped my tooth and heaven forbid I ever do that again

Family laughs in unison

DAUGHTER

(Still Laughing)

Tell us the story mum about how you and dad met

SON

(In Agreement)

Yes, tell us that story!

MOTHER

(Fading Out)

Well, it all started when...

Dinner Table audio fades out until it is completely inaudible.

Overlay of app

Scrolling through app feed

MALE VOICEOVER

(Confidently, VO)

When you Join DNA you can share stories and experiences with loved ones

MALE VOICEOVER (CONT'D)

(VO)

With the easy to navigate feed, you to can share with your loved ones who may be too far away to speak!

MALE VOICEOVER (CONT'D)

(VO)

Completely free and easy to use! start sharing with your family and friends today!

Fade Out

End

Promotional Video 2 Screenplay

Ext. Sunny Back Garden - Day

GRANDFATHER sits at a garden bench

Cuts to children playing

FATHER walks over and sits at the bench

FATHER

(Looking at children) 

Look at them over there enjoying themselves

GRANDFATHER

Not quite like I used to do when I was their age

FATHER

You tell me all these stories but I wish there was some way to share them with everyone

GRANDFATHER

What, like their cousins over the other side of the country?

FATHER

Exactly! It would be amazing to be able to share them with family we don't get to see often, I really feel like it would help connect us as a family.

GRANDFATHER

I would love to hear from our Georgie again and hear what he's been up to, I think its a really good idea!

Cut to children playing

Fade Out

Interface Showing the app on the left with the company logo on the right of the screen.

MALE VOICEOVER

 (Confidently, vo) Signup today and reconnect with your family!

Fade Out

End

Promotional Video Evaluation

Promotional Video Evaluation

Within this unit, I was tasked with planning a series of promotional videos for a company called Fruit Bowl-Tech, they tasked me with targetting a specific audience following the psychographics of the explorers, mainstreamers, and aspirers with the demographics of 24-60year olds at an ABC1 Social standing. The company asked me to incorporate an overarching feel, visual style, and brand identity between the promotional videos. The company wanted to measure these videos' success through app signups, brand interactions, and press/social media buzz. Throughout this unit, I kept track of my progression through a GANNT chart.

Before planning my promotional videos I first had to take a deeper look at how promotional videos are structured to gain the interest of the audience while conveying ideas about the product. To do this I chose 4 promotional videos, I tried to pick videos that I felt I could learn something from, giving me ideas that I could incorporate into my own videos. The first video I chose was an advert for a stock trading company named "Trading 212" this video was published on Youtube Adsense and maybe other online websites to help raise brand awareness, what this video did unlink others that I looked at was using a unique style to capture audiences attention while telling a narrative that would keep the audiences attention throughout the length of the video. Individual ideas that I took from this promotional video were the direct communication between the video and the audience telling them not to skip the video and also the visuals at the end of the video that show the audience what the app looks like while conveying brand identity and interaction through the use of logos and hashtags. The next video that I analyzed was a Birdseye chicken advert, this advert was the shortest of all that I analyzed but was fit for national television coverage. This advert taught me about how adverts repeat specific messages and undermine their competitions, this video did this through not naming any specific company, however still implementing doubt in the audience's mind. This video also incorporated brand identity by showing off the product and its label throughout the video familiarising the audience with it. The third video that I analyzed was a promotional video for Facebook, this was another Youtube Adsense video that incorporated many features I wanted to use for my promotional video such as the overlay of the apps UI,  it was this feature that I wanted to incorporate into my work allowing me to really show off the app that I am advertising while making it more familiar with my audience. The final video that I looked at was the Sun Life Funeral Plan, I chose this video to analyze over others primarily to see how it targets an older audience effectively. This video effectively used star power to grab and hold audiences attention while conveying brand identity all over the screen through the use of their logo and contact number overlaying the video, another element this video uses to draw in an older audience is the imagery between the man and his granddaughter, this was effective through allowing the audience to connect with this man, helping advertise the product, I knew when watching this video this was an element I wanted to incorporate throughout my promotional videos to help influence my audience.

After researching promotional videos I began planning my work. I planned two videos both sharing a similar feel of narrative while I made sure to try and use strong brand identity, thus conforming to my brief set before me. The first video I had planned was to be set around a dinner table showing the family enjoying themselves and sharing stories (the features of the app but in real life), and then around halfway through the video fades to the company logo and then onto an overlay of the app with a voice-over explaining over some of the features this app contains. My inspiration for this video came from the Facebook promotional video that featured heavily an overlay of the app. I wanted to use this style for this video to familiarise audiences to my app while offering a rundown of what the app could do, thus hopefully persuading more to signup and download the app. My plan for video 2 followed a more linear narrative base with a man and his father watching over the children of their family talking about how they wish they could easily share their stories and experiences with them. The video then fades out towards an overlay, showing how the app would look on a phone while the apps logo and hashtag are on the other side of the screen. This video plan follows more ideas that I learned from my research one of them being the emotional connection between the adults and their children, I did this to help connect audiences emotionally to my promotional video, the second feature I learned was the ending overlay I learned this feature from the Trading 212 promotional video and incorporated it as a way to increase brand interaction and identity. Once I had written up the two plans for my promotional videos I moved on to gathering imagery to use in mood boards and storyboards to help my client visualize my plans easier. Other elements I incorporated into my plans were notes on production details, contingency plans, and an equipment list to keep track of what I would need for production. At this time I also researched legal and ethical issues within video development as a way to find out what sort of legal forms I would require throughout production and ways to keep my work ethically sound for all involved. Expanding from this I also researched standard health and safety procedures on a production set to make sure I am keeping everyone who is working safe.

After developing all these ideas I showed them to my client, the feedback I got was very positive however they requested that I added a few features, these features being overall budget management and a script. Going on from this I extended my research I made during my production notes on pricing and grouped it all together, doing this I explored ways to reduce the costs of the promotional video through every aspect such as editing the video my self or buying bundled equipment rather than separately, doing this I hoped to clearly establish ways I am keeping to the brief on its low budget while also breaking down what costs what during video production. From this, I moved on to writing a full script for my promotional videos helping my client visualize the product easier and helping me when moving into the production phase. When writing the scripts I tried to keep to the standard form of a screen play making it clear what are directions and what are the actors' lines.

Overall I am very happy with the work produced within this unit as I believe I have reached the clients' requirements to the best of my ability. Throughout this unit, I have learned about the different conventions that promotional videos contain while expanding my knowledge on pricing and budgeting for a project. Some strengths from my work this unit are my in-depth plans for these videos, I believe this is my strongest part of this unit as I have looked in-depth at the different psychographics that I would need to target. If I was to redo this unit elements I would like to improve on are researching deeper into health and safety and the legal and ethical, I believe this would improve my work through giving me a greater understanding of how to safely work in a practical environment.

Legal and Ethical

Legal and Ethical issues

Contracts

When paid to make create a promotional video for a client, I will need both a signed contract containing the legal expectations and conditions of the job. The client will also take my role more seriously and will know the clear terms and consequences of breaking our agreement, whilst also solidifying my image as a professional videographer. There are different contracts used within this industry, some examples are:

Actor release forms 
An Actor release form is a legal document between the Videographer and the actor and is a form of permission for the actor allowing you to publish their image commercially and for marketing purposes.

Example of an actor release form (Ward, 2015)

License  rights for Videography

A license agreement is between a video's copyright owner, in this case being me, and other users that would like the right to use my product. Licensing allows the legal sharing of this product, this license can be for an exclusive right to use the product, this meaning that another company can't use the video legally. Other uses of the license can consist of: price, limit the video's use and other things, "The agreement can specify a price paid for the license, limit the video’s use in content and duration, and the intended broadcast audience" (Imagen, 2020).

Property release forms

A legal release form signed by the owner of the property which is being used in a photograph or video. This grants the videographer permission to use or publish the video in many forms. This would be especially important within my plans as I would need to use these to help prevent legal action when working in other people's homes.

Copyright

When looking at the copyright laws a videographer would have to follow it comes apparent that any footage shot is the sole property of the one recording within the exception of any legal agreements made such as the license rights mentioned earlier "According to the Copyright Act of 1976, the creator of a work is the owner of the copyright to that work, unless other explicit, written legal arrangements have been made."(Levy, 2011). Typically the work created by a videographer will be owned by the company hiring them but the creator although not typically be able to use clips of their work due to copyright reasons, they can still take credit for creating it.   

Software Licensing

A software license is a document or contract that provides legally binding guidelines for the use and distribution of software. These licenses typically provide users with the right to one or more copies of the software without violating copyright infringement laws. The license will also have terms and conditions and include restrictions imposed on how the software could be used. The terms and conditions of these licenses include clauses about fair use, warranties, disclaimers, and protection of the software. An example of a piece of software that I would need to gather the license for is Premiere pro, I would use this to edit my final piece.

Invasion of Privacy

The law in the UK does not prevent you from taking photographs or videos in public spaces, as long as you are not harassing people, or taking indecent images. Many people get confused about what is public and what is private. Some shopping centers, car parks, parks, and private structures are in fact privately controlled and it is illegal to take images without prior permission. You do not have to get permission from people you video whilst in a public place. However, if you are planning to use the video commercially or use it to promote a product then you need to get the subject to sign an actor release form. Harassment is illegal and is a behavior that causes another person to distress over multiple time periods. For example, stalking someone to get an image or video of them or repeatedly putting a camera in their face, could be construed as harassment. Also, using a telephoto lens in a public place, to see into a private place, i.e. someone’s bedroom, this could also be considered harassment.

Libel

Another legal issue in video production is the defamation of character or harming another’s reputation. Defamation, when printed or broadcast, is called Libel, and defamation, when spoken, is called Slander. When it comes to suing the media, it is your responsibility to prove that: a journalist or media outlet published a false statement or accusation about you, the person accusing you acted deliberately and negligently, the false statement caused you harm. Defamation can come in many forms and often are in images/video and as a videographer, it is my responsibility not to slander someone's reputation.

Ethical Issues

Ethics within video making are the principles that guide how videos are produced and shared. Ethics are subjective and this means that ethics vary from one country to another, the ethics in the UK will be totally different from ethics in Shanghai. Whenever directing/producing a video you must ask how you can respect the dignity of those your subject material is based around. If we are not ethical in our production we would lose the respect of our audiences and clients. Ethical issues that occur within the video production community tends to be typically based around casting issues, with some casting officials and directors turning down actors better fit for the role due to their skin color or other prejudice reasons, although these members of staff have the right to choose the actors they believe fit best, it is their responsibility give each turned down actor a valid reason for their denial to help create clarity and a lack of confusion behind their denial.

For years digitally altered images and misleading shots during a video have been a controversial topic, especially in beauty adverts. Remarks about body expectations in women and children and that digitally enhanced adverts are harmful to average people due to the misleading contributions to consumers. Debates are always sparked about how difficult it is to be healthy in a world full of unnatural, oversexed unhealthy women on televisions. Also, there is controversy over police adding features on photo line-ups to make identifying the suspect harder. This just shows that retouching has become a normal regular practice and can make life harder for people with mental health issues who are subjected to watching these adverts on the television and on social media from stars who enhance their images to appeal to the masses. It is not just people in adverts and social media. It is also product advertising such as food. Many food products are touched up in real life to make them look more appealing. Such as boot polish on burgers to make them look more chargrilled, glue in cereal instead of milk so the cereal does not sink. All of these are ethical issues and are not always upheld within the advertising industry.

Another Ethical Issue that occurs during film making and advertising is the over-sexualization of women, this is an ethical issue that occurs through all stages of production with some females actors missing out on big roles within movies or tv spots due to being passed up for someone better looking, this is a problem within the video creating community as it portrays directors and casting groups in a very negative light while also passing up good actors on roles that would help forward their careers due to their appearance. This is also an ethical issue when it comes to the audience's perspective, in only hiring physically attractive women in roles it portrays women in an over sexual way influencing what the audience believes especially in younger audiences that they need to be attractive.

As a videomaker, it is my responsibility to make sure I don't allow my work to run into these ethical issues and hold my work to a professional standard that does not negatively affect any person or group of people.
 

Reference List

Caleb Ward (2015) Free Talent Release Form for Film and Video Productions [Online]

Available from:

https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/free-talent-release-form-film-video-productions/

Imagen, (2020) Understanding Video Licensing [Online]

Available from:

https://imagen.io/resources/video-licensing/

Mark Levy, Roman Zelichenko (2011) Their Video, Whose Copyright? [Online]

Available from:

https://www.videomaker.com/article/c17/15067-their-video-whose-copyright

Promotional Video Analysis

Promotional Video Analysis

"Free Stock Trading by Trading 212" Trading 212 Advert

This advert is typically seen on youtube or other websites but can be found at "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkbP0hcFhl8". This advert opens up with a mid-shot of a man staring at the camera, speaking in a deep grizzled voice. He begins to address the camera and the audience directly, in this case challenging us to skip the advert, this is a common convention when it comes to adverts seen on youtube or other online sites as the audience is typically given the choice to skip the advert after the first few seconds, in challenging us to skip the advert it grabs the attention of the audience and in my first-hand experience, I know it can sometimes keep someone watching until at least further into the video. After this first brief introduction and people have chosen to stay around post skip button the advert proceeds in its narrative, In this case, showing off a rich man living in his palace of luxury while the narrator (The man we see at the start of the video) is telling us about what sort of character he really is, in doing this he describes a greedy man who likes to steal the audience's money, this description helps portray this man as the antagonist in this simple narrative, putting the members of the audience against him. These shots of the man continue as we see him literally burning his money, this not so subtle implication suggests that he is stupidly rich while appealing to the audience as an element of desire, as the audience wants what he has, during this time the narrator is talking about how all of this is the audience's money, in fact, he is repeating himself to get the message across to the audience that they are losing money to guys like this. The advert cuts back to a close up of the narrator as he is holding a coin, he then proceeds to explain that all this is happening because the audience is paying for things that should be free. In doing this he grabs the attention of the audience again through the keyword "free", in doing this the audience's attention changes from the narrator and all the visuals we have seen so far and instead focuses on what the narrator is saying as money is an important point in nearly everyone's lives and in bringing up a way of saving money most people will be interested. The video cuts back to the narrative of these rich men however instead of being happy and rich they are being rained on by these pennies that the narrator was holding being shown in quite a discomfort, this suggests that these rich and powerful men won't be happy with this idea that the narrator is explaining. This is when the narrator begins to explain what the product he is advertising is, before this, there was no mention of the product what so ever and there is only around 15seconds left of the advert, this is because the company used this time to make sure they grabbed the audiences attention through flashy visuals and a unique narrative, seeing this as the most time-consuming element in their marketing scheme. The narrator explains what the product is with it being revealed that this is an advert for a stock trading app, while this is happening keywords are shown on the screen with them being almost unmissable for the audience to see. These keywords are "ZERO COMMISSION STOCK TRADING". Doing this shows this as being the key point the advertisers want to make when talking about this product, therefore showing off the key elements of the app making it unmissable for the audience. The video then transitions into a red overlay revealing the coin to say "0 Commission" therefore revealing why it was damaging towards these rich men. This is followed up by a brief showing off what the app looks like on a smartphone as the text next to it portrays key information such as the name of the company, repetition of their key marketing point and a hashtag to help build social media buzz around their product. The final thing the video tells you is that it is the UK's no1 trading help, this helps the product through making it seem more trustworthy to someone who has never heard of this product before and therefore may be persuading them to try it out. This video targets an ABC1 and an older age range such as 30+ years of age as this is the range that would have the money spare to invest in stocks unlike a lower age and social standing where their money would be tighter. The psychographic that this video appeals to would be the Aspirers and or the Succeeders. This advert would attract the Aspirers through them being quite materialistic and wanting their social status to increase as they care about how they are perceived, this app would help them with that as the promise to become rich through trading would help them live this materialistic lifestyle while also upping their image and appearance. The Succeeders would be also targetted within this video through their strong goals and work ethic, the app would do this by offering them a way to reach their goals of becoming rich through the hard work that they put in.

Birds Eye Chicken Dippers Advert

This promotional video originally aired on national television taking up a typical 30second ad slot and was seen on most channels in an afternoon slot, this conforms to conventions seen within traditional dinner based adverts, as the advert is shown around dinner time where people are hungry as it tries to attract more attention from the audience, this is typical from food-based adverts as they try to influence audiences when most susceptible, this being when people are hungry. This advert can be seen nowadays on Youtube at "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byu4On7qJ_8". The advert opens up with an establishing shot of a man's kitchen as he goes to open up his freezer, in opening the advert in this way to establishes a brief world for the audience to connect to, as nearly everyone watching would have a kitchen somewhat similar to this, in allowing the audience to see this kitchen it not only creates a brief connection between the audience and the advert but it also sets the mood for the video, with a kitchen suggesting the advert be based around food, therefore in opening the promotional video like this, the audience can connect to the video and have a brief understanding of what its about within the first second and without any dialogue being spoken. The promotional video proceeds cutting to an over the shoulder shot of the freezer, the man then opens the freezer door revealing a plush polar bear laying on his side taking up most of the almost empty freezer. This shot immediately grabs the attention of the audience as this sort of imagery is unique within promotional videos and would not be something in which the audience would see a lot of. Once the audiences attention is grabbed through the interesting visual that is the plush polar bear they can see the freezer is almost empty with the only piece of food left recognizable being the birds-eye product, this element of mise en scene helps the director create an element of brand identity as this would be the same box that audiences would see on the shop shelves. This shot is followed up by the Polar bear speaking to the man in the kitchen, a shot-reverse-shot is used to show the man's reaction to this whole situation, first looking shocked that the polar bear is talking then looking confused at why the bear feels "neglected". In doing this it opens up a brief narrative between these two characters that help hold the interest of the audience as they would want to see where this conversation between the two would be going.  This is followed by the Polar bear speaking about dinner time, with the emphasis being on dinner and what to feed the kids. This shot is proceeded by a close-up shot of the product in the freezer as the Polar bear points to it, repeating "Dippers", this helps get the name of the product in the audience's head making it even more rememberable for the audience and creating an even stronger brand identity. This is the part of the promotional video in which the audience is the man in the kitchen especially when it comes to what the polar bear is saying, this is the case as the polar bear silences the doubt of the man in the kitchen and the audience about having dippers for dinner, he does this through sharing the fact that they are 100% chicken, this is directed towards the audience silencing any doubt about the quality of the product as he also mentions that not every other type of dipper is 100% chicken. This is an important point in this promotional video as not only does the company (speaking as the polar bear) silence any doubt the audience (being portrayed as the man in the kitchen) has about the quality of the product thus portraying it in a positive way but they also portray other dipper products in a negative light through saying not every other dipper is 100% chicken, in doing this they place doubt in the mind of the audience about their competition without naming any brands to avoid legal action. Following this, the conversation between the polar bear and the man (which is a metaphor for the company and the audience)  begins to come to an end when as the freezer door begins to shut the polar bear holds it open, a close-up shot of the polar bears face is used, the polar bear then states "Don't be a stranger", this relates to the audience towards the product as the company is telling them not to be a stranger towards their products such as the advertised dippers. This concludes the basic narrative of the video, however, it does not conclude the promotional video, the shot then cuts to an extreme close up of the chicken dipper, this shot is there to show the product off in a flattering way helping influence them to buy it one last time. While this is happening a voice-over begins restating the fact that these dippers are 100% real chicken, a key point that they want to make during this video. The final shot of the video then occurs revealing their slogan at the same time the voice over says it "We're only content with 100%" followed by their logo, this not only ensures the audience of the quality of the product but also creates another element of brand identity through the slogan and logo of the company. The demographics for this video would be C1C2DE with it being advertised to working-class families who might not have time to cook full proper meals and instead would use a product like Birds Eye as a substitute.

"Facebook, Here Together" Facebook Advert

This advert for Facebook was typically aired on the web, on sites typically like youtube. The video is from 2018 and is no longer airing, however, it can still be found on youtube at "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4zd7X98eOs". The video opens up with an add friend prompt, this is the only thing shown on the screen, taking center stage. In opening the video like this it shows the purpose of the product without having to say a word, in this case making friends. This prompt to add a friend is also the same prompt used in the product, in doing this it creates a feeling of familiarity between the audience and the product being advertised so if someone was to use Facebook because of this advert they would already have an idea of how the site would be laid out, this creates an element of brand identity for the audience to relate to and it makes their product seem more user friendly and easier to use as a new user would already have an idea of the layout because of this promotional video. The video proceeds with a cursor moving over to the add friends button as a soft yet joyful tune begin to play. The choice of song is very important within this promotional video as it begins playing within the first second of the video and is one of the first things the audience would notice, therefore a welcoming tune was used to help draw audiences in and also to convey the product in a positive and welcoming light. Following on from this more of the user interface for the product is revealed, showing the friends section, this style of the promotional video, with showing the product in use, and in this case, its user interface links back to my previous point I mentioned when talking about the "add friends" prompt as it gets the user familiar with the product while creating brand identity, making the product more familiar and noticeable with audiences. This style is continued throughout the promotional video. While the audience is still on the friend's screen and the music has been introduced a voice over then begins playing, the male voice begins talking about friends, while the video flicks through photos of people on Facebook, during this time the voiceover talks about how you get to connect with new people, advertising one of the main features of the product in a friendly and welcoming way. While this voiceover talks about some of the people that they have connected with such as old friends the video cuts, changing its style showing a close up shot of someone's mouth with braces smiling, during this time the voiceover speaks about connecting to people from their middle school. This has been used to change up the video so they are not just scrolling through a feed but instead putting a face to what the voice over is saying, in doing this it helps retain the attention of the audience so they're not just looking at the same feed for the minute-long video even though this shot only lasts a second until it cuts back to the feed, it feeds the audience something new to make sure they are still paying attention. The voice-over continues with the same style previously mentioned until it mentions an ex-girlfriend, the feed then shows how the audience can change their relationship status, again showing off features of the product making the audience more familiar with it. The video repeats this when the voiceover mentions birthdays, showing the audience how they can use the app to wish happy birthday to their friends. The video uses this style of showing what the voiceover says through features in the app, thus making it seem like Facebook can do pretty much everything. The video repeats this style again talking about how he can discover stuff about his family and friends, mentioning his uncle was in a band, by showing off the status feed that allows people to share stuff with each other. Following on from this, the voiceover mentions meeting new people through the product while uttering the phrase "And just like that we felt a little less alone", in saying a phrase like this it helps promote a positive message through this video while linking this app towards this positive feeling, this suggests to the audience that if they use the product they will feel like this, helping reach out to the audience who might feel like they need something like this. After this positive message, the video takes a tonal turn, from here the voiceover brings up problems with the app that have been made public, although this would usually be very stupid of a promotional video to do, this was a very popular topic that everyone knew about at the time of this release and rather than hiding from it, the video takes this time to amend this problem to audience members by talking about their mistakes and how they have fixed them. While the voice-over is saying all this the screen is getting filled with spam until the audience can't see the feed anymore until the voice-over utters "That's going to change", once this is said the screen wipes reverting back to the previous style of video as the voice-over begins to mention how they are changing these mistakes and are going back to how they once were, much like how the style of video has reverted. This is where the voice-over begins to talk about how the product is going to focus on respecting and protecting the privacy of its users. The final stage of the video talks about how great the app was and will be again while showing heartwarming videos on the feed such as a newborn baby, to help switch the tone back and entice audiences again. Once this is done the video cuts to the phrase "Here Together", creating a sense of community between the audience and the product. The final shot of the video is the Facebook logo, showing the brand identity for audiences to see and recognize elsewhere. This video offers up an apology to audiences as well as being a promotional video to help try and win back the trust of audiences that they lost previously in the year. The psychographic audience this video targets are Mainstreamers, as the video tries to appeal to a wide range of people while offering safety and security when it reassures audiences that their privacy is safe.

SunLife Guaranteed Funeral Plan TV Ad: Summer Fete 60seconds

This promotional video originally aired on television in 2019, advertising funeral plans to audiences. The length of the promotional video sits at 60 seconds however a 30second cut of the video was produced for television as well. This was because 60second commercial slots can be very expensive so they would only show the 60-second video a few times, and instead have the 30second promotional video playing the majority of the time. The video can now be found on youtube at the link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41pc7tjKjfo. The video opens up with an establishing shot of a summer fete, this shot creates an element of diegeses, a world for the video to be set in. As the audience is introduced to this event through visuals, people are shown in the shot walking past enjoying the event, this helps create this natural and candid feel to the video as the audience sees these natural things such as real life. As this group of people walks past the video cuts to a close-up shot of a chalkboard previously in the shot, this chalkboard states of a special guest judge, this being Alan Titchmarsh. This element of star power is used to entice audiences and to grab their attention as if they see a celebrity that they like, they will be more likely to stick around for the rest of the video. After around a second the shot cuts to Alan Titchmarsh judging the competition before turning to the camera addressing the audience directly. At this time graphics overlay the corners of the screen with the company logo taking the top right, the product taking the top left (Guaranteed Funeral Plan), and their contact details on the bottom of the screen. These stay there for the rest of the promotional video giving the audience ample time to write down the contact number or to remember the company logo, in doing this it creates an element of brand identity for the audience to relate to, letting them recognize the company in other advertisements or if they decide at another time they might want this product. Going back to Alan Titchmarsh, he turns and speaks to the audience directly, he speaks about flowers using them as a metaphor for life and how it's unpredictable. The shot then cuts to a family at this event, an elderly man and his granddaughter enjoying themselves. The promotional video cuts back to Alan Titchmarsh were he carries on his previous point by adding on that, unlike life this funeral plan can be relied on and is guaranteed. This is used to not so subtly suggest the product to the audience, he elaborates on this in his next point where he begins to talk about all the perks that this product has compared to other funeral plans. While he talks about this the logo in the top right briefly switches to a sticker with 5 stars and 100% payout written on it, in doing this the promotional video looks more official, even though these 5 stars don't necessarily mean anything it still reassures the audience making them trust the product even more. On from this, the video cuts from Alan Titchmarsh back to the elderly man and his granddaughter while Alan Titchmarsh still speaks over the video, the video shows the man and his granddaughter laughing and joking around having a good time, these visuals of family goes with the voiceover as it talks about how this product is the most cost-effective while making sure your family does not have to worry about paying for a funeral. Alan Titchmarsh then finishes his role in the video as he says one final thing about the product, the fact it gives people peace of mind and allows them to carry on enjoying life. As the event comes to an end and Alan Titchmarsh crowns the winner of this competition a different voice over starts playing, this voiceover repeats the contact details for the product while trying to entice audiences one last time offering them a free gift card if they sign up today. the video comes to an end with the voice-over saying "Give your family happy memories, not money worries". As the video comes to an end the contact details move to the left of the screen taking up most of the space and reminding audiences one last time how to contact and also about the free gift card to help tempt them in. Overall this video uses star power to try and reach out to its target audience, with most of the video including this star power using it to talk about how good their product is from a person the audience might look up to. If this doesn't work the company incorporates a last-ditch attempt to get the audience to get the product through offering out gift cards to those who signup. The sole purpose of this product is to persuade audiences to buy this product and if not at least familiarise them with the company through its constant use of brand identity throughout. The demographic audience that this promotional video reaches out towards is BC1 who wouldn't mind putting money aside just in case of a situation like an unexpected death, with the age range being 50+ as the video says it is specifically targeted towards them. The psychographic audiences that this video reaches out to are the Resigned and the Mainstreamers, it reaches out to the Resigned through their respect of traditional ways and seeking survival, in this case, the product does not offer survival to the person buying it but it would help the family survive financially, and it reaches out to the Mainstreamers through offering financial security, this being what they seek.

Reference List

Trading 212, (2018) Free Stock Trading by Trading 212 [Online]

Available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkbP0hcFhl8

Birds Eye (2010)Birds Eye Chicken Dippers Advert [Online]

Available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byu4On7qJ_8

Facebook, (2018) Facebook, Here Together [Online]

Available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4zd7X98eOs

Sunlife, (2019) SunLife Guaranteed Funeral Plan TV Ad: Summer Fete 60seconds [Online]

Available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41pc7tjKjfo

Promotional Video Treatment

Promotional Video Treatment

The information within this treatment will be presented to the client through a PowerPoint presentation.

Psychographic analysis and how they will be incorporated

The psychographic and demographics that the product is targetted for are: Mainstreamers, Explorers and Aspirers as well as 24-60-year-olds and an ABC1 social standing. To target the mainstreamers I will create the video in a focus on telling the audience some of the similarities this product has with other mainstream apps such as Facebook, in doing this it will appeal to the mainstream audience through familiarity with an already popular trend that this group would likely follow, it is said that mainstream audiences seek security when it comes to products so advertising some of the safety and security features this program will have, might help bring in more downloads and signups, which is the overall purpose of these promotional videos. To target the explorers' side of the target audience I will need to market this product in a way that highlights the products ability to help people share stories and experiences with each other, incorporating this into my video will mean I will have to show off the elements of the app that appeals to this audience such as the ability to share stories and experiences. The Aspirers psychographic group will be targeted through these videos as one of the features of the app being the ability to share photos and more, this will appeal towards the aspirers through them being able to show off their materialistic objects and appearance so I will have to show off these features during my promotional video to target this audience. To target this product towards the age range stated in the brief (this being 24-60-year-olds) the emphasis will be on family, with the family-oriented videos I have planned it will show this older audience that this is an app with a focus on family, therefore this appeals to the older audience through personal connection as most of these people in this age range will have a family and therefore be able to personally connect with the narrative in these videos. One key point to make is that to target the younger side of this range such as the late twenty and early thirty-year-olds, some of the target psychographics are based around younger people, giving them more of an interest to join the app as their families might be a lot younger or smaller than some of the older people in this range and therefore might need a little more encouragement to join the app. Finally looking at the target social grouping of ABC1, I will need to market this product towards a more upper working-class/middle-class audience, this won't be too much of an issue as this range is typically family-oriented or at least has a family so therefore when creating the videos like previously mentioned this audience will be able to connect with the family narrative I have planned.

Gantt Chart

Video 1 Plan

Some key aspects of the brief that I need to incorporate into this video are the core messages such as staying in touch is vital, connecting to the past is as important as facing the future and that family is as important as friends. To incorporate these ideas effectively and by following the narrative style that the brief asks of me I will create a story that involves a big family, in this case, all laughing and clearly having a good time, in doing this it will show the audience the positives of family and help incorporate these key ideas by portraying this family life as something good, and something that the audience would personally want. To link with the product the family will be telling each other stories around a dinner table, people of all ages will be telling these stories, from the young to the elderly, as they are telling these stories they are shown laughing and having a good time. While this is happening, the shot will fade out to the products logo, in doing this helping create an element of brand identity for the audience to recognize, followed by a brief view of the overlay as a voice over is telling the audience what the product does, this element of the video will briefly look over the elements of the app, showing the audience what they can do while reaching out to the different psychographics with explanations such as, the similarities to other mainstream products and the security this provides to help mainstreamers connect and want to sign up to the product. To connect to the explorers I will show off how the app can be used to connect to other people by mimicking the narrative I created in the first part of the video in showing the app being used to tell stories. Another psychographic group that I want to be focused on during this video are the Aspirers, to target this group during the explanation period of the video it will show how the user can share images on the app, appealing to their need to show off to others. This focus on family, I hope will attract the interest of the older audience I am trying to grab the attention of. This video as a whole will make audiences think that the app is easy to use, this being because of the brief explanation that the video implements. It will also make them feel like they need to reconnect with the past, they will feel this through watching the narrative of the family telling stories and really enjoying themselves, in seeing this they will feel as if they need this, this will create a goal for them that the app being advertised will be able to fulfill. The desired goal for our audience is to feel sentimental and nostalgic when watching the narrative and in feeling like this they will feel curious about the app and want to try it out for themselves. In doing all this and attempting to reach out to the target audience set out for me in the brief I believe the audiences will be inclined to sign up and download the app and try it themselves.

Edit Decision List

1. Establishing shot of dinner table with the family sitting at it eating dinner.
2. Mid to short shots of each family member talking while eating dinner
3. Cut to a wide shot of the family laughing at what has been said.
4. Fade out to the product logo
5. Shot of the Apps interface while a voiceover explains its features
6. A close up of a hand using the app to share stories
7. Fade out to a long shot of the family enjoying themselves laughing
8. Fade to logo again

Script

For script see Blog post "Promotional Video Analysis Scripts"

Production Details, Costs, and More
This video will be aired using the TV spot stated during the brief on National Geographic and Discovery Channel. The promotional video will be around 30 seconds long, which is on the longer side of advert lengths, however, I thought the length was necessary to be able to reach out to the wide target audience while conveying the right information about the product as to not leave the audience confused or misinformed.


When looking at the production costs for this video I first looked at the price of which small-time or amateur actors usually get paid. "In general though, for a smaller, non-broadcast TV level production, you can expect to pay anywhere around $50-400 an hour for an actor. Or you can also think of it as something like $250 per actor per (8 hour day), in a market which is priced at the lower end of the spectrum."(Winograd, 2018). Going off of this information I would need to hire the actors for a days shoot (due to the short nature of the advert one day should suffice), for this video, I would need 6 actors, Mum, Dad, Grandparents, and Children. Considering that this advert is for a limited TV spot I would have to pay the actors around the higher end of this spectrum at around 400 a day for 6 actors, totaling my actor cost at around £2400. With this out of the way I can look at the other production costs, The next thing to look at is the cost of a set, now due to the homely feel of this video and to help keep the costs as low as possible I would hire out someones dining room for a set price rather than building a set from scratch. This will be cheaper than renting a studio and buying furniture to build a set, while still achieving that homely feel as it is actually someone's house. I would offer someone £600 for use of their dining room for a day. Now that I have the prices for actors and a set I will be looking at the costs of the production period with spare hands operating the Cameras and helping secure health and safety. Looking at this I researched the average rates for cameramen, my research concludes that the hourly rates for these Cameramen vary in locations "the five states that employ the most cameramen are California, New York, Florida, Texas, and Illinois, respectively. The hourly mean wage for these states ranges from $17 to $34 per hour."(Manuel, 2019) Although this research comes from American states I can still base my prices around this average, For this project, I will be hiring 3 Cameramen at an hourly rate of £25 per hour for an 8 hour day, totaling at around £600 for a group of men to help in production. Going on to the second half of the video, this being the voiceover showing off the app and its features, the production costs will be much lower, with the only real costs being the voice actor. When looking at prices for voice actors, I am planning around the lower end of the standard charge for normal actors due to their likeness being used for national television, this being said I will estimate the charges for the voice actor at around £150. To save money I will be editing the promotional video personally, this will help me save money keeping the production low budget while allowing me to keep my directorial vision over this product.

Video 2 Plan 

This promotional video will provide the audience with a brief narrative that helps explain what the app will do within a fun narrative rather than a boring explanation. This promotional video will also follow the average length for promotional videos at around 30seconds, providing me enough time to incorporate all the key messages that the company wants me to include. This promotional video will be developed to be marketed on online platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and youtube AdSense. The promotional video will start out with a Grandfather sitting in his garden on a bench watching over his grandchildren from a distance, the father of the children will then come over and sit with the grandfather, they begin to speak about their children and the future they want for them. In doing this it will appeal to the demographics the company tasked me with appealing towards, the ABC1 24-60 year-olds. It will do this through letting this audience connect with these characters on a personal level as they will most likely be in the same sort of position with their family, wanting what's best for their children and grandchildren while wondering about their futures as this is the age and demographic range common with growing families, this is especially the case within the ABC1 range that the company wants me to target as this is the economic range that typically is more family-oriented due to the lack of concerns or at least reduced concerns over other issues such as money. Following on from this it will cut between shots of the children in the distance and the two adults conversing, showing this strong family bond and the way they feel about the children in front of them helps convey the three key messages that the production company wants, these being: Staying in touch is vital, Connecting to the past is as important as facing the future and family is as important as friends. This will be achieved through this footage as the audience will see the strong bond that this family has in the video and will feel that this is an important element of family life and will want to incorporate these points in their lives in some form. Now that these key messages have been delivered to the audience and that the correct audience has been targeted the adults begin to speak about how they wish there was a way to share their experiences with their children and other long-distance relatives and how in doing this it would provide all these positives towards their life and their children's lives. Doing this will make the app appeal to the audience and hopefully gather more signups and downloads. Once this has carried on and the adults finish subtly describing the features of the app through their wishes the screen will fade out towards a screen showing the logo of the app and its name "DNA", this will create an element of brand identity that can link with the other promotional videos that I will be producing for them. This will be followed up by a brief showing of the user interface and creating a hashtag for people to follow and interact with helping develop an element of brand interaction with the viewer base, this will be like in the Trading 212 promotional video that I analyzed, "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkbP0hcFhl8", as the narrative video ended the user was given information on what the app will look like while creating a way for the audience to interact.

Edit Decision List

1. Establishing shot of bench in a garden with grandad sitting.
2. Mid tracking shot of father joining him at the bench.
3. Mid shot of both sitting at the bench talking.
4. Long shot of children playing in the garden
5. Cut back to mid-shot of father and grandfather talking
6. Shot reverse shot while the conversation continues
7. Fade out to the logo of the product.
8. brief shot of User Interface of the App while a hashtag is present.

Script

For script see Blog post "Promotional Video Analysis Scripts"

Production Details, Costs, and More
This video will be aired using Youtube Adsense at around 30seconds in length, I chose a longer length video to help promote the ideals that the company tasked me with. The longer length allows me to develop a narrative for the audience to relate. I will be looking at the marketing costs for a 30-second advert on youtube, "YouTube ads have an average cost-per-view of $0.010 – $0.030, and the views that you generate will count towards your overall YouTube viewer count. The average cost of reaching 100,000 viewers is around $2,000." (Influencer Marketing, 2020). Knowing this information I can set aside at least £6,000 for marketing, gathering at most 300,000 views helping promote the product effectively.

Planning this promotional video I would be looking at a cast of 4, Two adults and two children, the adults would need to be different in age with one being around 30 and the other being around 60 although ages won't be said during the advert so the appearance of age would be regarded over actual age when looking for who to cast. The two adults would be paid at £400 a day, this is the same rate as the other promotional video I have planned. The two child actors would have to be somewhat similar in appearance as if they were related, I would be looking for a boy and a girl to help appeal to a wider range of parents. When looking at what I should pay the child actors I gathered some research to make sure that I am paying them just as fairly as the adults."The starting rate for a day’s work on a national commercial is $592.20, and with these types of commercials, which are usually union jobs, actors earn residuals every time they air. However, with non-union commercials, the child actor usually earns one flat fee, with no commissions paid each time the ad airs." (Izea, 2019). Going off of this research it states that the average rate for a child actor is around $592.20 which relates to £475.83, going off of this the 2 child actors will be working at a round number of £475 each. This means the overall cost for my actors will be around £1,750. Going on to the next stage of production planning I will be location scouting, looking for a place to shoot this promotional video. Going off of my plan and storyboard I will be looking for a garden-style set where the adult actors can be sitting on a bench. To help me search for these locations I have found a website that allows me to browse properties that allow renting for video shoots, "https://ukfilmlocation.com/". On this website, the price range for renting varies for each property, however, the middle-class property style I would be looking for would be around £500 to £1000 per day, therefore I will set aside at least £1000 in my budget for location shooting, examples of what style I am going for can be seen within my mood board. Going off of my previous research into hiring a production crew I will be hiring 3 Cameramen at an hourly rate of £25 per hour for an 8 hour day, totaling at around £600 for a group of men to help in the production. This leaves me on to my final part of the production, the editing, again I will be covering this myself, in doing this I will save money and help secure the final product follows my vision.

Kit List

• Canon 850D DSLR Camera (£899.99, With 18-55mm Lens)
• 50mm Lens (£99.99)
• 18-55mm Lens (See Camera)
• Tripod (£24.98)
• Gimbal (£26.60)
• Shotgun Mic (£130)
• Deadcat/Windscreen(See Shotgun Mic)
• Shockmount (See Shotgun Mic)
• Boom Pole (See Shotgun Mic)
• Lavalier mic (£13.99, x4)
• Ring Light(£29.00)
• Softboxes (£42.99, Comes with two)
• Reflectors (£17.99)
• Premiere Pro (£20 a month)

Total Equipment Costs = £1347.50

For sources see "Kit List Reference" at the bottom of the page.

My equipment list contains all the key elements of shooting a promotional video from lighting to the sound. My list starts off with a Canon DSLR camera and the lenses I have to hand, allowing me to swap out for each different element of the shoot I might need, with some shots requiring a different lens. for example, a zoom lens won't support both strong levels of details combined with the magnification it gives within the shot. The list then mentions the Tripod and the Gimble, these being key for keeping the camera steady when recording extended shots. Next on the list, I mention the different audio equipment I would require when shooting with the shotgun mic "A shotgun microphone is a highly directional microphone that must be pointed directly at its target sound source for proper recording. Shotgun microphones use unidirectional microphones to achieve this high beam of concentration on the sound source to record the sound" (Learning About Electronics, 2019). This would be required to help gather audio from a select group or location during shooting. To go along with this piece of equipment I have added a Boom Pole to situate the Shotgun Mic easier and a Shockmount to attach the microphone. A different type of microphone I have added to the list is a Lavalier Mic, this will attach to each actor and help record their voices, "These mics capture incredible audio when conducting an interview for television, documentary film, or industrial video. Lavs come in a wired version and a wireless version, with both versions being small enough to hide beneath the collar of a shirt or on the underside of a jacket." (Paul, 2015). To top off the audio section of this list I am including a Deadcat, this will muffle sounds such as wind and help produce higher quality audio. Moving on, my list includes different lighting equipment, first of all being a ring light, this will be used to highlight the actor's faces when the camera is on them, with other sources of lighting such as the softboxes providing lighting for the shot. I have added Reflectors to the list of equipment to help take advantage of some natural lighting during my outside shoots. Finally, on my list, I have my editing software, Premiere Pro, this being my editing software of choice for this project.

Budget Management

When going through the brief with my client they requested a further in-depth breakdown of costs and how my plans will conform to the budget and requirements set before me. When first looking at production costs I will plan my budget within 3 stages, Pre-Production, Production and Post Production.

Looking first at the pre-production costs I will take into account the equipment costs, the location, and the prop costs. I will be using the same equipment for each video, lowering costs while making sure I have everything I need for both productions under this one list as to not miss out on vital equipment. Scroll up to see the full equipment list I will be using for both productions. The total costs for my equipment list would be £1,327.50 (Excluding the editing software costs). When researching the prices for each piece of equipment, I had in mind that I would need to search for the best deals possible as to keep to the low budget set to me by the production company, in doing this I found multiple bundles that included pieces of equipment already on my list such as the Camera coming with the 18-55mm Lens, and the Shotgun mic coming with the boom pole and other microphone accessories needed for production. This was just one of the ways I tried to conform to the low budget set before me. When it comes to Location costs I briefly mentioned in my previous notes on production details that the website named "https://ukfilmlocation.com/" would be my best option for safely finding a set location for filming. I could use this site for both productions to help find the ideal shooting location, however, it will also allow me to easily communicate with the owner of the property allowing clear rules to be established when it comes to using someone else's property, thus saving me money in the long run through helping to avoid any legal trouble between me and the property owner. In my previous research, I found that renting a property like the one I had in mind would cost around  £500 to £1000 per day, therefore I will set aside £2500 in my budget for location shooting, thus giving me enough for two locations with a little excess as a contingency in case prices go over. Now going onto the Mis-en-Scene, for this, I will assign a budget of around £200, this will cover props such as cutlery at the dinner table and maybe outdoor equipment for the second shoot. In order to keep this section of the budget low, I will ask my actors to use their own clothing, this will keep production costs down while still creating a real feel for this shoot, as the outfits would be that of real-life people. This Mise-en-Scene budget will also cover some clothing for the actors in case their own clothing does not match my needs, however, this will not be for every actor and if shopping for clothes I will look for as cheap as possible. Taking all this into account my pre-production budget for both of these shoots will be at a rounded-up figure of £4,027.50.

Moving onto the second section of my budget management, the Production period, this section of the budget will cover the acting and production team costs. When looking at the costs of actors I went back to my previous research which stated that adult actors would go off of a rate between $50-$400 a day, "In general though, for a smaller, non-broadcast TV level production, you can expect to pay anywhere around $50-400 an hour for an actor. Or you can also think of it as something like $250 per actor per (8 hour day), in a market which is priced at the lower end of the spectrum."(Winograd, 2018). So therefore if the shooting schedule goes to plan and we only have a one day shoot for each promotional video then each actor would be paid £400 a day for 6 actors, totaling my actor cost at around £2400 for shoot 1, however, in shoot 2 child actors would be needed, to make sure that I am paying these child actors fairly I researched what the average rates would be. ."The starting rate for a day’s work on a national commercial is $592.20, and with these types of commercials, which are usually union jobs, actors earn residuals every time they air. However, with non-union commercials, the child actor usually earns one flat fee, with no commissions paid each time the ad airs." (Izea, 2019). Going off of this research it states that the average rate for a child actor is around $592.20 which relates to £475.83, going off of this the 2 child actors will be working at a round number of £475 each. Going off of my previous rates for adult actors I would have two workings at a day rate of £400. This means the overall cost for my actors will be around £1,750 for shoot 2, thus bringing my overall costs for actors at £4,150 (£2,400 for shoot 1 and £1,750 for shoot 2). Moving on to the next stage of production costs, this being the production crew, I already researched into what this would cost me, looking at this research, the average rates for cameramen vary in locations "the five states that employ the most cameramen are California, New York, Florida, Texas, and Illinois, respectively. The hourly mean wage for these states ranges from $17 to $34 per hour."(Manuel, 2019) Although this research comes from American states I can still base my prices around this average, For this project, I will be hiring 3 Cameramen at an hourly rate of £25 per hour for an 8 hour day, totaling at around £600 for a group of men to help in production, if all goes to plan there will only be 2 production days, one for each video, thus totaling my production crew costs to around £1,200. With all this research the overall budget for the production period will settle at around £5,350. In this stage in budgeting, it is important that although I still keep to a low budget I make sure that all my staff (Including the children) get paid fairly to avoid any legal troubles or ethical issues one might run into if this budgeting is not handled with care.

This brings me on to the final stage of my budget, Post-production, this stage will include the editing and publishing costs of these promotional videos. Starting off my chosen editing software for these promotional videos is Adobe Premiere Pro, this is the editing software I am most familiar with, while still being low budget, this software costs  £20 per month, The editing process will last nowhere near a month if everything goes to plan, making this one of the cheapest aspects of production. Now that the editing software has been covered I will need to look into hiring an editor to help put the video together, "The average wage for a film and video editor in the United States is around $28.97 per hour."(Sokanu, 2020). Once discovering this wage and calculating that one editor would need around £231 per day of editing, and also being unsure of how long the editing process would take, to save I money I have opted to edit the promotional videos myself, thus keeping to the low budget while ensuring I provide the company with a quality that I am sure of. Now moving on to publishing these promotional videos to be seen I will have to calculate the average cost for my TV spot advert while also going back over my previous research on the costs to advertise on youtube. Video 1 would be published on national television using a standard 30second tv spot, "Businesses pay $5 to $34 per 1,000 viewers for a local TV ad and an average of $115,000 for national 30-second ad airings."(Rudder, 2019), Going off of this research and converting it to GBP I am looking at a cost of around £93,426, at this time it is unclear whether the TV spot that I was told about by the company is prepaid or would come out of the budget. Moving on to Video 2, this will be aired on youtube, "YouTube ads have an average cost-per-view of $0.010 – $0.030, and the views that you generate will count towards your overall YouTube viewer count. The average cost of reaching 100,000 viewers is around $2,000." (Influencer Marketing, 2020). Knowing this information I can set aside at least £6,000 for marketing, gathering at most 300,000 views helping promote the product effectively. This puts my post-production budget at £99,446, including the costs of the TV spot, which at the time I do not know if is prepaid by the production company.

Looking back at these costs I have totaled them to £108,823.50 (£15,397.50 without the TV spot).

Contingency Plan

When planning these promotional videos I have to take into account that not everything may go to plan and sometimes something may come up as to hinder production. To describe how I will plan for events like this I will provide multiple examples. An example of a minor problem that I could encounter during production would be it raining on an outdoor shoot day, to overcome this problem I would plan this shoot day around the weekly weather forecast, choosing the day that has the lowest chance of precipitation while leaving plenty of time in my schedule for reshoots or to completely push back a production day in the case of it was raining all-day. If given no other option and I had to I would have to rethink some elements of my shoot, for example, in my second promotional video which is set nearly entirely outdoors, I would have to move it indoors with my characters sitting on a sofa rather than the bench I had originally planned. An example of another issue that could occur during production is an actor no showing a production day, this could be quite tedious as not only will I be one actor short on the day of the shooting but it will delay my production entirely. To counteract this I will need to have at least one more actor on standby, maybe not on the set as then I would have to pay them however have them know they are a backup option and to keep their schedule clear in case a situation like this occurs. Another example of a problem that could occur during production is a faulty piece of equipment, this could be a problem as a camera that doesn't work or a microphone playing up would completely stop production, to counteract this I would have to gather spare equipment such s microphones, however, with the more expensive equipment this may be more troublesome but this could be avoided through checking of the equipment before production days start so that the I have plenty of time to see if there are any issues and correct them.

Reference List

Winograd, Adam (2018) How much does it cost to hire an actor? [Online]
Available from:
https://www.veed.me/how-much-does-it-cost-to-hire-an-actor/

Manuel, Nicole (2019)The Salary for a Freelance Cameraman [Online]

Available from:

https://work.chron.com/salary-freelance-cameraman-4658.html

Izea (2019) Child Actors: How much do they make? [Online]

Available from:

https://izea.com/2019/02/25/child-actors/

https://ukfilmlocation.com/

Influencer Marketing (2020) How much do Youtube Ads cost [Online]
Available from:
https://influencermarketinghub.com/how-much-do-youtube-ads-cost/


Learning About Electronics (2019) What is a shotgun Microphone? [Online]
Available from:
http://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/Articles/What-is-a-shotgun-microphone

Johnathon Paul (2015) How to pick the best video production mic? [Online]
Available from:
https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/how-to-pick-the-best-video-production-mic/

Sokanu (2020)Film and Video Editor Salary [Online]
Available from:
https://www.careerexplorer.com/careers/film-and-video-editor/salary/

Alana Rudder (2019) Local & National TV Advertising Costs & How to Advertise 2019 [Online]
Available from:
https://fitsmallbusiness.com/tv-advertising/

Kit List Reference

Canon 850D DSLR Camera (https://store.canon.co.uk/canon-eos-850d-ef-s-18-55mm-f-4-5-6-is-stm-lens/3925C015/)

50mm Lens (https://store.canon.co.uk/canon-ef-50mm-f-1-8-stm-lens/0570C005/)

18-55mm Lens (See Camera)

Tripod (https://business.currys.co.uk/buy-rent/N151007W?cidp=Froogle&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-r71BRDuARIsAB7i_QPCIDJkgm8HdIMcj-hEy9MZPXAVC2f25_wNnchw0RfDAbLt2a85eJ0aAlFuEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds)

Gimbal (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fantaseal%C2%AE-Smartphone-Stabilizer-Compatible-Panasonics/dp/B01EJ25MKM?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1)

Shotgun Mic (https://www.thomann.de/gb/rode_videomic_bundle.htm?sid=3fc5ed0cd66072328e227c1e937d0aab)

Deadcat/Windscreen(See Shotgun Mic)

Shockmount (See Shotgun Mic)

Boom Pole (See Shotgun Mic)

Lavalier mic (https://www.maplin.co.uk/prosound-mono-tie-clip-microphone-3-5mm-to-0-25-inch-4m-electret-power-adapter-5026686006308?utm_source=2266&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=OTHER&ff=4&fp=22344)

Ring Light(https://www.urbanoutfitters.com/en-gb/shop/fotodiox-studio-light-stand?inventoryCountry=GB&currency=GBP&color=001&size=ONE%20SIZE&utm_campaign=Shopping&utm_term=Generics&utm_content=Cj0KCQjw-r71BRDuARIsAB7i_QOJUxU0MiiZZiNSCbcoaDzqFNVcF--pMJ2x2PLhJGehMxsKQGS-MoQaAjl4EALw_wcB&_cclid=Google_Cj0KCQjw-r71BRDuARIsAB7i_QOJUxU0MiiZZiNSCbcoaDzqFNVcF--pMJ2x2PLhJGehMxsKQGS-MoQaAjl4EALw_wcB&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-r71BRDuARIsAB7i_QOJUxU0MiiZZiNSCbcoaDzqFNVcF--pMJ2x2PLhJGehMxsKQGS-MoQaAjl4EALw_wcB&type=REGULAR&quantity=1)

Softboxes (,https://oypla.com/sports-leisure/arts-crafts-hobbies/150w-studio-continuous-softbox-lighting-kitadjustable-stand?gclid=Cj0KCQjw-r71BRDuARIsAB7i_QMUiFzp11XV8WTNtV0BqQun8AP2Xy_po_6iEq-c0PH1IQUZiTLg-aAaAlm6EALw_wcB)

Reflectors (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neewer-110cm-Reflector-Collapsible-Multi-Disc/dp/B002ZIMEMW/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?ie=UTF8&aaxitk=X3Hr4FoxHY7LfhM3I9czsw&hsa_cr_id=5045525060202&ref_=sb_s_sparkle)

Premiere Pro (https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/plans.html?filter=video-audio&plan=individual)