VIDEO & SOUND PRODUCTION | PROJECT 1

31/08/18 - 08/11/19 | Week 1 - Week 12
Yeoh Xiao Shi (0331577)
Video & Sound Production
Project 1

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LECTURE

Lecture 1 : No Lecture (Public Holiday)
31/08/18 (Week 1)

There was no class in the first week due to Public Holiday.


Lecture 2 : Introduction to the Module & Type of Shots
07/09/18 (Week 2)

In the first class, we were given a brief on the module outline as well as the project that we will be doing in the upcoming weeks.We also got to try with some basic video editing on Adobe Premiere Pro to be familiar with the software. Then, we were given a lecture on cinematography which basically about the motion picture and film making. From the lecture, we got to learn about the camera angle as well as different types of shots used in filming like medium wide shot, medium shot, medium close up, over the shoulder, close up shot and extreme close up shot.

Embedded PDF of Week 2 lecture slides.

Lecture 3 : Storytelling in Film 
14/09/18 (Week 3)

This week, we got to learn and understand about the 3 act structure which refers to the parts into which a plot of a short story, a novel, a play, a screenplay, or a narrative poem can be divided.

3 Act Structure 
ACT I : Beginning - Setup / introduction of a story
ACT II : Middle - Confrontation of a problem in the story
ACT III : End - Resolution of problems

Embedded PDF of Week 3 lecture slides.

Lecture 4 : Film Production
21/09/18 (Week 4)

In this week class, Mr Martin gave us a lecture about the film production as we will need to shoot some of the parts from the short video given next week. From the lecture, we got to know that film production is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing and screening the finished outcome before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program.

Basically, the filmmaking process takes place in the three phases which is pre-production, production and post-production. The pre-production phase is where all the preparations are made for the shoot like hiring the cast and film crew, selecting the locations, how the sets are built. Next, the production phase is the raw elements for the finished film are recorded. Lastly, the post production phase which is when the film is edited and the sound is concurrently edited.

Embedded PDF of Week 4 lecture slides.

Lecture 5 : No Lecture
26/09/18 (Week 5)

There is no any lecture this week but we were having a shooting class.


Lecture 6 : The Fundamentals of sound
05/10/18 (Week 6)

This week, Mr Razif gave us a lecture on the fundamentals of sound. Here are some of the notes I wrote down from the lecture.

Nature of sound : - sound is actually a vibration if air molecules that stimulates our eardrums.
                             - production : sound source
                             - prorogation : the wave the sound travel
                             - perception : pitch, volume, loudness

Wavelength : - affects the pitch of the sound
                      - the shorter the wavelength, the louder the sound

Amplitude : important for balancing and controlling the loudness of the sound

Frequency (Hz) : - the speed of the vibration
                            - more frequency in one second, higher pitch

Perceived duration : how do you tell whether the speech is fast or slow

Envelope : - the main kind of the sound
                  - represents varying level of sound wave over the time

Spatialisation : - representative of sound in space
                           - example : - person is near to the camera, sound loud
                                              - person is far from the camera, sound soft                        


Lecture 10 : Lightning & Mise En Scene
02/10/18 (Week 10)

In this week class, we were given a lecture about lightning and mis en scene which included all the aspects that we would need to know for our upcoming shoot. Other than that, we were also taught on storyboarding and shot list to map out the scene. This process is said to be important as it would help us to understand the overall shot compositing, camera angle and movement better when filming. In the class, we were also told to start doing the storyboard and shot list.

Embedded PDF of Week 10 lecture slides.

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INSTRUCTIONS

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PROJECT 1

Week 2 (07/09/18)
This week, Mr Martin gave us a brief on our first project which we will need to come out with a  proposal which consist of story outline, main character's introduction storyboard and some visual references. The story we think will be developed into a viable storyboard for final project. As for this week, we were told to start doing some researches and looking for the issues that we wanted others to be aware.

• On the internet, somethings are not what they seem
• What goes around comes around
• Friendship

Week 3 (14/09/18)
This week, Mr Martin continue to check our progress on the project and give some feedbacks.

Idea - What goes around comes around (Karma)

• everything that we say or we do determined what's going to happen on us in the future.
• whether we act honestly, dishonestly, help or hurt others, it all gets recorded and manifests as a karmic reaction wither in this life or a future life. All karmic records are carried with the soul into the next life and body

Idea of the story

• A boy was treated badly by the people around without a reason.
• He feels hurt and could not understand why this happen to him as he did nothing wrong.
• No one lend him a hand or stand by him although he is a victim.
• Flash back to his past life.
• In his past life, he is the one who always treats people poorly and didn't respect everyone even the elderly. 

Idea - Friendship

• Nowadays , it is not easy to find a true friends especially when entering the workforce.
• People come and go in your life, only a few will stay and even less will want you to.
• It is important for you to appreciate the friendship before you lost it.

Idea of the story 

• There are two girls, "A" &"B" who are best friend 
• They will always stick together no matter where they go.
• They study at the same school since primary school to high school.
• However, they are going to separate soon as they entering the different university.
• At first, they still meet up as usual but after having their own circle of friends at their university, their contact become less day by day and they started to be sick of each other.
• They friendship is fading and they didn't contact each other anymore.
• One day, "A" facing a problem but none of her friends help her and the situation remind her of B who always by her side in the tough time.

Week 4 (21/09/18)

Development idea of the story 2 - Friendship

• There are two girls meet accidentally when walking at the shopping centre. 
• Both of them looking each other strangely and didn't say anything.
• Old memories came into their mind.
• "A" &"B" are from different class of family and they known each other since primary school.
• They really close and always depending on each other.
• Until the day they entering the university, everything has changed.
• They are going to separate as "A" is going to the first class university which "B" could not afford. 
• At first, they still keep in touch and contact each other. Day by day, they start to have their own circle of friends and their contact become less and less. They even started to be sick of each other.
• At last, their friendship becomes fade and they didn't contact each other anymore.
• One day, "A" is facing a problem but none of her friends want to help her and this situation have remind her of B who will always stay by her side whenever she needs.
• End with the text of "cherish everything you have, don't regret when you lost it"

Week 5 (28/10/18)
There was no class this week as we had a shooting practise. Hence, I continue to breakdown the story with 3 act structures.

STORYLINE 

The story is about two best friends who from different class of family. Their relationship is very close and they always depending on each other since primary school. However, everything has changed when both of them entering different university. Their friendship started to fade day by day as they having their own circle of friends. One day, one of them facing a problem but none of her friends want to help her and this got to remind her that there is one person who always with her whenever she needs.

ACT I : Two girls meet at the shopping centre.
PLOT POINT I : They look at each other strangely and didn't say anything.
ACT II : Memories of the girls during their primary and secondary school time.
PLOT POINT II : They graduated from their secondary school.
CLIMAX : Both of them entering different university. Contact each other until one day their friendship becomes fade and didn't contact anymore.
ACT III : One of them facing a problem but non of her friend help and reminds her there is a person who always with her whenever she needs before this.


Week 6  (05/10/18)
In this week class, Mr Martin introduced us the "FastJobs" app and asked us to look more for the company's information as we will meet the client in the upcoming weeks.

Fig.1.1: FastJobs logo.

Basically, FastJobs is an app developed by the Digital Division of Singapore Press Holdings Limited (SPH) for the job seeker to get the job fast and in an easy way. Through the apps, the users got to find their ideal job through the features like discover tab, location filter, job functions and more. Also, the job seekers only need to sign up, select and apply the job they interest in with a few finger taps.


Week 9 (24/10/18) 
In the previous week, we were introduced to our clients which is FastJobs and we got to understand the requirements and their expectations from our video. As for this week, Mr Martin started to group all of us into 8 teams. We were required to come up with a video proposal and the selected story will serve as the main theme. I have teamed up with Thooba and Ron for this project and we were told to use Thooba's idea for further development.

Here is the storyline of Thooba's idea below.

STORYLINE

The story is about a man who is suffering with mental health (depression) illness. The video shows how the person is struggling to complete day to day tasks to get through the day. It starts off when the main character’s alarm beeps - attached note that says “breath” - (shot in a bedroom, he wakes up to the sound of the alarm and turns to the alarm). And then in the next scene it shows a car windshield, newspaper headline “thoughts in your head” – (Shows him getting into his car in work attire to go to work and he finds a newspaper with “alarming headline” to him, meaning something to make him feel more uncomfortable).

Starts working day, turns on laptop > pop up error screens “unstable” – (he gets to his office, and starts working but the computer gives him error message, making him feeling more frustrated). Phone notes, types on his note-pad “what do people think? Am I okay?” – (because things have not been going smoothly he likes to write notes to himself to make him more at ease and clam). Paper tray on his office desk, one labelled as thoughts other as out. the one labelled as thoughts has paper piled up and out tray is empty. (office tray on the table). Calendar days crossed out (shows him crossing out days in the calendar). Multiple things that bothers him happens - Clock ticking, People whispers, Notebook full of the word think think think, what to do, Road, cars drive by scene. Calendar days crossed out (these show how it makes him irritated and uncomfortable because of things happing in his surrounding). Entering a building (he goes to a medical clinic to sleek help- shot at a clinic environment). Medical questionnaire form, questions like: “how do you feel?’ “how did you sleep?’’ (nurse hands him a form to fill, he tries to answer it but the questions make him confused and uncomfortable).

Again back at the office he crosses days out on the calendar, “Shitty day” shows the person writing on it. Next he writes in his notebook “thoughts” “thoughts”. Flips page and writes down “okay that's it, it’s done”. He writes his resignation email and sends it to the company HR of where is currently work at. Closes the laptop, walks out of the office building with his belongings and then he gets in his car and drives away to a place with a tropical scenery, away from the hectic city life. While he is sitting at the beach enjoying the fresh air, his phone which is beside him beeps. It shows he has a notification which says he has an interview set for the next day.

Log of fast jobs appears with a catchy slogan. (Ending)

After going through Thooba's storyline, me and Ron got to have a basic understanding on her story. So, we move on to assist her in updating the proposal slides for upcoming presentation. 

Week 9 (26/10/18) 

In the same week, we were told to give a presentation to two of the directors as to get some feedbacks from them before meeting the clients. We got the feedback that the story was too long and boring. Also, there was no any connection between the story and FastJobs. Hence, we have to make some changes to the idea as well as the slides.

Here is the first proposal for our presentation below.

Embedded PDF of my group first proposal for presentation.

Week 10 (01/11/18)
This week, we were required to present our updated storyline to the clients. Initially, Thooba's story was selected for further development so me and Ron will need to assist her with the proposal slides. However, the story was rejected during the first presentation as the story is too long and boring for the audience to understand. Thus, we have to come up with a new storyline and give the presentation.

As for the new storyline, it has a similar theme with the previous one but a new storyline. The feedback we received was that the idea for the storyline was good but there is one part of the story is said to be too dramatic and we would need to make minor changes for that. 

Here is my group initial proposal with new storyline.

Embedded PDF of my group initial proposal.

Week 10 (02/11/18)
From yesterday presentation, the client commented that the idea for my group storyline was good but there is one of the part we need to make changes where he decided to sell all his assets and moves away from the busy city life. While in today class, we were told to to update the slides with latest storyline, short list, storyboard, locations selected, cast and crew list as well as the props needed.

Hence, I move on to create the short list with updated storyline so that we can proceed to make the storyboard and start planning for the location, cast and props. Here is the initial shot list for the story below.

Fig.2.1: Shot list for the story.

Week 11 (08/11/18)

This week is an e-learning week so we need to work remotely from home. Meanwhile, there is another 2 members, Farzana & Brian joining our group as we need more people to work on this project. They did help us a lot in updating the slides for the proposal as well as sharing their ideas to improve the story. Here is our updated slides below.

Embedded PDF of my group updated proposal.

Week 12 (08/11/18)
For this week, we got to have a short consultation with Mr Martin. We were told to make changes for the main character's dream job from working as a cook to something else as there is another group having the same concept. After discussion, we decided to change the dream job of the main character to a barista that working in a cafe. Then, we proceed to update the proposal with the latest storyline and here is the final proposal approved by our lecturer and client below.

Embedded PDF of my group final proposal.

The final proposal that has been finalised and approved were then used for our final project which we required to film a video for FastJobs. To view the whole filming process, click here.