Rewrite #2

  This week, for our video task, we were asked to watch four videos on the production process. 


  1. Creative Thinking

The first video we watched explained what design thinking was and how we can use it. AJ&Smart described design thinking as using a philosophy and tools to help solve a creative problem. 

  • The first stage, empathise, involves interviewing people, researching your demographic and finding out who you’re designing for and what they want out of your product. 

  • Step two, define, involves taking the information gathered in the first step and finding out what your audience needs and what insights you can use to develop your product. 

  • The third step, ideate, means you take the issues you found in the first two stages and you find solutions.It’s essentially a brainstorm or workshop of all your ideas. 

  • Step four, prototype, involves taking the ideas you like and making simple prototypes of those ideas, versions of what you hope your finished project to be without putting too much time or money into creating them.

  • Step five, test, is exactly what it sounds like. You take your prototype and you test it out with users. Cycling back through the process is normal and expected in order to perfect your product. Design thinking is meant to be loose and creative, it doesn’t follow an exact order.


  1. The production process


The second video we watched explained the three stages of film production. The first stage, pre-production, involves writing your film, casting actors and hiring crew, scouting locations and obtaining props, costumes and equipment. An important part of pre-production is coming up with a budget and planning out your production schedule day by day. Production, or principal photography, is the shooting phase of a film. It’s the most expensive process since there’s so many people needed on set. It’s also seen as a “point of no return” since it’s nearly impossible to make back the money already spent. The ending of production is often called a “wrap.” Post production involves editing, colour grading and the addition of visual effects and sound effects. It’s the longest part of production and can take months, if not years. I was already quite familiar with the production process before this, however I was glad to get a refresher.


  1. The production process in detail


The third video we watched went into more detail about how we might handle these production stages. For pre-production, we should think about our audience, consider working with a client if possible, have a clear outline of what will happen in the video, write a script and secure a location, crew and props if needed. For post production, you’ll edit together your footage, make any cuts if needed, record any narration, colour correct and add sound effects and music, all while communicating with your client to make sure everyones happy with how the video is turning out. I found this video really insightful to the production process on a smaller, more personal level.


  1. Documentary filmmaking 


In the fourth video, we’re told that there’s four essential elements to a documentary. The first element is the interview, otherwise known as a talking head or sound-on-tape (SOT) This footage will help to give context to your film, and the soundbyte from your interview can be used over different shots to make the video more interesting. The second element is voiceover. It can help link parts of your video together, but you should be using your footage or interviews more. The third element is B-roll, these are ambient shots that you can use over audio from interviews, rather than showing the same talking head. It’s stressed to us that B-roll can really help with cuts during interviews so that the audience doesn’t notice the editing. The fourth element, natural sound breaks, help the audience to feel immersed and can bring more life to your film. This video really helped to understand the little tricks and techniques used in documentary making.


I found these videos really helpful with understanding the filmmaking process more, and I learned some great tips when it comes time to edit my project!


 

Image by Bokskapet from Pixabay




Reference list:

First video: “What Is Design Thinking? An Overview” by AJ&Smart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHGN6hs2gZY

Second video: “Film Production Stages - Five Minute Film School” by FiveMinuteFilmSchool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5EoMcoUI2Q

Third video: “The Process of Making a Documentary: Pre to Post Production” by Science Filmmaking Tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hPFlGiAwEM

Fourth video: “4 Easy Steps to Film a Short Documentary” by Indy Mogul: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-K_XbCLtVk

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