After completing the promotional video I felt that the criteria was met to the standard that was expected by my client. This was achieved my initially mapping out the structure of the video as well as planning precisely when and where I was going to shoot the promotional video material. Due to the fact that I had close personal ties to the company for whom I created the video, it made the process much less formal and therefore simpler to conduct. This also meant I did not have to conduct as much research for this particular project as I was able to discuss potential ideas with the client fairly casually. I have a reasonable knowledge on past plays and understand my clients working methods when it comes to rehearsing and putting on shows which helped me plan the filming elements around their busy schedule as they tend to work on multiple productions simultaneously.
In terms of the background music I wanted to use something that would come across as uplifting and inspiring to the audience. As the company would potentially benefit financially from the promo video, I was legally obliged to include a royalty free soundtrack. I searched royalty free music websites until I found the song who I thought would match both the structure and and the ascetic of the promo video.
The structure of the promotional video changed through time however. My initial draft presented a completely different layout to the existing final draft. For purpose of safety I filmed excess footage that I didn't particularly need which meant I had extra footage to browse through to find the clips that I definitely wanted to include. However the chosen footage was excessive and was in need of cutting down. I included a lot of footage of the rehearsal process which was unnecessary and didn't say much to the audience. It was after I cut this down I realised this structure was in less danger of being dragged out or boring.
In retrospect I should have planned roughly how long the promo video would be. This would make the whole editing process much more simpler as the footage would be much more easier to assemble.
During the editing process I also realised that the setting for the video was all too similar. Every shot took place in the rehearsal space that is used by the company which can be seen as very uninteresting.
Therefore I contacted my client and requested for any stock footage that he may have available.
He was able to give me footage of past shows which I could incorporate into my video when the actors refer to the plays during the interviews. This helps to change up the setting of the video as well as presenting to the audience the finish product of the the companies' efforts.
Amongst the stock footage that was provided to me, was a still shot of the cast and crew assembling a set for one of their past shows. I was able to utilise this footage and create a time lapse shot of the set being constructed.
The majority of the promotional video's structure is made up of the interviews featuring my client as well as a select few actors who appeared in past productions and whom are also appearing in future productions as-well. I told the story of the the company through the interviewee's answers, from the foundation of the company to future productions. This was done by planning in advance what questions I was going to ask so that I would get a specific outcome. The questions that were asked ensured that the audience would receive the required information regarding the company such as what they do as a company, what play they're working on currently, what plays they're putting on in the future, as well as simply getting to know the people involved and how they contribute.
I created short montages of rehearsal footage to break up the interviews into sections so that it would appear less drawn out from the perspective of the audience. This footage also on occasion distracts away from the interview whilst the interviewee is speaking. This is done to reflect what the interviewee is saying which visually assists the audience in understanding what they're saying.
I was keen to include footage of current plays that were being performed that was shot by myself as opposed to using stock footage which consists of a single shot on a tripod throughout. However the performance of the play was far beyond the deadline for the promotional video and therefore I was unable to do so. This would have given the video a much more diverse feel and added more ascetic interest for the audience. If I planned further ahead I may have been able to shoot plays that were being performed before I planned out the video. The footage I would have obtained would have proven useful to have.
There were not a lot of obstacles that I faced during the production of the video. However the main obstacle I faced was organising when to shoot the rehearsal footage. As these rehearsals were extremely valuable and the show day was drawing ever closer, It was important not to distract the actors by filming up close and personal and getting in the way of the rehearsal space. My client would have been very unappreciative if I were to hold up the process just to get the shots I want off of my shot list. Therefore before shooting I arrived early and planned out where I was going to shoot from. I also brought along additional lenses which were capable of shooting at a greater distance so that it seems that I'm shooting from close up where in reality I was well out the way of the rehearsal space. By doing this, it meant that I achieved the shots I wanted whilst remaining un-distracting from the actors as well as my client.
When editing my video I found that the levels of audio tended to peak, especially during the rehearsal footage which contained a lot of raised voices and emotion when portraying a scene. Therefore I had to lower the levels during those particular scenes so that the audio would not come across as too harsh or overwhelming. On the other hand, during the interview scenes, the levels were a little to low, to the point where the music overwhelmed the speech which made the words very difficult to make out. This meant i had to lower the levels of the music and raise the levels of the interview audio in order to ensure that the audience can understand clearly what is being said. Having the music to edit to from the beginning of the editing process made it much easier to structure. I decided to cut most of the cuts to the rhythm of the music in order to make the video flow better as well as making it appear more ascetically pleasing. I also created certain folders for different sections of footage so that I can select footage at ease whilst editing.
