FMP 3.5 Problem Solving
- 2. Practical Problems I will most likely encounter a number of practical issues within this project that will have to be sorted out prior to shooting during the production stage. These problems include but aren’t limited to: • Getting crew • Acquiring cast • Booking equipment • Shooting with the C100 in C-Log • Travelling/transporting cast & crew • Shooting on location • Colour grading/advanced editing within Premiere Pro • Sound design/ADR • Storage & power of tech
- 3. Practical Problems: Cast & Crew Crew It’s often hard to find fellow student who do not cancel on their commitment to help with a project and/or are good enough to make a professional final product, in this case a music video. It is even more difficult to find professionals who will work on an unpaid/micro budget college-student project. In terms of crew, I plan on shooting solo. I already have confidence in my ability to use a camera, which will be an important as determined by my audience research, set up interesting and visually interesting compositions and using a variety of lenses (prime and zoom). As I won’t be recording any dialogue, the need for on-location audio won’t be anywhere near as high other than wild sound, which can be done at any time and does not have to be recorded as the shot is filmed. If there is any audio that I specifically need from the protagonist (any sounds or improvised dialogue), I may be able to either schedule reshoots or acquire the necessary audio via the means of ADR and/or sound design. Cast As mentioned above in the crew section, it is very difficult to find cast at college who are good enough to star in a music video that intends to appear very professional, including a serious and believable performance. As for professional actors, it’s easier to get away with minimal/no pay, but still hard in order to get an experienced actor. As far as cast goes, I plan on only using one actress. Said actress is someone I have worked with professionally before and can attest to her good emotional and physical acting skills. Her stage name is Maia Beatrice (real surname ‘Stroud’). I contacted her via messages, asking about her availability for the production period (24/03 – 12/05), to which she responded saying: “Yes definitely! Have you got exact dates yet? I need to schedule you in.” Obviously this is good news and I plan on keeping in touch consistently throughout the pre-production stage. Maia has previously worked on a music video before, where she put on a great performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHmsCv63QGY
- 4. Practical Problems: Booking Equipment and Shooting in C-Log The only equipment that I will have to book through the college system is the Canon C100 Mk 1. I can do this using the college booking system on blackboard. I would use my own camera, however it is only a Canon 1300D DSLR, and does not have the same capabilities as the C100 cinecam does. My camera is 1080p, which is HD but not particularly sharp when blown up to a larger screen, whereas the C100 shoots 4K, then downsizes the footage 1080p. This sounds confusing, but it means that the footage from the C100 is far sharper than that of the 1300D. My camera has a crop sensor, compared to the C100’s full frame sensor. This means that when shooting, not only is the C100 clearer, but it fully utilises the lens mounted to the camera. What I mean by this, is that when a crop sensor uses, for example, an 70mm prime it’s actually more like a 112mm lens as it is cropped in, in terms of the overall image. This means that the full frame has a wider field of view. Additionally, full frame sensors mean that the camera has a broader dynamic range (which will help massively when it comes to colour grading the footage in post), perform better in low light conditions and typically have a shallower depth of field, meaning that the footage can be made to be “more cinematic” or sharper. The C100 also allows me to shoot in C-Log, something I have not much experience with, which will help me with creating a much more cinematic colour grade for the finished product. It’s a flatter image, meaning on face value it looks desaturated, however is much easier to grade in post to get a more cinematic image at the end.
- 5. Practical Problems: Shooting on Location and Travel Shooting on location comes with a number of issues that will have to be accounted for before shooting commences. First, the desired location must have enough space to facilitate all the shots that are scheduled for that specific area and the scenes that take place there. This issue can be avoided by going out for location recce long before production takes place. This is usually followed by blocking out the shots the director has in mind at the time, to make sure that each are possible with a much larger amount of equipment. ‘Blocking’ is essentially the rehearsal of how a scene physically plays out, often which is assisted by coloured tape known as “marks” which tell the actors where to go, where to stand or where to say a particular line or perform a specific action. Then cast and crew can run through the scenes/shot list together with a better knowledge of how it will look when shooting, finally shooting the scenes that have been rehearsed during this segment of time prior to the shoot. As for travel, the main issue is getting to the various locations that will be necessary due to the script. For example, since I cannot drive, the cast and crew will have to get to the various locations via public transport such as the train (from York out to Malton/Scarborough etc.). I have told Maia, the actress I cast my protagonist to be, that I will pay for all her travel, since she will be doing me a great favour and means that she does not have to put money into a project that she isn’t directly invested in/is not hers.
- 6. Practical Problems: Colour Grading and Editing in Premiere Pro Since I have not done much advanced colour grading in Premiere before, it is important that I practice before shooting my music video. This video is the tutorial I plan on following to create my own cinematic look, however it is also possible to follow this instead, trialling different luts on top of the footage to make sure it is all consistently graded across all shots. The only editing that I will have to learn before beginning production is the various masks and tools needed in order to colour grade my footage. As well as this, I will also need to find out how to shoot flat footage, using C- Log on the Canon C-100, in order to get the optimal footage to grade.
- 7. Practical Problems: Recording Audio/Sound Design The nature of a music video is to put visuals to audio that already stands by itself. I intend to keep the singing the only dialogue throughout the video but include other audio, such as environmental sounds, e.g. crashing waves, chirping birds etc. This means that I can record virtually all audio at a separate time to shooting the visuals. If I’m unable to record a particular sound that I need I can use Epidemic Sound instead, to find pre-existing clips that other sound recordists have previously made for others to use. This process is called sound design, something I have a reasonable amount of experience with. If I do decide to use dialogue/humanlike noises (e.g. crying, laughing, non-verbal sounds etc.), I have a LAV mic that plugs into my phone that can be taped to the actor’s clothing/body to capture the best audio possible, before being synchronised with the footage in the edit.
- 8. Practical Problems: Storage and Battery Life If I am going to shoot a whole music video I will need a large amount of storage to accommodate the amount of footage that I will need to capture. With the footage captured from a Canon C100 being of such high quality, the file size will be rather large. I have invested in a 128gb SD card, which should be able to hold all the footage from a 5 minute music video, however if it isn’t I have numerous other SD cards of different sizes or could utilise the college booking system yet again to acquire some SD cards. The C100 has dual SD card slots that can either back up footage from one card directly to the other (in case one corrupts and footage is lost) or once one has been filled, continue shooting and saving footage onto the next card. As for battery life, shooting over long periods of time can really drain camera battery. With camera batteries, an outlet will be needed in order to charge them on the go, and with many outdoor locations there most likely won’t be many outlets. To get around this, I can book out an extra battery for the C100, and bring my portable charger for any smaller devices that can be charged via USB.
- 9. Theoretical Problems Theoretical problems may also be an issue when it comes to producing this project to the best of its potential. . These problems include but aren’t limited to: • Cast issues: e.g. sudden unavailability, refreshments etc. • Weather/unsuitable location + unwanted audio • Equipment failure/breaking • Backing up save files • Budget • Health and Safety
- 10. Theoretical Problems: Cast Issues A number of issues can arise with with cast on the shoot when it comes to it. First, Maia may inform me that my project and another of hers clash, so I will have to reschedule and book the C100 once again or recast my protagonist, which hopefully should not be too difficult due to my many connections. If the camera is not available, I will have to shoot with my own DSLR, sacrificing quality, but possibly making up for it with manoeuvrability. If the actress is late due to public transport, filming will have to commence later. This may mean that weather conditions change or that I am waiting at the train/bus station for a longer time than expected. To prevent this, I can set the call times to be earlier in order to accommodate travel, if this still fails, I can shoot some B-roll as filler-footage in case I cannot complete all shots from the shot list on that particular day/if we cannot reschedule the shoot day. Often times, shoot days can be quite long. This means that I will have to provide food and refreshments, not only for myself, but for the cast as well. This will further eat into the budget and the time we have available to shoot. This may mean that we must bring food with us to the shooting location or leave the location and then return later on, costing the production even more time.
- 11. Theoretical Problems: Location-Specific Issues As I intend to shoot on location in an open environment, I may encounter some issues that cannot be avoided. The most likely of all is for the weather to be undesirable, or change while shooting. For example, on each shoot day I will have to check the forecast of the location I am shooting in and plan accordingly. If it’s forecast to rain, I can rework the day’s outside shooting schedule, shooting those outdoor scenes when the weather is suitable. In case the weather changes for the worst while shooting, I will bring various umbrellas to protect kit and ask the cast to bring suitable coats/clothing. If the weather does drastically change while shooting, this may cause issues with continuity between shots and could mean that reshoots will have to be accounted for within the overall schedule. I’d have to book out the necessary equipment again, which will most likely prove difficult as other students will also be wanting to use it. Other issues that may arise could be unwanted audio during clips, such as talking, traffic etc., or unwanted visuals, like people walking into frame or cars passing through. I can avoid unwanted audio far easier by capturing audio at a separate time to shooting, or even using free audio downloaded from the internet, from renowned sites like Epidemic Sound. Unwanted visuals however are much harder to hide and may force us to do multiple takes, which will eat into the day’s schedule, but shouldn’t be too frequent.
- 12. Theoretical Problems: Equipment Failure It is entirely possible that, while shooting, equipment may fail, break or be lost. I can do a variety of things to prevent this hampering the shoot. If the camera fails to record or breaks in some way (e.g. due to water getting on the sensor) then I can bring a backup camera, which will dip in quality, but allow me to continue the shoot regardless. If a specific lens is blurry or has dirt on the sensor, I will bring other lenses that cover the same focal lengths needed to capture the desired footage. If, for some odd reason, the SD cards are full or they suddenly corrupt I will immediately back up all footage after each shoot day as well as utilising the back up function built into the C100. If both cards fail during this shooting, I will have to fix them/buy new ones and schedule quick reshoots and suck up any frustration. If something less important, like a tripod for example, breaks, it will be much easier to continue shooting without it by reverting to handheld, than if the camera itself breaks.
- 13. Theoretical Problems: Budget As a college student with a part time job, budget is going to be particularly miniscule. It is something that will be stretched regardless of the original size. As of right now, I know that I have to save up enough money for cast and crew travel and refreshments, and possibly buying props, such as mirrors that can be smashed for specific artistic shots. What can add to this is if the cast expects to be paid for their services, replacing broken equipment, cancellations of public transport causing another ticket to be purchased and even reshoots needing more travel, refreshments etc. To avoid this problem becoming larger and larger, the cast and I need to be very efficient while shooting. This means finishing on time, getting all the footage I need, being extremely careful not to break any equipment, bargaining with cast prices (so far Maia has agreed to do it for free), and backing up all footage, all in order to save money and avoid any reshoots. In order to get the budget in the first place, I will save all the money from my payday at work over the next two months and use it as my budget. If it is not enough I will have to use some money from my savings, which I am willing to do if needed.
- 14. Theoretical Problems: Health and Safety Shooting on location often means there are far more issues with health and safety than there are when shooting in a studio or controlled indoor environment. Each location will be evaluated for its health and safety risks when scouted during the pre-production stage. Each scene will also be evaluated for any risks, for example if there are any props that are required that may also pose a risk for each member of cast and crew involved. A health and safety check and plan will be created for each scene. For example, I plan on shooting two separate scenes that may pose risks for those involved. One is set on a rooftop by the sea, obviously posing the risk of falling off or slipping. The other includes smashing a mirror/glass against a wall that obviously means glass will go everywhere, causing cuts or going into eyes etc. and will also be scattered over the entire location, obviously meaning that it will have to be cleaned up particularly if it is a publically accessible location. Obvious safety measures for these two scenes will be staying away from the edge of the roof, wearing eye protection and so on.