Day 25 Professional Experience- Promotional Photographs

As well as filming the promotional video for Tripta and Giving Time and Solutions Ltd, I also took some pictures of Tripta too.

Today comprised of editing these pictures so that they could be used in a professional manner. Because the backdrop that we used was a bit creased and dirty due to heavy use in the past, I had to spend a lot of time editing the background so that it was smooth and looked like a professional backdrop and not something done by students. I also added watermarks to each picture, and did some light editing to get rid of the shadows in the backdrop and smoothing out some creases in Tripta’s clothing.

Even though I felt competent using Photoshop, it was still helpful to edit something on there that I haven’t really done before. I’ve been used to editing landscapes and shots without people in, and making logos and designing stuff, but i’ve not really done many portraits of people before, especially ones that were taken in front of such a creased backdrop. I would now say that I was confident in using every aspect of photoshop, and can look into other types of work that would include Photoshop as a main aspect. I can also add Photoshop to my CV, hopefully that will become a selling point of myself.

This project of making the promotional video and the photos has been an eye opening experience for me. Actually going to meet a client, talk to them about the project, be considered good enough to do the project, get it sorted working with a number of people on a project and taking responsibility for my own tasks and filming it, deal with any problems that come across and then edit, has been a new experience for me, but has taught me a lot of things, such as the importance of deadlines, the importance of keeping yourself level headed whilst working and listening to the words of the client and keeping in mind that it’s their work you’re making, and that at the end of the day it’s them who will have to live with the end product. I’ve really learnt to take my own personal views out of the equation, and to always focus on what the client is looking for.

 

 

Day 23 and 24 Professional Experience- Promotional Video

Now that I knew what the client wanted changing, I could start work on the final edit. Along with Mosh, we discussed how to change things on the video, and I edited the final edit.

I followed the list of things that Tripta had said about changing, and set to changing them. It took a long time to get the video to where I wanted it to be. Because I knew that the video was being used for professional purposes, I wanted the video to look as good as it possibly could, so I kept changing little things in the video right up until it was time to upload the video to Vimeo for the client to have a look over and then use.

Overall, the editing of the video has been harder work than I was expecting it to be, and took longer than I was expecting to finish, but all the time that I spent working on it was worth it in the end when I was happy with the video and I received positive feedback from Tripta, saying how much she liked the video.

The whole experience of filming and editing the promotional video has been one of the most professional things that I’ve done, and even though it had it’s stresses along the way, I was glad that  I did it, because it gave me a taste of what it’s like to work on a proper job, do it well and get paid for it in the end. It’s given me a taste to do more stuff like this, outside of the University, to broaden my self by doing other types of work that go outside of the norm i’ve become used to.

Day 22 Professional Experience- Promotional Video

Now that the rough cut was finished, I could now show it to the client to see what she thought, and to see if there was anything that she wanted changing or she wanted changed for.

There were a few things that she wanted changing, such as the positioning of some of the text, and the way some things were worded, but there were also some things that she suggested that I had to say no to, because they would’ve been too hard to edit into the video. Through the feedback given by Tripta, I learnt how to deal with people wanting to change things that would have meant putting in more hours. I’ve learnt how to not let get myself into situations where I have more work than I need to have, which is always helpful.

Day 20 and 21 Professional Experience- Promotional Video

Now that the shooting of the video was done, it was time to edit the video. I knew what I wanted the video to look like, and what it was that I had to do, so I started the edit.

Because the video was filmed in one take, I didn’t need to edit any clips together, but the main bulk of the editing came from adding text to the video that corresponded with what Tripta was saying in the video, to help her message get across. I also added a graphics picture of a planet Earth in the top of the frame, as suggested by Tripta. I also added a graphic of a map, as well as images of a map with points on it to show where in the world Green I.T is most relevant.

It took a good few hours to put everything together, but because I knew that it was only a rough cut, and that it was due for a certain time, I knew that some of the video could be left as rough so as to not run out of time in delivering the rough cut on time.

Editing is something that I enjoy, but also felt that I wanted to have some more experience in doing, especially in editing something that wasn’t a short film, and was different than editing shots together, in that this was primarily graphics and text editing. It was a different type of editing than I’ve done before, but I enjoyed doing it, because it was a new challenge for me, and it’s taught me a different type of editing techniques that I can use in the future.

Day 19 Professional Experience- Promotional Video

After the test shoot yesterday, today was the day that we were filming the video for real. Because of the test shoot, we knew what lights had to go where, and what positions everything had to be in, from Tripta herself to the lights, the camera, the sound. The test shoot definitely saved time when it came to the proper shoot, as we already knew where everything was, and didn’t have to waste time on the actual day of shooting, deciding where to put things when we knew where to put things from the day before.

Due to someone not bringing the camera back to the Loan Shop that we had scheduled to borrow, we had a technical halt on the filming from the beginning. I had to keep going back to the Loan Shop every 10 minutes to see if the camera had been bought back yet, but it hadn’t.  I kept going to see if the camera had been bought back yet, but it hadn’t. Tripta asked what our other options were and if we could use another camera as she was keen to complete the video recording on the date we agreed.  I ended up having to book out another camera that we hadn’t used the day before, it is unknown why someone did not bring the camera back on time. Even though this experience was annoying and held us back from starting filming, I think the lessons that I learnt from it partly make up for it. I learnt to deal with the problems in a professional way, not to just give up straight away but to find out a different solution to the problem, and to try and get the problem solved as quickly as possible so as not to keep the client waiting, and to get the job done.

We filmed 7 different takes of the video, and after each take we showed the client it to see what she thought. We all had a talk about each take after we had watched it back, and talked over anything that we felt needed to be changed for the next take, or whether it was all fine as it was.

Once the filming was finished, we still had a while left on our booking of the photography studio, so i offered to take some professional portrait pictures of Tripta for her to use on her various accounts on the internet, and for professional purposes, seeing as we had finished ahead of schedule and still had time left in the studio. She had mentioned wanting us to take some pictures of her before, but I figured we may as well do them now seeing as we had all the equipment and everything was set up. The pictures will also be used on her promotional poster for her company, something that i’ve never had done before.

The filming and photographing of this project has been one of the best professional experiences that I could’ve had. I wanted to work on something that tested me as a media producer, and tested my ability to create something new, as well as giving myself a taster of what it’s like to work in the real world, to have deadlines and to have to sort things out for yourself. In a way, i’m glad  things went wrong, as it meant that I had to sort them out, instead of running to a lecturer to sort it out for me. This project has been the first time that i’ve actually felt like a professional, and actually felt like i’m doing a job that I want to do and am doing a job that will benefit me, instead of just doing Uni work over and over.

  

Day 17 & 18 Professional Experience- Promotional Video

Our Client wanted to go fro a test shoot before we shot the actual video, to make sure that she knew what we were doing, that we knew what we were doing, and just so we could all iron out any kinks and make sure that we were all ready for the proper filming the next day.

As said before, myself and Mosh have hired out a photography studio for the video, so we went in there to practise before the real shoot. We met the client at 9am and set up in the studio. Both myself and Mosh knew that the photography studio would be the best place to go for the filming, as it fitted all of our ideas for the video and would be easy to edit around, but neither of us had had any experience in using a photography studio. This experience has therefore led to us feeling pretty competent with using the photography studios, as we had to set up the lights ourselves, set them up in a way that worked for the video, and to do the test shoot. We knew the basics of what we were doing in the photography room, but we’d never actually been in that setting before, so that  experience was new for both of us, and was something that i’m glad i’ve learnt from and am glad that i’ve experienced. I’ll be hoping to use that type of studio in the future.

We started doing some test runs of the video, our client had memorised what she had to say, so my job was to direct her in where to stand, what to act like, what to do and what not to do, and to operate the camera. After each take, I would tell Tripta what she should do differently next take, what things weren’t working in either the speech that she had written for herself, or in the visuals of the shots. Sometimes Tripta would subconsciously move to the right side when she was positioned on the left of the screen, meaning that when it came to editing and we were starting to put the text over the top of the video, it wouldn’t look as professional as it could. Also, sometimes Tripta would move to the left, and then half of her would be in frame for a few seconds.

I’ve never really done trial runs or test shoots before, so doing this was a new and interesting experience for me. I’ve learnt that test shoots are really important if you’re making something like this, where it needs to be done by a certain point. We only had a few hours over a couple of days in the studio, so doing a test shoot meant that we could iron out all the kinks in the video and make it perfect for the proper shoot the next day, and film it quicker than we would do normally. From today, i’ll definitely take the idea of doing test shoots away, and use them in my future work. I never realised how much they can help, not just in making the proper shoot look better, but also in making you as a media producer more prepared and more confident with the work that you are producing, as well as giving you more time to change the things that you don’t like the first time.

Day 16 Professional Experience- Promotional Video

After the initial meeting with Tripta, myself and Mosh were left to find a place to film, as well as sort the equipment out and get ready for the filming in a few days.

We booked out a photography room so we could use the blank background that comes in all photography rooms to film with, standing Tripta in front of the screen and positioned to the left of the frame, and add text on the other side of the frame throughout the video, in accordance with Tripta’s wishes for the look of the video. We also went and booked out all the necessary equipment form the Loan Shop, and started to sort out what we would be doing when it came down to the filming. Tripta was working on a script for what she was going to say, so we didn’t have to worry about that, our main objective was to film and edit the video.

I’ve planned shoots before, but on a professional shoot, everything seems to be more serious, and feels like you need to focus more on everything. The experience of working for a client was something that both myself and Mosh had never experienced before, but we were both so far enjoying the work, and enjoying creating something for a client that we could both be proud of.

Already, i’ve learnt what it’s like to work in a professional setting, and to work for a client who is relying on you to make something for them, something that is of high quality. Having already gained the experience of meeting up with a client and discussing the initial guidelines for our services and for the video, I was taking what I had learnt from that meeting, both about what to do for the video and what working with a professional client was like, and putting that into my planning, and the preparation for the video. I was starting to think more about time limits, what time we would have to shoot everything and what to do if we encountered problems, I started to think about the filming with the thought that the video was for a client in the back of my mind, instead of just filming something for coursework. I felt that I was starting to feel like a media professional, and not just a student.

Day 15 Professional Experience-Promotional Video

This professional experience was very different to the first project that I worked on, instead of helping out with a University project, I worked on a project of providing a service to Giving Time and Solutions Ltd, a project that was nothing to do with the University. The only connection that this professional experience had with the University was that the client wanted to use students from Coventry, as she herself was from Coventry, and the idea of using home grown talent was something that was very important to her. The video was also being made with the help of Coventry University, due to Tripta advertising her project through a University lecturer who posted about it to all of the students. We would also be using the Loan Shop at Coventry University, as well as the photography studio there, so even though this was a project initiated by someone outside of the University setting, we were still working closely with the University.

The idea of the project was to create a short promotional video for Tripta Prashar, who started the business Giving Time and Solutions Ltd 4 years ago.  She wanted the video to be an introduction to her company, what her company was about and what she aimed to achieve through her work, as well as being an introduction to herself, what she’s like as a person, what her interests are and some information on her background.

The client wanted to know how much we could commit to the project, where she wanted to see some of the work that i’ve done before and find out some things like how committed I could be to the project, myself and a friend who is also on Media Production and using this project as Professional Experience set up an initial meeting with Tripta.

In the initial meeting, we went over what it was that Tripta wanted the video to get across, and what her business was about and what her passions were. We also talked about myself and Mosh’s, the girl who I was working with for this project, interests, as well as going through a checklist that Tripta had set up to make sure that we were good candidates for the project, and that we would be able to create something that she was happy with, and that she would be able to use to promote herself at a level of professionalism that she thought was ok.

We also discussed what myself and Mosh would be doing in terms of the filming of the video, things like where we were thinking of filming it, what equipment we would be using, when we were available to film it and when we would have a finished edit done by.

It was really interesting to actually go to a professional meeting with a client, someone outside of the University that we had to act professional with and that we had to do work for that was going to affect her life and would be seen by a lot of people, not just our own University work that was seen by lecturers and each other, and didn’t really have any affect on anyone outside of Ellen Terry. It was a good experience to be in an interview setting, where we had to act professional, as that was something that both myself and Mosh had never dealt with before. After University, I think we’ll be doing a lot of this type of filming, so it was a good experience to see what the interview process of corporate filming was like, and what it’s actually like working in a professional environment, working on a job that we would be getting paid for. I wanted to do a project that was outside of the University, but nothing like a week in a small production company where I just sat in the corner watching. I wanted to do some experience that would be practical, that meant that I had to make something outside of the University, and that would give me a taster of life after University, and life as a working filmmaker, and so far this project is the best example of doing this.