Location Recce

Location 1 - House

When deciding on where to shoot interior scenes for the home of the App User in the promotional video I had to find a setting for cheap but had the requirements of a bedroom with a window and a kitchen and a filmable front entranceway, I eventually found a location owned by one of my crew members parents however it lacked a front garden for the final shot of the promotional video, so I split the shooting into another home that I had scouted.

Location 2 - Town

I was struggling to decide on where I was going to film the scenes in a public area that had the desired pedestrian crossing, playground and train station to do the public filming on a single shooting day and be within transportable distance for my talent and crew to achieve this. We decided on Kingsbury Village as it has the main Tamworth road for the crossing near a co-op allowing for ease transport between takes as well as a playground less than 15 minutes walking distance. It did lack a train station but it was to perfect to pass upon.

*Notes Post-Production

We ended up deciding to scrap the escalator shot in a train station as we couldn't find an affordable area near are desired location for the ease of talent and crew and it didn't fit with the final product.

Location 3 - CO-OP

While scouting Kingsbury Village for our exterior scenes we found a CO-OP right next to a crossing we were planning on using for the exterior scenes making it a perfect candidate to be filmed in. Having looked in the interior I had to move around the shot setups for filming in there however the manager was open to filming there but I would need to contact the local branch of the company for permission.

Conclusion

I decided on these locations in order to accommodate for the schedules of my talent and crew and their overall cost was under are budget cost, I then went to each location after contacting each of the sites managers and performed an evaluation of the site.

Activity	Is the location suitable for production?	Additional comments
Surveying the location and marking positions and suitability for filming equipment (Camera, Lighting, Sound, etc.).	Yes, it is suitable for my filming equipment. All locations fit with my video as the interiors were big enough to handle the capacity of my talent and crew, but the Crossing might require more time to film depending on the elements of the shooting day, as it's exposed to harsh winds, etc.	Due to the openness of the public areas, and it being on a busy area/road (especially on the main Tamworth road) where we are planning exterior footage  I might have to post letters to nearby residents telling them the filming dates and how to avoid it.
Identify the equipment necessary for this location.	No location seemed to require extra technical equipment required to shoot, but I think having a trailer car/caravan for my makeup/costume department to set up for my actors would be optimal to allow us to film at these species quickly and effectively.	Due to a high school being nearby these exterior shooting locations we should film during school times (Between 8:00am to 4:00pm). To avoid heavy foot/car traffic in our shooting locations.
Examine and identify any potential health and safety issues.	The only health risks I saw in these shooting locations was the potential to fall down the stairs during our interior shooting (as it is a tight space near the top of the staircase of the bedroom scene). I was also concerned about vehicle traffic in the pedestrian crossing area.	Need to have a staff member trained in first aid during shooting and must have medkits on hand and high visibility clothing for my crew during the shooting in these locations.
Check the position of the sun and lighting conditions.	Has suitable natural lighting but will still require light reflectors due to outside shooting locations.	Heavily depend on shooting day and may alter the order of which areas to shoot for better sun positioning as there is little to no shade in these outside shooting locations.
Look for the best camera positioning for filming	Have established the best positioning to fit with my goals for the film opening but I have heavily altered my original ideas from the storyboard.	Had to make adjust crew size to better fit in the interior settings/locations.
Confirm times and dates with technical crew/actors or anybody interviewing etc.	It is suitable and everyone has been told of the filming schedules dates and times agreed by the landowners, and they can all find transport to the set for are filming times.	I will be arriving to set before everyone else, I have hired a caravan company that will provide areas for my staff to set up in for when they arrive.
Make sure everybody on set knows what is planned and how they will help in its execution through the role on set.	It is suitable and everyone knows their roles.	Everyone involved has been informed and had their expectations while on set will be personally explained by me before filming.

Evaluation of Location Recce

By doing a Location Recce it allowed me to evaluate the risks and requirements for my shooting locations, which lets me know what I need to bring to set and book in advance for the shoot. This includes safety precautions and how they will affect talent and camera equipment. The benefit to me and my crew was significant as by surveying the locations I knew what we were going to be dealing with each day of shooting, leading to minimal surprises we weren't expecting (foot traffic, etc.). However, I could have prevented doing this by shooting in a studio where I would have had full control of the setting for interior scenes and could have a lot for the cost of shooting by not needing to pay the owners outside the studio owners and could have had premade sets to have it all filmed and ready to go in a single shooting day. If I was going to shoot this production again I would have definitely used a studio for the interior shots as I could have had it made with my equipment in mind and would have allowed a better setup for me and my crew.

Overall by performing a location Recce and making detailed notes on my shooting locations help me and my crew easily start shooting by pre-planning around problems and issues before arriving on the set. But I could have better controlled my setting and not required this for interior scenes by hooting in a studio for the indoor scenes.

Promotional Video Brainstorming/Contingency

Brainstorming Ideas

How to accomplish the wants and needs of my client wants (Demographic, etc.) with techniques from other promotional videos such as the examples I analysed in my blog for this very reason. I must consider this in this stage of pre-production to have a clear vision throughout.

I will break down the conventions of promotional videos in order to better understand what I need to include in order to achieve the desire of my client.

Promotional Video Conventions:

Defining the Product:

The goal of a promotional video is to inform the audience of the product, so in my video, I need to showcase and display the product in use.

Applying it to the Audience:

The video needs to apply to the target audience and relate to them, in order for them to be engaged and it needs to show what the company/product can offer them.

Sound/Music:

Music is to establish the tone of the video and often has no words in order to keep the focus on the footage and to help avoid copyright risks and costs with the use of royalty/copyright free music. Promotional videos can use narration (Non-Diegetic) to better instruct the audience about the product and can help demonstrate what the product is/can do for the audience.

Interviews: 

Some promotional videos include interviews with customers or employees, and give positive feedback and work to persuade people to use the product by having someone on the side of the consumer.

Cinematography:

Usually simple and easy to understand, it is rare for promotional videos to use complex camera techniques.

Runtime/Length: 

The average time for a promotional video is usually under 6 minutes (maximum). But it completely depends on the platform you are filming for, if you are filming for tv advertising slots vs for online/social media, etc.

3 Ideas for Video:

A Man Through the Ages​

A comedic showcase of a family through history as we watch a single actor play ancestors from caveman to the modern-day with different costumes, etc. Ending with him answering the door to discover himself (Split Screen) meeting with a family member he didn't know about. Text appears on-screen "Find out where family is"

Growing Connections

I want to use a Choreographed dance with physical theatre as I want the dancers to create the image of a tree to symbolize Ancestree app and as they form this tree it creates the theme of connection as an inspirational message with the use of politicians talking about keeping hope and sticking together during the Covid 19 pandemic. Hopefully capturing this in a Birdman (2014) style single take.

Our Animated History

​ We see the history of a single family through animation with Non-Diegetic voiceover we watch the story transition from period to period as the style of animation changes with each decade from the early 1800's Zoetrope spinning illusion and eventually ending in current-day digital CGI (Computer Generated Imagery).

Final Idea

My client chose the first idea for a comedic horrible histories style video looking at an actor playing their ancestors throughout history. However, they wanted to make a few changes first they wanted to have the app usage be more active in the video. So I suggested having the main actor be on the app and sighing in and finding matches in the Ancestry and then add that ancestor into the world as they begin to approach the characters home ending in a humourous shot of a large crowd of the person ancestors outside their front door and ending with the tagline "find when family is".

My client also liked in my pitch the inclusion of online influencers that are linked to history like the History Matters youtube channel, in order to better attached our target demographic.

Contingency Plan

If something were to go wrong with the filming my plan is to switch from a promotional video to an online marketing campaign, I can use the costume and makeup of my hired staff and crew to create an online profile presence with social media posts for the client of these ancestors. Some examples were maybe caveman reviews as we have our hired actor dress up in caveman costume and makeup make parody food reviews, etc. Using the humour of the original idea and putting it into a different medium, if problems do emerge in the production of the promotional videos this is a perfect way to use all of the gathered staff and equipment to create these parodies of people from different times in history on the social media, this can be done cheaply with our assets from the production and can be easily adapted into a covid safe format if that is the reason that shooting is halted. If we had money to spare during our production I would love to include this for my client with spare footage/shooting time, as it would allow me to continue t work or them as a part of the marketing for the Ancestree app.

Evaluation of Brainstorming/Contingency

By doing research into the conventions of promotional videos and coming up with multiple ideas for my client allowed me to give them many different options for them to pick from during my pitch allowing me to most accurately achieve my clients vision. However, if I had created a mindmap of these conventions to more easily decide what to include in my own promotional video I could have had a more polished vision for the pitch that better reflected the wants from my client brief. I also think by not making multiple ideas I could have focused on a singular idea and polished it with the time I took to create and break down/estimate the cost and needs of my other ideas.

I created my contingency plan in order to have a plan B in case of issues occurring during the shoot and gives both me and a client something to use, by crafting this plan means the money from the budget won't go to waste. And by having my contingency plan as a marketing campaign that can also be achieved if my client wanted to pursue more work with me, I also secure myself future employment. If I was to do this project again I would change my contingency plan to fit the wants of the beef for my client by having a backup idea for the promotional video, possible creating a shorter story that can still be shot on my chosen shooting locations using my talent/crew. Despite my contingency is a great idea to get the brand/product out there through a marketing campaign, at the end of the day my client wants a promotional video and I should do my best to achieve that.

Overall I think brainstorming ideas about my promotional video and crafting a contingency plan in case things went wrong during filming was a vital part of my promotional video production and gave me a great outline for what I wanted to achieve with my video, as well as what to do in case of unseen problems during the shoot.

Reference List:

shenikaprincess.wordpress.com "Codes and Conventions of Corporate Promotional Video" (Online), Available at:

https://shenikaprincess.wordpress.com/final-major-project-fmp/codes-and-conventions-or-promotional-corporate-videos/

prezi.com "Codes & Conventions of Corporate & Promotional Videos" by Beth Sigsworth (Online), Available at:

https://prezi.com/9fg3mma-2xb_/codes-conventions-of-corporate-promotional-videos/

Horrible Histories (2009-2014) Created by Terry Deary and Peter Hepplewhite