Reasearch

Research

For this assignment my client is TM Studio and I am tasked with creating a moving image production based around the theme of "reimagine" . The project must be a PG rating as my work will be shown during a summer show. The deadline for this assignment is the 22nd of may. So I must create a schedule using the website Trello to organise my time. Here is what my schedule looked like on the first day of production.

I first started by thinking about what genres I could reimagine. I naturally went for a few of my favourites with genres such as superheroes, romance, and zombie horror. I found it very easy to reimagine these genres in comedic ways similar to comedic parodies such as Scary Movie, space balls, and Super hero movie. 

                                    

These movies sometimes give a real effect to the fictitious worlds they are parodying. This realism pokes fun at the source material giving the audience a new look at a genre they have become so familiar with. These parodies influenced me to create a few ideas that I noted down on a Miro board.  Here is a few of my favourite ideas I noted down from my Miro board:

Idea 1 The villainous losers

This idea takes the traditional evil super villain and reimagines them with a realistic touch. This idea is aimed to make the point that if super villains really existed a lot of them would be considered dorky losers due to their campy designs and goofy names. Some examples of goofy super villains would be characters such as Big wheel, Condiment king, Polka dot man, Calendar Man, Crazy quilt and plenty more. Along with this my idea would take a psychological approach too the super hero genre. With the main character describing his feelings of depression. As he constantly sees himself as a failure due to his losses while fighting heroes as well as his failed marriage to his beloved wife as a result to his criminal career. While on the surface this idea is a comedy based around realistic super villains being considered losers, on a more deeper level its about a man regretting his career and wanting to move on to a better life. The video will be set as a group therapy session with other super villains dressed in costume for comedic effect. As the main character describes his life as a villain the camera cuts to flashbacks of his life and the moments that have lead up to his villainous rehabilitation. With the basics of this idea decided I then created a mood board to help me visualise it. 

What problems could I run into while making this 

• Gaining actors for all of the characters I want would be very difficult 
• Scheduling this project with my actors schedules would be very difficult 
• Making a dialog heavy video would be difficult to keep engaging 
• Creating goofy costumes for each villain may be a little challenging
• Convincing actors to dress as goofy super villains could be challenging
• finding areas to film the flash backs may be difficult   

Idea 2 A Zombie Meeting

This idea reimagines the zombie genre similar to the film Shawn to the dead and many others. This idea reimagines zombies as conscious, sentient beings that are capable of maintaining conversation and normal actions instead of the typical cliché zombies that are brainless and limited to only groans and hisses. In this idea the conscious zombies are gathered around a table debating who they think has been infected by a zombie virus. The irony of the joke is that they are all zombies blaming each other for being zombies. This idea uses very meta humour poking fun at how they are all obviously zombies. Towards the end of the video the zombies accuse the only actual human of being a zombie. They then decide to eat the humans brains so that none of them get infected. Now that this idea has a basic foundation I can create a mood board on it to further visualise it. 

What issues could I run into while making this

• Getting zombie make up would be very difficult 
• Getting actors to dress as zombies would be very difficult 
• The ending where the non zombie is eaten would be hard to make
• This scene may not work well with a PG audience (this is the main reason why I don't think this idea would work) 
• Finding a location would be hard, I could always use the studio but this may be hard to film in as it is usually in use 
• Getting all actors schedules to link up would be hard 

Idea 3 Samui Chef

This idea is less of a parody and more just a re-imagining of Samurai's as Professional chefs instead of Strong warriors. I came up with this idea by researching b-roll footage this Style of filming uses fast cuts and interesting camera movements mixed with limited static shots and a smooth slow motion effect to create a satisfying video of food being prepared. My video would use this technique but with 2 samurai's in a cook off. Re-imagining a samurai battle as an interesting engaging cook off. Here are some examples of b-roll footage as well as a mood board I created for this project. 

Along with this I could also cut away to a traditional fight as this would keep the video engaging and entertaining. This have been inspired tome by the choreography of Sage Brandu 

What issues could I run into while making this

• Im not sure how I would create samurai armour 
• If I wanted to film in an area where I could cook id likely have to film at my home meaning that id likely have to use my family members as actors and I'm not to sure if they'd do it for me
• I have never tried out B-roll footage and am not sure if I would be all that good at it 
• I would have to pick a food to cook and my cooking skills are not very good

While creating these ideas I wanted to expand on what kind of ideas I was producing. So I decided to focus on more serious ideas such as

Idea 4 Vampire Macbeth 

This idea reimagines the Shakespeare play of Macbeth and adds a detail that transforms the entire story. In this version of the play Macbeth is reimagined as a vampire this gives him a second reason for committing the murders in the play. That being a vampires natural thirst for blood. This aspect of the play could be a curse put upon Macbeth by the witches. And would add another layer of guilt and ambition to the character. 

What problems could I have with this idea

• This idea is way to long to fit into a 3 minute video (this is one of the main reasons to why don't think this idea would work) 
• The idea wouldn't fit a PG audience 
• Some may find it a bit boring 
• it uses a lot of actors 

Idea 5 History but reimagined with fairy tales 

This idea is a sequence that takes place in a history class it depicts a history teaches explaining the subject. except key parts of history have been merged with iconic fairy tales. Such as fairies being used as spies during the Cold War or the wolf in little red riding hood being hunted by medieval witch hunters. These history stories would be described alongside flashbacks to the events. 

What problems could rise from this idea

• Im not sure how I'm supposed to recreate some of these events 
• Some ideas may be considered insensitive 
• I would need an adult to play the history teacher 
• This idea may not fit in with a 3 minute video but it could if I really tried to squeeze everything in 
• Finding a location to film everything might be a pain

Conclusion to my ideas 

These ideas I have mentioned were just a few of my favourites I created much more and added them all to my miro board.  (Which you should definitely check out) I then organised these ideas into sections that would help me decide which ideas I wanted to keep and what ideas I wanted to get rid off:

After cutting down my ideas I Was left with 3. These ideas were Idea 1, 2, and 3. To help me decide which idea to proceed with I asked for feedback from my peers to see which they thought were good ideas. Here is what one of my peers said:

 

After careful evaluation I came to the conclusion that I wanted try out idea 3 the most. I chose this idea as I believe it has the most interesting technique as well as being a fun idea that I think I could expand on more than the others. 

More reasons to why I have chosen this idea 

• I think I know how to get around the issue of not having samurai armour 
• I have some good music ideas in mind For the sequence 
• I still have time to learn a B-roll technique 
• If my family say no to being my actor I can always find someone else
• The college does have a stove upstairs that I can use if I have to 
• I have some idea for the fight scene that I could use if I were to film at my house 
• I think that this idea would work best for the show 
• The idea seems like a fun challenge 
• It seems entertaining 
• It feels beginner friendly 
• there will be plenty of tutorial that I can follow

How will I solve my problems 

first I must solve the issue of not having any samurai armour that I can use for the video. To solve this I will use this YouTube tutorial I found to help me create the armour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=yHH8gomWENA&embeds_widget_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fmiro.com%2F&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.embedly.com%2F&embeds_referring_origin=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.embedly.com&source_ve_path=Mjg2NjY

I then gathered some cardboard in preparation for my preproduction: 

After this I had to solve my problem of actors. To do this I simply asked my mum and sister whether or not they'd be interested in some filming some time in the future. Just to see if there was a possible chance that they'd be on board. And thankfully they were. 

With my ideas issues slimmed down I now decided it would be a good idea to begin my pre production but before this I wanted to do some research on the cameras id be using as in my last project I had a few issues with getting the right focus and since this idea relied a lot on camera work I thought it would be a good idea to get better at working the camera. So in preparation I experimented with the Sony ZV ELOM2 and the Cannon DLSR. First I experimented with a monitor mount, with this mounted monitor you can apply a setting that allows you to see more clearly what's in focus by pressing f2. The use of a monitor also allows you to view the image more clearly making it easier to tell if something is out of focus. 

Unfortunately however while this method works well if I'm planning to film at my house this may be an issue to try and bring home especially if I'm bringing anything else as well as a camera. To solve this issue I instead switched my camera to the Sony ZV ELOM2 and tested out the auto focus feature and added a fixed point onto the video. I then tested this feature but realised that my footage looked a little unstable. To fix this I used a Stabiliser which helped keep the camera steady. 

Here is my footage without the stabiliser 

https://youtu.be/eLyqOZqTR0g

And here is my footage with the stabiliser 

https://youtu.be/n4MfFI_8TEQ

This is an image of what stabiliser I used to get this footage 

With my Focus and Steady movements fixed I now did some more research on B-roll footage, in preparation for the test footage I want to create for my preproduction. Here are the videos I watched to better understand the technique. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR2425w1X7k&embeds_widget_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fmiro.com%2F&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.embedly.com%2F&embeds_referring_origin=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.embedly.com&source_ve_path=MjM4NTE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtitcwwEl-A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9fOgkJ0MHU&list=PLRibnNHUsGlgbPCxSUt7ucwFoq6CWdbUT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpJvHkJNBr0&list=PLRibnNHUsGlgbPCxSUt7ucwFoq6CWdbUT&index=5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vAztOuUoKY&list=PLRibnNHUsGlgbPCxSUt7ucwFoq6CWdbUT&index=7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BrhD8gOBkI&list=PLRibnNHUsGlgbPCxSUt7ucwFoq6CWdbUT&index=9

A great influencer for this technique would be Daniel Schafer. he is a Canadian content creator known for his creative cinematic B-roll food videos. His tutorials worked as a great start for learning how to create cinematic B-roll food videos. 

What did I learn from these videos. 

• Cutting to the food already cut is a good technique
• Impact is key to keeping the video fluid 
• I must match my camera movements to the movements of the food preparation
• Throwing food or items in the air is a great Segway into a transition 
• overhead shots work well
• I don't wanna over use the slow-motion effect 
• I can create an interesting out of focus video by shooting in reverse 
• some establishing shots can help with a video
• I can add movement to my footage to make it more cinematic 
• A letter box effect can make footage feel more cinematic 
• using hard lighting works best for cinematic footage

With my idea development and idea research complete I now decided to create some test footage for my samurai cinematic food B-Roll idea in my preproduction.