Finished Product

https://youtu.be/MIk7uaMkQhA

LO4: Certification Classification

Our short film fits the genre theme/ type if a 'documentary' this is due to it being based on real occurring events, while also including the features of interviews , pictures/film etc to present and provide a factual report on homelessness.

Looking at the BBFC guidelines on www.bbfc.co.uk, clearly suggests the most suitable BBFC classification for our film would be a 15 meaning no one younger than 15 is permissible to watch. This is because the presentation of drugs is presented in our film, which is clear on the BBFC website. 

Feedback from my focus group did not suggest the film was suitable for my intended audience and unsuitable for people under the age of 15.

The dialogue featured in our film also included talks on drugs which is another reason this film would not be suitable for people under the age of 15.

As the film does not encourage or promote drug use it is permissible for anyone 15 and anyone over the age of 15. However, if the film did promote this it would immediately become inappropriate for a 15 and instead become an 18.

LO4: Focus Group

As a part of feedback, we decided to host a focus group so that we could get direct feedback from the target audience. From this we learned that the target audience understood the themes of the film. We asked questions such as do you feel more informed about help that is available? 3/3 said yes and could identify that they felt they had leaned more about Sheffield services.

We also asked did they know the big issue was sold to help homeless people. 2/3 said no and that they felt this was a positive service and they would buy The big issue to help out the homeless.

From this we concluded that our film is fit for purpose as it informs and educates people about the Ising issue of homelessness in Sheffield.

LO3: Following production processes

Here we made a list on what needs to be done and what is left to be done in the production stages of our film. Ticking what has been done allows it to be easy to identify what is left in out production stages.

To keep track of our useable and unusable footage, we created a footage log to make our task of using correct footage for our film much easier and much more organised when putting our footage together for our film. It is clear which piece of footage is useable to use in our film.

LO3: Safe working practices

To make sure the equipment we used was safe when producing our film, we made sure our tripod and camera were secure and stable and the environment around us was also safe. This was achieved through screwing the camera on the tripod while leaning out tripod in a safe position.

Again, we positioned our lights in a spaced out environment ensuring the equipment was out of anyone's way and not a safety hazard. Also, we used this equipment indoors as the poor weather outdoor was not suitable for this sort of equipment.

We organised where to keep our equipment when filming to reduce the chances of it getting damaged and in the way of filming. Also, we prevented any equipment damages through wearing suitable clothing such as trainers as these shoes allowed it to be much easier to move around with ugh being uncomfortable when carrying equipment or filming.

LO3: Production

Editing Audio:

Audio Edit 1 - Seamlessly shortening bedding music

In order to make the the audio fit the videos i had to shorten the length of some of the music. In order to seamlessly and smoothly shorten the song i first cut the ending of the track. I then cut out a segment of the track in order to shorten it. The ending was the laid after the cut, once the audio gain had been matched to ensure the volume was the same between the two clips a constant gain cross fade was added to seamlessly fade between the two parts and ultimately shorten the song.

Audio Edit 2 - Key-framing gain

In order for the background music not to over power the narration or prevent it from being clearly heard the volume of the tracks had to be adjusted as and when there was narration. To do so i opted to use the keyframes to provide a smooth and precise transition between audio levels, opposed to simply cutting and lowering the volume which would provide a harsh cut and overall non professional product. The line represents the volume of the track, a keyframe was then added as the narration starts and another a few frames before, the key frame was then dragged down to create a shallow gradient which results in a gradual fade down of the music. This process was repeated throughout the production of the documentary at several points. An example of this can be seen below....

Audio Edit 3 - Applying transitions

Within the edit some of the clips had a harsh end, when played back the abrupt end didn't fit within the continuity of the piece. As a result i applied transitions. Most commonly, this involved adding a crossfade to the end of the audio clips which subtly faded it out.

Audio Edit 4 - Applying SFX

To enhance the visuals of the piece sound effects were added. Examples of this can be seen at the very beginning, whereby a sound effect of a television switching on and a sample of radio static were added to reinforce the visuals of an old school TV. These were added on separate tracks to allow them to be layered over one another. Ambient tracks are also present throughout and again were faded in and the gain reduced, this was needed as the things such as time lapses had no audio or video clips had unusable audio from factors such as wind, background noise etc. All audio elements were sourced from copyright free websites such as freesound.org or alternatively ambient tracks were sourced from my own clips. This is evidenced below...

Audio Edit 5 - Normalising Peaks

In order for the narration to be consistent throughout and to ensure all the audio did not peak or differed dramatically in volume, the levels were normalised to -3 db which provided a volume adequate for the purpose and meant no audio clips reached 0db which results in bad audio as it peaks. The same was done for the whole film with sound effects track and background music tracks being normalised individually, to different volumes. 

Audio Edit 6 - Premiere Pre-Sets 

In order to make the audio from the interviews more consistent and of a better quality, i applied one of the audio presents within Adobe Premiere, this provides a quick and easy method in which to modify the audio of several clips. An example of this can be seen below...

Editing Video:

Edit 1: Frame Blocking Transition
To transition between two clips I decided to use a frame blocking/ masking effect, the resulting effect was as the person walks by the frame it introduces the next clip. This was used several times throughout the documentary, the subtle effect allows clips to be transitioned between smoothly with no abrupt cut. This involved masking frame by frame the area behind the subject till new frame is entirely revealed. Examples of the final effect and evidence of editing can be seen below...

Edit 2: Transitions and editing visuals to sound
Throughout the piece instrumental were used. In order to fit the conventions, genre of documentary film making and theme of homelessness sollum instrumentals were used which involved a heavy use of piano segments. I used this to my advantage and edited the visuals to match the audio. As a definitive key was played i cut to a new clip. In some instances a cross fade was also added to fade out the clip as the key stroke of the piano faded out also, resulting in a dramatic and impactfull transition between clips. Film fades and dip to white/ black were also used to transition clips within the piece, for example between the bright silhouette of the interview and the following scene.

Edit 3: Editing time lapses 

For the establishing shot a time-lapse was used of the city centre, this was achieved by first increasing the speed of the four minute static shot of the city centre, reducing the clip length down to 6 seconds and giving the effect of a time lapse. To further enhance the effect and make it more aesthetically pleasing the time interpolation was set to 'Frame blending' which smoothed out the motion and gave a better looking video. In addition to this a slow zoom out was added to clip by adjusting the size and keyframes, the subtle zoom makes the product feel more professional and dynamic. This process was used throughout the rest of the film also...

Edit 4 - Editing silhouette sequence

In order to edit the interview segments first the colours were adjusted, the whites were increased whilst blacks decreased in order to create greater contrast between the subject and background. The majority of the area was then masked to remove the remaining background aside from the centre seam where the soft boxes met (this was later masked and removed when editing). 

Colour grading...

After colour grading and crop...

After masking away seam...

Edit 5: Editing to music

In order to make for an aesthetically pleasing video the cuts were synced to the music, as a key of the piano was played a new clip was introduced or the video was cut on the beat.

Edit 6: Colour grading

To create a more professional looking video the colours were edited. Initially on all clips the 'Basic Corrections' were made, this involved changing things such as the exposure, highlights and shadows to correctly expose the video. From there the present LUT's were added, across the whole video only a limited number of luts were use to create a consistent and uniform look and theme, in the example below the lut 'SL GOLD HEAT' was used. This process was repeated throughout the whole film..

 

Edit 7 -  Title Graphic - End credit
To round of the sequence a end card was created in Photoshop and Premiere which compiled several elements to create a dynamic and engaging title graphic. Both videos and images

Edit 8 - Stats Graphic 
As part of the documentry it features a segment featuring statistics. To support this a 3d animation was created in Cinema 4D. This wash achievd by creating a plane, apllying 3D text to it in addition to the line. All this was then animated to move using the keyframes within the program. A light source was then added to illuminate the scene, with another more direct light also being added which pans across plane when animated, this makes the metalic texture shine in a realistic way. A camera was then placed and movement mapped, to give another dimension of movement to the piece. All this was then exported using global illumination and ambient acclusion to give realistic lighting to the finished product. This was then imported into the project file and set the bledning mode to lighten in order to show the video playing underneath. Below is examples of the work and proccess...

LO3: Offline Edit

Above is the offline edit for the "Sheffield: A city of shelter". This is a rough edit showing the clips with no editing techniques , sfx or vfx.