Overview
Teen Smoking, a long existing problem in our society. My group decided to address this using a humerous approach. There is a video (below) that we based our video on. We figured that a fire extinguisher was a bit overboard, so we stuck with a water bottle.
The Process
Pre-Production
First things first, although it can be done, it is hard to make a video by yourself. My class split into groups of 5-6 people. My group consisted of Damien Fraser, Ariel Seemann, Piper Cumley, Darby Christensen and myself. We all had different ideas of what PSA we should do. Mine was "Teen Smoking". Other ideas we had were "Save The Bees", "Suicide Awareness", and "Internet Addiction". After choosing our PSA, we all determined roles. Because it was my video idea and my vision, I was voted the roles of Director and Production Designer. Darby was the Editor, Damien was Cinematographer, and Ariel was the Screenplay Writer. We all took on the role of Location Scout and Art Director. Along with our Production crew, we recruited fellow e-Comm student Nicholas Compton. We began filming the next day and continued on Monday.
Production
Production was supposed to be pretty straight forward. We planned to take 1-2 days to shoot and that would be that. It almost went according to plan. It did only take 2 days to film, but not in the way we thought. We began shooting on the Friday after the assignment was given and we got a few shots done. Monday, our actor Nick forgot his costume, so we had to start all over in order to avoid inconsistanies within the PSA. Luckily we got it all shot. We also ran into technical difficulties in Monday. Our camera stopped working, the worst problem you can run into. We ended up filming completely on an iPhone, but all considered, it turned out pretty good. We also ran into a problem with props. Seeing as all of us are making an anti teen smoking ad, none of us smoke. As a replacement for actual cigarettes, we used fake cigarettes and Pixy Sticks as smoke. It doesn't look completely realistic, but it works.
Post-Production
Editing is probably my biggest struggle, luckily Darby was our main editor. I have a hard time making sure that all the scenes lineup and just everything in general. I did get it turned in on time though and it's not too shabby.
What I learned
The main thing I learned through this assignment is that I am a very bossy director. I have never been a director for a video so it was a very new experience. I loved learning how to make my thoughts heard and collaborating with my group, even though it got heated sometimes. This was also my first time using an external microphone, so that was new technology for me to learn.
What I Would...
Change
I would probably substitute Nick for someone else. I love him to death, but I feel like we could have done better. I would also change some of the shots, so its not quite so repetitive. I would also not shoot on an iPhone as that's not very professional. I wish I was better at editing, I did it a way that made sense to me and was different, but I'm not a huge fan of the final product.
Keep The Same
I would keep a lot the same. I liked the humorous approach we took and the diversity of the shots. I think its a real improvement from earlier projects.
Conclusion
I do believe as the years go on, I continue to improve the quality of my projects. I do wish we had been able to shoot with a real camera, but sometimes you have to improvise with what you have. Hopefully, throughout the year, I will continue to get better and I will strive to be the best I can be.
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