Evaluation - How to Pull Video

Planning and Preparation
The purpose of any video will always be to either entertain, educate or inform, or sometimes a combination of the three. These three important factors were considered throughout the planning of this film. Our initial preparation began when we were told to research 'how to' videos and find one which we felt was efficient in fulfilling its aim. Whilst researching the videos I noted the features in which I thought would be useful for future reference. I analysed the videos, picking them apart to find things that I thought would be good for my own video. This was very useful when it came to filming as I had previously established my viewpoint on what I thought worked well and what didn't. It clarified my opinion and allowed me to go straight into filming without doubting or questioning my abilities.

We were then shown the 'how to' videos from the previous year in class. This allowed me the opportunity to see what level I should be aiming to work at. I was able to recognise camera angles and the structure of filming and consider incorporating these into my own how to film. I began to notice that all the how to videos followed a pattern of breaking the instructions up into stages or steps. All the videos had roughly 5 or 6 steps to fulfil before the task in practise could be completed. I thought this was a very good way of informing the viewer as it elucidated the process making it easy to follow and simple enough to understand.

When then had to brainstorm our own ideas for what our video was to be teaching. Taking into consideration that we needed an entertainment value, we felt a comical 'how to' video would be both informative as well as entertaining. We searched for ideas and stumbled across our final 'how to pull' suggestion. I immediately began thinking of many ways we could make this video humorous and informative to create a combination which was sure to make a good film.

Once our idea was set, we needed to plan the video. This meant, recruiting actors, preparing camera angles, creating a story board, writing the script and arranging time and space for filming. This all got off to a good start. We decided to set the film into five stages and to have a continuous narrative. I felt this would be essential if the video was to be successful in informing the viewer. We managed to plan the entire video extremely well and was well organised for the day of filming.

Filming
We used many different camera angles to establish characters and set the scene. We used long shots to display composure in a "cool and confident" walk. We used close ups to express emotion whether this be embarrassment or delight. We used high angle shots to undermine the character when he falls. My favourite shot took place in the bathroom where you see Eddie (the character who acts out the 5 steps of the how to video) preparing himself in the reflection of the mirror. It was a good use of camera trickery where we were able to position ourselves correctly so that we couldn’t be seen in the shot. We chose a corridor in the Sixth Form block as our setting. The corridor is often a place of study and we therefore assumed that this would be a quiet place to film in. However, on the day we had great difficulty hearing the actors speak over the noise in the background. We managed to work around the noise, often having to ask the people around to stay quiet while we filmed our short scenes. Another problem occurred from the setting, this was lighting. It is very hard to film indoors with limited lighting. In the shots we see of the different stages being acted out, the lighting is often very dim. This is mainly a problem when we are filming close up shots as it becomes very difficult to see the expression on the face which is portraying the emotion. Once filming this part of the video, we realised we could continue to film here, when it came to my own narrative part where I introduced the different stages of the film, we changed locations to a brighter and more quiet room. I feel this was very successful.

Editing
When it came to the editing part of creating this film, we realised that our attempts to quieten the crowd in the corridor where we shot had failed and we needed to re-film a scene which was inaudible due to the background noise. This put a big strain on us as a group as we were now working through our limited time to edit. We came back from this though and once the scene had been filmed we worked hard at editing our video effectively to intensify its entertainment and informative value. After arranging the clips in order and editing the timing to make it flow perfectly, we then decided that the video could be greatly improve if we were to add some background music to liven the video up and to entertain the viewer. We searched through hundreds of songs to find ones which we felt would be suitable for the purpose of the scene they were to accompany. I felt we found an eclectic range of songs which fitted there function appropriately.


To conclude, I felt the video was a great success and is something I am very proud of as I feel I contributed greatly to every element of creating this video. I was very much involved in the planning, filming, editing and even starred in the video as well. I am very proud of the outcome. If I were to change anything to improve the quality of this video it would be the setting. Though this problem was mostly overcome, there are still some minor setbacks because of it. I feel the video was very successful in fulfilling its aim and managed to entertain and inform along the way.