Video and Sound Production: Exercises

VSP60104 Video and Sound Production 25.8.2021 - 12.9.2021 (Week 1 - Week 3)
Wendy Seto / 0348805
VSP60104 Video and Sound Production / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Exercises

---

INSTRUCTIONS

---

LECTURES

Week 1: Altough I have seen his name around on another modules Google Classroom last semester, this is my first class with Mr. Martin himself. As usual, we always received a module briefing in the first week of class. First thing first, Mr. Martin introduced us to the 3 main stages of video production which are:

1. Pre-Production (Preparation)

• Idea Development
• Story
• Storyboard
• Visual References
• Location/Props

2. Production (Shooting)

• Lighting
• Costume
• Principal Shooting

3. Post-Production (Editing)

• Offline Editing
• Online Editing
• Audio Editing

I studied in a film school previously so I know quite a bit about film production. My favourite part is post-production but I have not got the chance to learn any about it yet since I decided to drop my course and transfer here to pursue design instead. That is why I am so happy to be able to take the Video and Sound Production module this semester!

Mr. Martin also inform us what are the softwares and essential equipments we are going to need for our future projects as long with some of his own recommendations.

The highlight of todays class is that I realized my lecturer has such a great taste in music! I was wondering what are the songs he has been playing in the background during the class break, and I noticed one of my classmate, Dorcas, recognized it too. So I ask her and she introduced me to this musical group called ?te. Now, I cannot stop streaming their songs on Spotify. I am still listening to them while writing this blog post, somehow it helps me to focus and it just feel like I am having Mr. Martin's class right at this hour.

Week 2: This week, Mr. Martin explained a bit about earliest cinema and cinematography. Then we learnt about framing and shooting angles.

1. Shot Sizes:

• Extreme Wide Shot
• Wide Shot 
• Medium Wide Shot
• Medium Shot
• Medium Close-Up Shot
• Close-Up Shot
• Extreme Close-Up Shot

2. Shooting Angles:

• Frontal
• 3/4 Angling
• Side View
• Eye Level
• High Angle
• Low Angle

3. Screen Directions:

• Dynamic
• Static

Furthermore, Mr. Martin also talked about composition, rule of thirds and 180 degree rule. I learnt about this topic previously but the words that were used are slightly different so I am feeling like learning everything all over again. 

---

PRACTICAL

Week 1:

For the first two exercises, we are going to use Adobe Premiere Pro. Mr. Martin asked us to install the software during class because we are doing an in-class editing exercise. I am having a job in this field so video editing is not a new thing to me, but Premiere Pro is. I tried to use Premiere Pro once but I gave up because I was just as confused as I am today with all the overwhelming interface the software has. I am pretty familiar with iMovie and Final Cut Pro though, but I remember briefly how hard it was when I first started using Final Cut Pro after years of using iMovie. So, I guess it is just all about getting used to something, isn't it?

I watched this video before doing the exercises and it was really helpful. I like the way the creator explains everything, he makes the information easy to digest for beginners. So, if you are reading this and you are struggling with Premiere Pro as well, just click on the video down below! You are welcome~

fig 1.1 Premiere Pro Basics by Vince Opra

Exercise 1 - Editing

fig 1.2 exercise 1 instructions 25/8/21

fig 1.3 creating new project in Premiere Pro 25/8/21

fig 1.4 importing footages 25/8/21

fig 1.5 arrange shots on timeline 25/8/21

fig 1.6 exporting video 28/8/21


fig 1.7 mints.mp4 28/8/21

For exercise 1, Mr. Martin already provided us all the footages in the correct order so there is not much to do actually. We are just learning on how to create a new project, import footages and export it as a video in Adobe Premiere Pro. I hate this first exercise though. Loud motorcycles exhaust sound is like my biggest pet peeve and I kept hearing it on repeat on this video..

Exercise 2 - Editing

fig 1.8 exercise 2 instructions 25/8/21

fig 1.9 renaming the footages after arranging them in a correct order 28/8/21

fig 1.10 final exercise 2 timeline preview 28/8/21

fig 1.11 exporting video 28/8/21

fig 1.12 doritos.mp4 28/8/21

This one took me longer to finish because we have to arrange all the clips in a correct order. So far, I do not enjoy using Premiere Pro, it is so difficult to rearrange the clip directly from the timeline. Well, maybe there is a way to do it better but I just have to figure out how. 

Week 2:

Exercise 3 - Shooting Practice

fig 2.1 exercise 3 instructions 1/9/21

fig 2.2 exercise 3 instructions 1/9/21

fig 2.2 shooting exercise with storyline.mp4 3/9/21


fig 2.3 shooting exercise without storyline.mp4 3/9/21

This is our first shooting exercise, it was pretty fun. I made two videos both with and without storyline. I had a misunderstanding on what does 3/4 angling mean, I thought it is something like 'over the shoulder shot' where we only show 3/4 of the focused subject. After seeing my classmates work in the next class, I realized how dumb I was for not understanding what '3/4 angling' is. The word itself is already very obvious, how can I not notice that? Besides, I am not that happy with my low angle wide shot, I am fully aware that is was not 'wide' enough hahahah. Overall,  I wish that I could done the exercise during the daylight so I can have nicer lighting and shooting outcome with better depth of field and slightly sharper video resolution.

Exercise 4 - Editing

fig 2.4 exercise 4 instructions 1/9/21

fig 2.5 lalin.mp4 5/9/21

Another exercise we got this week is to combine and trim footages of a remade Lalin's scene. We were instructed to watch the original video first and then do the editing as directed in the storyboard.

Week 3:

Exercise 5 - Shooting Practice

The next exercise is kinda different. We were given another chance to practice shooting and framing. However, this time we have to shoot our own dancing video while still paying attention to the framing set-up. We need at least 7 of these shots in the video:

1. Wide Shot - high angle (You, Solo)
2. 3 single full body shots - eye level (You at the middle)
3. Medium Shot - Eye level (You)
4. Medium Close-up Shot - Eye level (You)
5. Close-up Shot - Eye level (You)
6. Extreme Close-up Shot - Eye level (You)
7. Wide Shot - Low angle (You, Solo)

For the second shot requirement, we are encouraged to form a group consisted of 3-4 members and select a song to dance with together. My groupmates are Dorcas, Janice and Se Win. In the first discussion, we all agreed to use So Bang Cha - Last Night Story from an iconic scene of the most phenomenal korean drama 'Reply 1988'. 

fig 3.1 reply 1988 ep.3 - last night story performance.mp4

We use this video below as our reference:

fig 3.2 the dance video we refer to.mp4

Since I am not a dancer, it took me one whole day to learn about the choreography. Luckily, me and my groupmates had some discussions on modifying the harder movement. Even if we are only using around 30 seconds of it, it is still out of our comfort zone. Practicing the dance feels like a workout, I did not expect dancing to be this energy draining.

I did the shooting in the next few days, it took me hours to get it done. Our group agreed to wear matching hoodies and sunglasses, the funny thing is that we all ended up wearing black hoodies unintentionally. I was wearing a t-shirt underneath when shooting the video and there was no air conditioning at the moment. This shooting exercise got me sweating more than I do in a week.

I combined all the clips together in Final Cut Pro and did some colour grading to match with my groupmmates' clips. Turns out it is not that hard to sync our movement together since the timing are all pretty accurate already. I love working with these people as they are all very responsible and on time on submitting their parts. Also, they are always open for discussions so we can all finish our work in the same direction. Lastly, I still do not understand why do we design students have to dance though. My mom started to question what major am I taking exactly, I do not even know the answer myself!

fig 3.3 last night story - so bang cha.mp4 12/9/21