Monday, 2 September 2013

Job Search Final Video


Final Video Script

Scene
Description
Duration
Shot
(See attached sheet for codes)
Music/FX
Voiceover
1
Introduce Bryan. Bryan does variety of movements
12s
MS
Piano Music
This is Bryan, and he is looking for a job. What does he need to get that job? Let’s show him what he needs.
2
Title: Step 1 – The Resume. Bryan writing resume
57s
HA, TL/R, HO, ZI
Piano Music
The first step is building a resume. When developing a quality resume you need to devote time to sit down and write out what your strengths are.  Make sure you include strengths that will apply to the job you wish to obtain.  It also doesn’t hurt to include a weakness or two.  Often employers like to see that their potential employee is not perfect and makes mistakes.  Just be sure to include weaknesses that still make you look like a good employee Bryan! Be sure to include any education you have taken.  Employers want to know what level of education you have to show if you have the knowledge required to complete tasks at the job.  You want to be sure to include any previous work experience you have and how long you worked for that employer.  Employers want to know what training you have and how long you typically have stayed with a job. Great job Bryan, drop off that resume and you’ll have that job in no time!
3
Title: Step 2 - The Interview: Choosing the right clothes. Bryan trying on clothes in front of friends.  Getting approval from friends.
58s
MS, CU
Piano Music
You’ve got the interview now but what is appropriate to wear? Start by getting a few pieces of clothes and make sure to get a few friends to help you choose what looks best on you.  The friends with give you their value opinion and prevent you from looking foolish walking into your very important interview.  Be sure to choose something that is fancy but not too fancy.  You don’t want to wear something that is over the top for the position.  Remember, you want to dress for business but also casual and more importantly, comfortable.  Great choice Bryan, that’s sure to impress your future employer!
4
Title: Step 3 – The Interview. Bryan running out to vehicle and getting inside. Cut back and forth to toy car driving to recreate events while driving.
51s
LS, MS, CU, PSO, HA, RS,
Piano Music
The day is finally here and it’s time for your interview.  Be sure to leave your home with plenty of time to get to the business.  Rushing will only get you angry and emotional.  Two things you don’t want to be during your interview.  Try to plan out beforehand the best way to get to the interview so to avoid traffic.  Remember to obey all traffic laws while driving.  The last thing you need is to be stopped by the police or get in an accident.  Don’t resort to eating food or grooming yourself while driving.  This distracts you as a driver and will make you more irritated before your interview.
5
Bryan pulling up to business and running inside. Struggles with door. Employer opens door for him.
20s
LS
Piano Music
As you arrive to the interview don’t rush to get inside.  You have plenty of time to get inside and relax before you meet your potential employer.  You also never know who is watching your actions as you enter the business.  You wouldn’t want any poor choices to be seen by your employer or other employee.  Remember, anyone could be watching your actions at this point.
6
Bryan walks into office area and does one last check before entering interview room.  Shakes hand with employer.
22s
AS, DI
Piano Music
As you walk in make sure to do one last hygiene check.  It’s a good idea to take a breath mint just in case.  Now wait patiently for your employer to come and get you.  Make sure to greet your employer with a strong, firm handshake and wait to be invited in to sit down.  Good luck Bryan!
7
Clock ticking
6s
CU
Clock ticking

8
Bryan leaving interview room very happy. Employer looks unhappy but changes attitude and dances.
9s
HO
Piano Music
Great job Bryan.  You got the job. Be ready to start in the next two weeks and work hard at you new job as a lawyer. You earned it. Way to go!
9
Title: Two Weeks later. Bryan swaying back and forth in chair doing nothing.
6s
PU, HA
Squeaky Chair sound

10
Credits
26s

Piano Music




Shot Codes:
MS – Medium Shot
HA – High Angle
TL/R – Truck Left and Right
HO – Head On
ZI – Zoom In
CU – Close Up
LS – Long Shot
PSO – Pan Still Object
RS – Reflective Shot
AS - Angle Shot
DI – Dolly In

PU – Pedestal Up

Tuesday, 13 August 2013

Job Search Treatment

Treatment

Objective:
            The objective of this video will be to give advice to students in high school who are looking to enter the work force.  This will be done by acting out scenarios such as: searching for the right job, developing a resume, dropping off a resume, preparing for an interview, and having an interview.  This will be done as a comedy and advice will be given in the opposite manner of what would be acceptable during this process.  The video will be done in a manner that makes it obvious to viewers that the information given is not actual advice.  The viewer will not be able to gain any direct knowledge of obtaining a job, as it will be a comedy, but will be able to obtain secondary information by viewing the process of job searching and following a checklist of tasks to complete. Hopefully, it will be obvious that it is not real advice but will help give the viewer ideas of what not to do during the process.

Audience:
            The audience for this video would be directed at people over the age of 16.  Since it is a comedy and applies to finding a job, almost any viewer would be able to identify with the video as most would have gone through this process at some point in their life.  However, the video will be slightly more directed to the younger viewer.

Content:
            The content will consist of: searching for the right job, developing a resume, dropping off a resume, preparing for an interview, and having an interview.  It will take the viewer through individual segments that demonstrate how a person would get a job but in a satirical manner.  The video will appear as an instructional video with voiceover for the segments leading up to the interview and real audio for the interview segment.

Location and Talent:
            The video will be shot at my home for the first part of the video to prepare for everything leading up to the interview.  The interview portion will be shot at Mount Royal in the office area to replicate a place of business.  The actors will consist of two friends, Roddy and Adam, who will be the employee and employer.  The objective is to shoot this video in two days on a Friday and Saturday so we are able to gain access to the school.

Costs:
            There will be very little cost involved in this video other than travel costs to get around the city.  Equipment/props will be borrowed from friends or Moun

Thursday, 1 August 2013

Variety of Shots....Starring Tucker


Mixing Chemicals with Tucker



This video was fun to shoot but using the Canon Rebel to do the shooting was a huge learning experience.  Turns out it is different using the camera to shoot video than take photos.  So be aware that some of the shots are a little fuzzy at times.  Good things this is more about the right shots than the quality of shots.  In order to avoid taking several days to shoot this video I had to choose some of the shots that aren't as good.  This was mainly due to working with our dog, Tucker.  I learned how difficult it must be for movies to work with animals....wow what a task!! Many thanks to my wife, Erin, who starred in the movie and helped me manage Tucker for the shots. Thanks also to our friend, Renelle, who helped maneuver me for a few shots.  Here is the shot list:


0:01 – Title
0:05 – Medium Shot/Key Light from above
0:27 – Pan Still Object
0:42 – Pan Moving Object
0:51 – Trucking
0:57 – Low Angle
1:00 – Close Up
1:03 – Long Shot/Follow Focus
1:11 – Wipe
1:13 – Flat Angle
1:24 – Zoom In (had issues with the focus here)
1:30 – Swish Pan
1:36 – Extreme Close-up
1:38 – Cut Away
1:39 – Pan Moving Object
1:43 – Balance Shot/Backlight and Fill light(below Erin to lighten up under her face)
1:47 – Head On
1:51 – Sequence Shot (Medium Shot, Dolly in, Dolly Out, Medium Shot) (was very difficult once Tucker moved)
2:23 – Pan/Tilt Shot
2:26 – Subjective Perspective
2:27 – Objective Perspective
2:29 – Selective Focus
2:33 – Effects/ Objective Perspective (blurred image)
2:42 – Rule of Thirds
2:44 – Tail Away
2:55 – Cut In
2:57 – High Angle
3:03 – Reportorial
3:11 – Close-Up
3:15 – Zoom Out

Monday, 13 May 2013

Outdoor Patio Installation....A Critique



You may be asking yourself "Kris why did you choose a video on patio installation to critique"?  Well my good friend, I will tell you.  My wife and I recently purchased a brand new home in the city and unfortunately, it carries a lot of outdoor work with it.  Last year I was able to tackle the deck and fence.  This year it will be a laundry list of other things.  Youtube and other video sites have been my best friend for getting a quick overview of the job at hand.  One of these jobs will be a patio off of our deck.  I have installed one patio in my life and ours will be very different from the last.  I found this video and it seemed to do a decent job of explaining the process of doing the most important part of the patio.....the foundation! So I know what you're saying, hurry up and get to the critique already, I can't wait to hear what you have to say! Ok, calm down, here we go!

Goals and Objectives
The clear goal of this video is to help people establish a good foundation for their patio.  They try to break each step of the patio foundation down so people with limited knowledge would be able to do this project.  This ranges from informing viewers of tools needed, type of base materials to use, and staking out a square and level surface.  They do a good job of explaining the pros and cons of laying pavers as opposed to pouring concrete.   A nice feature was having the homeowner present during the video to ask several questions along the way.  This prevents the video from getting too complex by keeping an element of simplicity.  Another goal would be to provide enough knowledge to allow people to save money on the costs of paying someone else to do the work for you.  By carefully laying out each step, minus the actual time of doing the work, the video gives the impression that virtually anyone could construct a well built patio to enjoy.

Production Techniques

Camera:  The camera incorporates a variety of different shots to thoroughly portray some of the details of making the patio.  They often zoom in to things like the type of sand to use or to demonstrate a task being done.  When more work is being done they often zoomed out to get a full shot of everything that was happening.  However, the camera is not on a tripod at any point during the video.  It made it difficult to watch as the cameraman was very shaky at several points. The camera man also did not take the rule of thirds into account as he often cut of people's heads or hands while they were explaining things.  Many of these problems could have easily been fixed by simply using a tripod.

Audio: 

The audio in this video is very poor at times.  They should have invested in a wind sock, individual mics, or doing a voice over.  The entire video could have actually been done through voice over.  It would have removed some of the "real life feeling" of being there but the audio would have been easier to understand.  There is a lot of echoing and background noise that could have been eliminated by choosing an additional method for audio.  As the camera man moved away from the subjects to bring parts of the patio into view it made it harder to understand the people.  At one point, a car honks in the background and it completely drowns out the audio. For the most part the video is audible but it definitely distracts the viewer and made is harder to concentrate on the task.

Editing:  The editing, for the most part was fairly well done.  Since this project can be be quite lengthy and can't be done in a short video, they managed to use time lapse and accelerated video speed to their advantage.  I found this very helpful as often DIY videos will skip over the work that they do.  This is very frustrating as some people are unaware of what actually took place unless they can see it being done.  Therefore, it was nice to have things sped up instead of cut out.  Also, when explanations are running too long or were irrelevant they cut out that material.  This was important to avoid the video from feeling like it was dragging on. Overall, the editing helped a long project seem shorter without removing vital content.


Overall Impression:  For a home-made do-it-yourself video I thought they did a pretty good job of explaining how to build a proper foundation for a patio.  Chronologically, it worked very well as they started by explaining the pros and cons of patio pavers, followed by the tools necessary and the amount of time needed, and thoroughly explaining each step of the process as they progressed.  The knowledge and factual information presented was definitely evident and made the viewer feel as though anyone with some basic handyman skills could complete this task.  Unfortunately, the sometimes sloppy camera work and poor audio detracted from the overall effectiveness of the video.  In short, the video was good for knowledge but lacked in how the information was presented to the viewer.  Since this is only a critique of one video I felt that I shouldn't continue to critique the second part of the video, where they lay the patio stones.  I think it would have been wiser for them to combine everything into one slightly longer video than create two parts.  It could make things difficult for the viewer to find the second part of the process and leave them stranded with a half built patio.