Weekly Report 25: 3/18/2019 to 3/24/2019
This past week I spent a lot of time on my final product. I first finalized my storyboard and shot list using the techniques and organization that the Go Local Group utilizes professionally. This required the reworking of my initial draft of six basic scenes into a more detailed outline of each transition piece and the direction of every shot. After completing this succinct, vivid plan for the film, I then researched inquisitive interview questions. One video my mentor had recommended I use as a guide for my video showcasing the rebrand of Crux Cigars was American Airlines’ rebranding advertisement. This style of interview shots interlaced with montage clips inspired a lot of my artistic choices for the storyboard, but also helped provide some structure to the types of questions I would ask in the interview portions of the film. I realized how important it is to decide on a message beforehand in order to form the questions in a way that will provide impact statements which lead toward the narrative that the Go Local Group wants to share.
After finalizing this plan, at my mentor visit on Thursday, I filmed the interviews with my mentor and his two coworkers from the Go Local Group. To set up the frame, my mentor shared a lot of intriguing insight into more professional materials. We put up studio lights, back-lighting using a travel-sized light, a separate audio recorder, a boom microphone to amplify the sound quality, and two cameras at different angles for a visual variance. My mentor showed me how to test the frame, pull the focus, and dampen the background echo by covering the walls and floors with fabric. Upon completing the interviews, I was very happy with how efficient the process had been because of my pre-drawn outline in my storyboard. The video quality was also incredibly clear with the lenses my mentor provided, and the audio was much more distinct due to the added audio recorder. It was an incredible opportunity to use my mentor’s expertise and learn from how he structures his process by creating a film alongside him, and I am quite excited to finish out filming in order to get started with editing.