Here's a top tips for production work from 2007Whichever Media Studies Awarding Body you’re entered for, your production work can make all the difference to your final grade; and for many of you it will be the high point in your course. Read on for advice from expert and examiner, Pete Fraser on getting the most out of your coursework.
All the tips here are based on experience – learned the hard way. Many relate specifically to video work and to the OCR AS tasks in particular, but much of this advice applies generally to all practical work in any media.
Research and planning
1. Focus your research by looking at examples of real media texts. If you are doing a Sunday supplement, take the time to examine several Sunday supplements. If you are doing chocolate ads, break down some real ads to see how they are shot and edited. If you are doing a radio current affairs programme, tape some real examples and identify the features they contain and how they are put together. Concentrate on formal and technical aspects – this is just as important as content.
2. Look at examples of previous students’ work. Identify their strengths and their weaknesses – you can build on the former and avoid the latter. Use their work to identify clichés to avoid, such as endless Tarantino rip-offs.
3. Think about your audience. Make sure your ideas are appropriate, realistic and aimed at people beyond your own peers, teacher and examiners.
4. Set yourself a deadline of a week earlier than the date for the final submission – that way you allow for any unexpected mishaps.
Coming up with ideas
5. Keep your ideas simple. The more complex the idea, the more can go wrong. Complex productions also run the risk of confusing your audience.
6. Film parodies or pastiches have to be really good to work. You may think you were the first people to think of doing a chocolate ad in the style of The Blair Witch Project … but you weren’t.
7. Don’t try to be funny. What is funny to you and your mates may not be that amusing to your teacher or the examiners. Out-takes in particular look childish and amateur – it’s like including a load of deliberate spelling mistakes at the end of an essay.
8. Endless car-based videos should be avoided. They just look like students showing off that they’ve passed their test. Scenes in pubs should similarly only be done if absolutely essential; they look like students showing off that they can pass for 18 and get served.
9. Avoid long scenes of kissing. They are usually just there to feature boys who want to prove they can get a girlfriend.
10. Scenes of students doing drugs (or simulating doing drugs) are painfully embarrassing. Avoid at all costs. Likewise avoid scenes with cigarettes. It doesn’t look big or clever!
11. POV (point of view) camera is similarly unwise. Just because you’ve seen the video for Smack my bitch up does not mean you could hope to emulate it. POV stuff probably needs a greater degree of planning and control than more conventional editing.
12. Remember, a thriller lasts 90 minutes or more, so you don’t have to tell the whole story in the first two minutes. Aim to establish atmosphere and intrigue the viewer, not kill off half your cast.
13. With music video, a track by an unknown band taken from an MP3 site, or from a local band is likely to be far more productive than choosing your own favourite song. A sensible distance from the material can help produce a more professional outcome. Choose a track that generates visual ideas – don’t illustrate the lyrics literally. A music video doesn’t have to tell a story, but it does have to sell the music, however, so endless depressing shots of girls on roundabouts staring at flowers or boys clutching pills ready to swill them down with vodka are unlikely to lead to CD purchases. Fast cutting and lots of close-ups work well.
14. Avoid using the most obvious music tracks – everyone else will be using them, too! Make sure you get hold of any tracks you need early on in the project. Don’t leave it to your teachers to find – it’s your project, not theirs. Get it on CD – local libraries often have a very good stock that can be borrowed for a small fee.
Planning the shoot
15. Plan and organise down to the tiniest detail: where you will be shooting, who is going to be there, what they will be wearing, who will bring the props, what time everyone will meet up, what each shot is going to look like. Make simple call sheets and give a copy to everyone involved.
16. Never shoot anything until you have a storyboard or shot list. You can always change this plan on the shoot, but without a plan you will shoot rubbish – guaranteed!
17. For group work, take down one another’s mobile phone numbers. Agree to phone each other straight away if there any problems or if anyone fails to show up.
18. Test built-in camera microphones before going out on important dialogue shoots so you can compensate for their limitations (e.g. shooting some scenes from behind to be dubbed later, recording wild sounds that you can use with dubbed dialogue). Lots of camera microphones pick up every sound equally (planes, the wind, distant doors slamming, as well as your dialogue) so you need to shoot dialogue in appropriate places or using an external microphone. Always try out unfamiliar equipment before you using it.
19. Make sure batteries are fully charged before you go on location. Avoid using the LCD as it runs the battery down very quickly. Always have a spare battery or a charger.
On the shoot
20. Don’t waste any time. If someone is absent, improvise. Don’t say you can’t do anything because they have the storyboards – you are all responsible. Always have a back-up plan, for example, what happens if it rains?
21. In group work make sure everyone has a go at the different roles. Everyone must know how to operate the camera and the editing equipment, otherwise they will have difficulty in the production log explaining how the process worked. In your evaluation you should make clear your contribution to the project.
22. Don’t set up anything that is dangerous – for example, filming on railway lines or hanging off buildings. It’s just not worth it. If you are trying that hard to be different, you probably didn’t have a good idea to begin with.
23. Don’t film anything in a public place that might be misinterpreted as a criminal act. Toy guns have been known to result in police call-outs; bags of white powder carried by teenagers convince some people you are a drug dealer. If you are intending to film anything of this kind, talk it over with your teachers and see what can be organised. Ring your friendly neighbourhood police station – they can be very helpful.
24. Always create original images unless there really is no alternative (such as needing an explosion, where it is clearly more sensible to get one off a video). Dressing up fellow students, teachers or even parents as characters for your magazine covers, adverts, thrillers or websites is much more effective than using existing actors. If you need a famous background like the New York skyline that’s fine – but use it with image manipulation to integrate with your own material.
25. For radio work, make sure you can use a microphone properly. If the sound isn’t good enough record it again. Radio programmes need a lot of planning and variety. They should never involve simply reading out a script and playing a bit of music. The role and tone of the presenter is crucial because you are relying on sound alone.
26. When doing voiceovers, make sure the sound level is adequate so they can be heard over your music. Record only when the room is quiet.
27. Avoid your main source of light being behind your subject unless you want them in silhouette. In difficult light conditions, shoot a few frames, rewind and check.
28. For an effective piece of cheap lighting take a torch. But remember, most night shooting will produce completely dark tape. For interior mid-shots and close-ups you can create a dramatic effect with a 60 watt bulb in a bedside lamp.
29. Make sure date and time are not displayed on the camera viewfinder. If they are, they will be there on your final footage.
30. Auto focus can sometimes be a problem. Learn how to control manual focus, too.
31. Keep the camera upright. Unless you want to turn your TV on its side to watch it, footage shot at a slant will be useless! A well-planned tilt, however, is almost always better than a zoom.
32. Make sure you know when the record button is on and off. It is pointless to come back with 2 hours of shots of your walking feet and none of the material you set up! Use ‘shoot!’ and ‘cut!’ and a simple clapperboard (a cheap pad of paper consecutively numbered 1, 2,3 etc) for easier editing.
33. Keep the camera steady, using a tripod wherever possible. Handheld footage is very hard to do well.
34. Set up moving shots in advance. Always know where you are going to finish before you start. Do a test shoot and always run the camera for a good few seconds before the opening and run over after the action finishes, to avoid post-production nightmares when editing.
35. Pay attention to framing. Your shots need not always be centrally framed, but beware of close-ups where the actor moves his head too much or shots where the actors’ heads are right at the bottom of the frame and a big brick wall or curtain dominates behind. Don’t just concentrate on the action in the foreground – what is happening behind? Do you want that passer-by in the background making a rude sign? Is there a tree growing out of the hero’s head?
36. As a rule, avoid using zooms – they look amateur and will make your footage will look like a home video.
37. Got wobbly shots, poor lighting, someone in the shot who shouldn’t be there? Shoot it again to get it right!
38. Shoot plenty of extra footage to use in your editing for cutaways and cut-ins. Plan a variety of types of shot (LS, MS, CU) and angles on the same subjects. And always log every shot you shoot to speed up the editing process.
39. If shooting a music video with lipsynch, take a CD player with you on location and shoot the performance at least three times straight through from different positions so that you have plenty of material from which to choose when editing.
40. Always treat the equipment with care and bring it back on time.
Post-production
41. When editing, avoid cutting immediately to a second shot of the same thing. Cut to a different subject first, then cut back to the first subject – it looks more professional.
42. Don’t overdo the wacky edits. Special effects of any kind should be kept special by limiting their use. Most transitions should be cuts. Fades can be used to slow the pace, but gimmicky edits are only good for children’s TV!
43. You’ve run out of footage? Avoid the solution of simply running your existing footage backwards. It’s a common trick and looks too obvious.
44. Don’t use the names of famous actors or directors in credit sequences – the audience will expect to see them. Check thriller openings to see which personnel do get a mention and stick to the relevant crew. Use your own names or make names up, but please not silly names like ‘Hugh Jarss’ – leave that to Bart Simpson. Don’t spoil a decent piece of work with a silly title – keep the tone right.
45. An advert usually lasts 30 seconds or less. Not only will the audience be bored with a two minute advert but the company won’t be prepared to pay megabucks for such a lengthy slot!
46. Cut and cut again. Unless a shot has dialogue, we are likely to get the point in less than one and a half seconds. If your shot lasts much longer, ask yourself whether it couldn’t be cut down. This is particularly important with adverts. Student video shots are rarely too short, but often too long.
Evaluation
47. In print work the overall ‘look’ is often neglected. Stand back from your page and disregard the content of the writing. How does the layout compare with examples from professional texts?
48. Don’t fill your evaluation with excuses – be honest about the shortcomings of your work and make it clear what you have learnt from the experience. Don’t blame other members of the group, limited equipment or, worst of all, your teachers! It is better to be modest about good work than to try to talk up a turkey!
49. Keep within the word limit. You risk a penalty if you fail to do so.
And finally …
50. Treat your project with professionalism and organisation and you will not go far wrong! Enjoy your work. Being creative is brilliant – but you can’t beat being organised.
Pete Fraser
This article first appeared in MediaMagazine 1, September 2002
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