Below is a video of me taking photos in the Fitzwilliam Museum.
Below is a slideshow of me setting up the camera to film my shots.
Below is proof that I took my storyboard and risk assessment with me when filming and I referenced them often.
M3: Create production material that follows the codes and conventions of the chosen genre for the media product
While carrying out my research, I watched a promotional video for a restaurant and I really liked the close up shots used that showed incredible amounts of detail, so I wanted to use a similar style of shot. This is because it makes the audience focus on the textures of an object, which engages more of the senses than just sight and sound. For example, a shot of a delicious-looking meal would encourage people to engage in social discussions with friends and ask if they wanted to visit that restaurant. This conforms to the Uses and Gratifications theory which states that people consume a media product for surveillance, entertainment, discussion and personal identity. It is currently very popular for people to share photos of their food online, so by encouraging people to do this it is bringing more customers to the business. I aimed to include extreme close ups in my video, but this was quite difficult in the Fitzwilliam Museum when everything was in glass cases. At the market I had a similar problem - I couldn't take extreme close ups as I didn't want to get in the way of the customers.
In terms of other cinematography, I used quite a few panning shots. I planned that most of these would be left-to-right pans. This is because in Western culture, we are used to seeing things go from left to right as this is the way we read. If I were making a horror film, I would go against this convention to make the audience uneasy. But since I am making a promotional video, I conformed to this convention. Also, using pans gives life and movement to still objects, which is why I will use them in post-production on my photos of the artefacts in the museum.
In terms of non-diegetic sound, I chose the song Happy Day because I feel that it reflects the atmosphere of Cambridge, and the tone that I want to create. I wanted to create a positive, productive and lively atmosphere, but one that is still lighthearted and not too stressful. I chose this because I watched the promotional videos made for this unit by a few people in the year above me, and most of them used a similar style of music, and I felt that the style fitted really well with the tone they were trying to create about Cambridge. This type of music will also appeal to my primary target audience (judges at the regional culture awards). I want the music to be in the background in order to add to the existing visual tone, rather than overriding it. I also want the music to add a layer of interest to the shots that will have no voice-over, e.g. shots that linger on a particular market stall. If there was no music in these shots, it would seem boring and empty. It will also appeal to my secondary target audience (imaginary identity) because young people typically enjoy upbeat electronic music, which is what I have used. Using this music also conforms to the client brief because it states that I am allowed to use music from a copyright-free source as long as I reference it.
In terms of the diegetic sound in my voice-over, I chose to use fairly informal language and colloquial phrases. I chose this because it would appeal to my secondary target audience as young people are much more informal and casual than adults. It will also appeal to my primary target audience because the language can be easily understood by all, so it doesn't exclude anyone. I also used a few rhetorical questions in order to keep the audience engaged with what the voice actor is saying and to keep them interested to find out more. In terms of informal language, I used simple adjectives and verbs that everyone understands, and on the whole I used short and simple sentences. Using this voice over conforms to the client brief because it states that I need to "promote the range of cultures that are a part of each city and town’s unique identity", and it is my voice over that links my video back to culture. This can be linked to the Uses and Gratifications theory, which states that people consume a media product for surveillance, entertainment, discussion and personal identity. The voice-over for my video fits in with the need for a personal identity because the accent is local to Cambridge, and is a fairly standard English accent, which doesn't distract from the video. This is important because the focus is on the information being given, and the audience would be very surprised to see a video about Cambridge being narrated by someone with a Scottish accent for example.
In terms of editing, I will use certain techniques to create a fast paced video. I will use lots of fast cuts, with little action taking place in the shots to create a sense of liveliness and to reflect fast-paced city life. I won't use many other transitions than cuts for the majority of the video, as this keeps the pace fast, and using transitions like dissolves for every shot would distract from what is happening in every shot, since they change quite quickly. This conforms to the conventions of promotional videos, because they never contain too many complicated transitions. These fast cuts appeal to my secondary target audience because a fast pace keeps the viewers engaged and interested. I decided to use a fast pace because I didn't want my viewers to get bored, and also I didn't want to show them the same objects over and over. I also feel that Cambridge has a lot to offer, so in order to include all the interesting things I wanted to, I couldn't spend much time on each item. This conforms to the client brief because this type of editing is a lot more professional and subtle, therefore making Cambridge more likely to win the competition.
I also had the idea quite early on in the planning process of making my video a montage. I chose to do this because I watched a promotional video for Hull and I really enjoyed the array of shots used and how they didn't have a narrative structure, it was just to show lots of different noteworthy places in their city, so I wanted to take inspiration from this feature. I decided to use a montage in my video because this is a convention of promotional videos, as is rarely any form of narrative, and most promotional videos are a collection of various images. This will appeal to my primary target audience because then my video will use the same structure as the other videos in the competition, so it will be up to the same standard to them.