Music Video
Skills Audit
Demo Work
Demo Work
Demo Work
Contents
Demo Work
Contents
> Theoretical exploration of the purpose
and application of research
> Secondary research into
music video genres, codes, conventions,
techniques, and theories
> Primary research with the
client to inform ideas development
> Focus group presentation of ideas for
feedback and review via questionnaire
survey
Moving Demo
See the Journal entries for this week ->
This page details all of the actions I undertook within my secondary research. This research was based off my plans from my initial idea development. All of this research led to my primary research and the development of the skills and techniques I discovered here. The research also had influence when coming to plan my piece, including the techniques I used and the influences into the narrative and structure of my piece
Sunday 20th March
As I said on Friday, I wanted to start some research today, so that I could try to keep up with the large workload which I’m going to have next week. In order to do this, I spent my day today starting my research into Mockumentaries and Documentaries.
This is the best place to start all my research as the genre and style of my piece is based around these two. To start with I looked into the history and techniques off mockumentaries, and after that I looked into the Techniques and visual style of documentaries. I wrote summaries of each of these detailing their uses but mainly, I felt these were the aspects of both that would provide me with the most useful information. To initially collect all my information, I wrote up all the useful parts into a google drive document. This allowed me to gather my thoughts. Then, for most of the parts I made them into tables in Photoshop to better lay out their information. Previously, I have made tables on WIX, but they have been unreliable and messed up their own layout several times, by making them on photoshop I hope they will be laid out better on the website.
Mockumentary
Simply put a Mockumentary is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary.
History
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One of the earliest English examples of a Mockumentary was in 1938 and will be quite well known. The famous book War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells was broadcasted as a radio play, intended to seem like a real broadcast. Although there was a disclaimer at the start of the show, many people missed it and so fully believed the broadcast.
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The Mockumentary format didn’t take off very well and after Wells’ broadcast not much happened in the Mockumentary genre.
It started to pick up a little more in the 1960’s with shows such as 1969’s “Take the Money and Run” and then 20 years later with “This is Spinal Tap” which many people consider a masterpiece.
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However, it was the early 2000’s and 2010’s when the Mockumentary genre really started to pick up. Starting with series such as the UK office in 2001 and Little Britain in 2003 and films such as Borat in 2006. However the genre really struck its peak around 2010 when series such as USA Office, Parks and Recreation, Modern Family and Come fly with me were all airing at the same time.
And the genre still hasn’t died. In most recent times we’ve had films such as Borat:Subsequent MovieFilm in 2020 and the Tv series version of the hit Mockumentary film, What we do in the shadows, which started airing in 2019.
Techniques
References
Maia C (2021) “Why Do We Love Mockumentaries? | Video Essay” Available at: Why Do We Love Mockumentaries? | Video Essay - YouTube (Accessed: 20th March 2022)
New York Film Academy (2015) “The History of the Mockumentary Artform” Available at: https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/the-history-of-the-mockumentary-artform/ (Accessed: 20th March 2022)
No Film School (2018) “Mockumentaries, Everything You Need To Know”. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl2AgnUP-CU&t=1s (Accessed: 14 March 2022)
BackwardsCompatible (2021) “What makes a mockumentary? Comedic structure explained (Parks and Rec, The Office and Modern Family)”. Available at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZt0d0tswe4 (Accessed: 14 March 2022)
Initial Conclusions
This Mockumentary research is some of the most important research that I had to do. As my piece is a Mockumentary understanding the evolution of the genre as well as techniques I am able to use in my own piece is really useful. Additionally, within this research, I have discovered lots of examples of previous mockumentaries throughout time, and so I can watch these pieces and use them as inspiration within my own work. I had already done some initial research into Mockumentaries within my initial ideas stage and had discussed a lot of these ideas within my Theory Application, so much of the rest of my Mockumentary research was built off what I had already discovered.
And this research has allowed me to continue into research on real Documentaries which is what my visual style will be based on.
Documentary
Techniques
Visual Style
References
Mogul I (2019) “4 Easy Steps to Film a Short Documentary” Available at: 4 Easy Steps to Film a Short Documentary - YouTube (Accessed: 20th March 2022)
McDougall K (2021) “Documentary Filmmaking Tips // How to Hook Your Audience” Available at: Documentary Filmmaking Tips // How to Hook Your Audience - YouTube (Accessed: 20th March 2022)
In Depth Cine (2020) “The Basics Of Documentary Cinematography” Available at: The Basics Of Documentary Cinematography - YouTube (Accessed: 20th March 2022)
Foley and the Champ (2020) “How to make a NETFLIX documentary” Available at: How to make a NETFLIX documentary - YouTube (Accessed: 20th March 2022)
Desktop Documentaries “Documentary Storytelling Techniques” Available at: https://www.desktop
documentaries.com/storytelling-techniques.html (Accessed: 20th March 2022)
Initial Conclusions
When looking into my Documentary research, there were certain things that I didn’t need to focus on. For example, many of my references talked about connecting with the people in the documentary and making sure they talk about the truth. This is useful information but isn’t really necessary for my piece as my whole piece will be scripted. However, the things I was able to find on visual style and techniques will become crucial in my creative process. Much of this research will lead into my demo tasks and help me gain a better understanding of how to properly create my visual style. Additionally, once I’ve used this information to practice my shots and style, it will then allow me to experiment with more post production styles such as different colour gradings, which will also be fueled by my editing research.
Overall, this research was really important and will allow me to better achieve my goal of emulating the documentary style that I originally planned in my ideas development.
Equipment
Camera
I have the most experience with DSLR cameras and so before I arrived to research, I had the plan in my mind that I would use a DSLR camera. Out of the different DSLR cameras we have within College, I am currently planning to use the DSLR 600d as this is the one I have most experience with, as I used it primarily for shooting my music video project. However, I plan to take the 600d out and use it within my demo tasks in order to check it will be sufficient for the jobs I need it to do.
So, to prepare myself for these demo works I did some research into DSLR cameras in order to understand them better:
Pros
Cons
DSLR’s allow for interchangeable lenses which can benefit for specific different shots.
DSLR’s make use of SD cards to store footage which allows a large amount of footage to be recorded.
DSLR’s are much more effective in low light as they have a large sensor which captures more light.
The larger sensor allows for more creativity using depth of field.
DSLR’s have good autofocus compared to other cameras which allows more efficient and smoother production.
DSLR’s have good battery life, partly due to their screen not having to be on the whole time which helps prolong battery life.
DSLR’s rely on the mirror for some of their focusing, this means that what you see in the viewfinder is not always exactly what you’ll see in the final shot. This can affect the editing process negatively.
DSLR’s are commonly larger and heavier than other types of cameras. This could negatively affect any longer tracking shots where potentially the camera would have to be held for extended periods of time.
DSLR’s are typically more complex and harder to learn compared to other cameras. However, I have experience with DSLR cameras so this shouldn’t be too much of a downside.
Tripod
There are two types of tripods that are available for me to use. Below I’ve detailed the uses of each and how I could potentially use them within my own piece.
Basic Tripod- This is the tripod which I have the most experience with and so would potentially help production run more efficiently as I know more about what I am doing. The tripod contains all the regular parts of a tripod; base plate; extendable legs; panning and tilting qualities and a spirit level. These are all useful features but limit me to the basic features.
Tripod with Gimbal head- As the name suggests this tripod includes a gimbal head as well as all the other features I talked about in the basic tripod. The gimbal head would be beneficial in certain scenes, potentially if I wanted to try and achieve that subtle camera movement that documentaries commonly have. The subtle camera movements provide life to the scene without being too distracting. The gimbal would be perfect for this. However, it is not always required as for scenes such as interviews, I would most likely have the camera locked off and so a gimbal head would not be required. I also have less experience with this tripod and so using it for a demo task would be beneficial in order to gain more practice with it.
Overall, the best option for these two tripods would most likely be to use both of them. The gimbal tripod would be best used for scenes where the gimbal is required and the basic tripod would help to increase the efficiency of scenes where the gimbal is not required. I can also experiment with the gimbal tripod in demo tasks and if I discover more in those tasks I can adjust these plans.
DJI OM4
The DJI OM4 is a handheld gimbal designed for uses with phones. This is a gimbal that I own myself and I think would come in useful when I do tracking shots outside of college grounds. As the professional gimbal is not allowed to be taken off college grounds. I have a little bit of experience with this gimbal, however I would need to do more practice with it before using it in my proper production.
Pros
Cons
The battery life is excellent compared to similar products.
The magnetic clamp makes taking the phone off and on quick and easy.
The app can be inconsistent which can affect filming.
Some reports have come in on the gimbal struggling in strong winds.
While many of the reviews have very similar pros and cons, lots of them do mention the DJI OM4 being one of the best gimbals, especially for its price tag. However, the OM4 is the gimbal I already own and so my options are limited for if I wanted to find an alternative. Instead, what this research provides me with is information onto potential struggles I may face while in production. However, this research will be furthered in my demo tasks.
Google Pixel 3a
My phone is a google pixel 3a and is most likely the phone I would use in line with my gimbal. When I bought the phone, one of the aspects I bought it for was its good quality camera. Similar to the OM4 research, this research will provide me with information for potential issues I could experience in production. I will also use it in demo tasks which will provide me with more research.
Pros
Cons
The camera supports up to 4k video at 30fps.
The camera does support slow motion and time lapse as well as basic video features.
The camera is quite effective if a shallow depth of field is wanting to be used.
The camera can both handle bright lights and low lights quite effectively.
The phone only features one back camera and so is limited to what the lens could be used for.
The camera doesn’t include a manual or pro mode.
Occasionally, the image stability while moving around can cause a problem
as a “jitter” effect can occur.
Sound Recorder
The college offers two different types of sound recorders, being either a zoom H2n or a zoom H4n. The H4n is the one I have most experience in and is the one I am currently planning to use. The benefits of using this one would be the experience that I have with it, which also allows me to know that the quality of the sound it can produce is high. I will use this sound recorder within my demo tasks in order to be able to better learn its qualities.
Microphone
In my Options project, I used a shotgun mic to record all my dialogue and foley. From this I was able to learn a few things. Primarily, the shotgun mic was very good for dialogue recording. The quality was very high and the voice recordings were exactly what I was trying to achieve. From this, I am planning to use the shotgun mic for the majority of my audio recordings as I know the quality is good, especially for most inside scenes I feel the shotgun mic should work more than efficiently enough.
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However, I also learned that using the shotgun mic for foley was a lot less effective than it was for dialogue. The volume of the recordings was a lot lower and the audio quality was also a lot weaker. In some previous demo tasks, I have used the boom mic for foley and dialogue for outside recordings and it has worked quite well. So for those scenes and the recording of on location foley and audio the boom mic may be more beneficial.
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So far, the majority I have discussed here about mics is partly theoretical or based on experience. To confirm this research, I am going to try to use both mics in my demo tasks in order to learn their pros and cons and discover which mic works better for how different scenes will be recorded.
References
Chen I “The basics of the DSLR camera.” Available at: What is a DSLR camera for beginners | Adobe (Accessed 21st March 2022)
Rychner O (2020) “Why are DSLR's better than regular cameras?” Available at: Why are DSLR's better than regular cameras? - Quora (Accessed 21st March 2022)
Elise L (2019) “DSLR vs Point and Shoot Camera" Available at: DSLR vs Point and Shoot Camera (photographylife.com) (Accessed 21st March 2022)
DJI Tutorials (2020) “DJI OM 4 | How to Use OM 4” Available at: DJI OM 4 | How to Use OM 4 - YouTube (Accessed 21st March 2022)
Winkelman S (2020) “DJI OM 4 Review” Available at:DJI OM 4 Review | PCMag (Accessed 21st March 2022)
Deehan T (2020) “DJI OM 4 Review” Available at: DJI OM 4 Review | Trusted Reviews (Accessed 21st March 2022)
Kronfli B (2019) “Google Pixel 3a review” Available at: Google Pixel 3a review | Digital Camera World (Accessed 21st March 2022)
Initial Conclusions
All of this first research into equipment will act as a great base for furthering my knowledge of equipment. Much of what I have discussed today will be furthered into my demo tasks that I plan to carry out across the course of this week. But, the research I have completed today is what allows me to progress into the primary research. From this research I have concluded the majority of the equipment I want to use as well as the tasks I may want it to perform. I have also learnt some of the pros and cons for many of the pieces of equipment which will help me to prepare myself for any of these problems that could occur in production, but also allows me to see if there's any work around for them when I practise with the equipment in my demo tasks.
Overall, this research has provided me with the base I needed to be able to progress further with this equipment research.
Target Audience
This will be the start of my research into my intended target audience. This research will be continued further in my primary research when I look at individuals as well as groups of people and how they react to my specific idea.
Documentary Target Audience
It’s hard to pin down a specific target audience for documentaries as each documentary is different and will attract different audiences. But from my research I was able to find that 18-34 watch more feature documentaries whereas ages 35+ are attracted more to TV documentaries. As my piece will be a shorter documentary it’s likely it would attract more to the 35+ age demographic as they would be more likely to prefer that length.
However, my piece would most likely be released on Youtube where the largest age group is 15-35 year olds. So making my piece appeal more to this age group would result in a larger viewership. The length of my piece would also fit in well with this age demographic as they on average spend 30 minutes on Youtube at one time, and my piece will definitely be shorter and fit into this time frame. It’s a 46/54 split between female and male on Youtube as well so not too much of a difference. Currently, I don’t think my piece is focused too much on one gender so the piece should be able to appeal to the wider audience.
Mockumentary Target Audience
I was unable to find any specific target audience information on the mockumentary genre as a whole. So instead, I looked at some of the most popular Mockumentaries and their target audiences to inform my own research.
The American Office- Arguably one of if not the most popular mockumentary of all time, the Office gained an average of 8-10 million views per episode. And from these views the average target audience was between ages 18-49. This fits in fairly well with the target audience of the documentaries. It’s useful to note however, that many of the people who watched the office when it first aired and so will be higher up in this age demographic now. So appealing to their nostalgia could be a possibility.
Parks and Recreation- Created by many of the same people as the Office, Parks and Recreation got progressively more popular as the show progressed. And it stays in line with the Office as its average target audience is also 18-49.
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References
Modern Family- Also a very popular mockumentary series, however with a very different vibe to the other two, Modern Family’s highest target audience is 18-29 years old, however, 30-44 year olds are not that far behind them. Following this trend, the older the age group gets the less Modern Family seems to appeal to them.
Burgess M (2014) “LEARNING FROM DOCUMENTARY AUDIENCES: A Market Research Study” Available at: Hot_Docs_Learning_from_Documentary_Audiences.PDF (Accessed 21st March 2022)
Barnhart B (2022) “Social media demographics to inform your brand’s strategy in 2022” Available at: Social Media Demographics to Inform Your 2022 Strategy | Sprout Social (Accessed 21st March 2022)
The Office Wiki (2013) “The Office Nielsen Ratings” Available at: The Office Nielsen Ratings | Dunderpedia: The Office Wiki | Fandom (Accessed 21st March 2022)
LJGIACOPELLI (2016) “Parks and Recreation Judgement” Available at: Parks and Recreation Judgement – Analyzing Television (wordpress.com) (Accessed 21st March 2022)
Statista (2022) “Have you ever watched Modern Family?” Available at: • Modern Family viewership in the U.S. by age 2017 | Statista (Accessed 21st March 2022)
Initial Conclusions
All of this research shows a similar trend with the target audience mainly being focused on young adults to middle age. Additionally, gender did not have too much of a significance within the target audience. The documentary research showed however, that the age group most likely to see it would be ages 15-35, however this does not differ too far from the 18-49 age group which the Mockumentaries showed. This initial research into target audience will come in useful in my primary research as I can now focus on a more specific target audience when carrying out my own research. I’ll make sure to gain opinions and information from people who are focused in these young adults to middle age audience bracket. The best way to do these may be to interview them in increments with focus groups/interviews dedicated to these different ages within the target audience as a whole. But understanding my target audience now is really useful in preparing myself for who I need to target the rest of my project to.
Audio
This research is primarily focused on how to record audio effectively as well as any new techniques I could include. Many audio techniques specific to my genre have been discussed in my mockumentary and documentary research and so this research will be focused more on general skills I can use to improve the audio recordings as a whole.
Dialogue
Dialogue is one of the most important parts of any piece. I had successful dialogue recordings in my options project and so this research was to provide me with more tips and information to better improve my dialogue recording skills.
Boom Mic- Boom mics are useful for recording dialogue, especially when it comes to tracking or moving shots, as it allows for the audio to be consistent without the mic getting in shot. Holding the boom mic from underneath as opposed to overhead of the person can help to reduce the ambient noise of the surroundings. I have experience with using boom mics thanks to several demo tasks and so using one for this project would not be too much of a challenge.
Important things to do while recording- keeping an eye on levels, keeping track of power and storage, taking written notes of recordings and what is happening, best takes etc. Really helps to improve efficiency of editing. Sync points such as a clapper board are also incredibly useful for syncing visuals and audio. Record wild track for atmos.
ADR- Automated dialogue replacement. Allows for dialogue to be recorded in a controlled environment so do not have to worry about unwanted background noises. Comes in very useful if the initial audio recordings are unusable, for dubbing in different languages or for wide shots where a mic would’ve been unusable. However ADR should really only be used as a last result as it is an arduous process and can take a long time to complete effectively.
Voiceovers- Voice Overs are a key convention within documentaries so knowing how to do it effectively is very important. Voiceover is kind of similar to ADR where the dialogue within a voiceover will be added over the footage. And the audio will most likely have been recorded in a proper studio away from any possible interfering background noises. The most important feature of voiceovers is for the person speaking to be very clear with no pronunciation, pitch and clarity. This will improve the overall quality of the voiceover and make it a lot nicer to hear for the audience.
Foley
Foley was a big priority for me to do more research into as I wasn’t completely happy with the foley I created for my options project. To make sure my research was useful I focused on finding ways to make the production of Foley better.
Layering- In all scenes there will never be only one sound going on. Multiple sounds such as footsteps, clothes rustling, the sound of the environment are all being heard. Making sure you think about every sound within a scene and incorporating it is a great way to introduce more realism to your piece.
Exaggeration- Making the noises using the exact same material or object that is in the scene is not always the best way to make the Foley. Instead choose objects that make the sound you’re trying to create. Sometimes, exaggerating sounds is a lot better and allows for a lot more freedom later on in the post-production stage.
Mimicking- Creating generic Foley is pointless. If your character is running and you record general footstep sounds, the visuals and audio will not sync up. Instead when recording foley try to have your footage at the same time. Then try to create the sounds in time with the movement of the visuals. This can make the Foley sound a lot better and create realism in
the piece.
Interesting- Don’t just grab one item and use it for one sound. Instead, you can use multiple items in sync with one another to create a more realistic sound. For example if you’re creating a bag sound, fill your bag with lots of different objects to create a more realistic sound.
Interaction- Your character will usually be interacting with their environment as well as their objects. Standing on leaves, knocking on a tree, all these sounds also need to be incorporated. By making sure these interactions also produce sounds, it helps to sell the illusion that the audio is from the same place as the visuals.
Atmosphere- Ambient noise is the final step in trying to sell realism. You always want to record the atmosphere on location to help smooth over the moments of silence between the sound effects or dialogue in your scene.
Soundscapes
This part of my audio research picks up from my Foley, specifically the atmosphere production. The reason I’ve gone more into depth with this was because during my Options project I realised the importance of soundscapes and now that I am trying to create realism in this piece, creating useful soundscapes is important.
Do your Research- Before planning any shoots, specifically when you want to record a soundscape, do research. What time of year is it, what will the weather be like, wind noise, are there any roads nearby. All this information will affect your audio recordings and most importantly your soundscapes. If you’re going for a specific soundscape you need to be sure this location will have what you want.
Check your gear- If you’re travelling far or will be recording for a long day, make sure to bring extra batteries and make sure all your equipment is working. Recording atmosphere is typically done at the end of a shoot so making sure your equipment will work and stay powered until the end is super important.
Proximity- How close are you to your sounds. If you want to try and get heavy bird sounds in your piece or the sounds of a river, you’ll need to be a lot closer than if you want to just try to get rough surroundings. Being too close can also be a big problem and could end up annoying the audience. Making sure you’re the right distance away from your desired sound is important.
References
Adorama (2020) “Recording Dialogue: Perfecting Audio with Keith Alexander” Available at: Recording Dialogue: Perfecting Audio with Keith Alexander - YouTube (Accessed 21st March 2022)
Shutterstock Tutorials (2019) “How to Record ADR Dialogue | Filmmaking Tips” Available at: How to Record ADR Dialogue | Filmmaking Tips - YouTube (Accessed 21st March 2022)
TechSmith (2020) “How to Do Voice Over Like a Pro: The Complete Guide” Available at: How to Do Voice Over Like a Pro: The Complete Guide | The TechSmith Blog (Accessed 21st March 2022)
The Film Look (2019) “5 Tips to STEP UP Your Foley Game!” Available at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgqE7_lsRqM (Accessed 21st March 2022)
Adorama (2020) “Recording Nature Sound Effects: Perfecting Audio with Keith Alexander” Available at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3DEDm932rc (Accessed 21st March 2022)
Initial Conclusions
I had a decently solid idea of how to record audio before this project, mainly thanks to my options project. But that was an animated piece and so the sound design would be very different to creating sound for a live action piece. So I focused my research on ways to improve the skills that I had already learned.
Throughout this research I discovered lots of useful skills as well as new techniques such as many of the Foley techniques. And all of this research will lead into my primary research. Along with the equipment demo works I plan to do, this audio research has provided me with the knowledge I need to be able to do demo work focused on microphones and using them to record audio. Thanks to this research, I can now focus on the different ways I record Dialogue, Foley and Soundscapes and I will make sure to keep all this research in mind when I’m doing my demo work as well as later on when I’m in my proper Production.
Rotoscoping
A large premise of my piece was that the main character was animated. I had decided rotoscoping would likely be the easiest way to complete this as it would allow me to draw over the original footage. However, I knew rotoscoping at 24fps to match the footage would take too long for the designated time I had. During this research, I began looking into how to better improve my rotoscoping skills, but I then discovered a new technique that may have fixed my time problem.
Benefits and Weaknesses of using Rotoscoping
Being invented in 1915 by the Fleischer brothers, the technique of rotoscoping was based around going through live action footage frame by frame and drawing over it.
Originally, film had to be used to go through frames but it’s a lot easier now thanks to digital technology. In early times rotoscoping was used in films such as “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. There are several good reasons to use rotoscoping over other forms of animation:
1) Rotoscoping is the closest form of animation to link to Live Action, resulting in much more fluid and lifelike animation.
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2) The use of Live Action footage allows for the animation to be technically accurate. But the freedom of rotoscoping allows the animator to make stylistic decisions throughout the animation process.
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3) Rotoscoping is useful for movements and actions that may be difficult to animate without the footage as a reference.
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4) Any mistakes made in the reference live action footage will be very hard to avoid transferring over to the animated footage.
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5) Rotoscoping is extremely time consuming, especially the longer the frames per second are.
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6) Due to visual differences between animation and live action, pure rotoscoping can sometimes result in the animation appearing “wooden”.
Ways to Improve Rotoscoped Footage
Time Management- Rotoscoping is an extremely time consuming process, using your time wisely and not overworking yourself is good not only for the final product but also for the animator.
Flow- The most productive part of rotoscoping is when you get into the flow of production. Getting into the flow as easily as you can is a great way to make your production more efficient.
Planning- Knowing what scenes and which parts within it before you start animating will save you a lot of time. Planning and knowing what you need to do will also help prepare you for the workload.
Examples of Rotoscoping
A Scanner Darkly- This is a 2006 completely rotoscoped movie. It was recommended to me by one of my lecturers and I have watched the trailer for it. The piece looks super interesting and the animation looks incredible. You can definitely tell it's rotoscoped as the movement is superfluid. But the style they have used is almost like an oil painting, if I can I will try to watch this movie as I feel it could be a great source of inspiration.
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A-Ha “Take on me”- This is an extremely famous music video with over 1 billion views on Youtube. The video makes use of rotoscoping to create a pencil drawing style of animation. The majority of the animation is within its own world which is not exactly what I am aiming to do, however, in certain parts of the video, the animated characters are featured in the real world, which is the exact method that I am aiming to achieve. This video acted as great inspiration for helping me to visualise my idea.
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Exordium a rotoscoped fantasy- Exordium is an 8 minutes short film composed entirely of rotoscoping. This piece, design wise at least, is most likely what my piece will be like. Their whole piece is rotoscoped whereas only one character of mine will be, but the character design and way they move is the most similar to how I visualise my character moving.
Ebsynth
While researching ways to improve my rotoscoping skills, I discovered a piece of software that may be able to solve my biggest problem.
During initial idea development, my main problem that I outlined was that rotoscoping a whole body at 24fps for roughly 5 minutes of footage would be practically impossible in the time I have designated to production. However, during my research I discovered a software called Ebsynth.
The main premise of Ebsynth, is that it uses specific keyframes as a base to animate the rest of the shot
Below, I have detailed the method of how to use Ebsynth effectively. Detailing that here will be extremely useful as I’ll be able to refer back to this research during my production stage.
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Shoot your live action footage
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Using premiere edit your footage normally to how you want the final piece to be structured
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Export your footage as a PNG sequence to provide yourself with frame by frame footage of your whole video
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Divide the frames into their specific shots
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Choose a frame for each shot where the most facial expression is going on, eyes and mouths open are the best for this
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Using photoshop, draw over your character or whatever you want animated and apply a greenscreen background if you don’t want a background. This creates a keyframe for Ebsynth to use
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Open Ebsynth, select your keyframe as well as the shots you want it to be applied to
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Create a new folder for the new shots to be exported to
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Start Ebsynth running and it will use your keyframe as a base to draw all the other shots
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Import the animated shots into Premiere and tell it to interpret the footage as 24fps
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If everything goes perfectly you will now have a fully animated shot
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However sometimes it can mess up if there’s too much movement in the shot or something else just went wrong. If this occurs, you may need to create more than 1 keyframes for specific shots, follow the same process for this
This software is absolutely revolutionary! Drawing only 1 or a couple of keyframes for each shot would save me so much time and allow me to create a lot more. This could also possibly fix my idea of having the character cover himself up more. If this could save me more time then I would be able to get rid of that idea and make the piece a lot more focused on the animatedness of the character. And the best part, the software is free.
I plan to download Ebsynth and run some practice tests as part of my primary research. This will allow me to test its limitations and also gain a much better understanding of how to use it. I am very excited to try the software out.
Pros
Cons
​The time it saves would allow me to achieve a lot more animated pieces throughout my production.
The software is free and so would be easily accessible anywhere without costing me anything.
The design of the animation is based completely on the keyframe which will allow me to get more creative with my character design.
It could be used in conjunction with traditional rotoscoping to create more unique techniques.
The quality of drawings are completely reliant on the keyframe so I would need to make sure the drawings are always good and consistent.
There are reports that it cannot always handle lots of movements especially well. This may mean it could not work for specific scenes or lots more keyframes would need to be used.
I don’t currently know how the animation would correlate with having a live action background.
Lots of these cons are currently due to my weak knowledge in the software. Hopefully lots of these potential cons will be solved during my primary research demo tasks with Ebsynth. However, it is possible more cons could arrive during my experimenting with the software.
References
Selby A (2013) “Animation”. London. Laurence King Publishing Limited
Haver J (2021) “How I Animated This Video” Available at:How I Animated This Video - YouTube (Accessed 22nd March 2022)
Secret Weapons (2019) “EbSynth - Tutorial” Available at:EbSynth - Tutorial - YouTube (Accessed 22nd March 2022)
Initial Conclusions
This research has been some of my absolute best so far. I had not expected to finish this research discovering what I was able to discover. I started by looking into the benefits of rotoscoping as well as how I could improve my current skills with it. This was going very well, and the information I discovered will be very useful to keep in mind during my production.
However, it was during my research into how to improve my skills where I discovered an absolutely revolutionary piece of software. Ebsynth. I explained how to use it during my research section for it but essentially it uses specific keyframes to turn a whole shot of live action footage into animation. The possibilities this software has and the amount of time it could potentially save me is extensive. Currently, I have watched a couple of videos to better develop my knowledge of how it works and how to use it. But, I plan to carry out primary demo tasks to expand my knowledge and learn what Ebsynth can and can’t do. If this primary research turns out fruitful, I’ll be able to use this piece of software in my piece and this will be able to expand my basic idea and allow me to include a lot more animation compared to what I originally had thought was possible.
Editing
These research covers my research into potential editing ideas I could use. This research is mainly focused on my live action editing, as I covered my animation techniques in my animation research. This research helped me in thinking about more than just my production stage and looking more into the future and especially the post production stage.
Potential Techniques
Cutaways and Inserts- Cutaways and inserts link to the B roll that I have previously researched. They are a good way to break up certain scenes or to demonstrate a particular visual.
Transitioning and Cuts- There are so many different types of Transitions and Cuts which can all provide different purposes. Below I will discuss some types of cuts and what their purpose could be:
Match Cut- This is there is a match on action within the cut. For instance a character continuing a motion but the cut happening half way through while they are finishing the motion. This can help for smoother transitions or to show a progression of time.
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Jump Cut- A very simple one where cuts are literally made with no other editing. This is commonly used to cut out unnecessary parts of a shot or to cut out things that went wrong or stutters in speech.
J cut- Where the audio of the next scene starts before the actual cut is made. This is super useful in linking clips and keeping a narrative through them.
L cut- Similar to the J cut where the audio from the first clip leads into the second clip. This is most useful for conversations where both characters may not be on scene at the same time.
Smash Cut- Cutting two scenes which seem unrelated together to create a contrast. This is useful for foreshadowing or referencing something from the past.
Cross Cut- Cutting together two scenes which are commonly happening at the same time. This is great for when a lot of things are happening at the same time and helps to keep the audience up to date with everything that’s happening.
Cutting on Action- Cutting multiple angles on the same acne at once. Continuity is super important here. But it used well to keep the piece visually engaging.
Emotion- Editing is best used when it serves the emotion of the piece. Whether this be for comedy, happiness or sadness. The editing can push a certain agenda to the audience. This can be used through multiple techniques such as cuts, music, B roll and even more which will be discussed further in this research.
Montage- Montages are very effective in showing a passage of time. Whether this be a shorter time while someones cleaning a room, or a longer time where someone’s training for months. Through quick cuts, fast paced shots and a good use of music, montages are effective in showing progression and could potentially be useful in showing a character’s progression, especially within a shorter piece of media.
Images- Near the beginning, I plan to use images to display the backstory of the main character. The images will need to be faked for the animated character and so the post production of these will be important. I plan to use photoshop to create these as this will allow me freedom to design as much as I want, thanks to my previous lengthy experience of Photoshop.
Documentary Editing Techniques
Organising Footage- A documentary will typically have a lot of footage. Interviews, B roll, tracking shots and more which all need to be compiled together to make the final project. It’s super important to know which footage you want to use and where it’s going to go. Organising the footage will help improve the synchrony of your editing and make the flow run a lot smoother.
Follow the Flow- Thanks to my previous projects, I understand the flow of editing. Starting with a rough cut and progressing through and adding more effects afterwards. But that is even more essential in creating a documentary. A documentary has to carry a narrative throughout the piece while also adding in new characters, storylines and resolving it nicely at the end. So following the flow and starting with a solid base can help prevent any unnecessary problems down the road.
Story Focused- This links in with following the flow. Laying down the groundworks of your story first and making sure it can be understood by an audience is the first essential step. Additionally, all effects, clips or audio used should most of the time be story driven. There is no use in including interviews or footage that isn’t relevant and doesn’t progress the story or characters.
Use of B roll- B roll may seem like filler footage, but the way to properly use it is important. It can be used in synchrony with the voice over or music or can be used to try to convey a certain emotion within the audience. Purposely choosing your B roll and not choosing it randomly will help show the importance of your piece.
Bias- Most of the time, documentaries should try to avoid biased stories or opinions. If a story is delivered through an interview, it would be good to try and get the story from other people who also experienced it. Alternatively, bias can be used purposefully to try and get the audience to side with a particular person or story, although depending on the subject of the documentary, the morals and ethics of using bias like this should be taken into account.
Mockumentary Editing Techniques
Comedy Cuts- If comedy is the focus of the Mockumentary, then you should consider how the editing can be used to align with the jokes and comedy. One technique I’ve seen used multiple times is the use of cutting to the action of a funny story that a character may be talking about in an interview. Alternatively, cuts such as cutting right before something really bad happens can imply the bad thing without showing it, which can prove comedic. Alternatively, cuts can also be used to demonstrate other emotions in a very similar way to how they demonstrate comedy.
Music- Music is a huge part of most media pieces. And in most of them you need to consider how music can affect the mood of a scene. This can be used like it is in most pieces and make the music reflect the mood of the scene to create a stronger emotion. Alternatively, music could be used to throw the audience off what they think they should be feeling, or to create a bittersweet feeling.
Dramatic Irony- Dramatic Irony is when the audience knows something the characters don’t. This can be used very effectively in Mockumentaries. For instance, one character may say something in an interview about another character. Now, we the audience know they have said this but the other character may not. Like many of the other techniques this is versatile and can be used for comedic or more dramatic purposes depending on what the editor wants to portray.
References
Dancyger K (2011) “The Technique of Film and Video Editing”. Fifth Edition. Oxford. Elsevier Inc.
Aldredge J (2021) “Holistic Breakdown: How to Edit a Documentary Film” Available at:Holistic Breakdown: How to Edit a Documentary Film (premiumbeat.com) (Accessed 22nd March 2022)
Desktop Documentaries “Video Production Editing for Documentaries” Available at:Video Production Editing for Documentaries (desktop-documentaries.com) (Accessed 22nd March 2022)
Maher M (2016) “11 Tips for Making a Mockumentary” Available at:11 Tips for Making a Mockumentary (premiumbeat.com) (Accessed 22nd March 2022)
Vegas Creative Software “Creative & Effective Video Editing Techniques Every Video Editor Should know” Available at:Creative Video Editing Techniques Every Video Editor Should Know (vegascreativesoftware.com) (Accessed 22nd March 2022)
Premiere Gal (2019) “7 Creative Video Editing Techniques and Cuts” Available at:7 Creative Video Editing Techniques and Cuts - YouTube (Accessed 22nd March 2022)
Usov D (2021) “Top 7 Video Editing Techniques” Available at:Top 7 Video Editing Techniques - MediaEquipt (Accessed 22nd March 2022)
Initial Conclusions
This research was really useful as it helped me consider more about my editing and post production which I had not yet started to think about. I started with editing techniques that could be used for most things. I found the research into transitions and cuts particularly useful here as I discovered many new cuts that I had not known about, or some which I had been doing but did not know their proper name. I then looked into specific editing for documentaries and mockumentaries. There was a lot of cross information here which is why the Mockumentary section is slightly shorter. This links in with the research on these two I had already done and helped to further my knowledge of them both. Thanks to this research, I have a much more solid idea of how I will edit my piece, but I also have lots of techniques that I can use if I feel it would work later on down the line.
Textual Analysis
Below is my textual analysis of a Netflix Mockumentary called Death to 2021. I chose to textually analyse this as I had previously seen Death to 2020 and knew that the style of the pieces were in line with the sort of thing I am trying to create. Note: It was very hard to get images to represent what I was talking about as Netflix doesn't seem to like people taking screenshots of their content.
Narrative
The base narrative of Death to 2021 is that it runs through the worst, funniest and dumbest events of 2021, shining some light on certain issues and usually making comedy out of a darker situation.
However, this makes it quite hard to apply narrative theories to it. For instance, Todorov’s 5 stages of narrative has basically no relation to this piece. Instead the narrative is composed of lots of smaller stories based on true events which are then linked together to create the whole 1 hour special.
This means the narrative within this piece is hard to compare to what I want to do with my own piece. But I can look at the smaller pieces of Narrative and use those smaller stories as inspiration.
One of the most memorable stories from the film is when they discuss the riots at the US capital that happened in early 2021. The techniques they use to convey this narrative are ones typically associated with documentaries. I can also apply Todorov’s theory to this smaller section of narrative:
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The Equilibrium is established with an interview with the main character of this segment. The interviewer asks her about the Capitol riots and she starts talking about them.
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The Equilibrium is then disrupted when the interviewer brings up the fact that the main character was actually at the riots.
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The disruption is recognised by the main character in the interview.
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The main character then attempts to restore the equilibrium by trying to explain herself and why she was there but only making it worse.
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The Equilibrium is then re-established when this narrative thread ends, but the Equilibrium has changed as the audience now views the character very differently.
Although this analysis is only one thread of Narrative throughout the whole piece, it’s still useful as it shows that even though the whole piece may not stick to traditional narrative structure, the individual storylines that you find scattered throughout do still align to these common theories.
Additionally, understanding that these narrative theories can apply to smaller sections of a piece and not just the complete narrative, is useful to understand. Now, if I need to when I further plan my piece, I can use Todorov’s theory to structure my smaller narratives throughout. This could be particularly useful for progressing character development as well as building the world of the piece out by using smaller stories. Overall, I can see lots of potential uses for this new information.
Characters
Due to the subject of the piece being focused on events rather than a specific character it means there’s no real main character to this Mockumentary, instead all the other characters have their own main character moments in specific narrative threads, or are constantly used throughout the whole film.
Similarly, due to the multiple narrative threads, Death to 2021 doesn’t stick to many character theories such as Propp’s character types.
However, what the film does do is use well known stereotypes to build their characters around. Many of the individual characters are built around very specific character types that represent either the worst of some people or the best of others.
Some of these character include:
A very patriotic old man who’s very against anything that he sees as new or youthful.
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An American news anchor who’s extremely right wing but tries to come off unbiased to her audience, although doing so unsuccessfully.
A young social media influence who does basically anything for views.
And these are only some of the stereotypes that the piece uses. However, what the piece does very well is that it very obviously pokes fun at these stereotypes, by multiple times showing their hypocrisy, how they handle certain situations as well as sometimes just showing that what they’re doing is wrong.
This is a very good way of using these characters, as it shows to the audience that even though these characters are part of the piece, the piece is not supporting these kinds of views. And this handling of these characters, especially considering the kind of topics the piece discusses, is done very well and there’s definitely a lot I could learn from how they created these characters.
My piece will not have the same amount of extreme characters that Death to 2021 does, but understanding how they created these obviously flawed characters and how they portrayed them to the audience is definitely something I can learn from, especially considering that I am trying to recreate scripted realism, so having flawed characters will make the piece seem more realistic.
Codes and Conventions
Death to 2021 uses quite a few conventions that are commonly associated with documentaries.
Interviews- Interviews are used a lot throughout the film. With the amount of characters that the film includes, the interviews help the audience to keep track of who’s talking. As it’s a Mockumentary, the use of interviews is meant to emulate the classic documentary style, even at certain parts they show makeup being put on the actors but as if they were a real person, this is seen best in Hugh Grant who is already in ageing makeup, but a behind the scenes shot is suppose to show him having other makeup applied, trying to keep the realism of the older look more realistic.
B roll- I’ve discussed B roll several times throughout my research. And as I’ve mentioned, it’s used in this film as cut aways from the interviews. This film also makes use of a lot of previously shot footage from other shows or people’s phones of big events. This is to show the factual side of this Mockumentary as the events they discuss did actually happen. This is something I could potentially consider using in mine, however in pre-production I would have to find a part of the story where it would fit and not feel out of place in the plot.
Recreations- Although in the world of the film, these recreations are supposed to have actually happened, the production of them are recreations of real events. This includes a fake scene of one of the characters at the Capitol riots as well as doctored photos of another character at significant events. The latter is something similar to what I plan to do, which was making fake photos of the main character throughout his childhood. So, seeing these recreations within Death to 2021 is definitely something I can take inspiration from.
Voiceover- Something that I plan to use in my piece and is one of the biggest conventions of documentaries is a voiceover. Whether it be from a host, narrator or one of the characters within the film. Death to 2021 makes excellent use of voiceovers, including a narrator, character voiceovers, and even voiceovers of people behind the camera. And all of these voiceovers are used effectively for very different reasons, especially the narrator is used very well to keep the less structured narratives together throughout the film. All of these voiceovers are definitely something I can take inspiration from as it is very likely that I will use voiceovers in my own piece.
Genre
Death to 2021 markets itself as A Netflix Comedy Special, and this is definitely represented by the content that is included within it.
But as I discussed in the Codes and Conventions, the piece definitely takes from conventions within Documentaries, and this leads to the subverting of its genre, especially subverting audience expectations if they were to miss the comedy special advertisement. Cause the piece is definitely stylised to seem like a real documentary. This subverting of the documentary genre also leads to “Death to 2021” falling into the Parody Stage of Christian Metz’s genre Life Cycle.
Death to 2021 is at its best when it is parodying the classic tropes of documentaries. Especially when it is taking tropes which are commonly used for very serious reasons and flipping them on their head by using them for comedic purposes.
However, just because it falls within the parody stage and is mostly comedy, it doesn’t mean the film doesn’t include some elements of drama. Most prominently, the piece takes a more sombre and serious approach when it starts to discuss the climate crisis that is currently affecting our planet. This more serious approach to the issue is a very distinct contrast to the tone of the rest of the film. Especially when taking into account all the characters being comedic stereotypes.
But this more serious scene feels more appropriate for the very serious topics it discusses and a more comedic outlook on this may have seemed inappropriate. The serious scenes also provide a break from the heavy comedy that has been hitting the audience for the last 40 minutes or so. And this means that when the comedy does come back it hits harder than it did before, as it has to come back up from a more serious topic.
Overall, Death to 2021 includes a good mix of comedy and drama genre, which is very good for me to analyse as that is a very similar genre style for what I am going for within my own piece. I’ll definitely make sure to keep in mind the way Death to 2021 balanced the comedy with the drama as one of my biggest worries at the moment is making my genre to one sided which could affect the overall tone of the piece.
Editing
Death to 2021 has a very simple but effective use of editing. Due to it being a mockumentary, no excessive or other worldly editing is used as it is supposed to resemble a factual documentary. However, the simple use of editing is still effective and portrays the points it’s trying to get across.
Cuts to visuals that the voiceovers are talking about are used several times throughout and act as good ways to break up the shots of the interviews as well as creating a more visually engaging experience for the audience.
What Death to 2021 does very well with its editing is its use for comedy. There are multiple times throughout, where a character will say something and the shot will cut away to a visual gag or the visuals will be their own joke by themselves.
And although the editing is very simple there are many takeaways that I can learn from it. Mainly the fact that sometimes simple is better. Editing does not always need to be insanely fast paced or doing something amazing. Instead the editing should serve as the best way to put forward the narrative of the piece, and that’s something I think I should definitely remember when I’m planning and editing my own piece. I think the focus of my piece is really its story and characters and so I need to make sure that my editing is always in service of this fact.
Sound
Similarly, to how the editing is used for comedy, there is also one running joke throughout the film where the sound is used quite effectively for comedy.
When talking to a scientist about COVID and vaccines, multiple music tracks are used throughout as the scientist continually complains about the music they are using as he doesn’t feel it matches the tone of the conversation they’re having. Eventually, no music is playing and the scientist complains that they should have dramatic music as it's such a serious topic.
Using music and more of the sound for comedy is something I hadn’t thought about in great depth before. And so seeing this new and unique way for the use of music is something really interesting to discover.
I have done a great deal of research into how dialogue, foley and soundscapes could be used but I had never put much thought into the use music could bring to a scene.
But thanks to this textual analysis it’s now been brought to my attention, and I can start looking at potential uses of music, as well as trying to find music that could potentially fit into my piece.
During the pre-production stage especially it could be very useful to look into music I could potentially use.
Representation
Death to 2021 actually has a pretty good amount of representation. Near the beginning of the film they mention that the people in the interviews all come from a range of places, including scientists, news hosts, influencers, and even normal people. In this film this allows them to get a range of opinions and stories from all sides of situations. This includes outlooks on topics such as COVID, politics, TV shows and even just the state of the everyday world. This allows the film to market itself to a much wider audience, even if some of these characters are poked fun at, which could potentially make people who agree with those characters angry.
The film also covers a range of topics that happened in 2021, from all around the world. This ranges from COVID, to facebook but also things such as the olympics in Japan and the ocean setting on fire in the Gulf of Mexico. Similarly to the characters, this allows the film to target itself to a wide audience as it covers a wide range of topics from all around the world, that many people will be able to relate to.
This range of representation is definitely something I could take inspiration from and try to include within my own piece. As I’ve previously discussed in my initial ideas and research, the story of acceptance is something I hope a lot of people will be able to relate to which will expand the people the piece will appeal to. And I hope through my use of characters, I’ll also be able to represent the more serious topics of my piece in a good way that will be appropriate.
Initial Conclusions
This research was super useful and has opened my eyes to many new techniques and things that I could include in my piece.
Most prominently these include the use of music and editing that I either hadn’t thought about or introduced a new aspect of it for me to consider. From this I can then look into potentially including these new techniques, and even if I decide not to use them in the end, it still allows me the possibility into using them in the future as I will have discovered them now.
Also just watching the film was really good for providing me with inspiration as it allowed me to get a realistic view of what my piece could look like, obviously in a much shorter timeframe but visually and genre style I think it was a really good insight into the things I could potentially achieve.
Evaluation
I started all of my research tasks by first focusing on Secondary Research. By doing secondary research first, it allowed me to find other people's research and collect evidence from that. Much of this evidence would then be proven correct or wrong, or taken into further research with my own primary research.
So, I then started all of my secondary research by looking into the basic premises of Mockumentaries and Documentaries. This was a good place to start as these are the basic styles of my piece and my research presented me with some background information as well as techniques that I could potentially use within my piece. It also helped me in confirming to myself that I want the narrative and genre to be more like a Mockumentary but for the visuals to be much more inspired by Documentaries.
This then led into me looking at potential equipment that I could use for my piece. I focused on the camera, tripod,sound recorders, microphones as well as my own equipment which was my phone that would be paired with a phone gimbal. At this point in time, the research was purely theoretical and focused on the potential things I could do with them as well as the pros and cons of using them. This research was then taken forward into my primary research where I did demo tasks on them to test my theories from this secondary research.
Another piece of my secondary research which was later on taken forward was my Target audience. This initial secondary research looked specifically into the target audiences for documentaries and mockumentaries. I was able to use my previous research into these two to help back up what people liked about each of them and to understand the kind of things I’d need to include to appeal to this audience. From this research, I was able to gather a base target audience. Then using my primary research, I was able to confirm that this target audience was accurate. This will allow me to move forward with the project knowing specifically who I need to be targeting my piece at.
Audio research was a huge thing for me, mainly from just coming off the back of options project where I had to create a lot of audio as I made an animation. I split this research into three focusing on dialogue, foley and soundscapes as I felt these were the three most important components. This research provided me with a lot of tips that I can use later on in my production, as well as quite a few useful references which I think it is likely I will look back on when trying to create my own audio.
It could be argued that my animation research was some of my most important and influential research. It started originally with what I had planned, looking into the benefits and weaknesses of using rotoscoping as well as trying to find new ways to speed up the process. As speeding up the process would then allow me to produce more animated footage. This is when I discovered the Ebsynth software which utilises keyframes to reduce the amount of frames I would need to draw. I did quite a lot of research into how to use Ebsynth as well as the pros and cons of it and this allowed me to conduct a primary research task on it which I felt went very successfully.
My penultimate bit of secondary research was focused on editing. I began with just potential techniques I could use and then moved onto specific editing for Doc/Mockumentaries, which is where my initial research into these two came in very handy. Overall, all of this research was really focused on new techniques I could use as well as how to include codes and conventions from the style of piece that I am trying to create. I think this research will become very useful later on as I can refer back to it as well as using its references to remind myself of how to create my style as well as offering me some cool techniques to include within my piece.
And my final piece of research was a Textual Analysis of the Netflix Documentary “Death to 2021”. I used my experience from my project 4 essay, as well as the theory applications that I did during my ideas development, to fuel this piece of research. I focused on the main factors of the piece that I felt I could take inspiration from. These included; narrative; characters; codes and conventions; genre; editing; sound and representation. And not only was the analysis of the film very useful in providing me with information about what I could do in my own piece, but just watching the piece was also incredibly useful as it gave me a real look into the possible type of thing I could create.
In conclusion, I found my Secondary Research incredibly helpful. Not only did it provide me with lots of useful information that I can use almost immediately during my pre-production stage, but it also led to many of my primary research tasks as well as providing me with information that I can look back on later down my project when I need a refresher of what I’m trying to achieve or the techniques I want to use.
