SeeGreen Project

As part of one of our assignments for this semester we created a video that would incorporate the SeeGreen project, which was about elderly people becoming more energy efficient within their homes. For our group’s video we interviewed a man called Jack Brown who lives in a house that previously was an old thatched cottage. Since moving into the house Jack and his wife have gone out to make their home as energy efficient as possible and the aim of our video was to show these improvements and methods of making their house more energy efficient. We wanted to make this video in the hope that other people would watch the video and become inspired and encouraged to do the same with their own home.

We shot the interview within one day at Jack’s house with a crew of four people. We faced only a few minor problems that we mostly managed to resolve while on the shoot. One of these being that we found it hard to light the room and to get the right look in which we wanted. It was hard to set up the lights that we had, as it was only a small room in which we were filming. However, we managed to improvise with the lighting and used different light sources to create the look that we wanted. Another problem in which we faced was manovering the camera around the house because the house was very narrow and small with it being converted from a cottage. This meant that we couldn’t get some of the wide shots in which we wanted within the house. However, we still managed to get what we wanted even if it wasn’t the same shot as we originally hoped for.

Regarding the post production of our film we found that we had very little problem with the sound that we had recorded. The sound was clear and crisp with no muffling or background noise that caused any problem. We found that the footage was also of a good quality and that we were happy with the shots that we had got and that they were very close to how we wanted to the film to look and feel. The lighting gave the mood of a homely and welcoming feeling that we were going for as well throughout the film. The editing process of the film went very smoothly and as a team we didn’t face many problems when it came to editing the film. This was mainly due to the fact of that we only had one source of sound and this was the interview in which we had conducted. So we didn’t have to look to resolve problems such as lip syncing or editing the sound very much at all. Our interviewee, Jack, also spoke in a clear and concise manner, which again helped within the editing process. We felt that all of the sound in which we had captured was useful and relevant to the video which made editing just a case of what the main points in which we wanted to include in the film and which parts we could let go of. Once we had decided on the structure and dialogue of what we wanted within the film it was then just a case of finding appropriate cut aways to intercut with the interview. We were pleased at the quality of the footage and the sound that we had recorded as this helped us as a team when it came to the editing process and it made it a much smoother process.

After the screening of the film we received feedback on the post production side of our film. The feedback that we received was as follows:

·      What was the point of the video? What was its purpose?

·      It was very simple, could have been a bit more adventurous with the film.

·      There could have been more elements of storytelling within the film. For example, showing Jack collect the wood for the fire

After receiving the feedback that we were given I realised how we could have improved our video a lot further. Regarding the comment of what was the point of the video, I realised that even though us as a team understood what we were trying to get across it may not have been as clear to the audience and that we had not put the idea behind the video forward and clear enough to the viewer. The purpose of the video was to try and encourage the viewers to adopt some of the methods and energy saving tips of jack’s and to incorporate them within their own lives. However, I don’t think that we made this clear enough within our video as we didn’t directly put this idea towards the viewer. Thinking about it afterwards it would have seemed to the viewer that it was just a video about this one particular house. From this I have learnt that when editing in the future I need to take more consideration into how the audience sees the film and not just myself and from my own perspective. I need to see the film through the eyes of someone that has no idea of what is going on and this will help me to push forward what i am trying to get across within my film. 

I also agree, on reflection of our film, with the comment of that our film was very simple and that we could have been a bit more adventurous. Our film is of a very simple structure of that of an interview, which is intercut with relating visuals. I think that we could have explored different types of editing methods and experimented with the pace and the look of the film. We should have also thought of an alternative way of editing the film and creating two or three different edits and then deciding from these which we thought was the best. I think that the reason why we didn’t do this was due to the time constraints that we put ourselves under. Due to the weather and us having to change our original plans for our film it meant that we had less time within the post production stage of the film. Showing that for future projects I should always come up with at least one back up plan as well as the original plan to still allow sufficient time for editing and post production.

Finally, the last part of the feedback that we received was that there could have been more elements of storytelling within the film. Again, after looking at our film I would agree with this comment as we missed out on opportunities to get some more engaging and different footage. One example being that instead of just showing Jack placing the wood on the fire and lighting it, we could have had Jack cutting logs in the garden and then gathering them and brining them inside to put on the fire. There was an opportunity in which to have captured other elements of Jack’s life and this would have also made the shots within the film more varied. I think that we were lacking within the actual story of the film/interview. We could have showed other elements of the house and of Jack’s life within the film, instead of it purely being the interview of Jack and his house which made it repetitive.

Overall, I am happy with how our film turned out and I think that we worked well together as a group in order to have our film as a final product. With this being the first official film that I have made while at university I am happy with how it turned out. However, I have also learnt from the process of making this film that there are areas in which I could improve and work on for future projects.