What went well & why

Writing the narration, before I started mapping out the video shots, really helped me focus down on what I wanted to say. As a consequence of this, I rejected my first idea as being unfeasible within the time allowed. This saved me a whole heap of time. Whilst the narration continued to change as the project progressed, it was only relatively minor changes.

Putting together the first cut of the film was really simple as a consequence of undertaking detailed storyboarding. By matching the narrative against different shots in the storyboard, I was quickly able to put the film together in the video software once I had undertaken the shots. This is something I hadn’t done before and I will certainly be continuing this practice into the future.

The filming I undertook in Estonia (representing a wild landscape) went really well. I knew before I headed out that, if I didn’t get the right shots, I would not be able to go back and reshoot. As a consequence I spent significantly more time storyboarding this aspect of the film. By doing this I was able to quickly get the shots I need and the ‘story’ of myself walking through a wood looked really good. In the end I had to cut a lot of the shots as I didn’t have time to include them in this film, however it has given me the idea of a new film “a walk in the woods” in which I will use the spare footage.

What didn’t go well & why

Signs – I had initially had the idea of using ‘warning’ signs to give a visual representation of ‘control’. This was to move from road signs in Manchester, to self produced ‘warning signs’ in the Lake District. Whilst I still like this idea in principle, it really did not work within the context of this film. I think this was because the narrative was so wide ranging and complex, that the ‘sign’ motif got lost. I will be using the signs again in a smaller, puncher film about wildlife being prohibited in the Lake District.

Drone footage – You can get some really dramatic footage with drones, however I had some real trouble in getting shots I felt were good enough to use in the film. The big problem I had was that the final footage was jerky – In order to fit a landscape pan into the time I had available I had to speed up the footage. This had the effect of making the footage ‘jerky’ and I lost the smooth pan I was looking for. For the landscape pan I went back and tried shooting at a higher shutter speed and in 4K (I had previously been shooting in HD) but this didn’t really seem to help. It may be that, with the wind blowing hard, the drone was moving about too much for the footage to be really ‘still’. In the end, I used a horizontal pan which gave me the smooth look I was after. The drone footage in Estonia I could not reshoot. This footage is still ‘jerky’ and I don’t like it. I will have to spend some time working on this if the production values I aspire to are met using drone footage.

Audio – Trying to get good audio of wind was not as easy as I thought. It was either too loud, and distorting, or too soft and hardly audible. I did not dedicate enough time to do this aspect of the project and fell into the trap, described early in the course, of focusing all upon the images. Next time I will give myself dedicated time to get audio, rather than just ‘tacking’ it on to video shoots.

I spent an afternoon recording footage on my drone (or thinking I did) just to find out that I was pressing the wrong button on the controller and hadn’t got any footage. Doh!!!!!

What would I do differently

Create a separate document for audio, outlining the recordings I need, and then dedicate time to delivering this.

Check the video footage in the field rather than just assuming I have got the shots. This would enable me to check that the footage had actually been captured in the way I wanted.

By checking the footage in the field I would be able to delete shots that I did not like. This would reduce the amount of storage I needed and make the editing process easier as well as flagging up the fact that I had pressed the wrong button.

I will use manual focus on the good lens as you can hear the focus wheel grind in some shots. It is too late to go back and reshoot so I will have to hope people don’t notice. If I ant use manual focus (for whatever reason) then I will need to record the audio separately.

The narrative for this shot is “Britain is on of the worlds most nature depleted countries in the world and the Lake District fells bare sorry testament to that”

I need to have a shot that somehow demonstrates the above. It is difficult to think how this could be achieved for an audience that does not have any training in ecology.

Using DSLR

Long shot of landscape – with and without pan

There is a good depth to this shot, with rocks in the foreground. However the manual ‘pan’ on my tripod is jerky, partly because I am not very experienced at doing this yet but also because the tripod head I using is not designed for video.

Long shot of landscape from low angle

I undertook the shot with a camera very close to the ground and then change the focus from the foreground to the distance. I really like the effect of this. However the perspective is such that you cannot see a great deal of the landscape. Therefore I’m not sure that it conveys the message that I want to get across. However I will definitely use this type of shot again.

Using drone – pan vertical

Using the drone means perspective of the shot is much higher and therefore more of the landscape can be seen. This is good when I’m trying to convey a message of scale i.e. there is miles and miles of bugger all. However you do lose some depth in the shot. This is ameliorated somewhat by the vertical pan where you can see the ground just underneath the drone. I think reversing the shot so that it starts on the ground and then pans up to the distance would be a better way of working.

Using drone – pan horizontal

This was the type of shop that I initially thought would be the best. And whilst it certainly covers the widest possible area and therefore best demonstrates the scale, it does not provide any depth to The shot as the vertical pan does. One thing I’ve also found with the drone shots as sometimes the pan it self can be jerky. This may well be as a result of high winds when I’ve been flying the drone, or it may be down to poor flying skills from myself.

One thing I would do differently next time is to find a landscape which doesn’t have a road in it. In a film about rewilding I think I probably ought to be finding places that doesn’t have any obvious human infrastructure. However the Kirkstone pass where this was primarily shot is easy to get to by car and was therefore a practical option.

Treeless landscape

In order to communicate a nature free landscape I have played with the idea of using ‘trees’ to represent ‘nature’ in the eyes of the viewer. To this end I tried a number of different types of shot. To help with the narrative I designed a simple sign (see below) in order to place in a landscape.

Horizontal pan with DSLR

As with the discussion above, the ground level horizontal pan does not show a great deal of the landscape.

Drone pull away

This method enabled the sign to be prominent in the viewers vision, before using the drone to pull away and pan around would enable to viewer to see the treeless landscape.

I really like the idea of this shot as I think it gives a stark visual representation of the treeless landscape. However there are a number of issues with integrating it into the film. The major issue was the amount of time needed for the shot to work well, which is something I did not have. I tried to compensate for this by ‘speeding up’ the film. However this made the footage shaky and I felt the production values dropped (this is something that impacted on a number of the drone shots).

I tried to get around this by clipping the two shots above together, one showing a close up of the sign followed by clipping to the drone panning around. Whilst this improved the situation with regards the timing, I thought it lost the drama. As a consequence I have decided not to use this shot in this film in order than it can be given greater prominence in a more focused short film.

So, above is the first draft of the film i will be submitting as part of the course. So Dom, if you are reading this, feedback would be much appreciated. 🙂

A few things that i have learnt through this process.

1. Dom was right, if you pre-plan all your shots, then the actual editing process is actually quite straightforward. You simply put the clip above the narration and Bobs yer uncle. I have never edited a video this fast before.
2. As suggested in previous posts, i have really got far more shots than i need. This is true for all of the scenes in the film. In hindsight i would not have spent as long in the field although i guess this just comes with experience.
3. At the moment i find it hard to know which shots will ‘work’ or not until i see them on the screen. As a consequence, when i was shooting in Estonia, i started to view every take of each shot. This meant that i could delete takes i didn’t like or change the type of shot if it wasn’t working. This saved myself both time in the sense that i didn’t have to return to get shots, as well as back home when i didn’t have to go through a series of takes to find the best one.
4. Quickly cutting between different shots doesn’t work as well as i thought it would.
5. My posh camera lens makes a noise when focusing that can be heard on the audio – Grrrrrrrrrr. manual focus for me from now on unless i want to use a separate recording device.
6. Audio – Despite being warned, i didn’t spend enough time focused on this aspect of the film.
7. Don’t try and undertake major pans with your own camera, do the panning in the editing suite, it is much, much smoother.

My thoughts on the first draft

Whilst editing the audio i managed to introduce ‘clicks’ (in the places i have edited it). This is bloody annoying and will need sorting out.

I had tried to put a ‘motif’ of signs all the way through the film. Not sure that it really works. Certainly when shown to my wife, she didn’t seem to ‘get it’ at all. Think i might be trying to be too clever again.

When i introduce the ‘cattle’ into the shot, i didn’t do an establishment shot, to show the viewer that we are looking at cattle in the woods. Whilst i might get away with it in this, short, film, it is definitely missing.

The opening shot, close up, talking to the camera, should not move as much as it does. I think this should just be one shot (instead of the two i am currently using). Less is more and all that jazz?

“But change is difficult, its risky” – I thought cutting back to the car park would work for this. It doesn’t. I need a different shot to represent this narrative and i am struggling.

I had thought that I wanted a music track to underpin the video, reaching a crescendo at the end. Not sure I do now. Will perhaps try it and see although I like the birdsong at the end

I have spent the last week in Estonia on a very important busman’s holiday. Given the lack of evening entertainment I was expecting to be able to put together the first version of my movie. However I appeared to be easily distracted in the evenings

As a consequence I didn’t manage to get as far as I hoped.

However I have managed to put together first versions of two (out of 5) of the video scenes.

Scene 1

Below is the opening scene. A variety of rewrites of the script has made this scene quite a bit shorter. Therefore a lot of the shots I took are redundant.

There are many aspects of this first scene that I am not sure about. This first scene is meant to set the story, it establishes where we start from but I am not sure the ‘flow’ is right. This may be a consequence of the editing it has undergone. Of interest is the transition between ‘music’ shot and me sitting on a chair looking over Kendal. I understand that transitions should not ‘fade’ but I felt this needed a transition that helped move the viewer from a ‘memory’ of the narrator, to the present day. Another ‘theme’ I am trying to establish here is the use of signs. These will be used throughout the film.

Scene 5

This is the final scene. It was shot in Estonia. Like Scene 1 I ended up shooting far more takes than I actually used. This is a common theme in me overestimating the number of different shots I can use over the narration.

It is worth noting that the software I am using to edit this video is one called LumaFusion on IPad. Whilst it is not as powerful as Adobe I find it much easier to work on and is more flexible (for instance scene 5 was edited on the plane coming home from Estonia).

Idea development & evaluation

This bank holiday weekend has involved a lot of work on my film. Of particular focus this weekend has been trying to get some shots to represent a denuded landscape, one devoid of life. When i was developing my ideas around this i had thought that using a ‘straightened river’ as being a good representation of humans control on the landscape and wildlife. Having researched locations for this i settled on Great Langdale beck and went out to shoot some footage. The river is in a horrendous state, perched on one edge of the valley and straightened and embanked. However having shot the video from a number of different angles, close up, mid shots, long shots and aerial with the drone, it became apparent that whilst i may appreciate the horrors on display, perhaps others might struggle. I could hear the shrug of the shoulders and the dismissal “its a river, innit”. This was born out when i spoke to a few people outside of my industry. I think river straightening is a film in itself. I therefore cast about for new ideas.

Location, location, location

I had long played with the idea of using a treeless landscape to represent a desolate, denuded landscape. A trip out on Friday persuaded me that Bampton Common, on the edge of Haweswater would be an idea place to shoot such a video. To help with the ‘message’ I had ordered a few signs (see below) to hammer the message home. I intended to shoot the ‘trees prohibited’ sign on the fell.

I planned out a couple of different types of shot, aerial and close ups, and headed up on Saturday collect the footage. After a few abortive attempts to get the shot i wanted i was fairly happy with the results. Getting some good aerial shots of the sign and the fell. I did have to put up with a few pesky horses who decided that i was a mobile cafe.

Scripts n’ Sounds

This weekend also marked the laying down of the audio track for the narration that would run throughout the video. I had already played about with the script quite but reading out loud really gave me a good idea of where i was going wrong. I spent quite some time rewriting the script so it ‘sounded’ right. I am now on version 14, which is reproduced below.

The major changes have really been to ‘simplify’ the words i am using as well as taking out superfluous words, something that avid, attentive and articulate readers of the is blog will have realised that i am somewhat prone to. As well as making the narrative easier to understand to the average watcher, it also has the advantage of bringing the length of the film down somewhat, at least to within spitting distance of the required time. i shall have to be careful that the pregnant pauses do not last to birth (unless it is the birth of enlightenment in the ways of righteousness – did i mention that i could sound verbose?) Anyway………

1. It’s all about control really. Not wanting anything to change. Conforming. I remember the first time that I lost control, truly lost control that is. At a gig in London.  The music, the beat. It got inside me, I’d never felt so free. It was that feeling that gave me the nerve to quit my job, look for something more meaningful. But change is difficult,  It’s risky.
2. Still, I left my job in the city and went to university. I took the risk. Now I work to protect wildlife in the Lake District. But I’d never have had the nerve without being willing to lose control.
3. I used to think the landscape in the Lake District was perfect. Nature wild and healthy. But it isn’t really. It’s actually in pretty poor shape. Sit still on the hillside and listen………nothing……….no birdsong at all. Britain is one of the worlds most nature depleted countries and the Lake District fells bare testament to that.
4. It’s all controlled, constrained. Traditional. Everything in its place. This means there is very little room left for wildlife to grow naturally. Large areas of land are barren, without a tree to be seen. Even working to protect wildlife we are forced to work in little boxes. Every bit of wildlife has to be authorised in the Lake District World Heritage Site
5. That’s why I love the idea of rewilding. It’s all about giving nature space to breath, to grow uninhibited. Doesn’t mean that we have to give up farming, abandon the land, but it does  mean we have to change the way we do it.  Work with nature, not against it and allow nature to go a bit wild.
6. We live all of our lives in straight lines. In little boxes. I think it’s healthy for us to climb out every so often. Being out in nature, in wild nature, means you lose a bit of control, but with this comes more awareness, more engagement. I think that’s  something we have lost. If we are to let nature back in, to our mountains and fells, and indeed inside ourselves, we have to be ready to change things. We have to give up a bit of control.

I have spent the weekend shooting some trial scenes in different locations. In Manchester I shot some ‘city’ shots. My plans to shoot commuters was not possible (it was a bank holiday weekend – Doh!) so I had to adapt my plans. Instead I shot at a tram/bus centre so whilst not getting commuters I was hopefully giving the feeling of ‘busy city’. I also explored the city to ring some decent shots of signs. The idea here being that the signs, prohibiting this and that, are examples of ‘control’, how we order our lives. I wish to try and cut these together.

I also spent a day looking for locations for the Lake District scenes. I think I now have a idea of where these will be shot.

I also trialled a type of shot I want to take in demonstrating that the fells are lifeless. This involves a drone circling around me whilst I stand in the middle of MAMBA. I am not sure whether I should be simply standing lone, or whether I should be holding a microphone (to represent me recording). I will replay the sound I capture during the video. One thing I did learn about this type of shot is that the slope cannot be too steep, as the drone struggles with the height difference. I have included some of the shots I have taken below.

Scene 1

It’s all about control really. Not wanting anything to change. Conforming. I remember the first time that I lost control, truly lost control that is. At a gig in London. The noise, the music, the beat. It got inside me, past my defences. I’d never felt so free. So whole. It was magical. It was that feeling that gave me the nerve to quit my job. Change is difficult, rejecting financial security, not accepting my place in life. All in search of independence and something more meaningful, something of real value. It’s risky

Scene 2

So I left my job at a bank, went to university, threw off societies constraints. Now I work to protect wildlife in the Lake District. But I’d never have had the bottle without being willing to lose control. Risks do pay off.

Scene 3

I used to think the landscape in the Lake District was perfect. Nature wild and true, healthy and wholesome. But it isn’t really. It’s actually in pretty poor shape. Sit still on the hillside and listen………nothing……….no birdsong at all. there is nothing here. Britain is one of the worlds most nature depleted countries in the world and the Lake District fells bare testament to that

I have shown my script to a few people and got positive feedback. Having timed myself speaking the script it come out at 2 minutes 20. Add in a bit of time for dramatic pauses and we are on for about 2 minutes 30.

I have now started to think about how I am going to shoot it and to start this process I subdivided the script into different ‘scenes’ and then, with several glasses of gin, started to brainstorm ideas for the type of shots that would fit the narrative.

Script

1. It’s all about control really. Not wanting anything to change. Conforming.

2. I remember the first time that I lost control, truly lost control that is. At a gig in London. The noise, the music, the beat. It got inside me, past my defences. I’d never felt so free. So whole. It was magical. It was that feeling that gave me the nerve to quit my job. Change is difficult, rejecting financial security, not accepting my place in life. All in search of independence and something more meaningful, something of real value. It’s risky.

3. So I left my job at a bank, went to university, threw off societies constraints. Now I work to protect wildlife in the Lake District. So lucky really, the risk payed off. But I’d never have had the bottle without being willing to lose control.

4. I used to think the landscape in the Lake District was perfect. Nature wild and true, healthy and wholesome. But it isn’t really. It’s actually in pretty poor shape. Sit still on the hillside and listen………nothing……….apart from sheep, there is nothing here. Britain is one of the worlds most nature depleted countries in the world and the Lake District is the jewel in that unwelcome crown.

5. It’s all controlled, managed, kept neat and tidy, constrained. Traditional. Everything in its place. You can see humans work almost everywhere. Even the rivers have been straightened and forced into neat lines. There is very little room for wild nature in the Lake District World Heritage Site. Even working to protect wildlife we are forced to work in little boxes. This field has to be a flower meadow. This fell is a woodland. We’re just large scale gardeners with landscape designs and planting guides.

6. That’s why I love the idea of rewilding. It’s all about giving nature space to breath, allowing it back in without forcing it into societies boxes. Doesn’t mean that we have to give up farming, abandon the land, but it does mean we have to change the way we do it. We have to be curious enough to give away a bit of control. Let nature go a bit wild.

7. There is something really special about being in a landscape that isn’t controlled by man. Peaceful and beautiful. We live all of our lives in straight lines. In little boxes. I think it’s healthy for us to climb out every so often. Being out in nature, in really wild nature, takes you out of the box. You are no longer in complete control. It is so liberating. It makes you feel whole, at peace, in harmony. It is something we have lost.

8. If we are to let nature back in, to our mountains and fells, and indeed inside ourselves, we have to be ready to change things. We have to give up control.

2.30

Brainstorming

Scene 1 – opening message – control

• 9 2 5 clock fast forward -represents working day

• Straight lines – in a city , might be a nice symmetry with straightened river/wall

• Mass exodus from train station – rush hour. Cars in rush hour.

• Signage – no entry, one way, no parking etc

Scene 2 – Losing control

• Ride gig, flashing lights, loud noise. Cut with signs? Saying no entry etc?

• Mad dancing in a forest? Looking silly? Might link quite well to rewilding theme

• Dancing in a forest at midnight

Scene 3 – Bank – SCO

• Speeded up footage, changing of the season? Night to day?

• Sunrise over the fells? Light dawning on a new period?

• Night to day? Turning of the constellations?

• Me silhouetted against skyline as sun comes up? Speeded up before going to ultra slow mo

•

Scene 4 – No wildlife

• Sheep eating grass – close up

• Long shot of shit hillside – cawdale etc

• NO TREES ALLOWED sign, perhaps zoom out

• Shot of me listening up cawdale, recording the sound of silence. No trees allowed

• Improved pasture.

• Soil erosion.

• Put up some statistics?

• SINGAGE – NO UNAUTHORISED WILDLIFE BEYOND THIS POINT

Scene 5 – A controlled and constrained landscape

• Straight lines in nature

• Straightened rivers, straight walls up a fell

• Penned sheep.

• WHS – no unauthorised wildlife beyond this point

• Long shot of field boundaries showing their boxi-ness

• Can I use a graphic showing a management plan? Boxing up the landscape, marking out areas,

• Mock up of a sign “nature please go into field xxxxxx” – “all wildlife to report to field x for housing” , “no nature allowed in this field, sheep only”

• Cut between straight roads and straight field walls.

Scene 6 – Cutting nature free

• Pictures of animals, birds, being free

• Flight of a bird, represents freedom – eagle?

• Bird taking flight – can I take video of hawk at bird of prey centre?

• Close up of hawk eye

• Cattle in wood? Ennerdale again? Focus on cattle when talk about farming – close up of cattle head, long shot of herd in the wood.

• Canary in a cage? Canary flying out of a cage? Falcon flying from a glove?

Scene 7 – Wild nature

• Ennerdale? Naddle Forest?

• Some good shots of red squirrels, badgers?

• Can I get some footage of golden eagles? Lynx?

• Showing the braided Ennerdale river would be good counterpoint tip straightened river

• Forest, woodland.

• Me dancing wild in the woodland – links to scene 1?

• Asleep in nature

• Birdsong

• Melting clock -counterpoint to fast forward clock

Scene 8 – Finale, the message

• Big shot, panning aerial shot of really wild place, Ennerdale? Estonia

After discussing the initial script i wrote with my wife, and getting a better appreciation as to the length of time (in seconds) a sentence actually takes to speak, my script has been amended.

I think i was trying to fit too much into too short a time. So, whilst i will continue with the theme i have chosen, i have decided to focus in on one theme (that of ‘control) and write the film around this. The script below will form the basis for a trial run. The next stage is to start writing a storyboard against it.

The script

It’s all about control really. Not wanting anything to change. Conforming. I remember the first time that I lost control, truly lost control that is. At a gig in London.  The noise, the music, the beat. It got inside me, past my defences. I’d never felt so free. So whole. It was magical. It was that feeling that gave me the nerve to quit my job. Change is difficult, rejecting financial security, not accepting my place in life. All in search of independence and something more meaningful, something of real value. It’s risky.

So I left my job at a bank, went to university, threw myself at the world. Now I work to protect wildlife in the Lake District. So lucky really, the risk payed off. But I’d never have had the bottle without being willing to lose control.

I used to think the landscape in the Lake District was perfect. Nature wild and true, healthy and wholesome. But it isn’t really. It’s actually in pretty poor shape. Sit still on the hillside and listen………nothing……….apart from sheep, there is nothing here. Britain is one of the worlds most nature depleted countries in the world and the Lake District is the jewel in that unwelcome crown.

It’s all controlled, managed, kept neat and tidy. Traditional. Everything in its place. You can see humans work almost everywhere. Even the rivers have been straightened and forced into neat lines. There is very little room for wild nature in the Lake District. Even working to protect wildlife we are forced to work in little boxes. This field has to be a flower meadow. This fell is a woodland. We’re just large scale gardeners with landscape designs and planting guides.

That’s why I love the idea of rewilding. It’s all about giving nature space to breath, allowing it back in without forcing it into societies boxes. Doesn’t mean that we have to give up farming, abandon the land, but it does  mean we have to change the way we do it. We have to be curious enough to give away a bit of control. Let nature go a bit wild.

There is something really special about being in a landscape that isn’t controlled by man. Peaceful and beautiful. We live all of our lives in straight lines. In little boxes. I think it’s healthy for us to climb out every so often. Being out in nature, in really wild nature, takes you out of the box. You are no longer in complete control. It is so liberating. It makes you feel whole, at peace, in harmony. It is something we have lost.

If we are to let nature back in, to our mountains and fells, and indeed inside ourselves, we have to be ready to change things. We have to give up control.