So here is our first video - Gary Van De Berg-Burgh looking around and ultimately failing to find the big cat which was apparently prowling around Gloucestershire at the end of January this year.
The brief for this video was to create a piece which could be embedded on the Visit Gloucestershire website to show off what Gloucestershire has to offer to visitors.
After coming up with the idea for the project, we split up the roles like so:
Ciara: Director
Leo: Sound
Rob: Camera
Me: Script, editing.
Rather than do the usual video showing wide pans of the countryside and shots of landmarks around the county, we thought we would take these traditional elements and add them into a viral-like video. Viral videos will take elements of comedy or something 'quirky' to ultimately advertise something.
We wanted to take the advent of big cats being talked about in the news and add a comical element of a rubbish game hunter. Aesthetically we wanted an amateur look, not bothering to check white balance, exposure or focus settings on the camera - thinking that this would add to the look of Gary's ineptitude. Similarly, we made sure that the camera man, Maurice, was heard and that Leo dropped the boom mike into shot every now and then. When it came to editing, we went for a slap-dash look, adding in bits which would add to Gary's character - that he's more interested in himself being on camera rather than finding the cat.
In the interests of keeping the feel amateur, we wanted to do things quickly, so we shot all the footage we'd need in two hours the day after we'd decided what we were going to do. We didn't get all the editing done unto a couple of weeks afterwards, only because of scheduling conflicts. Ideally, it would have been better to get the editing done within a week and get it out while the story was still in the public consciousness.
I shall come back with a post soon with more conclusions on the project, and shall of course post when we decide on our next project too!
