For my final major project I want to create a cinematic reel to show off locations around the UK and for me to show off a wide range of techniques that I have learnt over the past 2 years.
Research
I really like the style of deliver a feeling, they used two completely different styles. They used a documentary style to tell the story with elements of a cinematic sequence to showcase the areas they were visiting. I feel this gave the video a unique style and I wanted to try and use this style in my own video.
I like the style of this video, I really liked the cinematic shots as I feel they showcase the high level technical skills, which I wanted to showcase in my film. I was looking at all the techniques and equipment that they used to see what I would be able to recreate.
This video had a similar style with the cinematic shots and the unique story behind it. I really like all the shots and how they were edited together. It was the seamless edit which I wanted to take and use in my own film.
I really liked all the shots that they got of the locations and the way they edited all the clips together to tell a really touching story. I liked the way they merged the story with the footage and I found it really effective. I wanted to try and take some of the techniques they used and adapt them in mine.
I liked they way that they showed the environment to enhance the story they were telling. I feel it always attracts the audience attention when the shots a aesthetically pleasing.
I loved all the shots used in this video and the amazing locations that they used and how they used the smallest objects into powerful shots. I really want to use remote locations in my film and showcase wonders of the world.
I have been wanting to show off my cinematography skills with my final. I love the style of the videos above they are all visual with a voice over telling a story.
Possible Topics/ Themes
For my final major project, I have decided to tell a story through visuals and a voice over. I want to be able to show off what I can do with a camera.
In the end I decided I wanted to create a video based around showing off natural beauty spots in the UK and Eventually all over the world. I wanted this project to be apart of a larger series of videos.
Possible Music
This is the music I have decided to use in my video because I liked the way that the music changed and fitted the theme I wanted in my video. I was able to link up my video to the music to make it fit and complement the footage.
Possible locations
Pembrokeshire is a small coastal town in Wales. We had been planning to go there on a family holiday in the easter break. Some of the scenery and coastline looks incredible in the right weather.
https://www.visitpembrokeshire.com/
https://www.visitpembrokeshire.com/
St Michaels Mount, Marazion, Cornwall. I have been to this location several times before. In the sun the location looks amazing. As it is secluded its well looked after and the path way looks amazing when the tide comes in. Unfortunately due to the pandemic they have close for the foreseeable future.
https://www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk/
https://www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk/
High Force Durham, Verdant scenery and fast-flowing waterfalls give High Force the air of a Costa Rican jungle, but it can be found in County Durham.
One of England's most spectacular waterfalls, it has a 21m drop into the beautiful plunge pool below.
https://www.thisisdurham.com/things-to-do/high-force-waterfall-closed-until-further-notice-p26441
One of England's most spectacular waterfalls, it has a 21m drop into the beautiful plunge pool below.
https://www.thisisdurham.com/things-to-do/high-force-waterfall-closed-until-further-notice-p26441
Kynance Cove, Cornwall, England Cited as one of the most photographed and painted locations in Cornwall, with beautiful white sand and blue sea.
https://www.visitcornwall.com/beaches/west-cornwall/lizard/kynance-cove
https://www.visitcornwall.com/beaches/west-cornwall/lizard/kynance-cove
My Location Inspiration
I have been wanting to film in photogenic places which look aesthetically pleasing on camera. I have been looking online at the best places in the UK and here is where I got my inspiration from.
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/uk/uk-best-places-visit-premier-inn-high-force-falls-tinside-lido-langamull-beach-a8368546.html
https://www.gigaplaces.com/en/gigalist-the-most-beautiful-places-in-sw-england/
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/uk/uk-best-places-visit-premier-inn-high-force-falls-tinside-lido-langamull-beach-a8368546.html
https://www.gigaplaces.com/en/gigalist-the-most-beautiful-places-in-sw-england/
Equipment Research
I started watching reviews and tutorials about the drone and gimbal I brought to see how I could get the most out of them also to see what they were capable of. This really helped me to plan the type of shots I wanted to get.
DJI Mavic Mini Drone
Here is a test shot that I took with the DJI Mavic Mini Drone
DJI Ronin S Gimbal
After Lockdown
What I am planning to do
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I have had to adapt my idea to work with the restrictions in place which means I have had to change my slightly. I have decided to create some tutorial videos about camera techniques I wanted to use in my final film.
I am still going to create some tutorial videos to help improve my skills and techniques.
I am still going to create some tutorial videos to help improve my skills and techniques.
I also had an idea to create a concept piece for my final film, to be able to show what I wanted create myself but using archive footage.
I have decided to create a concept piece to hand in for my final film as I was able to what I wanted to create.
I have decided to create a concept piece to hand in for my final film as I was able to what I wanted to create.
Editing research
I wanted to use this time during Lockdown to learn some new techniques and to improve my workflow in Premiere pro. I was watching a range of video on youtube and Linkden learning.
Final Film
Evaluation
When we were given the brief for our final film. I really wanted to create a video that shows off my skills I have learnt as a camera operator in the past 2 years. This is when I came up with the idea called (Our World). I wanted a cinematic video which shows off visually pleasing locations.
For my research, I started looking into a wide range of videos from planet earth to youtube videos that have been created as a visual escape for the world. I really liked the way they included a range of techniques and the use of a wide range of equipment from cameras to drones. This appealed to me as I wanted to experiment with the use of a range of equipment and I have recently purchased a drone and I wanted to add some aesthetic drone shots to my portfolio as I am looking into drone operating as a career.
After finding a range of examples online, I started to think about the type of music I wanted to use and if I wanted to use copyright free or copyrighted music. I decided against copyrighted music because it would limit the platform that I can share the video on as well as causing possible issues down the road. I was looking at a few youtube channels which create copyright free music and some of the music sounds good and would work with a small variety of work but most of the music sounds very generic and not useful for video projects.
I had originally planned to film the first location of my project in the first week of April 3rd - 7th as I was going to pembrokeshire on a family holiday. I thought I would be able to kill two birds with one stone and shoot while I was on holiday. I was still in the process of planning when I would be able to visit the other locations while still giving myself enough time to edit the video before the hand in date.
We got hit by the global pandemic which caused us to go into lockdown which ultimately meant I was restricted to the amount of distance and time outside. After the university was shut down due to the restrictions released by the government, we all had to turn our work onto online.
This caused a wide range of advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantages were that I wasn’t able to travel to any of my chosen locations around the UK which meant I couldn’t create my initial idea but an advantage was that it has given me more time to plan my idea out and I have been able to research into more films that are similar or follow the same style I was looking for. I have been able to look at a range of tutorials on a range of camera techniques and I have been given inspiration to create my own tutorials to show the process of me trying out some of the techniques I want to use and how I plan on achieving them.
I was really disappointed that I wasn’t able to create my original idea for my final project as it would have been a great way for me to finish the end of the year and it would have been a good way for me to show off what I have learnt and how I have progressed in my role as a cinematographer.
Due to the pandemic I was forced to rethink my original idea but I wanted to do something similar so I decided to look into tutorial videos and use it as a way for me to perfect different techniques.
I used archive footage for my final film due to use not being able to leave the house. There are a few different issues with using archive footage as it doesn’t belong to me it falls under the copyright. As I am only using short clips and using it for educational purposes it is fine for me to use without consent from the original creator. It is always good practise to contact the creators first to get permission just in case.
Whilst I was looking for music to use in my film, I went through YouTube to see if I could find some royalty free music that fitted my style of film. I found it really hard to find music that fitted the style of my film. After a couple days I finally found a soundtrack that fitted my style of video, unfortunately it had some lyrics in the song which didn’t fit so I attempted to edit the lyrics out which I managed to without it sounding weird. Even though I used royalty free music I still have to obey the copyright laws. These are really important to follow as you can get into a lot of trouble and potentially face large fines.
When I was looking for footage I wanted to use in my concept video, I wanted to make sure that the footage matched my style of filming and that fits my editing styles. I was looking for shots that were really smooth and had the cinematic feel whilst using a wide range of locations and subjects. I was able to teach myself new ways of improving my editing workflow and increase my productivity. This came in really useful as I am now able to take these new skills and techniques with me into other projects I work.
This pandemic has taught me how to be more creative with limited resources. It has also been a good way for me to learn and experiment with a wide range of software from Frame.io to Red Giant. Due to the pandemic I was still able to create my project to the standard I was aiming for but from home.
After I had finished my film, I sent it out for some feedback and I received a range of positive and negative feedback.
I had a few small improvements like adding fades at the start and end of the video and as my footage was archive some of the clip quality wasn’t as good as others. This is due to the compression rate and it can be easily fixed by using a different compression tool. There were a few glitches throughout the video which I have now gone back through and fixed. This was due to the clips being edited from a longer sequence and the cut not being a frame out.
The rest of the feedback I received was positive and they really liked the video and thought it showed off what I wanted it to. Another comment was that I had chosen great clips and edited them together well and I used the music intuitively as a guide track which helped the edit flow.
Overall I am really pleased with the way that my final film turned out. Obviously I would have liked to create the project with my own footage and the original idea. I was really pleased with the feedback I received and I used some of the feedback to make changes to my film to make sure it was the best it could be.
If I was able to recreate this project out of lockdown, I would make sure that I plan out for each location and what I want to capture and how I want them to flow into each other. Ultimately I should have continued to plan my idea out properly just in case we came out of lockdown before the hand in date but I decided not to, as I wanted to focus on my new project.
For my research, I started looking into a wide range of videos from planet earth to youtube videos that have been created as a visual escape for the world. I really liked the way they included a range of techniques and the use of a wide range of equipment from cameras to drones. This appealed to me as I wanted to experiment with the use of a range of equipment and I have recently purchased a drone and I wanted to add some aesthetic drone shots to my portfolio as I am looking into drone operating as a career.
After finding a range of examples online, I started to think about the type of music I wanted to use and if I wanted to use copyright free or copyrighted music. I decided against copyrighted music because it would limit the platform that I can share the video on as well as causing possible issues down the road. I was looking at a few youtube channels which create copyright free music and some of the music sounds good and would work with a small variety of work but most of the music sounds very generic and not useful for video projects.
I had originally planned to film the first location of my project in the first week of April 3rd - 7th as I was going to pembrokeshire on a family holiday. I thought I would be able to kill two birds with one stone and shoot while I was on holiday. I was still in the process of planning when I would be able to visit the other locations while still giving myself enough time to edit the video before the hand in date.
We got hit by the global pandemic which caused us to go into lockdown which ultimately meant I was restricted to the amount of distance and time outside. After the university was shut down due to the restrictions released by the government, we all had to turn our work onto online.
This caused a wide range of advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantages were that I wasn’t able to travel to any of my chosen locations around the UK which meant I couldn’t create my initial idea but an advantage was that it has given me more time to plan my idea out and I have been able to research into more films that are similar or follow the same style I was looking for. I have been able to look at a range of tutorials on a range of camera techniques and I have been given inspiration to create my own tutorials to show the process of me trying out some of the techniques I want to use and how I plan on achieving them.
I was really disappointed that I wasn’t able to create my original idea for my final project as it would have been a great way for me to finish the end of the year and it would have been a good way for me to show off what I have learnt and how I have progressed in my role as a cinematographer.
Due to the pandemic I was forced to rethink my original idea but I wanted to do something similar so I decided to look into tutorial videos and use it as a way for me to perfect different techniques.
I used archive footage for my final film due to use not being able to leave the house. There are a few different issues with using archive footage as it doesn’t belong to me it falls under the copyright. As I am only using short clips and using it for educational purposes it is fine for me to use without consent from the original creator. It is always good practise to contact the creators first to get permission just in case.
Whilst I was looking for music to use in my film, I went through YouTube to see if I could find some royalty free music that fitted my style of film. I found it really hard to find music that fitted the style of my film. After a couple days I finally found a soundtrack that fitted my style of video, unfortunately it had some lyrics in the song which didn’t fit so I attempted to edit the lyrics out which I managed to without it sounding weird. Even though I used royalty free music I still have to obey the copyright laws. These are really important to follow as you can get into a lot of trouble and potentially face large fines.
When I was looking for footage I wanted to use in my concept video, I wanted to make sure that the footage matched my style of filming and that fits my editing styles. I was looking for shots that were really smooth and had the cinematic feel whilst using a wide range of locations and subjects. I was able to teach myself new ways of improving my editing workflow and increase my productivity. This came in really useful as I am now able to take these new skills and techniques with me into other projects I work.
This pandemic has taught me how to be more creative with limited resources. It has also been a good way for me to learn and experiment with a wide range of software from Frame.io to Red Giant. Due to the pandemic I was still able to create my project to the standard I was aiming for but from home.
After I had finished my film, I sent it out for some feedback and I received a range of positive and negative feedback.
I had a few small improvements like adding fades at the start and end of the video and as my footage was archive some of the clip quality wasn’t as good as others. This is due to the compression rate and it can be easily fixed by using a different compression tool. There were a few glitches throughout the video which I have now gone back through and fixed. This was due to the clips being edited from a longer sequence and the cut not being a frame out.
The rest of the feedback I received was positive and they really liked the video and thought it showed off what I wanted it to. Another comment was that I had chosen great clips and edited them together well and I used the music intuitively as a guide track which helped the edit flow.
Overall I am really pleased with the way that my final film turned out. Obviously I would have liked to create the project with my own footage and the original idea. I was really pleased with the feedback I received and I used some of the feedback to make changes to my film to make sure it was the best it could be.
If I was able to recreate this project out of lockdown, I would make sure that I plan out for each location and what I want to capture and how I want them to flow into each other. Ultimately I should have continued to plan my idea out properly just in case we came out of lockdown before the hand in date but I decided not to, as I wanted to focus on my new project.