Entry 1 – Ideas and Inspiration

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Initially, being given a brief that was so open to interpretation was very intimidating to me. I worried about which route I should take creatively, as well as conceptually. After a long few weeks of trying to generate ideas, I eventually decided that I would like to create another short film. I felt like the whole learning process from my ‘The Work’ project was thoroughly enjoyable and creatively satisfying, getting to grips with video editing software and using Pro Tools for my post-production audio workflow. After deciding this however, I then spent another few weeks struggling for ideas conceptually. Whilst browsing YouTube, I stumbled upon a fan-made documentary about seminal U.S punk band, Black Flag and it really inspired me. I loved the intimacy of the video, with the creator, Aaron Michael Thomas having produced, edited and narrated the entire project himself. I felt that I too, could harness my passion and knowledge of a band that I love, and create a documentary in a similar style, again developing my skillset in video and audio editing. 

 

This decision serendipitously coincided with my learning of a Video Production Intern vacancy at the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. I decided to apply for the job, and within the job description I found various things that would tie in perfectly with the ideas and plans that I had for my DYOP work. For instance, the main responsibility of the RSNO job was to “Compile, organise and edit existing video footage, working within the brand guidelines to create short videos for commercial output”. 

 

Choosing to create a short documentary, using various existing video footage as well as photographs and audio, to me, seemed like the perfect opportunity to showcase my abilities in line with the job that I was applying for. This, coupled with the openness of the brief meant that I could also be creative and pick the subject matter.  This really inspired me to get to work, planning, researching, compiling and editing. 

 

One of the other key requirements for the position was that the applicant must be able to use Adobe Premiere Pro confidently for editing videos. Up until this point, I had only used Final Cut Pro X. I decided at this stage to use this opportunity to create my documentary in Adobe Premiere Pro, learning as I went. This proved to be very difficult, time consuming and frustrating to begin with, but my workflow became organised and pragmatic quite quickly. I am very glad I chose to work in APP as it has stood me in good stead for my RSNO interview, and it improves my flexibility and skillset for any future industry work. 

 

I chose to do my documentary on one of my favourite bands, Thee Oh Sees. I picked this band as I have always found them to be extremely fascinating with an incredible story, having formed over 20 years ago, touring all over the world and releasing albums under many different line-ups and names. They are also a phenomenal live band, and I was sure there would be lots of footage that would make for an interesting documentary. I also looked online extensively and I couldn’t see any film of this type on the band, so I saw this as a ‘gap in the market’ so to speak. I didn’t want to just churn out another video on a band that people already know all about. This was the perfect opportunity to tell the story of a fairly underground band, using my skills and creativity to do so.  

 

 

 

 

Entry 2 – Research and Development

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The first part of my planning process was to research the videos that I had been inspired by. I re-watched the Black Flag documentary several times, taking notes as I went along. As I had never created a documentary before, I wanted to tune in to the subtleties of video editing, looking out for things like transitions, when the VO would commence, and which techniques were used to make photos more interesting such as zooming or panning. I even reached out to the creator on Twitter for advice, who initially said that he would help me, but unfortunately he never actually ended up getting back to me. Re-watching the video many times however, gave me so many pointers and ideas of how I could create a documentary that would be cohesive, but creative and interesting, using visual and audio tools subtly together. 

 

I decided early on in the planning process that I wanted my documentary to tell the story of the band from start to finish. To do this, I used the band’s Wikipedia page as the basis for most of my information, often referencing other sources in order to make sure all of the information was correct. From this, I created a loose voiceover script. I found that there was an overwhelming amount of information in this document, and some of it didn’t feel massively relevant, or at least to me it didn’t reinforce the story that I wanted to tell. With this in mind, I decided to refine the script, cutting some sections, making sure it flowed well when I read it out loud. 

 

Simultaneously, I compiled various types of video footage such as the band performing, interviews, music videos and excerpts of the band’s music used as sync in TV shows. I also compiled a huge library of images of the band members, their releases, local music venues and other relevant photographs and artworks. Finally, I gathered audio from live performances and official releases. I categorized and renamed all of this media and organised it into folders so that it would be much easier to import and reference throughout the entire editing process. This proved to be a very good decision, as I ended up having to compile about double the amount of media to make sure I had enough to suit the contents of the voiceover script. Keeping everything organised in this manner, although quite tedious to begin with, ended up speeding up my overall workflow so much. 

 

In terms of recording, I had initially thought about asking a friend or a voice actor to record the narration as I don’t have much confidence in the conviction of my voice. I felt that a voice actor for example, having had experience in similar settings, would bring a real professional edge to the video. 

 

However, unfortunately Covid-19 restrictions meant that I couldn’t invite anyone into my house where I was conducting all of the recording and editing. I chose to record the script myself over the course of a day. Again, this was quite new to me, so I conducted research into the best way to record voiceover. I also looked into plug-ins that I could use to make sure my voice was clear, legible and prominent with no audio faults such as clicks, pops or plosives. This would mean that the video would be accessible to people of all ages, so that they could watch the video without straining to hear the narration. The narration Afterall, is the one constant, guiding the viewer/listener through the documentary, often explaining the relevance of the visual elements.

 

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Entry 3 – Editing

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I was quite shocked at the sheer amount of work involved in creating a documentary. This was in part, due to the fact that I was getting used to a new software, and also in part due to the lengthy, in-depth voiceover script that I had recorded. I decided again, early on in the ingesting process to chop up the Voiceover script and take out some parts. I found that there were some sections that seemed unnecessary, causing the script to feel monotonous and boring. This could also have been a bi-product of the voiceover not being done by a voice actor. I feel the voiceover was done very well in the Black Flag documentary, despite it being done by the video producer. I did try to take pointers from the style of this narration, but I did feel that editing some long, drawn out parts was necessary in my case. 

 

Adobe

I began by importing all of the media assets that I had into my Adobe Premiere Pro (APP) library. After this, I imported my voiceover into the session timeline as the basis for how the story would be told. I then began to import media into the timeline which would run alongside the main VO. I noticed at first that everything seemed a bit too obvious and elementary, running a bit like a slideshow of holiday photos. I looked back on my notes from the Black Flag documentary, noticing that often offsetting the visual elements from the narration slightly made for a much more natural and comfortable flow, as did the use of subtle visual effects such as zooming, panning and blended transitions. I maintained this process the entire way through the editing stage. Having said that, I did leave a lot of these elements loosely finished, as I wanted to have a full rough edit done first before refining each segment. 

 

It took around 4 x 8 hour days to get the timeline looking nearly finished, with enough media to compliment the contents of the VO. I then went through the edit piece by piece, refining things such as the timing and length of the visual effects, sometimes removing images completely and opting to extend video parts. This was all for the greater good of creating something that had a natural visual and sonic flow. One instance of this was when I spoke about an album release in the VO, but what was on screen was a video of the band performing at a festival. I initially imported a photo of the album cover that transitioned over the performance footage. However, I decided to completely remove the photo, realising that it interrupted the flow of the band performing, and with the listener still hearingabout the album’s release, it seemed like overkill to disrupt the video footage just to reinforce the point of the album’s release. 

 

In terms of audio, the VO was quite straight forward as I had already refined and edited that. For the music and video parts however, I created a rough mix in the timeline of how I wanted each clip to transition, using automation within the software to do this. I felt like I got to grips with the audio editing within APP quite well, and I planned to finish the entire mix here. I learned the hard way however, that automating the volume of tracks in write mode completely wrote over the original audio. This meant that when I went back to refine the blending of clips, I had no extra audio to play with in terms of extending the fade out/in of different clips so I knew this would cause problems.  

 

Pro Tools

After noticing my error of automating my audio in write mode, I decided that I would export the video into Pro Tools with the audio attached as a guide. I then imported all of the initial audio tracks that I had in a separate folder and synced them up with the footage on screen, across different tracks to allow lots of room for blending. I was then able to fade each audio clip in and out with the next, making for no obvious and rough cuts sonically. I probably could have done this in APP, but I feel much more comfortable working on audio manipulation in Pro Tools as I have much more experience within it, so this is why I chose to work across these two platforms. 

 

The combination of different audio elements was something I noticed was done well in the Black Flag documentary as it makes the entire video much more watchable as it has a much more seamless, consistent flow. Another thing I had learned from a previous project I had worked on, was that video hosting sites such as YouTube and Vimeo have legal sonic requirements. I had already done this research, so I got to work mixing my session to the required standard of -14 LUFS as the average loudness. This process was a lot quicker than in my previous project, as I already had all the software, plug-ins and knowledge necessary to do it well. I then exported this audio as three separate files. Left sync, Right sync and VO. I imported this back into APP and panned the left and right audio files slightly off centre, and I positioned the VO pan to the centre. This gave a bit more spatialisation to my mix, again making the VO clearer, whilst still being able to hear all of the nuances of the sync audio. The final stage in APP was to add titles to the beginning and credits to the end of the video. I decided however, that the long list of credits, references and sources I used for the video footage should be left out of the video, and I would compile a list of these into a blurb which would sit in a description box/blurb alongside my video on a hosting site such as Vimeo or YouTube. This, to me felt like it would make the video a lot neater and more professional looking, whilst still being aware of the copyright issues around using footage without the consent of the original creators/owners. 

 

 

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Entry 4 – The Finished Product and Final Thoughts

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Overall, I am very happy with how my documentary turned out. Throughout 4thyear, I have thoroughly enjoyed the whole process of learning, gaining experience and developing my skillset within programs such as Final Cut Pro X, Adobe Premiere Pro and Pro Tools. This project especially, with reference to the RSNO job, was the perfect opportunity for me to delve into a new editing software and extensively use features such as visual effects, transitions and titles. I kept in mind the idea of keeping the video within a brand identity so I always tried to tie in elements like the font, titles, and any other text with the aesthetics of the band. It was a real learning curve trying to merge photos and video footage of massively different qualities together, into one cohesive piece. I feel however that I did manage this, and the consistent, well rounded VO helped these elements to flow together. Having said this, I do really wish that I was able to get an experienced voice actor to record the voiceover. Perhaps it is just paranoia, but I felt at times that my voice was a bit monotone, and the VO in general could have done with a bit more character to make the video more engaging and put across the passion that I have for the band.  

 

Final Thoughts

Conceptually, I wanted to create an interesting documentary with varying footage that told the story of one of my favourite bands and I believe that I succeeded in that. I feel however, that my piece lacks a little bit of finesse which probably comes down to my lack of experience and the fact that this was the first documentary I had worked on. I do feel much better placed however, going into my interview with RSNO, having had the initiative to research, practice and develop my skills in video editing in a new software and in a different context. With reference to the job description, I successfully researched, compiled, organised, ingested and edited various media formats into a cohesive piece with a clear aesthetic both visually and sonically. I took this project as an opportunity to prepare myself for life after university, entering the creative industries. With this in mind, I am glad that I chose to focus on one particular route – video editing. The fact that this decision coincided with applying for a Video Production job was merely happenstance, but it really has stood me in good stead for working in this industry. I am leaving university having gained valuable learning experience across various platforms and softwares, researching industry requirements too, such as loudness limits, visual stipulations and copyright issues. 

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Entry 5 – The Brief

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When I initially set out to write the brief, I thought back to a module that I did in 3rdyear called ‘Short Sound Film’. In this unit, I was tasked with filming and editing a video for the first time based on the word ‘dereliction’. I thought that the layout and general contents of this brief would be a logical starting point for designing my own brief, given the fact the projects were pretty similar. I managed to track down the Short Sound Film brief and I examined the parts that were also true to what I wanted to focus on in my DYOP project. I created a first draft of my brief and presented this to the class early on in this module. I was given some valuable feedback here such as recommendations to include the software I must work within, and other specifics such as how long the video should be and the ability to demonstrate a knowledge of the industry standard loudness requirements.

 

After applying for the RSNO job, I realised that it would be pragmatic and sensible to integrate elements of that job description into my brief, so that my DYOP project could be tailored to the type of work I would like to do post-university. With this in mind, I adjusted my brief and changed the deliverables so that I could demonstrate my audio visual and creative abilities and experience in a relevant manner. I incorporated things like the software required to work for this employer (Adobe Premiere Pro) as well as other requirements such as the video length, a copy of the voiceover script and other deliverables. 

 

The very concept of creating my own brief felt quite strange. On one hand, I felt that I had been given free rein to literally create my own project, and tailor the brief to suit my finished product. However, I was completely aware that there is a reason for this brief being so open. It was an opportunity to demonstrate an understanding of industry standards and common requirements and deliverables expected of employees in the line of work I want to enter into. 

With reference to university briefs for various different modules, job description and applicant requirements for the RSNO job and feedback from classmates and my lecturer, I feel that I was able to create a brief that allowed me to have some autonomy and be creative, but also be able to demonstrate the skills and experience that I have developed in video and audio production, all the while sticking to strict brief guidelines such as software and video length stipulations. This has been an invaluable exercise in preparing me for life after university, as it has made me aware of how best to be creative and conceptual, whilst adhering to the requirements of a brief in a professional manner. 

 

Sometimes a brief can look like a set of instructions, and sometimes it can be quite open to interpretation. I chose to combine these elements, enabling myself to create something I am proud of, whilst clearly demonstrating my abilities across various disciplines.