Final Outcome- Featurette

Music In The Round Featurette from Katherine Muldowney on Vimeo.

Featurette Shoot

As arranged with Simon, on the 1st of March we had the opportunity to film for our featurette the interviews with both pianist, Tim Horton, and page turner, Rachel Shirley. On this day we also filmed the final concert of the Haydn festival, including Tim's rehearsal beforehand. We were told when we arrived that we were on a very tight schedule, as the concert was to start promptly at 2:00pm that afternoon.
Before the concert began, we were given 10-15 minutes to film Tim's rehearsal.  I was the sound recorder for this shoot, but given the short timescale, I was unsure and unable to test as to whether it would be best to use the Zoom microphone or the shot-gun mic. I eventually settled on the shotgun mic, as there was a a lot of background noise which was beyond our control, and the shotgun mic picked up very little of this. It was after this that we got the opportunity to interview Tim, we used a two-camera set-up, with sound recorded through the shot-gun mic. Immediately as we started, I noticed that we had failed to used the clapper-board, Aidan had already began the interview and Tim was incredibly talkative, so there was no opportunity to re-take. We had barely gotten through half of our questions when we were hurried a long by the stage manager, so there was no time to rectify our mistake.
We had been reserved three seats in each corner of the studio, as we had all planned to have our own camera set-up in order to capture the concert from different angles. We originally intended to stay for Tim's performance only, but ended up staying for the entire concert. This actually turned out to be very beneficial, as although our film is predominantly about Tim, there is a mention of how musicians as a whole feel about their sacrifices and achievements. Also, Tim featured throughout the entire performance, not just on his own, so it was useful to get the extra footage.
Finally, we had the interview with Rachel, the page turner. At this point, the crew had began to dismantle the stage and move all of the instruments, so there was a lot of banging and background noise. Also, we had very little options available to us as to where we could stage her interview; in the end we were given a corner in the foyer, right in front of the stage door where everything was being transported. We conducted the interview regardless, as we were only able to stay for 15 minutes or so before the theatre was shutting. We used a 2 camera set-up, using the shot-gun mice for audio- and again, a clapper-board became an after thought. The interview itself though was successful, and Rachel gave us some really interesting material.
I think considering the extremely tight schedule, we did very well on this shoot and managed to gather some very interesting shots and material. There is just the matter in post-production, we're hoping that our fatal flaw in not using the clapperboard doesn't produce too many problems while trying to sync our visuals with the audio.

Blocking workshop

This session was about lighting and blocking, and gave us experience with setting up a scene in terms of the directors intentions, including lighting, directions of the characters and the position of the camera. The scene we were setting up and re-creating was from 'The Last Tycoon' (Elia Kazan) of which we noted different elements of the set, the characters movements and directions and the positions of the studio lighting/cameras. On examining the scene, we first noted the various light sources within the scene ( I noted specifically the fact that the windows of the set provided no light source).  The light appears to be coming from the sources illustrated below. We re-created this lighting set-up in our own re-creating of the scene. The fill-light used we found cast far too harsh shadows in the scene, shadows which are casted on objects and actors can be very distracting for the viewer as a result of this. A piece of white nylon covering the fill-light softens the shadows, and improved the lighting of the scene, a long with the correct positioning of the key-light and the back-light.

Also focused on in this session was the performance of the scene, and how it requires careful planning and relies heavily on the collaborative view, patience and effort of the cinematographer, the actors, the director and the asst. director. This is to ensure that the shooting of the scene remains fluid and consistent, preventing the need for time-consuming re-shoots. This is achieved by letting the camera record while capturing the action from various different angles (5 all-together we arranged). This creates consistency, and allows the audience a natural view of the scene unfolding. 

DSLR workshop

This session was an introduction to filming with DSLR. I had used a DSLR to film projects in the past, mainly out of necessity, but was unaware of the actual differences between filming with a DSLR and using an actual digital video camera, such as the Canon XF100. Dom explained briefly the difference between shooting on the XF100 and shooting on a DSLR.  A notable difference is that the DSLR is designed to focus in on and gather more specific features and information from the shot, whereas the XF100 gathers wider and more information. It is quite noticeable that the DSLR produces a clearer and more enhanced image, whereas with the XF100 it can be a little more grainy at times.

Depth of Field-
Before now, I was unaware of the exact definition and differences between the two cameras in regards to depth of field. Depth of field simply refers to the focus of the camera both in front of and behind the subject in the frame. The DSLR focuses much less than the XF100, mainly due to the amount of information each camera captures. 

Dual System- 
The sync up of audio when recorded on DSLR.

Aperture-
In photography/film, aperture is the unit od measurement that defines the size of the opening in the lens that can be adjusted to control the amount of light reaching the film or digital sensor.

Pinhole photography (useful when looking at aperture)-
A small box with a hole in the one end, the light passes through the box and when removed the camera becomes more focused as the lights bends and the light is left through, making the image appear sharper.

Rolling Shutter-
Usually found in CMOS sensors, is a method of capturing images that does not expose the entire sensor simultaneously but rather exposes different pars of the sensor in different points in time.  

Sound and Sync Workshop

The rest of my group and I unfortunately missed this workshop, as that time was our only opportunity to get some important shots for our client work. However, with Taz's help I managed to catch up and familiarise myself with the basics regarding audio recorded with boom and radio microphones. Also, the importance of using a clapper board during production, in order to ensure that both the visual and audio elements are synced up correctly during post-production.

Featurette Planning

The plan for our featurette was for it to follow on from the viral ad; answering the questions posed in the first piece. The two/three minute film is to include at least two sit down interviews, and considering our first piece concentrated on the scores of music that had to be learned by Tim, it is vital really to include him as one of our interviewees.
After corresponding with Simon about filming opportunities, we are really keen for the possibility of shooting during one of the performances as part of the Haydn festival, which features Tim playing one of Beethoven's sonatas. We we were also given the opportunity to interview one of the stage crew responsible for moving the instruments, or the page turner who works with Tim.
However, we have had some difficulties arranging this with Simon, the main reason being that MITR does not own the Crucible theatre, the only operate within the building, therefore timing and availability is something of an issue. A further problem has also been raised due to the availability of the musicians, Tim in particular, as his schedule also is uncertain and unpredictable.

Update

We have received the following confirmation from Simon in regards to filming our featurette;

Hi Aidan Right, we have everything sorted I think. Tim is happy for you to come into the rehearsal on SUNDAY afternoon at 2pm, for the last 15 minutes of his rehearsal, which you can film, and then he is happy to answer questions immediately afterwards. Then there is the concert, and he would be happy for you to film his solo sonata, which he is playing in the second half of the concert, with Rachel the page turner. We will get you a fixed camera position on the first tier of seating for the concert itself. The page turner is also happy to be interviewed, either before or after the concert (tbc). Then at the end, you can film the piano being carefully wheeled back into its piano store behind the theatre, and also talk to my colleague Kathryn about how the piano is looked after and stored. I think and hope that gives you every element you need. I will be there too – please can you ensure you are at the Crucible Studio main doors (in the foyer) by 1.45pm on Sunday, and let me know via my mobile, below if this is going to be a problem. FYI, I am NOT going to ask the Theatre for permission for you film elsewhere in the building – foyers, etc – as it will open a can of worms, so I hope you can get what you need from the above Let me know if this causes any problems Simon

(Via Aidan Oldroyd)

The plan now is to film Tim's rehearsal before the concert, a long with his interview. We then intend to film his sonata during the concert, as well as interviewing Rachel, the page turner, after the show.

MIDI Workshop

In this session, we were taught an alternative way to add audio and sounds to visuals by using the MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) and various plug-ins using pro-tools. It was explained to us that the MIDI itself is not an actual instrument, but a tool used in conjunction with the plug-ins installed on Pro-tools. When the keys are hit, it tells the software which notes to record. Darryl also explained some basic controls of the MIDI, including how to move down an octave and adjustments of the sound. I found this to be an incredibly useful workshop, for the reason that it has been a struggle to find music and sounds which have the ability to set a mood or provoke an emotion, without having to deal with the issues of copyright. It also provides us with the ability to be able to create and control every aspect of a projects.
Once the basic controls were explained, we were set the task of creating a short piece using the MIDI and the pro-tools plug-ins. This was to go along with one of a selection of clips provided, in order to try and set a mood and pace with the visual image. The variation of sounds available in the different programmes is huge, but it took quite a lot of sorting to find a selection of sounds which didn't sound comical or inappropriate. Once selected, there is the option to edit the notes that you have laid down, including changing the sound, looping, moving it up/down an octave and so on.
We were given a few examples of electronic compositions for various film sound-tracks. A notable one was of David Fincher's Gone Girl. The soundtrack composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The track is very provocative, and it's purpose is definitely to push a certain mood or emotion within the viewer. The high-pitch and pulsing notes definitely reinforce the mood set by the scene.

When it came to experimenting with the sounds to produce a short piece to go with the provided clips, I became quite personally overwhelmed by the huge choice of sounds, but quite intimidated because of the fact that I have very little music ability. However, it soon became apparent that this was not entirely necessary. I chose to create a short composition for a si-fi/space scene, managed to use the MIDI to create a track to go with the atmosphere and tone of the scene. (Due to the Mac I was using crashing I was unfortunatly unable to save an example of this).

Example of how the notes are laid down in pro-tools

Viral- Final Presentation/Feedback

We were very happy with the feedback we received for our video, particularly after all the worries about the quality of our footage in some places. We received generally good feedback from our client, Simon, however he did comment on the decision to include two questions in our ad, stating his preference of only presenting one to the viewer (How many hours does it take to learn music?). Regardless of this, he did say how he enjoyed the different approach we took compared to others in our group, and how we kept a very tight focus on the pianist and the music. Further praise was given for the style and pace of the editing, which I think is a result of a very good group effort when it came to editing. 

Our weaknesses of course did include the grainy/poor quality footage at certain points in the piece, however, having explained to Chris that this was beyond our control (given the environment we were filming in) we were assured that this was not a major issue. 

Overall, we as a group were very pleased with the outcome and the reaction we achieved from it. The feedback also inspired further ideas for our featurette, including looking at the relationship between Tim, and those who contribute to his performance (particularly the page turner). 

MITR Viral Personal Evaluation

Music in the round Viral ad feedback/
strengths and weaknesses
Pro’s

• Learned a lot more about editing with avid, really benefited from the knowledge of other people in the group
  
• Research survey helped us to identify a clear aim/target audience (maybe?)
  
• Well planned and organised in our planning/shoots/editing
  
• Made really good use of the opportunities given to us e.g. use of the theatre, the piano and the
  music volumes
  
• Worked hard to produce something that matched our clients initial vision and aims
  
• Made me realise the need and importance of being more organised with my files and footage
  
• We all managed to make plenty of time for the project, even with other commitments such as
  work or other projects Con’s
  

• Difficulties planning around the use of the theatre and the small and limited amount of time we were given
  
• Technical difficulties e.g. working from a hard drive provided us with some pretty big problems
  
• Could have provided ourselves with more footage to work with
  
• Lighting issues (beyond our control) when filming in the theatre, resulting in noisy/grainy shots
  
• Audio i.e knowing our limits in regards to copyright, using our own recorded sound, making sure
  it set the pace to our film, cutting it together
  I’m happy with our film overall. I wish I could have had more input, but the matter of the fact was my team members seemed to have a more advanced technical knowledge than me, although this really helped me to expand my own knowledge and to hopefully be able to be more helpful in the next part of the brief.
  I think we overcame the small issues, such as music and audio/difficulties with footage really well. I think the way we handled the soundtrack might be one of the most creative parts of the project, as their are many different sections of Beethoven’s Sonata all incorporated into the one video, and it was able to set the pace well for the visual images. I also think the way we utilised the theatre, the piano, and the music volumes was done really well, especially considering the subject and the situation we had to work with provided us with quite a challenge. I’m pleased that we were provided with a vague image of what Simon wanted, it gave us the ability to collaborate his ideas with our own, in order to produce something that we knew he wanted. This being through the turning of the music volume pages, in order to emphasise the sheer amount of time and effort that is put into a classical music performance. I liked the idea of this first ad to pose a big question “How long does it take them to practice music?” As it has left us with an open-end to work with for the next section of the brief. 
  

Sound clean-up workshop

This session was spent looking at how to clean up sound and enhance specific elements, in order to achieve a more professional sounding result. 

• EQ represents all the audio frequencies we can hear as humans in Hz from 20.0 Hz - 20.00kHz
• Ultra low is called sub bass (very low frequency)
• Mid frequencies - instruments, voices
• High frequencies - high pitch sound 
• The BYPASS button in the EQ effects editor shows the original clip
• Compressor/Limiter- Lifts the volume if you've recorded something to quietly 
• High pass filter-  cuts out all the lows and lets the highs pass in the spectrum
• Low pass filter - just allows the lows pass through
• Academy curve - roll off at 10K and 50 - internationally used EQ setting for dialogue

Viral- Final Cut

Rough Cut- Client Feedback

In this session, we presented our rough-cut of our Viral ad to Simon, in order to gain his personal feedback and advice on which direction to take it in next. Although at this point we only have about a minutes worth of edited footage, we're pretty clear with what our intended message is and how we want to convey this visually. In our initial planning stages, Simon was pretty clear about what he visualised himself, and we were trying to go a long with his ideas as closely as we could because we knew this was his own imagination of the ad. At this stage, our main focus was on the grainy and poor quality footage of certain shots taken from the Crucible theatre stage, however, we were assured by Simon and Chris that this was not as big an issue as we had anticipated. The bigger issues were with the use of music and the pace of the shots. We had previously be very unsure of our limitations in regards to the use of music on our viral, but because it was mainly about the scores of Beethoven music that Tim has learned, we were incredibly set on being able to use this music in our piece. Simon suggested that we have a look at some free archives, in hope of being able to find a royalty-free version of one of Beethoven's sonatas. However, Taz had previously been unable to find a piece that was of good enough quality for use in our piece, this being the reason that we chose to leave it out of the rough cut. Simon also suggested that we could use any music we had recorded at the concert, but again we were very set on including Beethoven's scores as it seemed much more relevant to our piece. 

The amount of shots used was also an issue in the first rough cut, we found a lot of footage captured was actually un-usable (due to the environment we were filming in), therefore there was a lot of repetition of shots. It became necessary to gather additional footage, in order to be able to show more variation of shots. 

Overall I am positive about the direction our piece is going in, however I think the biggest matter of the music is something that might be difficult to resolve. 

First Edit

MITR 2 CUT SEQUENCE2 from Katherine Muldowney on Vimeo.

This is our first cut of our MITR Viral ad. At this point, it was just a matter of creating a good pace which matched up with the audio and the visuals. The sound and music is proving to be the most challenging feature, as we are trying to use several different parts of the Sonata, all blended into one another; which is proving rather difficult in order to hide the edits.
As well as this, we are increasingly finding the need for extra footage, as it is starting to become rather repetitive with the visuals we are using. Our plan around this though, is to increase the use of the turning pages, as the main aim of our ad is to emphasise the amount of work and practice that goes into the performance of these pieces.

In terms of the hidden marketing feature, or 'easter egg', we have come up with the idea of incorporating a reference to the MITR house band 'Ensemble 360'. We will attempt to add this as one of the page numbers you see as the pages of the book are being flicked through.

Problems and Issues

For our initial idea, we planned to get some shots of the empty theatre to use in our viral ad. However, on querying about this to Simon, we found that it was going to be incredibly difficult to film in the actual theatre, as it was in constant use for rehearsals and shows. We also planned to get some shots of the grand piano, as this tied in well with our use of the piano music volumes, unfortunately we were only able to have a very short time to film these shots, as the piano needed to go back into storage as soon as possible. 
We received this message from Simon, who was incredibly helpful and informative.

Hello Group 1!

Thanks for getting in touch

You can have access to the 2 volumes of Beethoven piano sonatas, which Tim, the pianist, is happy to lend us next week – I am hoping he will give them to me tomorrow, so you could collect from the office (Central Library) on Monday.

I am sorry to say that access to the Studio Theatre is much more difficult, as it is in use for a Sheffield Theatre production at the moment and therefore very unlikely to be available for anything, and anyway it would look nothing like it does for our concerts  – see attached image showing Tim at the end of his last concert there. I just don’t think there will be a way to film in there, sorry.

In terms of getting any shots of a piano, it is out being used on the Crucible main stage for our two concerts tomorrow (which I think some of you said you might be coming to?) but it will not be free for being filmed as they are rehearsing and then it will be tuned, etc.

BUT – we can offer you one short time slot on Monday morning to get some shots of the piano before it is returned to its store. IF you can be at the Crucible Theatre stage door, which is on Norfolk Street, with your camera, etc, at 9am on Monday morning, my colleague Kathryn could meet you there and take you onto the stage, where you can have 15 minutes to film the piano.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS NO OTHER TIME THE PIANO WILL BE FREE, so for this to work, you would have to be able to make this time.

I am sorry to be so exact, but we do not control the Theatre buildings, and so we have to fit in with their operational day.

Let us know asap if this Monday morning plan can work.

Many thanks

Simon

Simon Seligman

Marketing and Communications Manager 

Usually working Mon/Wed/Thurs/Fri

&

Gina Walters 

Digital Marketing and CRM Officer

Usually working Fri

Despite being unable to get into the theatre to shoot, we were very grateful to have the opportunity to get some shots of the piano which we think is a vital feature in our piece. During our time filming in the studio, we took the opportunity to get some shot of the audience seating area and some parts of the studio, although it wasn't set up or lit as it would be during one of their concerts, we still managed to get some pretty good shots. 

The only other problem we came across while shooting this was the lack of control of the lighting in the studio. For fire safety reasons, we were unable to take our own lighting equipment to the theatre and the studio lighting wasn't set up for use. For this reason, some of our footage turned out to be quite grainy, but it turned out to be something that was just beyond our control and we intend to make use of the footage regardless.  

MITR Free Concert

Music In The Round Free Concert

www.musicintheround.co.uk/events

We were invited by marketing manager, Simon, to come and experience the theatre and music for ourselves at one of their pay-what-you-like events. One of the ways in which they raise money for charity, as you can make any amount of donation for the ticket as you like. We thought this would be a good opportunity to see the space that we could potentially be working with, as well as opening our minds to a different type of music experience than we are usually used to.  

We took with us a camera and zoom to capture something for future reference, but it turned out that the footage we got could potentially be usable in our ad. The lighting of the stage proved to be very effective, although the seating arrangements prevented us from using a tripod therefor, some of the shot turned out to be a little unsteady. 

I think having the opportunity to see this was very encouraging, there was actually quite a variation of people in the audience; just not very many of them. This gave us all the more motivation to go with the idea of making people aware of these talented musicians and everything they are trying to, and have, achieved. 

Research Survey

As part of researching the topic, we thought it would be a good starting point to gather people's thoughts and opinions on what classical music means to them. The aim of our viral is to reach people, predominantly, young people,  and to catch their attention as something which is different from how they first perceived it. We created a survey online and shared it across Facebook, reaching as many different types of people as possible. The feedback we received was mostly predictable, but there were some instances that we were quite surprised by.
Our questions intended to find out what type of music people predominantly liked to listen to, do they ever listen to classical music and what their perception of classical music is.

Music in The Round - Viral Brief

Project brief 

This brief for digital productions skills comes in two parts; a 1 minute viral advertisement, followed by a 3 minute featurette. This is our first brief involving real clients and companies, and this was our first taste of what it was like to work for somebody in the real world. And so it soon became apparent that we needed to approach this project in a much more professional manner. 

Viral Advertising

Viral advertising is a marketing strategy, which relies on the medium of the internet, particularly social media, in order to pass the ad around, in turn allowing it to reach as wide an audience as possible.Viral advertising is personal and, while coming from an identified sponsor, it does not mean businesses pay for its distribution. Most of the well-known viral ads circulating online are ads paid by a sponsor company, launched either on their own platform (company webpage or social media profile) or on social media websites such as YouTube.Consumers receive the page link from a social media network or copy the entire ad from a website and pass it along through e-mail or posting it on a blog, webpage or social media profile. Viral marketing may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games,advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, text messages,email messages, or web pages.The most commonly utilised transmission vehicles for viral messages include: pass-along based,incentive based, trendy based, and undercover based. However,the creative nature of viral marketing enables an "endless amount of potential forms and vehicles the messages can utilize for transmission".

Our Client- Music In The Round

From what we have gathered, Music In the Round is a charitable organisation, based in Sheffield's Crucible theatre,that exists to promote the best in international chamber music and inspire audiences with the unique power and intensity of music, played in an intimate setting. 
Our initial thoughts about this company were admittedly quite uninspired, we as a group have little to no interest or understanding of classical chamber music, something which proved to be quite intimidating given the fact that we have to produce an ad to promote and draw people to this charitable company. However, on talking to their director of marketing, Simon, we soon understood that he was completely aware of our initial reaction, and this was something that he wanted us to address in our ad. We got the feeling that it was important to him to get people to realise the huge amount of time and effort it takes these musicians to practice and perfect their musical skills. Admittedly, we had no concept of how many sacrifices these people make for something that they are so passionate about. It made us think how frustrating it must be for somebody to brush off your talent, something which you have invested a great majority of your life into, with the thought of it being 'boring' or 'out-of-date'. 
We immediately settled on the idea of attempting to show the audience exactly what goes into such a performance, as this is something we sensed that Simon was very much keen on portraying. We were also offered the use of one of the musicians own personal music volume books, containing a collection of Beethoven's sonatas. We thought that this would be a great way to emphasise the huge amount of music that is to be learnt and performed by the musician in perhaps just one concert.

The main aim for our viral ad, is to engage a different type of audience than this subject would usually attract. We plan to pose a question to the viewer, in order to provoke them to think more deeply on the subject. Our plan is to provide an answer and explanation in the second part of this brief. 

Workshop- Green Screen & Compositing

Green Screen Workshop

In this session,we acquired the basic skills on the purpose and use of the green screen, specifically the importance of lighting and setting up the camera/screen correctly. This was followed by an IT session on compositing and keying. 

We started the session with the basic three-way set up with correct lighting, and formed a long shot focusing on the subject so we could composite this later in a second workshop. I soon learned the importance of lighting your subject correctly when using a green-screen, as any spill as a result of poor lighting creates problems when it comes to editing (as I found in the compositing workshop)  

Compositing Workshop

Keying
Keying is the process of isolating a single colour or brightness value in an electronic image and using software to make that value transparent, allowing another image to show through the affected areas. Luminance keying, or luma-keying, is the process of keying out a brightness value or range, like black or white. Luminance keys are often used for applying mattes. Colour keying, or chromakeying, identifies a specific colour to remove.


In order to isolate one area from the rest, the background colour must be distinctly different. Bright green beats blue partially because it is not a colour normally featured or worn by the subject and is the furthest away from natural skin colour. Any clothing that matches the background too closely will also key out, making gaps in your subject, or making it disappear altogether.