ARD502 The Message - Green Screen

Assignment Instructions -

EITHER:

As the basis for a commercial :-

A) Use a green screen technique to place a person/s in a place they could never be or would unlikely to be (from the middle of a motorway to Mars - use your imagination). You can use a found background from any source. You will need a concept sheet.

OR
B) Use green screen to a allow a person to hold a conversation with themselves. You will need a synopsis and a script which must be approved before proceeding.

Hmmmmmm - this one took some thinking about !

Intially, I liked the idea of putting a person somewhere where they wouldn't usually be found - I played around with the idea of using background footage of an underwater sceen, or maybe a 'macro' view of travelling through a hedgerow, or long grass, and adding a person, perhaps a miniturised person, to perhaps advertise a nature/wild life magazine or programme aimed at children.  I actually went so far as to look for a selection of potential background footage, on the internet - but not one clip I could find fit exactly what I wanted - the environments were either too 'static', or I couldn't come up with the action of a person that I could fit into the footage I'd found that i could make work inthe way I wanted.

So, I started playing around with the idea of 'holding a conversation' with themselves - I thought about a series of situation where someone would actually talk to themselves - when faced with a decision, perhaps?  This led onto me thinking about the idea of your concience having a 'voice', and how there is the idea that we have an angel and a devil sitting on our shoulders, the first offering advice on being good - the second pushing us to give into temptation.

The more I thought about it, the more I could see this being something I could use for a commercial project - and I thought it would be fun to let the devil be the winner, in this instance!

So, I came up with the idea of advertising a tempting food - cream cakes!  This would involve a central figure, being faced with the 'tempatation' of biting into a cake, whilst a mini version of him/herself sat on his right shoulder, complete with halo, warning not to eat it, and on the left shoulder, a miniture version wearing devils horns, tempted and coaxed him or her into giving in and indulging.  The script would not have to be long or complex, and I came up with  the following, complete with a 'tag line'-

 

Angel- Ah, ah, ahhhhhhhh - a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips.

Devil - Take no notice - Go on - its only one little cake!

Angel - You'll be sorry! Have you no will power?

Devil - Blow will power - just look at it - fresh cream oozing - go on . . .

Angel - Put it down - NOW!

Devil - Are you going to listen to him/her? Ignore him/her - just imagine sinking your teeth into that lucious cake . . . it'll be like heaven - you know you want it . . .

Angel  - No, No, noooooooooooo (gets squashed by hand )- Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Devil Voice 'Fresh Cream Cakes - Go on - You know you want it

The main issue with getting this project off the ground was one of facilities and equipment being available.  Despite the initial brief for this being handed out in the Summer holidays, upon our return to Regent Street, no new backgrounds had been provided in the studio - that included green screen.  Once the backgrounds did arrive, a suitable green screen area wasn't put into place until about 3 weeks before the end of the term.  Added to that, the studio was booked out for 'teaching' sessions, lasting whole afternoons or days, limiting the access to it that we had had before - and there was also the fact that the studio was required not only for the green screen filming, but also for photographic units that not only year two, but also the other years had to complete, so it was really difficult to book time in it, even if you were prepared to come in on any day, at any time .  And yes, there is a green screen studio in the new CCI building - unfortunately, competiton to use it is fierce, we have yet to be given information on how we go about booking it - and even if we could figure out how to do that, we can't use it until we have had the relevant 'health and safety training' - which we are STILL waiting for - oh, and the last time I asked about it, they were still waiting for the scoops and floor covering that would enable green screen filming to be done properly anyway.  As if that isn't enough, there is currently only ONE HD film camera working and available,  between all 3 years of creative lens media.  Lecturers and technicians were wholly sympathetic and I think, just as frustrated as students over this - and it goes without saying that this situation prevented us starting on these projects as quickly as we wanted, and made it difficult (if not impossible) to complete this work within the time frame given.  

Despite the fact that I haven't wasted time, because of this set of circumstances, I sought permission from Stewart to approach this project as group work - it would cut down on the waiting time to actually get into the studio, and due to the delays, would save myself and a few others from having to apply for an extention in order to get the work finished.  I really appreciate that Stewart gave consent, it lifted a lot of pressure, and it made it possible to finish this assignment within the time given.

So, Dawn and I joined forces - as I had come up with the idea and the script, Dawn undertook providing the storyboards.  We managed to get the studio booked in the second to last week of the term, and roped Dave in to play our 'cream cake eater' - big thanks to Dave, who for the good of the film, had to force down THREE cakes in total :)

Actual filming took less than a day - here are some of the photographs taken during the filming -

Photograph taken by Dawn - Dave and Temptation

The temptation!

Photograph taken by Dave - Dawn's tempted too!

Photograph taken by Dawn - I give into temptation!

Photograph taken by me - Dawn Filming

Photograph taken by Dawn - Devil Dave and Angel me - of course!

 

Editing took just two days - it had too - by now, we were running out of time to get all the units finished, despite having worked flat out.  I would have, ideally, liked to have taken more time with this part of the unit. But, the first day,  yet again both the techs we usually turn to for help were  down at the CCI for all or most of the day, so we simply edited the 3 sequences into order - without help, that was as far as we could go.  The second day, thankfully, Simon was on hand, and as always, was massively helpful.

We had made life a lot harder for ourselves, as we discovered, by placing the 'Mini' Dave's on 'Big' Dave's shoulders - As Dave reached for and put back the cakes, obviously he moved - so, particularly with the 'Angel' Dave, this necessitated us using tracking, to ensure that the 'angel' stayed on Dave's shoulder.  Also, in lifting the cake to his mouth, Dave's hand passed in front of the 'angel' figure - only the 'angel' remained 'infront of the hand, which was obviously wrong, so help was needed to 'mask' the part of Dave's hand, so it looked like it was in front of the 'angel'.  With hindsight, placing the 'angel' and 'devil' on the table, either side of the plate of cakes, would have made the editing a lot more straight forward.  However, that would have limited us to just the one medium long shot, which I think would have made it less interesting, visually.  And, though I wouldn't yet feel competent in editing Green screen without some advice to hand, I felt the way we had done it pushed us to learn more.

We wanted an 'amusing' aspect to the finished advert - and I think Dave, saying the tag line I had come up with for the end of the film,  provided this - thanks again, Dave - you were brilliant!  As a whole, I like the basic idea behind the finished piece, and we certainly tackled editing Green Screen, and I think, fulfilled the brief - but I would have liked the finished piece to be that bit more 'polished'. But, despite the fact that I had dived straight into working at this module, and the other two we tackled this semester, time became a major problem - I honestly believe that had all the equipment been available right at the start of the uni year, had our access to the studio not been somewhat limited at times, and had we not had so many days where our access to technical support was severely limited due to the demands that the CCI has made on their time, then I could have probably become a lot more competent and confident about the editing involved in this piece, and as a result, the finished piece would have been something I was far happier with .  I do know that the ill health of a family member did put some pressure on me, towards the end of the semester, but I do feel that I can say hand on heart, that the impact of that  alone, was something I could have managed, without it adversely affecting my work . At the stage where our marks now start to count towards our actual degree, its frustrating to know that despite the fact that I worked flat out and to the best of my ability on all the units, I felt rushed and am not 100% satisfied with this final film piece - particularly when it had the potential to be a lot better.

The Finished film