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Screen Alliance Wales | HETV

Making one outstanding short video in a day is no easy feat, so how did we make 6? Let’s break it down.


Step 1 - Pre Production


When IJPR came to us and asked if we could create six trainee videos for Creative Wales funded trainees at Bad Wolf Studios in Cardiff, the answer was obviously, yes. The next question was, are we able to pull it off in one day? And start shooting in just shy of a week? Absolutely. Challenge accepted.


Our first port of call was to set up a meeting to discuss all the different factors of the production, thinking of every little detail possible as well as a contingency for the day. As Bad Wolf Studios was in production making #HisDarkMaterials Season 3 at the time, we had to be very careful where we shot, what we shot, and who we shot. Try to imagine filming a video without being able to shoot your surroundings… Naturally being creatives, we could overcome this problem with some clever angles and a shallow depth of field.


Step 2 - Production


To keep within the budget & timeframe, we had a crew of two and one #PanasonicS1H Cinema Camera, a set of dedo lights, one Lapel Microphone and a boom stand with a Shure SM57 for backup. We kept it very minimal. Our first hour of the day was getting the equipment inside, set up at the location and figuring out our lighting setup, camera and sound.


Here’s an A/B of the setup.





And here’s ONE OF the results.




Once we’d completed all the interviews it was onto B Roll. Normally for full-scale production, every shot is discussed, rehearsed & a lighting plan is worked out in advance. For each trainee we had 30 minutes to get accompanying B Roll, as it wasn’t feasible to work out each trainee workplace environment we had to get creative with the B Roll on the day, working out the lighting as we went as well as what each trainee was going to be presenting. This meant quickly figuring out each person's role and finding something they could do visually that would look good on camera.




Step 3 - POST PRODUCTION



Our favourite part. Sitting down to consume all you’ve shot after a shoot is always rewarding, especially when you can see all your hard work come to life visually.


As the turnaround time for these videos was tight we knew we needed to edit fast, so we decided on Final Cut Pro in the pre-production stage. Our decision for this is simply because Final Cut Pro is native to Apple, with faster rendering times. The videos also did not require any motion graphics, so could be edited relatively easily.







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