Video Production Techniques

Theory and Practice from Concept to Screen

Donald Diefenbach, Anne Slatton

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781351051682
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film & Video

Video Production Techniques is an essential guide to the art and craft of video production. It introduces students to the theoretical foundations as well as the practical skills needed to make a successful video project.

The opening chapter introduces the reader to the language of motion pictures and sets the stage for effective visual storytelling. Unit I guides students through the theory, techniques, and processes of writing, shooting, and editing video productions. Unit II expands on these basic principles to explore the crafts of sound recording/design, lighting, and directing. Unit III surveys the industries, formats, and methods for creating fiction and nonfiction programs. The final unit of the text examines options for distribution and career opportunities in video production.

Newly updated and revised, the second edition of Video Production Techniques unifies theory and practice for instructors and students. It is a great tool for use in introductory-level video production courses and for the independent learner.

The accompanying companion website features instructor resources including a sample syllabus, quiz bank, sample assignments, and PowerPoint slides for each chapter, alongside illustrative video demonstrations for students.

1

INTRODUCTION TO VIDEO PRODUCTION

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

Motion pictures start out as ideas. These ideas are shaped, scripted, filmed, and edited. Movies have extraordinary expressive potential if you understand and apply the principles of visual language. You will recognize some of the elements explored in this chapter from your own experience watching films and television. Other elements presented here will likely be new to you, as they come across to the audience almost invisibly when applied with skill. The objective of this chapter is to outline the production process and to equip you with the tools of film language so that you can take the ideas you develop and translate those ideas into images on screen. The goals of this chapter are to:

• Introduce the three stages of video and film production: preproduction, production, and postproduction;
• Explore the elements of visual composition;
• Examine the language elements of moving pictures;
• Acquire knowledge to compose an entire scene seamlessly;
• Learn how to maintain continuity and avoid common mistakes in building image sequences.

Creating video programs is a rewarding and complex process. There is a lot involved, from the writing of the script, to the challenges of shooting, to the range of choices that come in putting it all together in editing. When professionals talk about the process of creating motion pictures, they usually break it up into three stages: preproduction, production, and postproduction.

THE THREE STAGES OF THE PRODUCTION PROCESS

Preproduction

The stage of preparing to shoot a film or video is referred to as preproduction. Preproduction is the most important phase of the process in many ways. It is a time to get everything in order and to plan for contingencies. It is also the time to make major creative decisions. Preproduction is the time to test concepts and stories. Professionals do not move into production until they are convinced they are on the right track. Beware of moving into production too quickly before your script really works.

Wasted production time is expensive. It can cost thousands of dollars per hour to keep a crew on a large-scale professional shoot. The first Project Greenlight demonstrated the huge costs that can be incurred while trying to work things out in production. HBO’s documentary series, Project Greenlight (2001), followed the making of the film Stolen Summer (2002) and captured the mistakes and overruns that resulted from poor preproduction planning. Stolen Summer ended up costing about $1.8 million to make and returned less than $200,000 in domestic box office sales. Shooting is not the time to start working out the details. All that needs to be planned in preproduction.

Script breakdown

Once you have a script in hand, preproduction begins with a script breakdown. The breakdown translates the script into a list of elements needed for production, such as the number of actors, props to be used, and different studio sets and locations where filming will take place. Once there is a breakdown of the script, it is possible to get a better sense of how much it will cost to produce the project and how much time will be needed for shooting. Based on the script breakdown, other preproduction tasks such as casting the actors, creating a production and postproduction schedule, scouting for shooting locations, creating a budget, developing plans for renting equipment, hiring the crew, acquiring props and costumes, building sets, and eventually rehearsing with the actors can be scheduled.

Production storyboards

The director often creates production storyboards to pre-visualize a shoot. The production team uses production storyboards as a communication tool to execute the shooting of the film. The general rule for storyboards is one storyboard frame for each shot in the program, but some complex camera moves may require several storyboard frames to illustrate what takes place in a single shot.

Production storyboards are often hand drawn and resemble a comic book. Since these are internal working documents, you need not worry about your artistic ability. Many effective storyboards are made with stick figures. What is important is that the storyboards clearly communicate the shot type and form of the program. Sometimes a director’s storyboards are only for their use, and in other cases, storyboards will be shared with the cinematographer, the production designer, and other crew members to aid in planning. Production storyboards are often composed using a storyboard template. Template pages provide a frame for your sketches in the shape of a video screen and have room for dialogue, narration, and descriptive information next to each frame. Many directors use computer software to help communicate their vision to members of the crew or financiers. There are many storyboarding software choices. Some are free and export directly into your editing software (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 Storyboards illustrate scenes and sequences. Courtesy of Wild Bunch Films.

Figure 1.2 Direction arrows are used in storyboards to indicate movement. Courtesy of Wild Bunch Films.

Direction arrows show character movement and camera moves in storyboards. These arrows bring life and energy to a static image. Well-illustrated storyboards can convey complex movements quite thoroughly (Figure 1.2).

You can also produce “moving storyboards” or animatics. Animatics are a preliminary version of a movie, produced by shooting successive sections of a storyboard and adding a soundtrack. Wes Anderson is known for meticulously storyboarding and creating animatics for both his live action and animated films. Computer modeling can be used to create storyboard frames or fully animated representations.

Shot lists

The director uses the script and production storyboards to generate a shot list. The shot list provides the most efficient order and the minimum number of set-ups required to capture all the images needed. Since films are typically shot out of sequence, the director might use a shot list and storyboards to communicate with the camera operators so that the scene can be captured efficiently without wasting time on camera set-ups. Although not every production uses shot lists, they can facilitate effective coverage and ensure that the editor has what they need to compose the shots in postproduction. The shot list also allows the director or producer to estimate the time required to capture all the shots required to make a film.

Location photos and sketches

It is valuable to visit the location where you will be shooting ahead of time and record some video footage or still pictures so that you have a good sense of the space and that you are better able to accurately plan for the environment. These images can be used as a reference to create sketches for production planning. The director often creates a floor plan—an overhead shooting plan that allows the director to plan blocking. Blocking is planning the actors’ movements in relation to the camera. Camera movement can be planned, or blocked, as well. Taking measurements of a space allows precise planning for set design and camera movement.

Shooting schedules

The shooting schedule is a plan of each day’s filming—the number of scenes, locations, and starting/ending times—that is created by the assistant director and given to the production manager who manages the overall production schedule. After determining the number of camera set-ups (when a camera is moved from one position to another, usually requiring a new lighting set-up) needed to capture the scene, the script breakdown and shot list allow you to organize and schedule your shoot in the most efficient manner possible—whether that is by location or actor or another variable.

One of the most difficult aspects of low/no budget filmmaking is scheduling. How do you get actors and crew members to donate their time and talent? One way is to be respectful of their time. The more prepared you are before you begin to shoot, the better able you are to set and maintain a realistic shoot schedule.

Call sheets

As the date of a shoot approaches, a call sheet is distributed. A call sheet is generated for each day of shooting and is distributed in advance of each shooting day. A call sheet provides important information that is circulated to every member of the cast and crew. It indicates the date, time, and location of the shoot; call times for the crew and individual actors as well as hotel or lodging information for the cast and crew. Contact information is provided for any questions. Call sheets itemize all production department specific needs and all pertinent information that needs to be communicated to all the cast and crew members for both production and postproduction work, including wardrobe, hair, make-up, props, camera department, special effects, audio, and postproduction information.

With a lot of careful preparation in place, the project is finally ready to go into production (Figure 1.3).

Production

Production is the time frame of actually shooting the project. This is often the most expensive and highest-intensity phase of the process. Filmmakers should generally follow the plan developed in preproduction during shooting. Alfred Hitchcock was a strong believer in following his preproduction plan very carefully. For Hitchcock, the process of production was a somewhat mechanical one. His creative genius was pronouncedly expressed in the planning. The shooting, for Hitchcock, was a technical process of converting the plan to film (Figure 1.4).

Francis Ford Coppola, however, conducted a bold experiment in the production of Apocalypse Now (1979). Coppola allowed extensive improvisation on the set and was actually unsure how the film would end halfway through shooting. This was a risky approach, which almost bankrupted Coppola and very nearly ruined the production. Coppola’s experiment was successful in the end, however; and Apocalypse Now is a benchmark of film history, winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes and two Academy Awards. It is important to note that this success story with such a free-form process is not the norm in fiction filmmaking (Figure 1.5).

Figure 1.3 A call sheet organizes each shooting day.

Figure 1.4 Hitchcock was known for his careful preproduction and for his meticulous execution of his plan in production. Universal Pictures/Photofest; © Universal Pictures.

Figure 1.5 Walking the Line tells the story of vigilantes patrolling the U.S.-Mexican border. Flexibility is important in both fiction and nonfiction as the dynamics of production can be unpredictable. Courtesy of Filmakers Library.

A lot of people work together on a set during production to contribute to the making of a video or film project. There are, however, several key figures that are a part of virtually any sized project. The director (in the case of fiction) or the producer (in the case of nonfiction) is the boss on the set and is responsible for the overall creative vision of the work. The director of photography (DP) or cinematographer records the action with a camera. The gaffer ...