Research Document - Artefact 5 (Collaborative Film Project)

A collaborative project where people can borrow a camera attached to a hat to film 30 seconds of their day. I will compile the footage to achieve a short film all in point of view style. Participants will be able to share a part of their day and the viewers would experience it as if they were seeing through their eyes.

Here is the poster I created to advertise the project:

Here is my final video:



I embedded my final video into an online survey so I could ask questions on the project and get responses on what people think of online video.

http://fluidsurveys.com/surveys/chris-thorby/interactive-film-and-online-video-artefact-5/

I didn't get any people to help as I hoped. Initially I wanted 10 people but I only managed to get 5. I allowed them to choose what they wanted to film as long as it wasn't offensive or inappropriate. The 5 people included filming; walking around university halls, driving a car, making cups of tea, a house party and loading a van at a workplace. I found it interesting that they are all so diverse and the audience is thrown into these different perspectives. With more publicity and backing on the project this could of become much more. I would have loved to show more exciting activities such as someone skateboarding, riding a horse or even attach the camera so it’s in the perspective of a dog or baby. Seeing through the eyes of a dog or baby would be really interesting, for a baby the world is completely new and we can never remember how they must of felt. At first I had a video with the 5 participant’s video entries all with its original sound but this wasn't very entertaining to watch and each 30 seconds felt long. I added a music track throughout which delivers more excitement and pace to the video. I liked the concept of public participation and collaboration with this film project, where I have taken the back-seat and allowed them to shape the video. I only took the role of a producer and editor but I thought it was important to not cut each 30 second entry. The idea is that for 30 seconds they can share a part of their day without it being tampered with. The only issue was that each video was a lot longer than 30 seconds so I had to choose which part to put in. This fits to both topics of online video and interactive film; both involve sharing experiences and participation whether it’s interacting with a story or contributing to an online video through feedback/response. My research into these topics has reached its final focus point which is public participation through video and film.

Results

I asked people whether they liked the idea of it being filmed in point of view perspective and overall I received good feedback. People felt as if they put into the position of the character within the film because of the camera but some would have preferred more exciting activities instead of the clips I used. It was suggested I should have shown a range of different lifestyles such as a bus driver collecting tickets, milkman and a nightclub bouncer as well as a way all characters within the video could be connected in some way; they could meet up or cross paths. Someone stated that the ‘handy cam’ shakiness results in an unprofessional and low budget look/feel than having an immersive effect. It seems the shaky camera is one thing that makes my film less appealing; someone stated that they felt a bit of motion sickness from watching the clip of driving a car. In terms of the point of view camera it has been successful, from looking from the eye perspective viewers felt immersed into the characters and what they were doing. 

I collected responses of what people thought about the participants having 30 seconds each in the video without their footage being cut. I had mixed feedback on this; some didn't like it because it felt too long and that it didn't give much chance to express their day as a whole, one scene each didn't fully express who they are and what they do. Someone suggested I should have cut between each narrative and have an obvious start for each one which all concludes together. This idea would build a better sense of pace and provoke a message that these lives are different, they are happening simultaneously. It is clear that making each participant’s entry link would have been more entertaining, such as narratives that at some point cross over. I could have shown clear differences between their lives; what different people do at the same time of day and how different their lives are. Perhaps it could have been a section from people’s lives at 3.00pm on a Friday for instance. Others thought because it was not a glamorised portrayal of their life, it was unscripted and real. It was truthful, no matter how boring the activity was. It gave a better sense of time frame and normality to the person’s actions. From my feedback it seems people didn't enjoy the person walking down the stairs of the driving scene, one person mentioned they  found the party shot much more interesting and it didn't feel as long as the others. The experiment focused on whatever people wanted to film because it was real and truthful but more exciting activities would have made a more successful film.

The majority of people agreed that removing the audio from the footage was a good idea as it made it more entertaining to watch. Less than half wanted to hear the voices and sounds the participants made in their footage. It’s clear that a soundtrack throughout made my film more exciting, it made some of the more mundane activities more appealing to watch. I found a royalty free piece of music and choose something that had a beat to keep viewers engaged in the film. The beat begins as soon as the first piece of footage begins and during a quiet section of the track the beat returns as soon as the ping pong ball hits the cup in the party scene. I believe this made the party scene the most exciting to watch in the film.

I questioned whether people would like to participant in a film project like this where they share a part of their life to a public audience. 8 out of 11 people liked the idea whilst only 3 would prefer not to and would watch entertainment produced by others.  I wanted to see whether people would mind broadcasting a part of their day to a wide audience and it seems people are fond of this. I would have thought people would prefer to watch creative entertainment produced by others as it can be of a better quality but instead the public like the idea of having input on a film project. The public like to express themselves.

I asked how people felt about online video making us more connected and collected a range of opinions. It was said that when uploading a video it’s more than likely your video will be lost to the millions of low-quality stuff out there online. It can be hard to be acknowledged with the amount of material uploaded every day. However others said how because there is so much access to online video it’s become easier for work to be seen. Social networking and sharing has become a big part of our lives through Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, Behance, Blogs etc. Most people spend their time on a computer looking through online videos to share to their friends. People have said how they enjoy exploring into the personal lives and cultures of others through online video, such as vlogs. Online video is a great way of sharing everyday experiences with friends as well as being a great platform for music/art work to be seen by more people. It also helps people share opinions on things for good or bad and builds a discussion.  One response was that it makes things more personal, when people video their lives it makes the viewer’s feel connected to them. They are given an insight to their world. It was clearly stated that online is the future, most people own smartphones and laptops so why not use these platforms to our advantage.

To see whether the public contribute to online video I asked people whether they provide feedback through comments or video responses. The majority said sometimes, 2 said they do and 1 person doesn't at all. People mostly contribute to online video by providing feedback which I think is important. I believe being able to upload work and gain responses from your audience is great in terms of understanding what they like. Being able to gain structured criticism from others makes people develop and produce better videos in the future. The idea of video responses is interesting; the way people collaborate and contribute to work through video which is similar to my experiment. Perhaps through one video someone can respond to it with a similar idea, this could a chain of videos which compile into a film.  Through commenting on videos online people can collaborate with film-makers and video bloggers by suggesting ideas for their next piece of work.

External Client Project - Short Film: Drawing Greg

For my external client project I collaborated with Daniel Bissill and we decided to create a short 15 minute film which we will enter to the 'Bang! Short Film Festival' in Nottingham.

Daniel Bissill and Chris Thorby

Synopsis
Colin, a shy, young and lonely artist who enjoys reading comic books discovers a coupon for a free sketchbook. He eventually learns that anything he draws within this sketchbook becomes real. He fulfils his loneliness by drawing a friend called Greg who brings fun to Colin's life.



We called our film collaboration 'Giant Panda Productions' and we have a Facebook page which we used to keep people updated on our progress.

facebook.com/giantpandaproductions

Here is the behind the scenes video of 'Drawing Greg'. During the shooting our film we set up another camera to film the process. We have edited some of that footage together in this video and we recorded a voice over of us talking about how it all went.

This is a short teaser trailer we created in a silent film style. We didn't want to give too much away so we used this style to present something short and comical with a brief description of the story. Using Premiere Pro we put it in black and white, added noise to create an old film look and used silent film speech cards.

These are all the storyboards from the film. I worked on these from the screenplay I wrote with Dan Bissill. In the end we had to change a few scenes so some of these storyboards were rejected when we started to shoot the film.

Dan did a photo-shoot of the characters and crew in the green screen room. I edited this image to create this poster for our film and I am quite pleased with it. I think the comedy of the film comes across through this image of Greg on Colin's back. Greg is holding up the drawing of himself so the audience clearly know he's the character drawn to life.