Professional Practice: Work Placement/Commission Decision & Development

The Historic Dockyard, Chatham: Promotional Video

After the failure with 'The 400', I didn't have much luck finding a work placement as I only got told that the company pulled out last week, giving me a week to find a new placement. Therefore, I've decided to stick with my original and back up idea - creating a promotional video for the Historic Dockyard. Before I chose this though, I got into contact with the media communication manager to see whether she would be interested in my ideas.

I sent a brief email to my old boss, Anthony, giving a slight introduction about my idea, as you can see below:

We eventually got talking and he seemed interested with my idea. He then referred me to the head of communications, Gail James, as she dealt with situations like mine. This then continued to progress further and both Gail and Anthony seem keen for this to go further, therefore I will be sticking with this idea for the project. 

We are now currently arranging a date for a meeting to discuss these ideas further. Here I will present to them the ideas I have (which I mentioned in my 'Work Placement/Commission Opportunities' post) as well as asking them a number of questions, such as:

     - If they want any specific content for the promotional video. Perhaps a new feature which is in 

       process or has already been made

     - Permission regarding filming the tourists themselves (Restrictions on consent)

     - The dates I plan to film on: confirming them to enable the site to know there will be crew on site

     - Explaining about the assessment at the end of the project, plus the whole project itself

     - Whether the video can be shown on the website or even on screens at the Dockyard itself

Schedule & Content

As always, I'll also be creating a schedule regarding the preparation stages for this project and another schedule regarding what dates I will be shooting (as for now I've only mentioned that I'll be filming in the east half term as this is the main time I can film). However below I've created a rough schedule of what can be filmed per day. These are only rough estimates so are likely to change:

     - Day 1: Interviews with staff and volunteers, and Vox Box's of 'happy' tourists
     - Day 2: Filming on a QUIET DAY. Cutaways of the whole of the Dockyard: its key features.
       Anything else needed where tourists may intervene.
     - Day 3: Filming on a BUSY DAY. Similar to previous day so that there is enough coverage with
       or without tourists. Time Lapse of tourists?
     - Day 4: POV on learning how to make rope, or a tour of the submarine.
     - Day 5: Any Extra shots needed

As well as this, I will also need around 1 week max for editing. This is only a rough estimate and may only take a couple of days, dependent if the use of graphics will be involved or not.

Long shot of the Cavalier Warship and the 'Big Space' (see my Dockyard Research
post for more information on the features)

Length of Film

The length of the video too hasn't been decided yet, as I plan to work this out once I have my meeting. Nonetheless, it shouldn't be no longer than 5 minutes, and should aim to be around 3-4 minutes. This is mainly because it is a promotional video meaning it needs to be short and effective to reduce the chance of the audience becoming bored if the video is too long.

And, as it's meant to tease the audience to make them want to come, each feature should only be touched in brief to reduce the chance of it getting spoilt.

Below is a rough sketch of what the timings could be for the film:

     - Introduction: Establishing the tourist site (30 seconds)
     - The warships: Briefly touching on the submarine, Gannet and Cavalier (15 seconds each: 45 
       seconds in total)
     - Commissioners House: Tour of the house, its facilities (30 seconds)
     - Rope Making (30 - 45 seconds)
     - The Restaurant: Current one and ideas for the future (30 seconds)
     - Interviews with staff and with tourists themselves (25 seconds each: 50 seconds in total)
     - Ending: Montage of the Dockyard: Could involve tourist interviews, features, etc (30 seconds)

Rough Total: 4 Minutes 20 - 4 Minutes 35

Establishing shot of the 2 warships and the submarine

This however is subject to change which will be shown once I create a first draft for the script of the video.

Will I Need a Crew?

As I'm filming in quite a large location and aim to have interviews and a POV style (for some parts of the video), I will be needing a crew to assist me. This should only aim to have around 3 to 2 people, whom each will be assigned the following:

     - Sound Operator
     - Secondary Camera (I will be on the main camera)
     - Extra person to be on main camera whilst I am directing if I feel it's needed

As well as this, the interviews may also need lighting meaning I would need assistance with carrying gear around the site.

Now that my video is slowly coming together, I will now research similar promotional examples to see the style they follow, plus create a schedule to prepare for each week!