GUIDEBOOK

W I G H TF I L M S

CONTENTS

WHAT IS WIGHT FILMS? . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 1

MAKING FILMS & VIDEOS . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 2

ROLES THAT YOU CAN TRY . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 5

THE EQUIPMENT THAT WE USE . . . . . . . . . PAGE 8

THE SOFTWARE THAT WE USE . . . . . . . . . PAGE 9

HANDY DOCUMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 11

FIND OUT MORE & GET INVOLVED . . . . . . . PAGE 15

CONTACT DETAILS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 16

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WHAT IS WIGHT FILMS? Wight Films is a community group based in Ventnor that anyone can get involved with. The purpose of Wight Films is to bring people together, teach them how to create films and videos, encourage creative partnerships and projects to form, and make great content. You can learn more about what we do by reading this guidebook and vising our website at wightfilms.uk.

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MAKING FILMS AND VIDEOS There are three distinct stages involved in making a film or video. First there is the PRE-PRODUCTION stage - which involves thinking about, discussing, and planning your film. Then comes the PRODUCTION stage, which involves filming your project (capturing the video and audio files that your project is going to need). And lastly comes the POST-PRODUCTION stage, which involves gathering together all the files that you’ve created, and editing them into a coherent story, with a beginning, middle and end.

A step-by-step guide has been prepared for you below. If you follow it, it’ll help you to make your own film or video.

PRE-PRODUCTION

Step 1 - The Idea - The process of making a film or a video begins with an idea. You may already have an idea, or you may wish to talk to others to bounce some ideas around. This is obviously an important step in the process, so you may wish to spend a couple of weeks thinking about and discussing various ideas, before settling on the one you’d like to work on.

Step 2 - Are you a Lone Wolf or a Team Player? - Once you have your idea, you’ll then need to decide if you’d prefer to work alone or as part of a group. Most people choose to work in small groups of between two and five people, but there’s no right or wrong way, you simply need to decide how you’d prefer to work.

Step 3 - The Title - Once you have an idea, and once you’ve decided who’s going to be involved in your project, you should think about giving your film or video a working title. This makes it easier for people refer to and discuss your project, and it provides it with the beginnings of an identity.

Step 4 - Assigning Roles - In the next section of this guidebook you’ll find a list of the roles that are involved in making a film or video, roles that include things like Camera Operator, Script Writer, Interviewer, Editor, and Musician. The members of your project will need to sit down and decide which of these roles needs filling to produce your film or video, and who’s going to do what. Some roles are creative, others are technical, and some require good organisational skills. Your natural abilities and inclinations should help you decide which role (or roles) each of you are suited to. Don’t worry if two or more people choose to do the same role, if that happens you simply share the role, by working together or by taking turns. And don’t worry if you would like to (or if your project

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requires that you) take on more than one role - in many cases people take on two, three, or even four roles each, to give their project more scope.

Step 5 - Planning - Once your project has a name, and once you’ve identified who’s doing what, then you’re ready to start planning it all out. Different types of project will require different amounts of planning before filming can begin, but whatever kind of project you’re working on it’s usually a good idea to have the following things in place before you start filming…

• A rough script.

• A storyboard (showing the scenes that you intend to film).

• Locations (where you intent to film those scenes).

• A list of the equipment you’re going to need.

• Times and dates (for filming).

• Travel information (showing how you’re going to get to the filming locations and back).

• Time spent practicing with the video and audio equipment that you’re going to be using (i.e. unpacking it, setting it up, recording some test video and audio, packing it away again, transferring the recorded media to a computer, importing that media into a video editor to make sure it looks and sounds good, recharging the batteries).

There’s usually a lot going on during a video shoot, but if you’ve practiced what you’re supposed to be doing, and if you’ve got a simple set of instructions to follow (like a storyboard), things tend to go much more smoothly.

PRODUCTION

Step 6 - Filming - When you’re ready to start filming your project will shift gears. You’ll move from the thinking, talking and planning stage, to the doing stage. Which means going out into the world to film the scenes that your project needs. A typical video shoot involves meeting at a prearranged location at a prearranged time. You’ll probably have a storyboard or a script to-hand reminding you of what you need to achieve that day, and you’ll get on and do it. Be prepared for the fact that problems will arise and mistakes will be made, but don’t worry about it. Mistakes and problems are a very normal and natural part of the learning process, which always occur when trying a complex task for the first time.

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But in our case there’s really no need to worry, because there are no deadlines (beyond the deadlines you set yourself), no bosses, and no budgets. The worst that can happen is that a scene needs re-shooting, and that’s not the end of the world, it’s just an opportunity to learn a little more and improve the quality of your project.

POST-PRODUCTION

Step 7 - Editing - This involves gathering together all the media that your film or video is going to need, and weaving it into a coherent story. Media that includes the video and audio files that you’ve created during the production phase of your project, and any additional content that your team-mates have prepared, like graphics, photos, animations, music, sound effects, and voice-over narration. The art of editing involves deciding what to keep and what to throw away, and weaving those elements into a story with a beginning, middle, and end. Ideally a compelling story, that informs or entertain people, and make them laugh, cry, or think. Usually an editor will present a rough first cut, or a section of the film that he or she has been working on to the others in their group, to get their feedback. And if all (or most things!) go well, the end product will be something that you’ll be proud to have been a part of.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU’VE MADE YOUR FILM OR VIDEO?

Most people like to show their work to others, by uploading their finished film or video to the Wight Films website and social media accounts, or to their own YouTube channel, or by submitting it to a digital TV channel, film festival or competition for review. However, if you’d prefer to keep your work private that’s perfectly fine. The people who create the content at Wight Films own it and decide what’s done with it.

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ROLES THAT YOU CAN TRY Roles that you can try include: Director, Script Writer, Camera Operator, Sound Recordist, Interviewer, Interviewee, Actor, Editor, Animator, Graphic Designer, Prop/Set Maker, Storyboard Artist, Voice-Over Artist, Musician, Researcher, and Location Scout. However, most projects are quite small and won’t need all these roles filling. Typically three or four people working on a project together might take on two or three roles each. Below is a basic description of each role.

Director – The captain of the ship. The person who guides the whole project and co-ordinates everyone in it. Creativity, good people skills, and good organisational skills are a big advantage in this role.

Assistant Director – The glue that keeps the whole project together. The person who ensures the right people and equipment get to the right location at the right time. And that everyone knows what they’re supposed to be doing when they get there. A role that requires good organisational and communication skills.

Editor – The Editor will probably work alone for much of the time, watching hours of footage and deciding which bits to keep, and which bits to throw away. He or she will weave these pieces into a coherent story, adding music if it’s needed, as well as visual effects, sound effects, voice-over narration, graphics, titles, credits. One limitation to this role is that the Editor will need to own a computer, and have enough hard drive space to store the video and audio files that the project will generate.

Interviewer – The conductor of the project. The Interviewer will ask questions that have been prepared beforehand, but he or she will also be expected to improvise and go with the flow of a conversation, following up on any interesting threads that arises spontaneously. Which means being able to think on your feet.

Voice-Over Artist – The voice of the project. The Voice-Over Artist will read text aloud in front of a microphone inside a voice-over booth. This person should have to be able to read well and speak clearly. This role is sometimes, but not always undertaken by the interviewer.

Writer – The storyteller. The person who creates scripts, who decides what questions should be asked in interviews, who writes any voice-over narration that’s needed. Creativity and writing skills are a big advantage in this role.

Camera Operator – The eyes of the project. Creativity, some technical ability, and a degree of intuition help to make a good camera operator.

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The best shots are sometime unexpected things that arise between and behind the main shots that are planned. And if you’ve got the wherewithal to capture those fleeting moments, you’ll probably make a very good camera operator. You’ll be expected to practice with the camera and get familiar with it, so that you’ll increase in confidence when using it. You’ll need to ensure your subject is well framed and in focus, as well as well lit, and not over or under exposed. You’ll also need to make sure the camera is either steadily planted on a tripod, or that it moves about smoothly with the help of a gimbal. You can also experiment with creative techniques, such as slow-motion and time-lapse.

Sound Recordist – The ears of the project. To ensure good sound quality we rarely rely on the on-board microphone built-in to the camera, we prefer to use either a shotgun microphone pointed at the speaker, or a wireless lavalier (lapel) type microphone. These will be connected via a cable, or wirelessly to an audio recorder. The Sound Recordist’s job will be to position the microphone(s), ensure the recording levels aren’t too high or low, and make sure the audio is being captured when the camera is rolling. No special skills are required for this role, but some technical ability would be an advantage.

Animator – The person in charge of creating the animated graphics for the project. This may include things like the opening sequence and the end credits, as well as any animations that help to tell your story. Animating can be a time consuming task, but also an extremely rewarding one, because it can elevate your project to a whole new level, making it more colourful, more interesting, and more professional looking.

Musician – Films and videos can be greatly enhanced by layering evocative music beneath important scenes. However, you cannot just pick your favourite pop and rock songs as your background music, because that would constitute copyright infringement, and sites like YouTube would immediately take your video down and give you a copyright strike. So you need to get creative when it comes to sourcing your music. Royalty-free / Creative Commons music can be sourced online (for free or for a small fee), but you can also create your own music, to give your project a truly distinctive feel. You don’t need years of training and experience to creative evocative music, you just need an instrument or a voice, and a willingness to give it a go. Passion and soul often beats technical ability, and imperfections can sometimes be beautiful.

Graphic Designer – The person in charge of designing the still images needed for the project. That includes things like title graphics, illustrations, maps, plans, and graphs. The Graphic Designer may also be

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asked to take photos and create storyboards, if the project doesn’t have a dedicated Storyboard Artist.

Storyboard Artist – The person who creates basic (stick man) drawings showing all the scenes that need capturing. When filming starts you’re often at an unfamiliar location, there’s a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it. But having a simple and clear storyboard sequence to refer to tends to make the process unfold much more smoothly. There’s a great scope for creativity too. You don’t just need to stick to shooting static head shots, you can get as creative and as experimental as you please, using motion, the landscape, close ups and long shots, unusual camera angles, natural light and shadows, focus and zoom effects to give your project a really distinctive feel.

Location Scout – It can add a great deal of visual interest and impact to a scene if it’s shot at a location that’s relevant to the story. But someone has to find these locations, and make sure it’s possible to film there. Which means ensuring that any necessary permissions have been obtained, and that it isn’t going to be too busy or too noisy to film at the scheduled time. This role would suit someone that is creative, and likes exploring.

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THE EQUIPMENT THAT WE USE Wight Films can make available…

• A Panasonic GH-5 (a video and stills camera).

• A Zhiyun Weebill Lab (a hand-held camera stabilizer).

• An Aputure LED HR-672C (a light panel).

• A Sennheiser MK-416 (a shotgun microphone).

• A Sennheiser EW 512P G4 (a wireless lavalier/lapel type microphone).

• A Sound Devices Mix-Pre 6 (an audio recorder).

• An assortment of tripods and monopods.

• A dolly (a camera platform with wheels on).

• Rucksacks for carrying gear in.

Or you can use your own equipment if you have any. Smartphones can capture very good video for example.

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THE SOFTWARE THAT WE USE VIDEO EDITORS

There are several editing programs that we use which differ in complexity. The more complex programs have more features, but they also take longer to learn how to use.

Open Shot - The simplest program that we use is called Open Shot, and it can be downloaded for free from this website openshot.org. This is a very basic drag and drop style editor that will allow you to cut and reposition clips, but not do a whole lot more. Often however this is all people need, so for basic applications Open Shot is great.

Shotcut - The next step up in terms of complexity is a program called Shotcut. It can be downloaded for free from this website shotcut.org. Shotcut does everything that Open Shot can do, but allows more in the way of transitions, special effects, typography, and colour adjustment.

Kdenlive - Kdenlive is very similar to Shotcut in terms of its features and complexity, it simply has a different lay-out that some people prefer. Kdenlive can be downloaded for free from this website kdenlive.org.

Vegas Pro - The most fully-featured editing program that we use is called Vegas Pro. Vegas Pro allows advanced special effects, and you can instal plug-ins (some free and some paid-for) to extend its capabilities. It’s no more complex to learn than Shotcut or Kdenlive, but it is more powerful, and you do have to pay for it. You can buy Vegas Pro from this website vegascreativesoftware.com.

GRAPHICS, ANIMATION, & SOUND

To prevent this guidebook from getting too long, we’re just going to skim over information about graphics, animation and sound programs.

Graphics - The following YouTube video shows five of the most popular free graphics programs: youtube.com/watch?v=sc-l0BacsWY. If you’d like to buy a paid-for graphics program, we’d recommend Adobe Photoshop. We use Adobe Photoshop CS6, which isn’t the latest version, but it can be purchased outright - later versions require that you pay a monthly subscription fee.

Animation - The following YouTube video shows five of the most popular free animation programs: youtube.com/watch?v=PA6hxeptXCs. If you’d like to buy a paid-for animation program, we’d recommend Adobe After

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Effects. We use Adobe After Effects CS6, which isn’t the latest version, but it can be purchased outright - later versions require that you pay a monthly subscription fee.

Sound - A great basic audio editor is Audacity, which can be downloaded for free from this website audacityteam.org. Audacity allows you to record, edit, and export audio files. If you’d like to buy a paid-for audio editor, we’d recommend Adobe Audition. We use Adobe Audition CS6, which isn’t the latest version, but it can be purchased outright - later versions require that you pay a monthly subscription fee.

If however you’d like to create music from scratch, using your computer as an instrument (rather than recording audio using a microphone and then editing it on your computer) then you’re going to need a DAW - a Digital Audio Workstation. The following YouTube video shows five of the most popular free DAW’s youtube.com/watch?v=4cFwUXSZgEs. If you’d like to buy a paid-for DAW, we’d recommend Avid Pro Tools.

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HANDY DOCUMENTS There are two documents that you’ll probably find helpful (if not essential) during the course of your project.

Storyboard -The first document is a storyboard template, which is just an A4 sheet of paper that’s been divided into boxes. You draw stickman type sketches showing the scenes that you need to film inside these boxes, a bit like a comic strip. And then, when you go to a location to capture video footage, you’ve got a clear visual guide to hand, to remind you of the scenes that you need to film.

You can either download a storyboard template using this link wightfilms.uk/storyboard.pdf, or you can photocopy the one provided on the following page.

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Release Form -The second document is called a release form. A release form is a legal contract that gives a person or an organisation permission to record someone else’s likeness (e.g. take video or photos of them), and then broadcast or publish that likeness.

How does that apply to you? If you plan on capturing video footage of a person, and if you intend to post that footage online, show it at a public screening, or have it shown on television, then you’re legally required to inform that person of your intentions, and obtain a signed release form from them, in which they give you permission to do that. That applies to everyone who is clearly identifiable in your video or film. If there are people in the distance, people out of focus, or people who dash past the camera in a fleeting blur, then you wouldn’t be obliged to get signed release forms from them. Just those that you can clearly see and identify.

You can either download a release form that we’ve prepared using this link wightfilms.uk/release.pdf, photocopy it from the next page, or find your own online.

The person shooting the video should fill out the top part, and the person being filmed the bottom part.

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VIDEO CONSENT AND RELEASE FORM

Name of Producer / Production Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Title of Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Date of Filming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I give permission to the Producer named above to use video, audio, and photos of me in connection with the above Project. I understand that this Project may be broadcast online, on television, or shown at a public screening, and I do not expect to be paid for this appearance.

Name of Person filmed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Email / phone no. of Person filmed*. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Today’s date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Signature of Person filmed* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

* If the Person filmed is under 18, their Parent or Legal Guardian should enter their own contact information, and sign on their child’s behalf.

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FIND OUT MORE AND GET INVOLVED To find out more you can visit our website, and if you have any questions, or if you’d like to get involved just send us an email. We’ll then invite you to the next meeting and introduce you to some of the members. All our contact details can be found on the next page.

While the need for social distancing persists, we will only be meeting up online and not in person, using the Zoom video-conferencing app. But there’s a lot that we can achieve online - we can conceive of, develop, and plan your project in detail. So that when we can meet up socially once again, we can start filming your project straight away. And if social distancing persists beyond the time when everything’s organised, then we’ll explore creative ways of working separately, while collaborating on group projects.

Online meetings are once a week, and usually last for an hour or two. You can connect to our Zoom meeting room via your web browser, but if you download and install the Zoom app on your computer or hand-held device (which you can get from this link zoom.us/download) then you’ll get a more stable connection and more options for configuring your chat window. Zoom allows people to video chat, audio chat, and text chat. Most people tend to video chat, because it’s the next best thing to meeting up in person. You can also connect to our meetings via the telephone if you don’t have a computer or a smart device. The details are provided overleaf on the Contact Details page.

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CONTACT DETAILS Email: hello@wightfilms.uk

Website: wightfilms.uk

Our Zoom Meeting Room: tiny.cc/7f6mpz

To attend meetings you’ll need this meeting room link (tiny.cc/7f6mpz), as well as the meeting room password and a schedule of our upcoming meetings - both of which we give out by email when people enquire about getting involved.

Zoom Phone Number: 0330 088 5830 (for those who don’t have a computer or smart device, and can only join meetings by landline phone). After dialling this number, you’ll need to enter our meeting room ID number (404 444 7777), and the meeting room password, which we give out by email when people enquire about getting involved.

Storyboard template: wightfilms.uk/storyboard.pdf

Release form: wightfilms.uk/release.pdf

PDF of this guidebook: wightfilms.uk/guidebook.pdf

Name and address of the group organiser:

Sam Schroeder 48 North Street Ventnor Isle of Wight PO38 1NJ

Who is the group organiser? A 44 year old graphic designer, web designer, animator and videographer, who works part-time for a mental health recovery centre called Isorropia Foundation. I only work part-time because I have a physical disability called Dystonia which affects the muscles in my neck. But that doesn’t prevent me from following my passion in life, which is working on creative projects (especially films and videos) with other people.

wightfilms.uk

W I G H TF I L M S