Project 2

 April 21,2025

21/04/2025 - 12/05/2024(Week  - Week )

YANG YANG / 0363575

Video and Sound Production / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's

 University 

Project 2

LIST

1. Lectures

2. Instructions

3.Project 2 

4. Reflections

Lectures

Week 5

Class Test: Storyboard Creation for Magic Juice Short Film

This is our class test, and the task is to create a storyboard based on the concept and structure below.

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Main Concept:

During lockdown, M finds no food at home and becomes frustrated. He later discovers a magazine and magically pulls out real fruits from it. He makes juice and ends the day happily.

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Task Breakdown:

1. Choose one visual effect shot (with tutorial support).

2. Build a short story around the selected effect (featuring 1 character and 1 continuous event).

3. Divide the story into plot segments.

4. Match each plot segment with an appropriate scene description and camera shot type.

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Example Shot List:

• W.S (Wide Shot): M wakes up and yawns.

• C.U (Close-Up): TV shows lockdown news.

• M.S (Medium Shot): M opens an empty cabinet and gets frustrated.

• C.U (Close-Up): Fruits are thrown into a glass and magically turn into juice.

Quiz: 

 Reflection: 

Understanding Scene Breakdown and Production Roles

In Week 5, Mr. Martin taught us how to describe scenes and specify camera shots for each frame in a storyboard. After the lesson, he brought our group to the photography studio, where he introduced the different roles involved in a video production. These included the director, director of photography (D.O.P), assistant directors, lighting crew, sound crew, and actors.

This hands-on experience gave me a clearer understanding of how each crew member's responsibilities contribute to a smooth and successful shoot. I also realized how essential teamwork and communication are in coordinating a professional production environment.

Week 7 Summary: Colour Correction vs. Colour Grading

Colour Correction – The Foundation of Visual Consistency

• Adjusts exposure, white balance, temperature, and tint to ensure accurate and neutral colors

• Ensures true whites, true blacks, and overall balance across all clips

• Tools used: RGB Parade, Waveform, Vectorscope in the Lumetri panel

• Comparison View allows side-by-side before-and-after comparison

• Purpose: To make all shots look visually consistent and technically correct before applying any artistic style

Colour Grading – Adding Emotion and Style to the Story

• Builds on corrected footage to enhance mood, tone, and atmosphere

• Involves changes to contrast, saturation, and color tones for creative effect

• Common grading styles:

  • Cool blue / green tones – for cold or suspenseful moods

  • Warm brown tones – for nostalgic or comforting feelings

  • Desaturation – to evoke realism or melancholy

  • Black and white with high contrast – for simplicity or emotional impact

  • Teal & Orange – popular cinematic style that separates warm skin tones from cool backgrounds for strong visual contrast

• Purpose: To support storytelling by guiding audience emotions and reinforcing narrative tone

Instructions:

Project 2 Reflection: Matching story beats to shot types

In class this week, as part of our storyboarding exercise, we were tasked with matching each story beat to an appropriate type of shot. I chose to manually draw each frame using procreate, using minimalist lines with a focus on clearly representing the scene, emotion and camera perspective.

I began by dividing the script into 12 shots and assigning each shot an appropriate frame

Shot Type - Range - Purpose

• W.S (Wide Shot) - Full body or environment Showing the scene
• M.S (Medium Shot) - Above the waist People + Action
• M.C.U (Medium Close-Up) - Above the chest Expressions + tone of voice
• C.U (Close-Up) - Face/object localised Emphasis on mood/detail
• E.C.U (Extreme Close-Up) - Eyes, mouth, etc. very small parts Highly emotional, tension

Reflection Summary: Filming and Post-Production Practice

Exercise 1: On-Set Filming and Character Preparation

This week, Mr. Martin brought us to the studio for a hands-on filming session and demonstrated how to operate the equipment and arrange camera shots.
I was originally assigned the role of camera assistant, helping with framing and setup. However, due to last-minute crew adjustments and costume considerations, I was reassigned as the lead actor and participated in the on-camera performance.

After class, I took time to familiarize myself with the script and the character’s movement, especially the blocking and physical actions required for the fight scene. This process deepened my understanding of how actors interact with camera angles and how to express emotions effectively in front of the lens. It also strengthened my adaptability and on-set responsiveness.

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Exercise 2: Full Production and Rough Cut Editing

Under Mr. Martin’s guidance, our group successfully completed seven different shots in the studio. We worked together on camera angles, lighting setups, and actor coordination. As the lead actor, I became more aware of how to perform based on the director’s vision, especially in scenes requiring precise timing and physical expression, like the combat sequence.

Post-Production Task:
After filming, I was responsible for rough cutting and syncing audio. I organized the raw footage and sound files, then used automatic audio alignment to match the dialogue with the actors’ lip movements, ensuring natural flow. Through this editing process, I gained a deeper understanding of narrative pacing and improved my skills in organizing and managing materials in Premiere Pro.

Final Outcome：

Project 2.2：

Mr. Martin instructed us to perform both color correction and color grading on a previously edited video clip. Based on what we learned in class, I first conducted basic color correction for each shot, focusing on adjusting exposure, contrast, and white balance. This step ensured visual consistency across the entire sequence and effectively eliminated color variations caused by different lighting conditions during the shoot.

Final Outcome：

Reflection：

In this practical assignment, I had my first formal experience with the full filming process. From operating the camera to choosing lighting directions, and even immersing myself in the role as an actor, I gained a lot of knowledge—not only through my own tasks but also by observing how my teammates worked in different roles. Although we didn’t need to handle every job ourselves, the hands-on experience and team collaboration made this a truly interesting and rewarding project.

At the same time, during the editing phase, I became much more familiar with Adobe Premiere Pro. Compared to the beginning when I felt lost, I can now take the initiative to try out more creative editing techniques. This process has helped me improve both my technical skills and my understanding of the overall video production workflow.