LAUVC502

There was initially no specific use outlined to us for the footage captured at the Human Aquarium launch, other than video documentation of the event. So for the most part of this film I took on the role of director, even though I would consider the client to be Yorkshire Life Aquatic. From the experience of Thrive, I knew that capturing representative audience feedback was the most valuable form of event documentation, as it’s the most effective way of demonstrating the impact of the event.

As I was close to completing an edit of the audience feedback, a more specific brief from the client came to light. They needed a 2 minute long film explaining the Human Aquarium Exhibition to be used for a funding application. When I was presented the brief, I had 4 hours available to work on the film before the funding application deadline.

This is why the introduction to the video is poorly filmed – shaky with numerous jump cuts. The client asked to film it last-minute in one take. I also did not have time to properly treat the final sequence, so there is noticeable inconsistency with lighting levels. Much of the interview footage is underexposed and the white balance in the group interview is quite yellow-toned.

Despite this, the film delivers all the necessary information about the Human Aquarium, as well as represents its impact on the audience. The client was happy with the final outcome and paid me for my time. So my initial voluntary contributions of the Behind the Scenes videos ultimately led to a paid opportunity.

Something I am determined to improve on (alongside colour grading and corrective editing) is avoiding being short of footage. I didn’t anticipate this being an issue for this project, as there was initially four other students interested in filming. However, I didn’t realise that the rest of the group were not able to commit to the whole duration of the event, so in the end I had only my own footage to use. Even so, I think I will seek some professional advice from lens-based specialist tutor Sharon Cooper before filming my next event.