Project Description
The project is going to consist of multiple shots that include the car (2020 Mustang) and the actor(s) that is going to be used for the video. The story will mainly be about our main actor (Darnell), but there will be a few shots/scenes that contain more than one actor (that includes Charles and I). Within our group for the project my other team members will be able to help with finding all the different types of shots we can take during the filming process and adjusting the video, color, and sound quality during the editing phase of the project.
For my Culmination project I plan to be a co-video editor, director, and screenwriter for a project on a short film based on a character just walking down the sidewalk looking at car pictures which is tied to the hobby of his friend that he hasn’t seen in a long time. The main character then meets up with his friend within their friend group to get his car back after lending it out. He starts to reminisce about the times when all three of them would hang out together. He then continues his day a bit sad driving around waiting for the moment to know if his plans with his friend group is happening that day. He ends up wandering various places to pass the time until he finally gets a text on his phone asking when he was going to show up. From then on, he brightened up and was excited to finally hang out as a whole group. I’m completing this with Darnell McKenzie and Charles Mandell. The idea for the project came along in the Spring 2022 semester when I was in class with Charles and discussed about culmination class that was coming up and it lead to the development of creating the short film. We then later consulted Darnell and asked him to be a part of the team as an editor and sound engineer.
I plan to use avid media composer to complete this project and I would need to make a Gant chart to set deadlines I would need for when I could potentially start co- editing this short film. Charles, Darnell, and I will be using a Gant chart to plan out this process and it will help us stay on track with a timeline of when we need to gather equipment such as the cameras for the shoot and when the script for writing the commercial should be completed by.
In this project I will be the director, screenwriter, as well as doing editing for video on the short film. Once there is a draft of the script done, all of us will start planning which days we will all gather together to start filming, and gather the necessary equipment for our shoots with Charles’ car (2020 Mustang). The estimated time to get the project done would be 64 days. The amount of time given will allows us to get all the equipment needed and start filming which would be the pre-production section of our short film. One all the filming has been completed, I would need all the footage we have gotten in order to start the video editing part of the project, and then send it over to Darnell for finalizing the rest of the edits. The editing process will take approximately 40 days.
Background
I originally came up with this idea and reached out to Charles Mandell since I knew he had a hobby in cars, and later invited Darnell McKenzie as he has knowledge for sound that can be utilized in producing our project. Before I transferred to City Tech, I was in my last semester of my 3rd year at my previous college and was about to start planning my senior project there then transferred over. I had no idea what I was going to do as my senior project as most of the past and present ideas were mainly documentaries which I don’t find and interest or inspiration in it. Then learning about video in City Tech made me realize that film and video is something I have an interest in and want to explore more. While learning more about video editing, I came to the realization that I started to love cinematic and detailed shots, which can be included with narrative films, documentaries and other types of film productions.
Our Roles
| Director | Camera Operator | Video editor | Sound engineer | Screenwriter | Shot list creator |
| Brannon (me) | Charles | Brannon (me) |
Darnell | Brannon (me) | Charles |
| Darnell |
Deliverables
Our deliverables for this project would first be the script and shot list we want to use during the filming. The timeline for this project would take at around 4 months to complete the project itself, which includes getting the equipment needed for filming, filming the project, and editing. Once all the pre-planning and filming is complete, it will take around 1 month for our editors to complete the editing (Me and Darnell as editors). And lastly, the video that we will present as the project.
Calendar
| GANT CHART : One More Ride | Brannon Law, Charles Mandell, Darnell McKenzie, | ||
| Tasks | Start Date | End Date | Duration |
| Script Writing and shot list creation | 9/1/22 | 9/16/22 | 15 |
| Shooting Footage | 9/17/22 | 9/19/22 | 2 |
| Tech advisor meeting | 9/23/22 | 9/23/22 | 1 |
| Shooting Footage | 9/23/22 | 9/25/22 | 2 |
| Tech advisor meeting | 10/7/22 | 10/7/22 | 1 |
| Shooting Footage | 10/16/22 | 10/16/22 | 1 |
| Shooting Footage | 10/22/22 | 10/22/22 | 1 |
| Begin Editing | 10/23/22 | 12/2/22 | 40 |
| Tech advisor meeting | 11/15/22 | 11/15/22 | 1 |
| Master Video | 12/2/22 | 12/2/22 | 0 |
| publish video | 12/3/22 | 12/3/22 | 0 |
Required Equipment and Estimated costs
| Equipment | Cost |
| Car (2020 Mustang – featured car) | ~$30k (personal vehicle) |
| Car (2017 Honda Accord – used for filming) | ~$17k (personal vehicle) |
| Camera – Canon EOS R6 | ~$3,000 (personal equipment) |
| Camera backup– Canon 6D Mark II | ~$1,400 (personal equipment) |
| Camera – GoPro Hero 4 | ~$200 (personal equipment) |
| Lens – Canon 85mm f/1.2 | ~$700 (personal equipment) |
| Lens – Canon 24mm f/1.4 | ~$400 (personal equipment) |
| Lens – Canon 50mm f/1.2 | ~$300 (personal equipment) |
| Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 | ~$1,300 (personal equipment) |
| Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 | ~$1,200 (personal equipment) |
| Microphone – Rode VideoMic | ~$150 (personal equipment) |
| Drone – DJI Phantom 4 | ~$1,200 (personal equipment) |
| Camera Stabilizer – DJI Ronin S | ~$550 (personal equipment) |
| Avid Media Composer | ~$10 / month |
| DaVinci Resolve Studio | ~ $295 |
| Adobe Premiere Pro | ~$20 /month |
| Ableton Live 11 | ~$600 |
| TOTAL (including personal equipment) | ~ $59,000 |
Since this will be a silent film with custom music/ambience added to it, the audio recorded while filming will not be used in the film
As you can see, we have a decent amount of camera equipment. We will be using the Canon EOS R6 as our main filming camera with a selection of lenses to use. These different lenses will allow us to achieve different styles of shots. (i.e., Canon 85mm f/1.2 allows us for more close-up shots while the Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 is for wider shots). The camera stabilizer will allow us to film shots by hand and reduce any shakiness when moving around.
We will be using Avid Media Composer as our main editing software since Darnell and I are proficient with it, and we will use Adobe Premiere as a backup if the servers for Avid have issues. We also have chose to use Avid as our main editing software because of its capabilities to separate the video and audio when color grading unlike Premiere where it doesn’t allow you to do so which can be very time consuming to fix.
For color correction we will be using DaVinci Resolve Studio, as it was recommended by the professor who has taught us Avid Media Composer. The program is reliable as it can handle high resolution projects/files with ease and allows the user to go through the footage without loss of framerate, which can slow the application down.
The audio editing software that our sound engineer (Darnell) is going to be using is the Ableton Live 11 as they have been using it for quite a while and is very efficient with the program itself. Also as I mentioned previously, the majority of the audio recorded in the footage will not be used.
Results
Overall:
The results I would hope to achieve is to have the short film be viewed by people who are interested in short stories, car enthusiasts, and have a passion about cinematic/aesthetic style of filming and editing. I would like for the audience to be able to appreciate the different types of shots that were compiled into the short film along with it telling a story. With the audience having viewed our short film, I would hope to receive some opinions on what was well created within the film, and what other aspects of filming/editing that could’ve been incorporated to make it more visually pleasing. The project will be uploaded to YouTube for presentation purposes and will be used as a project for future references.
As for locating film festivals to participate in, currently we are not in search for one to be in but might consider participating in the future.
Personal:
The outcome of this project for myself is to gain experience in creating a short film with an original story. From brainstorming the storyboard, shot list, to the actual production phase. I believe this will allow me to see what I can excel at individually and with collaborators. I also hope that this project will help me develop my filming and editing skills for my future career path. I think that this project will be an important learning experience, as it will bring out the best of us a allows everyone within the group to understand what their current limit is as a team producing a short film. We can encounter various of problems during the production and postproduction phase such as, bad whether on scheduled filming days, vehicle issues, computer issues, software issues, etc. With these issues in mind, we still believe that we can produce a quality short film even though this will be the first time for all of us doing so.
Short Film Link: https://youtu.be/hF0ZdqgjS1I
Culmination Meetings with Technical Advisor (Car Team) FA 2022
Behind the Scene Photos
