Filming Guidelines

Description of the tool

Presenting participants the following hand out.
Playing with Sequences.

Why?

1) it is more subtile
2) it will create a higher graphic and emotional impact.

Now try to imagine you are a reporter and you must create a report on 2 speeches. One on your own candidate and one on the opposition, what sequence and graphical tricks would you use?

Using Voice:

Imagine a documentary showing a forest, a calm voice will give to the public a response of peaceful and quiet and calm emotions, a scary voice will give the public a sense of suspense, fear, panic. The forest and film is the same, just the voice changes.

Ways of using tone of voice.

1) Derision : Long Breaks, Emphasis, Force a Serious Face.
2) Appraisal : Excited, Positive, Stress Words
3) Offence/Anger: Serious, Flat tone, Stress words, Restrain anger
4) Irrelevance : Neutral, Quick, Bored
5) Respect : Majestic, Respectful, Serious

Try it:

“The President today has announced new budget reforms for the coming year”

Speed of Voice:

Fast Normal . Slow
Drama Serious Drama
Keep Interest Neutral Understandable
Tension Reliable Majestic
Time Regular News triumph
Hide something Formal Suspense
Excited Brain Work Boredom

Etc… Etc… etc…

Interview Styles: Presenting the Interviewee

1) Al Qaeda : Humiliation
2) Big Brother : Only Face
3) Political : Above, below, light in front, light in the back
4) Survey : Public among Public
5) Job : Relevant Work Environment
6) Focused : Zero Background

Manipulating Interviews;

a) Confuse them: Secret logical framework, question bombardment
b) Difficult Terms: Especially Technical Terms
c) Questions with yes and no as answers, no expression of opinion
d) Get short and negative answers. Make them defensive.
e) Make them often agree…if this is cleverly used it can make them look stupid.
f) BE CAREFUL THE SAME CAN BE DONE TO YOU
IMAGES:

A clever use of images and correct framing of the images can make a wordless image be a message on its own.

Framing the Image: generalised concept

1) Centre Maximum Attention to person in the centre of the context
2) Close Up Maximum attention to person or context
3) Left Priority is the person, secondary is the context
4) Right Priority is the context, secondary is the person
5) Confused the context is more important than the person
6) Bust Politician, Representative Status
7) Eyes and Nose Danger, Mistrust, Hiding, Criminal
8) High Majestic, increase height, public feels small
9) Low Humiliation, decrease of the status of the person
10) Light/Dark Background full attention on person and what the person has to say

Influence of Background Images, even if irrelevant, create emotions, what images would you use to report a sex scandal?

Creating own’s Spot and Advertisement.

Cathegories of advertisement:

1) Pure Information. Just briefly present the topic/product with essential information.
2) No Information. Make an entertaining advert or an enticing one with no information regarding your topic/product, which the viewer can associate with you subtly. (be careful because in many cases people can remember the advert but not the product)
3) Short Humour. Use a fun advert which make people laugh yet it is connected to your product/topic.
4) Long Humour. Use an advertising campaign ongoing a humorous story in different episodes connecting it to your product/topic.
5) Tease: Can be a campaign and/or a single advert, teasing the public by provocation, seduction or fostering curiosity about you.
6) Power: Have something powerful and enticing, associating your product/topic to sensations of power and strength.

An advert or a campaign based on humour is more likely to succeed to achieve your goal, it is involving, creates response and emotion, it is remembered as it is associated to laughter.

Existing types of humour for adverts.

a) Unreal/Absurd. Something so absurd that can hardly be true and is out of most logical contexts.
b) Tragedy: Somebody else’s misfortunes associate easily the viewer with the victim, creates sympathy, and has to create laughter, a funny situation. “Tragedy of today is the Comedy of tomorrow”
c) Embarrassment. Can be connected to the association the public can make with the protagonists of the spot and creates a think-reaction of what would they do in their place.
d) Coincidences. A series of coincidences can make a situation look humours, this can be combined with the unreal/absurd.
e) Stupidity. Stupidity is the easiest as it is always funny and can associated to any of the above.

Then allow participants to practice with the video cameras.