college

1. Factual:
Idea Development and Planning
James

2. The format is going to be
video, but in parts, it’s
going to have hints of
audio as well, only really
for commentary and
music in the background,
though.
Things i’ll have to keep
track of in a project like this
are:
• The pacing of the
video
• How the commentary
sounds, (is it too
loud, too boring, not
long enough?)
• Making sure the
music doesn’t
overlap the
commentary audio.
• How the video looks
(is it rendered in the
right resolution, are
all the pictures and
clips relevant, does it
all go together well?)
• Is it entertaining?
.
The plan for this project
is this, a video essay
style documentary, that
covers the topic of
violence in video games
and the constant
misinformation in the
media surrounding it. I
want it to be roughly 3
and a half to 4 minutes.
The things that I
want to focus on the
most in this project is
the way it’s going to
be put together, so
basically all the
editing that will go
into it. Things like the
pacing, the way the
commentary will be
cut, how the video
will be structured,
they types of clips
and photos I’ll
include and when,
how, and why,
they’re included in
the first place. Audio
leveling will also be
really important here

3. The second idea I had, was to do another Video
Essay documentary, except this one focuses more
on the audio side of things. It’s still going to rely
on visuals for context, but the audio this time will
play a greater roll.
The idea itself is to make
an essay explaining how
music can effect each and
every person in a different
way. So obviously i’ll need
to use more music and
genres to use as an
example.
I want to explore the
scientific side of it, but also
the personal side as well.
Like how people use music
to help motivate them, how
they use it as a coping
mechanism, or how some
people only use it as
background music.
The overall question I want
to answer is, ‘Is music
more important then people
give it credit for?’
The visuals for this one can be just as interesting as
well though, when it comes to visuals in music theres
so many different things you can include in the
background. Things like music videos, live concert
footage, clips from interviews, screenshots, and way
more can all be used in the background, but, they can
also be used as visual representation to help back up
what you’re talking about in the commentary. They can
be used as evidence, as well as something for you to
look at when theres not as much going on.
So in short, video clips can be used to keep the
momentum of the essay going, when theres nothing
else to look at

4. Content:
My style of video is more along the lines of the typical video essay you can find on YouTube. The audience
there is much wider, and easier to make content for. A 3-5-minute video like this is perfect for the YouTube
audience since it's bite sized, doesn't take up too much of the viewers time, and should run just long
enough to keep the viewers' attention.
• A short 10-20 second intro will be included as a good way to introduce the viewer to the topic, and as a
general tone setter, filters and independent audio will also be included to show the style of editing I'll be
shooting for with this project.
• For most of the duration of the project my own commentary will be included, it won't, however, be a
constant flow of information and bland a dialogue. I'll also be incorporating different takes from different
chunks of the script, so I'll record the same few lines a few different times, then go through all
the different takes to decide which one I think is best to go into the final product.
• Spaces in-between the commentary clips will also be incorporated, just as a means to keep
the commentary from becoming stale and boring.
• Clips, pictures, and videos, will all be used as a visual representation, these can be immensely effective, if
the timing is done right. As well as that, there will also be smaller scale graphics that I'm hoping to
incorporate, things like moving text on a moving background, most likely used for things like moving
transition screens that will last for, at most, 5 seconds.

5. Planning:
General structure of the video (may be subject to change as production goes on)
• Intro to the video will be 20-30 seconds long, has a series of clips and articles that play back to back, with someone
talking about the topic in the background, and light music. it sets the tone and introduces the topic.
• After the intro plays, a sudden fade to black follows, which is followed by the first few lines of commentary.
• The commentary more or less carries the rest of the video to the end, with a series of videos, audio clips, and a few
more interuptions inbetween. Should hopefully be an even blend of sourced information, and my own commentary.
• The initial cut of the commentary should be 3:30-4 minutes at the most, however this may change, even after it's
been recorded, cutting out audio clips or something that feels unnecessary is entirely possible, and may even benefit
the flow of the video.
• Something is always going to be on screen, and should, for the most part, be connected to what the commentary is
talking about, just to help the audience understand a bit easier.
• When putting the video together I'm expecting that the structure may look a bit messy, the reason for this is I'm not
going to be making the segments in the order they'll play, so the start of the video may be the last thing I do.
Because of this I'm going to have to keep track of all what I am making, and where I placed it in the timeline when
I'm done making it. I'm doing it this way because there are going to be parts that will be harder to edit for, and will
require more going on, on the screen, so I want to get those out of the way first.
• When it's all said and done, and all the segments are put together in the correct order, it should be an easy to follow
video that’s fun to watch, with a good balance of information, and actual interesting content.

6. Production Schedule:
• In the build up to the production, I want
to get a head start on finding as much
source information as possible, so in
my own time I want to look for, videos,
books, podcast segments, and news
articles that can help me draft a script,
and that I can hopefully use in the video
itself, as visual representation.
• Also in the build up, I plan on drafting
parts of a script, this might be multiple
screenshots of different script drafts, or it
could be just a few screenshots from one
single script draft, it all depends on how
many will get made
• At the very start of production, the first
thing I'll do is look at the script that I
made and finalised ahead of time, and I'll
try to visualise roughly what I want the
video to look like, from there I'lll record
the commentary for the segments of the
script that I think will be the hardest to
edit for, and I'll start editing those first.
This will make it easier in the last few
weeks of production as I can just sit back
and make the much easier parts.
• To make this easier for myself, I'm going
to highlight the script in order of what I
think is going to be the most
challenging to do, and I'll go from there,
this is the way that I'm going to start
the project, and it should last about a
week or two. If I need to, I can make
some changes to the script to make
things a bit smoother.
• After these first two weeks or so, I'll take
a day to fully go over everything I have to
this point, I'll fix or re-record anything
I'm not happy with, then I'll go on to
make the second half.
• In the last few weeks I'll gather clips and
screenshots, and some quotes that I want
to include in the more 'easy-going' parts of
the video, while I don't think this part of
production will take an entire two weeks,
it does give me time to make sure that the
structure is exactly how I want it to be,
and I can change with the pacing if I need
to.
• The last week of production is going to be
dedicated to self-analysis of the product,
making sure it's up to par with what I
wanted to make in my head, making sure
all the audio levels are evened
out properly, checking to see if all the clips
are in the right resolution, and seeing if
they play at the right times.
• Something that I'm going to be constantly
checking for throughout production, is the
pacing, I want it to be relativly fast paced,
so if I think something is too slow, then I'll
have to re-record that particular segment,
at worst I'll have to lightly change the
script. If I miss anything there, then I can
resolve it in the final week of production.