For this professional development session, we learned about a filming technique called B roll and applied it to a short film of our making (in groups).
B Roll refers to a selection or series of clips that are used to support the narrative within a film sequence. It is a type of secondary footage and is often used as cutaway to help provide and context and visual interest, aiding in the telling of the story. One example would be when the actor’s dialogue talks about a particular object, the B roll would be a clip of the object on its own. It’s important to capture B roll footage during filming as it enables you to have a variety of shots to cut to, and focus on props and other elements of the story.
For this week, we will be planning and producing a short 1-minute film that is reflective of a particular genre and includes B roll in some way. We were instructed to get into groups and produce the film up to a professional standard with good camera work and sound, which would obviously involve some preparation.
Pitching and Planning
Our first idea was to go for the horror genre and have Tegan be the evil creature/monster chasing a group of people. However, we were struggling on choosing an object for the B Roll portion of the film that would be relevant to the story. After some more rifling through possible ideas, we naturally drifted towards a more parodic style, perhaps due to the example video we were shown for B Roll. Together, we filtered through things that would be difficult to include due to our time limit or strayed too far from the main focus and eventually settled on this:
Group Name
Another Surver
Short Film
An infomercial-style comedy-horror based on zombies. The main product, stairs, is advertised to fend off wheelchair zombies.
Roles
Bilal: Actor (wheelchair zombie)
Will: Actor (normal citizen)
Tegan: Actor (company presenter)
Kayla: Camera Operator
Jacob: Director
Craig: Producer
Tina: Stage Manager
These are the primary roles for each member of the team, but throughout production, everyone was quite involved in each part of the process. This included giving suggestions, making alterations to the scenes and generally helping each other during filming. We will also all be involved in the editing stage, which is why that role is excluded from the list.
We briefly considered going outside but the risks outweighed the pros of a more realistic setting. The city backdrop would have been good for the zombie apocalypse feel, however, sound would have been an issue and given us more to remove in post-production, such as if someone honked or yelled. We also would have taken longer trying to find a suitable location, which increased the possibility of not getting all of the necessary footage. Furthermore, it was quite dark at the time of our pitch, which would have made it difficult to shoot (no proper lighting) and would have made it more dangerous for all of us, especially Bilal. Risks like tripping up, accidentally stepping on glass or getting hit by a car were increased due to the dark but also posed a problem for Bilal, who uses a wheelchair to travel. Making sure he was on a suitable surface and able to manoeuvre freely and quickly for the purpose of our shot and his safety would have also added onto our time and may have even been impossible in certain places. Putting the risks aside, our main objective was to include B Roll of stairs in the film and were essential for the product advertisement and therefore story. An elevator was also needed for the final shot, making it clear that staying in the college was our best shot and most logical option.
Filming Location
Interior of Confetti College
Additional Assets
A TV screen or smooth, plain backdrop for chroma keying
A small object that can be smacked out of the hand e.g a can, plushie or water bottle
Stairs or a staircase
An elevator
Shots
– TV broadcast/news/advert with presenter asking “Are wheelchair zombies giving you problems?” + footage of zombies running after citizens.
– Presenter shows old product which is smacked away
– Presenter showcases new product (stairs)
– B Roll of stairs
– Citizen on top of stairs laughing at zombie who can’t get up
– Citizen happy to have gotten away, walking through entryway, zombie comes up using elevator + presenter rushing in yelling “cut, cut, cut!”
The closing shot was initially of the citizen standing triumphantly atop the stairs whilst the wheelchair is seen slowly wheeling in from the background. This would have been accompanied by a creaking and ‘ding’ sound to clarify the zombie got up using an elevator and would have been edited accordingly (light around the citizen, dark cloud around wheelchair). This tied in better with the ‘horror’ aspect of our film but had to be changed for variety and the infomercial style; seeing the elevator makes it more clear for the audience and the presenter rushing in, in a panic is more comedic.
Effects
Compositing the clip of Bilal chasing Will whilst Tegan is presenting at the start
Editing in/out any specific sounds, such as the elevator ‘ding’ or infomercial audio and music
Possibly some extra voiceover such as a disclaimer and more info on the product
Possibly some infomercial elements such as arrows pointing to the product, flashy boxes with things like ‘buy now’ in them and the broken TV screen for the end
Filming
Having such a big group meant that we had a greater range of options and ideas to choose from, and each person could play to their strengths, meaning we fulfilled more roles on set. It was beneficial having an individual suited for a specific part of the process who would be considered ‘in charge’ of that aspect and then be able to chip in and help with that part regardless of the role. This was efficient since there was someone to go to for a specific requirement but nobody felt restricted, as if they couldn’t add any input unless it was related to their job.
However, there were certainly disadvantages to having seven people on the team. Communication was our weakest point since there were squabbles multiple times due to creative differences. Each person had a different vision and method and despite the director having final say, disagreements arose and had taken up valuable production time before being solved. The limited time also made it difficult. For example, with each scene, a lot of different ideas were being fired at the actors for how to behave and what to do and say. It is stage managements job to organise these ideas and keep the workflow as streamlined as possible, however, adding my yells into the mix would have only made it take longer for everyone to quieten down. My biggest challenge was knowing when to speak and when to step back instead. I was interrupted quite often by someone else because everyone was eager to get their idea in, rushing due to the limited time and before they forgot. This wouldn’t have been as much of a problem if we got more time to plan each shot in detail, however, it also relied greatly on the location. Every time we moved around, we had to explain what was happening, from where and how exactly, to both the actors and the camera operator. Again, with so many people, this was difficult.
A major part of being stage manager was keeping track of where we were and taking note of any changes. This mainly involved reading out which shot was next on the list and bringing back ideas from the planning stage. I was also involved in giving the actors their lines and overlooking general organisation (keeping everyone focused, preventing tangents, feeding back key ideas and time management). With my notebook in hand constantly, however, I also got the chance to observe and take note of how well each person handled their role. These are my opinions and may differ from the view of someone else on the team.
The actors – Will, Bilal and Tegan – all did very well, considering we hadn’t outlined what exactly they would be doing in each shot. They absorbed all of the suggestions thrown at them and pitched their own ideas too, going over their actions and lines beforehand to be clear on what needed to be done. Often, Tegan jumped into the director’s seat, having had experience in the role and also being the actor with the most lines. She was quite suited to this but had to step back and let Jacob take charge when it was her time to act. Will and Bilal had the most practical roles (they moved around most) and were very adaptable with each situation, taking care in their expressions and body language.
Our camera operator, Kayla, had a lot of trouble with the specifics of each shot, through no fault of her own. Due to the time limitations, we couldn’t even venture into camera movements in the planning stage and a lot of it was dependent on the filming spot anyway. She did wonderfully well with the rushed instructions given to her, improvising and trying again when things weren’t well lit or out of focus. She often had to get into a weird position or place on the ‘set’ in order to achieve the best angle, and communicated mostly with Tegan and Jacob. Tegan gave suggestions regarding Jacob’s vision, whilst Jacob applied his vision to Craig’s ideas, adding some of his own and explaining this to Kayla.
Jacob handled the director role well, considering all of its pressures. He was very involved with each aspect of shooting, checking if everything was ready and in place, yelling “action” and “cut” and giving shot ideas. His agreement was required for any new idea and he didn’t hesitate to shout and give orders to keep things moving.
Finally, the film producer role which was given to Craig really worked. He gave the most ideas and ultimately influenced the course of the film production, as he should. Craig also oversaw most of the script development, which happened in the later stages of pre-production and early stages of production. He let the director add his own twist to certain elements of the shots, whilst keeping the main ideas flowing nicely and suggesting new things to add throughout. I think that he had a good sense of the bigger picture, which allowed him to control the flow of the story, whilst we fussed with the details and cinematography of each individual shot. He often reminded us of our chosen genre and style, and how our footage would work well with these things in mind. Together with Jacob, they communicated well and to the rest of the group too.
Overall, I think we did a great job. Despite the obstacles and arguments, we shot everything we planned too, with space in between for extra takes and changes to the scenes. Our team had a good mix of creative, loose people, who kept things flexible and fun, and logical people who considered things like continuity and how things would work in post-prod. Everyone took heartily to their roles and got stuck in and we all enjoyed watching the actor’s performances and progressing along with the story. We included B Roll and stuck pretty well with our genre and initial plan. In other words, planning and filming was a success!