For my video story, I decided to create a welcome video targeted towards new members of the MHBA (association).
Background on the MHBA:
The Manitoba Home Builders’ Association is a non-profit trade association providing members and the general public information about the housing industry in the Province of Manitoba. The association is comprised of companies such as home builders, land developers, renovators, manufacturers, suppliers amongst other companies who contribute to the housing industry.
Purpose of the Video Story:
The purpose of the video story is to welcome new members to the association and advise them of their membership benefits. The video details member benefits such as receiving the latest industry information, networking opportunities and education and training opportunities. The end of the video encourages the new member to attend upcoming networking events, as well as to reach out to association representatives if they have any questions or would like to learn more about their benefits. For the purposes of this assignment, I have used a made-up web address and phone number.
Recording and Editing Process:
For this video, I decided to be a little bit more creative and make an animated video as opposed to a real-life recording. With the current situation surrounding COVID-19, I am currently under strict quarantine and cannot capture real-life videos outside of my home for the project. I thought about just recording myself in my home, but I figured that the images would not nearly be as effective or interesting to the viewer. Creating animations for my video would allow me to be as creative as I want and create different locations as I required for my video.
Before the animation process, I first drafted the voiceover script for my video. The script was then recorded on my Phone’s Voice Memo App. After recording my voiceover script, I then started to envision the shots that would coincide with the voiceover and created a shot list.
After the finalizing my script and identifying the shots I needed, it was then time to create my animated scenes. I currently subscribe to a program called “Animaker” and was able to create my animated shots through there. While creating my animations, I ensured to follow video best practices such as the 3×3 method and 10 second rule, in addition to the rule of thirds in order to capture a well composed shot. You will see that I also used my own personal photographs of a golf tournament and gala event along with the animations. After creating my shots in Animaker, I uploaded the recordings on to Adobe Premiere to do the rest of my editing.
Before starting the editing process, I created a video storyboard in order to get organized with all the content I’ve produced. My storyboard can be found HERE.
I first started editing the voiceover recording and ensured that the script was within the allowable timeframe of the project. Using the razor tool, I edited out any “uhms” and “ahs” for a cleaner voiceover. I also used the audio editing tool to reduce my volume to 4.1 Db as the original recording was a tad bit too loud for my liking. After editing the audio for my video, it was then time to edit the animated shots. Using the “mark in” and “mark out” tools, I was able to choose my scenes and cut them to the appropriate length in order to piece together the shots as per my storyboard. Lastly, I needed to find a background music to set the tone of my video. Using a creative commons site, Freesound.org, I was able to find an upbeat loop called “Free Music Background Loop 001” by Skaling_97. Since the music was not long enough in length, I placed the songs back-to-back for a continuous loop until the end of my video. I reduced the volume to -25.6 Db so that the music did not interrupt the voiceover of the video. For the intro, I used the audio transitions tool > Crossfade > constant power at the beginning of the music so that it gradually become louder for the intro. I also placed a video effect > dissolve > cross dissolve at the very beginning of the scene. At the end of the video, I placed the same effects, this time to fade the music out and to fade to black to end the video.
There you have it, my first take on creating a welcome video using Adobe Premiere! EJNOY!
Cyrille McIntosh 
Hi Cy!
I LOVE that you did animation for your video! I actually considered trying to animate mine too, but then thought it would be too much work. I’m really impressed that you were able to animate the whole thing. I think the pacing of your narration is really good and I like the music that you picked for background.
The only things that I noticed that I thought you could work on for the final draft were things about timing. When you talk about the communications, all three things pop up pretty quickly after the shot moves from the computer to the woman on the tablet and they’re on screen for a pretty long time. I found myself reading through them really quickly and then I kind of lost interest in what the narrator was saying; I was just waiting for it to move on. I’m wondering if you could adjust the timing so that they pop up individually and each does so closer to the time in the video in which you talk about them; I think you might be less likely to loose viewer focus if that happened. The other thing that I noticed, and it’s small, is that the movements of the character’s mouth didn’t match the narration (I’m a person who is easily distracted, so I got distracted by that). I’m sure figuring out a way to align the animation and sound perfectly is probably really time consuming, so I was wondering if the it was even necessary for the character to talk. Could it be a situation where the character is the new recruit and they just react to what the narrator is saying?
LikeLike
Posted on behalf of William McMeekin:
Hello Cyrille, what a wonderful surprise to see an animated approach to this project. There is something about animation that I just adore. It must bring my back to lying on my stomach up close to the TV early Saturday morning’s so not to wake the family. Animation to me brings an innocence and warmth to your feature. You use of it in a service-oriented story draws the viewer into a world that you created organically. Just as I was settled into your animated characters, you bring in real photography. To me this enhances your story and brings realism with actual personalities in action at the golf course. I noticed Gestalt theories in your story telling immediately. Hierarchy and the rule of three are used brilliantly in your story. Your narration is rock-solid and steady. You have a natural talent for voice-over. The party scene once again is presented as a bonus midst your well written story as told by your animated characters. I love the fact that you include contact-us information at the end of the story. As mandated, I am asked to provide some constructive criticism. You story makes my job extremely difficult. One suggestion might be to lower the volume a little bit on the background music. My only other suggestion is your pastel colors are visually appealing in the story however when the shot with the blackboard presents itself, the contrast in the two colors clash a bit. Perhaps making the blackboard a bit darker? Your story is creative, interesting, and fun to watch. You should be proud of this artful creation!
William
LikeLike
Hey Cyrille,
This was SO cool! It’s nice that you were able to improvise with the current COVID-19 restrictions. Making an animated new member welcome video was very creative and it fit perfectly. Technologically, the editing was great. The narration, animation, and music all worked well together. You had the music low enough to clearly hear and understand the narration, but also loud enough to hear. Those two elements together flowed well with the animated clips. It’s easy to create an animation and unintentionally lose your audience’s attention. However, you’ve done a great job “changing the scene” and utilizing text effects!
Improvements:
I noticed the Welcome to MHBA and Contact Us! clips were used multiple times in the video. I’m wondering if there are other scenes on Animaker that you can use to replace the duplicated Welcome to MHBA clips. For the Contact Us! clip, I’d probably use that one time (following the clip of the representative on the phone).
I personally enjoyed the clips where you incorporated real-life images! It was a fun touch. Yet, for video consistency, I’d be interested to see if there are any animated clips of a golf tournament or event. That way the images don’t feel a little random? You know what I mean? I think the video would work as a whole with or without those images!
Thanks,
Chelsea
LikeLike
Hi group!
I thoroughly enjoyed watching your video stories and thank you for your critiques and comments on mine. You have certainly helped me think of some great ways to improve my video.
For my final video story, I plan to improve on the following elements:
• One feedback received was the addition of new scene clips in the video. Such as the creation of an animated golf scene and gala event, as opposed to still images of the actual event. I will think about this option, as I feel that by including actual photographs in the video, it brings a sense of reality for the viewer. I do feel that I need an additional scene of “members mingling” in animated form, so I will create it and add it to the video.
• Another comment I received was pertaining the mouth movements on my animation. I will continue to work on timing of the mouth movements or perhaps look into the option of not including mouth movements at all if it looks too distracting in the video.
Again, thank you for your great comments and suggestions! I look forward to working on my final draft.
LikeLike