The making of Speed Dating Tonight

Initial plan

BA Illustration - Author: Movement

Group members: 

Kayla

Katie 

Olivia

Ola

Gosia

Guy

Theme: Meet

Idea: A group of beings going to a speed dating event and something more than love is spread. 

Story: 

Frame

1. Title
2. SPEED DATING (SIGN)
3. Overview of the Speed dating scene: separate tables (romantic music) 
4. close-ups (candles)
5. close-ups (settings)
6. Introduce beings one by one
7. 1st pair (Ola’s flower to Olivia) 
8. Olivia sniffs the flower
9. Parasite A enters Olivia (2D stop-motion)
10. stop-motion to show movement
11. 2nd pair (Gosia’s flower to Guy)
12. Guy sniffs the flower
13. Parasite B enters Guy (2D stop-motion)
14. stop-motion to show movement
15. 3rd pair: Everyone tries to approach Gosia at the same time (a little bit of drama)
16. Kayla’s slug looking at the fight, alone
17. stop-motion to show movement
18. Olivia and Guy fall out of the fight
19. Olivia meets Guy (smoky and romantic)
20. The two kiss
21. zoomed-in 
22. Parasite A meets Parasite B (romantic), fall in love
23. The two kiss
24. The end

Equipment

1. Tripod
2. Lights 
3. Camera
4. Backup batteries 

Props Lists

1. Yarn (for titles, names, credits)
2. tables 
3. wine glass
4. candles
5. rose petals/papers
6. table cloth
7. dining plates, cutleries

Location:

1. Gardens House common room

Sounds & Music

1. Romantic background music 
2. “ding”
3. slurp/slimey noise 
4. restaurant noise

Final storyboard

Building the set

Originally we wanted to set up the set in the common room in Gardens House, but the woman at the counter said we had to apply via email. Technically we could still barge in and film as we wanted to, but we also thought it would be time-consuming having to tidy up and move every time we filmed, since the common room is often used for other functions. Therefore we decided to occupy a small partitioned space in the studio and set up a romantic spot for speed dating.

Gosia and I went to poundland for extra supplies. It was just so a day before Valentine's day, so there were many romantic themed objects available just as heart-shaped napkins and rose petals. Katie, Olivia, Guy and Ola sourced other materials such as blankets and candles: having 4 of us living in halls (right opposite) the studio made things easier!

We each worked on an element of the set: Ola and Gosia did the picture frames, Katie and Olivia set up the white fabric for background, Guy set up the fairy lights and I wrote "Speed dating tonight" on the napkins, etc. I think in general we worked well together because we each contributed a little without clear dictatorship or direction from one person. 

The glass wine cups with pink tissue paper works really well in stop motion and produces a rich visual effect.

Test shot with Ola and Olivia. We should adjust the lighting so the fabric on the background isn't too wrinkly (too bad we can't iron it)

Making slug junior

We sort of started our discussion with the size of our creatures in the beginning, and mine appeared to be smaller than usual while Katie's is microscopic. Carrying on to the production of our video, we've agreed that it would be interesting to keep my slug as a smaller being, in order to create visual contrast, a change of scale and entertainment (big creatures flirting with small ones!). At one point I didn't want to redo a miniature, but then it became very convenient when I recycled the legs and body parts of my costume being (sounds cruel) to make a smaller one. It turned out to be pretty fun.

I used the white socks, the same newspaper stuffing and scrap bits of fruit nets which I "harvested" from the slug. The eyes, legs and tail of slug junior has wire inside them so I can manipulate this puppet relatively easily for stop motion.

The final slug. Its eyes are two black buttons.

I like the unintentional lumpy texture of the newspaper.

Additional Props

I made a book cover for Adrian's prop called The Shape Of Beings, alluding to The Shape of Things. I hope this helps blend Adrian in with the environment.

Filming

We were quite focused on filming so there's not much evidence of how things worked, but it took us 2 days and it generally goes by one person filming and another person directing (sometimes the same person), shouting commands to others in their bodysuits, because most of us couldn't see a thing and don't know what we're doing in our suits!

At first we weren't really used to stop motion, so there were a lot of jerky stop motion clips. With Christopher's advice we also realized that it wasn't necessary to use stop motion for everything: there were things we could do with video much more conveniently (such as filming bodysuit beings), while stop motion could be used when there is a need (such as small moments of flickering candles and movements of the slug/ parasite).

We also weren't very sure about how lighting worked, even if we rented lights from the central loan store. There were often many shadows that we had to dodge. However, I find the lighting generally acceptable. We aimed for a dimmer setting suitable for speed dating, but in feasibility a dim light might make subjects indistinguishable.

Editing

It took approximately two nights to edit the footage and one morning (or 1.5 hours) to edit the sound. I like it better when everyone is around and could contribute advice to the editing, which I actually find more efficient than doing it alone (sometimes you get stuck between two decisions and can't decide which).

Technique wise, Premier Pro is still not yet mastered and I am still mad that I couldn't do a zoom in and fade to black at the same time (why??).

I'm glad everyone contributed to finding the appropriate soundtracks and decisions of where the sounds would appear, because editing audio is quite an intuitive process. Without everyone's input, we couldn't have produced such an outcome. Katie and Guy sourced really nice 90s music which suited the mood we wanted to convey. I'm glad we kept the audio simple (a bit like a TV show opening sequence or a music video) so we could edit it in time.

Feedback from Screening

We had a large reaction (mainly laughter) from our audience. I assume that is a good thing, because we aimed our video to be quite romantic and comedic. We did think if it was too sexual, but according to the feedback I have received so far, the video is quite "cute" (so maybe we've successfully cut out the excess make-out scenes). 

Strengths:

- Elaborate set, conveys a romantic atmosphere

- Very lively characters

- Has a memorable setting and story, using speed dating events as a backdrop for continuous events

- The small stop motion scenes worked well, as inspired by PES

- Guess starring Adrian made the film really funny

Improvements:

We could have gotten our point across more clearly. The parasites are mistaken as sperms and STDs (maybe the video is too lovey-dovey)... Even though we did convey how the parasites entered other beings' body and into their blood stream, we could improve by zooming into the surface of the beings (to black), so to show the camera going "into" the creatures' bodies.

Editing could also be more tight (but tolerated under this time frame): 

-continue the zoom ins, such as the zoom on the title (since it stopped 3/4 way)(could have zoomed till the whole red napkin occupies the frame)

-could add some black vignettes (would suit the 80s 90s style)

-some shots can be shorter

First Ver.

Revised Ver.