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Marisa Uluski In the world of video production, it’s almost impossible to come up with a completely new idea. And there’s nothing wrong with that! Often, different techniques that we try are inspired by other videos we’ve seen. Whether it be a shot type, an editing style, set design, lighting ideas, etc. Then, it’s just a matter of taking those ideas and morphing them into something that works for our specific use cases. That’s exactly what we did for two of our most recent projects with Emmanuel College and Syracuse University.
5 Tool Productions was tasked with creating some video content for Emmanuel College’s International program. This included interviewing a collection of students on campus about what life is like at Emmanuel as a way to encourage students coming from other countries abroad to attend. While planning our interview shots, we found inspiration in the Netflix documentary An American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing. In this documentary, the interviews are conducted in 3 primary shot styles: ultra wide, medium, and an ultra close up. We loved the idea of having different angles to cut to as well as the different level of soft focus in the background of each shot type. The interview lighting also caught our eye with the intentional use of shadows, set design and a balance of natural and practical lighting on the subjects.
We used these methods to model how we conducted our interviews on Emmanuel’s campus. Our subjects were all in different sets around campus so we were able to manipulate each environment a little differently to achieve these 3 different shot types. We found creative, intentional ways to use lighting and tinkered around with different angles to create those documentary type shots we were aiming for. Whether it was bringing in lamps, sitting the subjects next to a window, or utilizing lighting that already existed in the setting, everything came together and we were pumped how the final results came out.
For Syracuse University’s Giving Day, our team created a suite of content including a promo video, a scripted video direct to camera, and an impact story. As the producer for this specific project, I started digging around and watching some videos for inspiration. I came across a video telling the story of the restaurant, Kowloon. I watched it because I’ve frequented this restaurant, but I left with an idea that I could use for the Syracuse Giving Day videos. In this video, the interview shots included lots of extra headroom. It was a specific stylistic choice, but it got me thinking that it could be a good opportunity to create space for on screen text. I’ve seen this idea used in many cases, including shows I’ve watched on TV but also videos that we at 5 Tool Productions have created in the past!
We used both of these ideas, extra headroom and on screen text, as a consistent thread between the 3 different videos we created for this project. Our subjects looked direct to camera, framed with extra headroom, and we incorporated on screen text above and behind the subjects’ heads. As you can see below, the shots from the Kowloon video are a lot darker than the shots from our Syracuse videos. While we mimicked the shot style from the Kowloon video, we did brighten up our shots because the tone and settings of the two videos was different. In our videos, we’re promoting and creating content for an exciting Giving Day, while the Kowloon video is set in a dimly lit restaurant where they are telling some more emotional stories about their experience.
In the end, for both projects, our team was able to run with ideas we found in other videos, and use it to inspire the end products. And the goal isn’t for our content to look exactly the same as the inspiration – it’s just that. Inspiration. We use it as a jumping off point to kick start the brainstorming process. Our team is constantly on the lookout for new ideas, so much so that we even have a team group chat called “Ideas and Inspiration”! We’ll keep our eyes peeled for any ideas we see out in the world, whether it be on social, on TV, or what similar clients and companies are creating.
We’d love to bring some of these ideas to life for your next project! Get in touch.
