The New Normal Short Film

This is a short film that I wrote, and produced for my Single Camera Production module's exam.

In our exam brief, we were given the following 3 topics to pick from to write and shoot a video:

“Together, We Are Stronger”
“Defying Covid -19"
“The Essential Worker”
“A New Normal”

In the end, I chose the topic "A New Normal" as I felt that it is something that everyone has gone through during this pandemic and I wanted it to be something that everyone can relate to while watching it. In addition, I also wanted it to be a video whereby I am recounting and reflecting on this new normal life that we are all experiencing.

Pre-Production

In pre-production, I started writing the short synopsis first:

The video is a reflective piece that is narrated through a voice-over, and, in the beginning, it shows pictures depicting my life before Covid-19 – me with my friends and family as well as crowded places. Next, a dark screen appears, and the voice over narrates about how everything we knew came to a halt while article headlines regarding Covid-19 flood over the black screen. Then, it shows my life during the pandemic – my dad and I working and learning from home respectively, my dad putting a mask before going out, people having to scan to enter premises, emptier streets, and finally I, the narrator, communicating with my friend from my laptop screen and the narration closing saying that it was originally hard at first, but it is now the new normal.

Then, I expanded it into a script detailing where the shot takes place and what happens in each shot.

Script

Afterwards, I created the shot list and drew the storyboard according to the script.

Shot List

Storyboard:

The parameter boxed in yellow is my panning. These are some tracks from my percussion subgroup. Since the percussive elements are mainly supporting the main elements, hence I have panned them according to their prominence in the mix. If they are more prominent then they are panned closer to the centre and if they are less prominent/important elements then they will be panned to the sides.

Production

Once the script, shot list and storyboard were done, I proceeded to shoot the video over the course of 3 days.

The equipment used was:

Canon 80D DSLR camera
Camera tripod stand
CROMA 2 LED light
Lighting stand

This is a behind the scenes shot of me shooting a time lapse for a scene at Raffles Place.

Post-Production

After gathering all the shots and stills needed, I imported them all into Adobe Premiere Pro.

adobe premiere pro session screenshot.jpg

This is a screenshot of the Adobe Premiere Pro Session.

Once done with stitching all the video clips, adding the sound effects and music together, I am done with the video.