Collecting Footage

Over the past few days, we have been going around and collecting some footage that we can hopefully compile and use in our video.

Yesterday (Wednesday), we went up Mt. Victoria, to try and get a couple of shots for part of our video, that we had planned in our storyboard. Most of these shots up the mountain were focussed on playing around with panning shots, and tracking shots. We used a camera on a tripod to get the panning shots, while also experimenting with the GoPro to try and get a few other shots.

Today, we went out to the Wellington South Landfill. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get up to the actual landfill itself, as we didn't have a car and we were informed against it due to health and safety risks, with narrow roads and blind corners where there were chances of getting hit. However, we went down to the office and spoke to Wendy, their waste education officer, who offered to take us around the recycling section and give us some insight into their current projects which are encouraging the recycling of plastic, glass, cardboard and paper, as well as what they are planning to do in the future. We didn't get much footage that we can use directly in our video, although Wendy said that she has an appointment for in 2 weeks or so with another student, and if we turn up then that she will drive us up to the main landfill so we can get some footage of the actual landfill.

Once getting home, I tried some experimental shots with the GoPro trying to get some interesting shots of drinking water, filling up water bottles and stuff like that. Over the next week or so we will make sure we continue to get out and get more footage that we are able to use within our video, that way we can start editing and creating a quick-cut draft video nice and early on.

- Blake

Lesson Two - Week Two

Today in class, we started off with a one hour lecture in 'The Pit', which was showing us some good techniques with video editing, to help us when it comes to our editing process. Some of the videos that were used as examples were extremely well edited, and gave us all sorts of ideas to try out when it comes to our own editing. We also found good ways of cutting between clips, as well as effective ways to use audio and sound effects.

Afterwards, we returned to our studio class, to continue working on refining our ideas and the storyboards. We presented our idea to Tim Turnidge, and he seemed to like the approach we were taking. He helped us to clarify who we were targeting with this campaign, and also gave us some feedback on our storyboard. He seemed happy with our ideas for our storyboard, so said over the next week to get onto grabbing some footage and get into the editing process. That way, once we have a basic mock-up video done, we will be able to work out what needs developing, what needs to be changed or removed, and even what parts we need to shoot more footage for. While presenting our ideas to Tim, we also came up with a few more ideas which we are going to try.

Over the course of the next week, we will go out and get some video footage, so that we can start piecing together an initial video. From there, we can refine and develop over the next few weeks. Next week, are the HTML and CSS workshops for our web design, which should be pretty interesting.

- Blake

Intial Storyboard

Attached below is the section of the storyboard that deals with the introduction or 'exposition'. We have proposed a series of shots that introduce the topic and location in a unique and interesting way. 

The first shot will be a time lapse of cars going through the intersection outside Te Papa here in Wellington. We have selected this location due to high profile nature of the building which is iconic among the Wellington cityscape.

The second shot we have planned is of a bottle being tossed into a rubbish bin, however this will be shot using a go pro from the bottom of the bin looking. The bottle and other pieces of rubbish will cover the camera giving a unique perspective. 

We have decided to use voice over to 'guide' the viewer through the video, they will be introduced in this sequence of shots. 

This section of the storyboard covers the Inciting incident section of our video. In this section the viewer is given a small insight to the negatives of using bottled water. This section will be shot at the Wellington South landfill.

The first font will be a panning shot of the landfill to show the mass size and scale of the waste that is produced by Wellington alone. 

The next shot will be a pull shot which will shift the focus from the landfill in the background to an individual plastic bottle in the foreground.

Below is an image of the Rising Action/Crisis section of the storyboard. Stats will be introduced visually and by the narrator at this point.    

The first shot will be of a series of objects (plastic bottles??) arranged in a line and being knocked over creating a domino effect. We have chosen to use this shot to symbolize the flow on effects created by using bottled water, not only on your wallet but also on the environment.

The next shot will be a panning shot (possibly spinning 360*) taken from the top of Mt Vic. This will tie in with the iconic shot from the introduction, giving context to the location of the video. Stats specific to Wellington will be included in these shots.

The 3rd shot will be of a bottle of water being purchased at a check out at a super market. We aim to show this is in a unique way (attach Go Pro to bottle??). Stats relating to the costs of purchasing bottled water will be displayed in this part.

The 4th shot in this section will use the Go Pro attached to either the outside or inside of a plastic water bottle as it is drunk from. Over top of this shot, stats relating to the chemicals often found in these mass produced products will displayed and stated by the narrator. 

The 5th shot will carry on from the 4th shot and will be of water coming out a tap. The continuation of the same sort of stats will be displayed. 

The 6th and final shot will be of plastic pieces floating in the open water. Just like the other shots the stats will continue however during this final sot they will be related to the environment. 

The image below is of the climax part of the storyboard and will contain just one shot as it is a pivot point and is relatively quick, in order to show the shift.

The shot will be of a reusable water bottle and the narrator will instruct the viewer about the positive impacts of using a reusable water bottle.  

The falling Action section of the storyboard is shown below. In this final part of the video we will conclude and show the positive's of using a reusable water bottle.

The 1st and 2nd shot will show positive community and nature shots whilst the narrator stats that the massive number and negative effects displayed before are able to be reduced with the use of a reusable water bottle.

The 3rd shot will show a subject waling of into the distance and out of focus. The shift in sound track/narration will be highlighted in this section of the video.

The last image will be of the website we have created.

Fraser

Statistics Research

Over the past few days, we have been doing quite a bit of research into the statistics revolving around plastic bottle waste and the impact this has on our environment etc. It was insane to see all of these statistics, and it was a real eye-opener to see just how extreme the waste caused by plastic water bottles was. We feel like we could include some statistics similar to these, although possibly in relation to Wellington or New Zealand instead, as it would be an effective way of alerting the viewers to just how bad this problem is, and emphasize the effects that it could have on our environment for years to come.

- In 2006, Americans averaged purchasing one bottle of water every two days, only recycling 23%. That leaves 38 billion water bottles to waste in the landfill.

- Bottled water costs between $1 and $4 per gallon, and 90 percent of the cost is in the bottle, lid and label.

- It takes over 1.5 million barrels of oil to make a year's supply of bottled water.That's enough oil to fuel 100,00 cars for a year.

- Plastic bottles can take over 1000 years to biodegrade once buried.

- If everyone in New York City gave up buying bottled water for one week, they would save 24 million bottles from being thrown in the landfill. One month would save 112 million bottles, while one year would save 1.328 billion bottles from going into the landfill.

- Up to 24% of bottled water comes directly from the tap!

- An average of 3 to 5 litres of water is used to bottle 1 litre of bottle water.

- Approximately 78% of plastic bottles aren't recycled in New Zealand.

- Approximately 1500 plastic water bottles end up in the ocean or landfill every second!
Breaking down statistics on New Zealand...

Each New Zealander consumes approximately 31kg of plastic each year, while throwing roughly 25kg in the waste.

Population of 4.471 million:

Plastic in general:

- 111,775,000kg of plastic waste per year
- 9,314,583kg of plastic waste per month
- 306,232kg of plastic waste per day
- 12,759kg of plastic waste per hour
- 213kg of plastic waste per minute

- 3.5kg of plastic waste per second
Plastic Water Bottles:

- 168 plastic bottles per year (each)
- 751,128,000 plastic bottles per year
- 62,594,000 plastic bottles per month
- 2,057,885 plastic bottles per day
- 85,745 plastic bottles an hour
- 1,429 plastic bottles a minute

NZ: 24 plastic bottles a second (78% not recycled)

In New Zealand, based on statistics gathered from safebottles.co.nz, approximately 18 bottles per second are wasted, with roughly only 6 per second being recycled.
We could possibly use a breakdown like this within our video, as it is relational to New Zealand, and hopefully it shocks everyone when they realise that for such a small country, we waste roughly 18 plastic bottles per second.

- Blake

Brainstorm

Today we met up again to brainstorm ideas before teasing them out for the purpose of developing shots for the storyboard.

We used the layout of the action over time graph as a guide to developing the shots we would use in each of the designated categories. These are the Introduction, Rising action/Information, Climax, Falling action and Resolution.

We generated a list of important shots that we would like to experiment with and if possible include in the video. The one we thought of was the use of the "Domino Effect", by using bottle or tiles we could represent the idea of one small action having a much greater follow on effect. Some other ideas utilize the Go Pro camera and it ability to be submerged in water fit or used in small spaces such as a rubbish bin, to capture a shot of a plastic bottle being thrown away. Together we would like to visit the Wellington South landfill in order to film some panning shots in order to show the mass amount/ large scale of the waste produced by Wellington alone, this could also be contrast by some idyllic scenic shots. Another major shot we have discussed is that of plastic bottle caps and waste floating in the ocean, which could be used to discuss the effect on seabirds and the environment if we so chose to include it.

On top of these shots we have also identified the need for a voice over to accompany. We will look for and authentic/experienced voice and person to for-fill this role. 

Fraser

Existing Examples

While doing some research on our topic, we began to search YouTube for some existing videos, to try and get a rough idea of how others have promoted the use of reusable bottles, and what we could do differently in our video. We also found a lot of useful sites which have some interesting statistics that we could use within our video. Some of these statistics are quite unbelievable, and would be a good way of trying to encourage others to participate in this 'small change, big impact' movement.

We have attached two videos in the links below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpB7Sgv2qm0

The video in the link above doesn't use much actual video footage as such, as it more focuses on basic animation of text and pictures to express it's point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsjqep4X3Ek

The video in the link above is more dialogue based, with one lady talking about all the negatives of using reusing plastic bottles.

- Blake

Lesson Two - Week One

In class today, we spent the first part brainstorming our ideas further, and discussing these with the lecturers to see their opinions on them. We had a couple of different ideas, some dealing with physical environmental change, others having social impacts instead.

One of our ideas was to have an hour a day where lights where all lights were turned off. We were planning on having this hour around sunset, as we figured that most people turn off their lights before they're required. This way, if we make sure they have their lights off for an extra hour, it will actually be getting darker at the point where they can then turn their lights on. This small change would overall help save a lot of power, as well as save each individual household some money on the power bill.

Another idea was more social based, where we were looking at a way to prevent awkwardness and possibly put people in a good mood when in close proximity with a stranger, in spaces such as elevators, or buses etc. We were trying to come up with some ideas on how to do this, such as having a pack of cards in the elevator, and when you walk in, it says something to do to the next person that hops in such as "Ask them how they are doing" in an attempt to promote conversation. We were hoping this idea would help people socially, as not necessarily make new friends, but possibly more acquaintances, and even just help improve people's day and make them smile (as we found that a lot of people find the silence in elevators stress inducing or increases feelings of anxiety). However, when discussed with Tim, he said that it could be difficult since talking to a stranger could be seen as a big step for those who are super shy and introverted.

A more physical idea we had, was one day a week where we would encourage people to bike or walk to work rather than drive. The intention of this was to decrease congestion on the roads, help get people more active, and reduce the carbon footprint caused from driving cars. This could be a decent idea to work with, however there are a few obstacles which could stop people participating. One being that people might not necessarily own a bike, could live too far away, or their work uniform might not be suited for walking or biking longer distances.

Our fourth idea, was to look at the damage caused by plastic bottles. When researching this idea, we found all sorts of shocking, unbelievable statistics about how many bottles were left in the waste, along with the large negative impact this had on our environment. Not only this, but by reusing plastic bottles there are all sorts of toxic chemicals which can get into your body, or go down the sink if rinsing the bottle. With this idea, we were considering promoting people to get a reusable bottle, which would have multiple positive effects. It would save them money in the long run, instead of buying bottled water, would help to avoid possible health risks, and also help to reduce the number of plastic water bottles that end up in the waste.

In the end, we decided to go with our fourth idea, the one regarding the waste of plastic bottles. We found this topic quite interesting, especially after seeing just how large the impact is on our environment, for an issue which most people wouldn't even take note of.

At the end of the class, we had a small workshop on filming, where we were introduced to some equipment available for hire from Massey, as well as how to use these to full effect.

Over the course of the next week, we will look to gather more research on our idea, some statistics and reliable information, as well as come up with a basic storyboard on what we might have in our video.

- Blake

Introduction to Kaitiakitanga

Today was the first class of the second term, and we all met in the Museum Building for our the 'Introduction to Kaitiakitanga'. We were introduced to the brief, in which we found out that we would be required to make a short video or series of videos which amount to 2 minutes in length. In parallel to the video, we would then make a website which would have the video embedded within. The site and video needed to be based upon a movement which encourages people to make a small change, which can overall have a big impact.

In class, we were told to get into pairs, and begin brainstorming, as we needed to have our final idea confirmed by the end of tomorrow's class. We came up with a whole range of possible ideas, and we were trying to think which one we would be able to turn into the vest video/website, as well as which one would be more likely to have a positive reaction from the viewers, and have them all follow suit in the 'small change, big impact movement'.

At the end of the class, we got sent to different lecture theatres to experience some 'shared moments' from former graduates or current Massey lecturers. It was quite interesting to see some existing projects, and it was crazy to find out that the "On The Fence" project has been being refined and developed for almost 14 years to reach the stage it's at today.

- Blake