13. Interview Prompts

INTERVIEW PROMPTS FOR TEDx BRIGHTON - 30TH OCTOBER

Here are our team's selected questions our production team will aim to acquire responses for.

Event Organiser – Sam Orams

·       Why did you choose Brighton Dome as the venue for TEDxBrighton?

·       How do you choose the theme for your event?

·       What’s so great about holding a TEDx event in the city of Brighton?

Production Co-ordinator – Hannah Gardner

·       The stage set is simple but effective, how is this achieved?

·       What do you like most about working on the TEDxBrighton event?

·       Why does TEDxBrighton work so well at Brighton Dome?

BDM – Donna Miller

·       This is the 5^th TEDxBrighton event in Brighton and the fourth to take place here at Brighton Dome…..

Delegates

·       Why did you buy a ticket to TEDxBrighton 2015?

·       What’s inspired you most today?

·       What do you like about the venue?

12. My Script for Pitch

These are my sections I shall be saying in my pitch to our clients at the Brighton Dome. I will aim to learn the basis of these sections of by heart for the pitch. I may take in a small piece of paper or card for the pitch so I can refer back to it if needed.

Slide 4 - How will we deliver this? - GEORGE

We plan on delivering our proposed idea of visualising a journey through Brighton Dome on the day of an event by using point-of-view (POV) shots with use of dolly cameras, Go Pros and fish-eye lenses touring around the venue. This puts us in the shoes of an event organiser experiencing an event at the Dome.

Our main twist which will come into place at the editing stage of our product will be the, use of split screen. 

For example, we will see the Dome on a normal day on one side of the screen, and on the other side we will see the busyness of the venue on event night, being set up, etc. 

Using split screen will exaggerate the beauty and functionality of Brighton Dome when no event is taking place by getting footage of the interior architecture. Then, in contrast we will also see the beauty of the Dome when the event is taking place, to display how a traditional venue can host an inspiring, fun and professional event. This could potentially be used for our time lapse sequences.

Slide 7 - Requirements - GEORGE

These are just some requirements that we will need to check are okay with you in order to produce the video.

We will need to obtain footage on the days of the TEDx event, of time lapses of set up, behind the scenes, and numerous interviews. However, we will also need to visit the Dome on a day before or after the event to film a ‘tour’ around the ‘empty’ Brighton Dome. Therefore, we need to know the dates we are able to come and film the Dome on the ‘journey’ of the event organiser, and the key personnel we will be able to talk to on the day of the event, ors any personnel who are available for an interview prior/post event.

Here is a photo of the mini script I brought in with me which I used as a guide during the pitch.

Front

Back

11. Draft Shot List for Project

Shot List for TEDx/Brighton Dome Case Study Video

Aim of our video: 

Share experience of holding an event at Brighton Dome using TEDx as the exemplar event. We want to demonstrate the extent of the beauty of Brighton Dome, and allow viewers of the film to obtain a sense of how their event could work in such a stunning and unique venue.

Concept:

Visualising the journey through the Dome as an event organiser, experiencing an event being organised and hosted, demonstrating the beauty and ease.

Shot 1

Plain back background with text reading ‘Imagine your event at Brighton Dome’ alongside Brighton Dome logo. 

‘Mrs Eaves’ font in white font fading to gold fading to black, so whole shot fades out. Non-diegetic soundtrack over the top

Shot 2 

Across the road from Brighton Dome, low-angle establishing shot of the front of Brighton Dome - this will be a time-lapse from the outside, showing people walking by, and sky changing. Non-diegetic soundtrack over the top.

Shot 3

Cut to point-of-view shot (camera on a dolly) walking through the main doors as they open into the reception area, and slowly pan up to look at the ceiling. Non-diegetic soundtrack volume decreases as voiceover of first interviewee (staff) begins.

Shot 3.1

Medium shot filmed behind a walking man

Shot 3.2 - the medium shot of view of the man’s back when he’s walking through the main doors and cut to close-up shot to film his footstep .

Shot 3.3 – door open showing the event are setting up (close up to his hand).

Shot 4

Continuing with the sound from previous shot of the voiceover of first interviewee, cut to medium shot of the interviewee carrying on with what they were saying. Non diegetic soundtrack still playing in the background at a low volume whilst the interviewee speaks. As the speaker finishes, increase the volume of non-diegetic soundtrack.

Shot 5 

Cut to point-of-view movement walking towards a room being used for the event, and slow down to stop in the position where the camera will be for the time lapse. Non-diegetic soundtrack playing throughout.

Shot 6 

Camera in the same position as previous shot, with time lapse of set up for that room fading in over the top (shots will be layered in Premiere Pro). Split screen will be used to show the empty room vs. the set up of the room, to emphasise the effort that goes into the events. Non-diegetic soundtrack playing throughout.

Shot 6.1 - the medium shot of viewing the man’s back when he’s walking around the dome while using close-up shot to film his footstep (split screen).

Shot 6.2 – shot different part of the setting up with time lapse, while showing the men are walking around like observing the event set-up (split screen).

Shot 7 

Cut to a panning shot of inside of the Dome. Non-diegetic soundtrack playing throughout.

Shot 8 

Cut back to point-of-view shot movement walking towards another room being used for the event, and slow down to stop in the position where the camera will be for the time lapse. Non-Diegetic soundtrack playing throughout.

Shot 9 

Camera in the same position as previous shot, with time lapse of set up for that room fading in over the top (shots layered in Premiere Pro). Split screen will be used to show the empty room vs. the set up of the room, to emphasise the effort that goes into the events Non-diegetic soundtrack playing throughout, and then decrease in volume as interviewee begins talking.

Shot 10 

Cutaways of behind the scenes set up with the interviewee still talking over the top, with non-diegetic soundtrack playing throughout at low volume.

Shot 11 

Cut to point-of-view movement again walking towards the main hall for the event. Stops in position where camera will be for time lapse, so camera could be positioned at the back of the hall to show the audience arriving and taking their seats. Non-diegetic soundtrack playing throughout.

Shot 12 - (swap over with shot 13)

Cut to medium shot of interviewee (delegate from TEDx) talking, with non-diegetic soundtrack at a low volume throughout.

Shot 13 

Camera in the same position as previous shot, with time lapse of people arriving in the main hall and taking their seats, fading in over the top (shots layered in Premiere Pro). Split screen will be used to show the empty room vs. the set up of the room, to emphasise the effort that goes into the events. Non-diegetic soundtrack playing throughout.

Shot 14 

Cut to cutaways of behind the scenes/panning shots of rooms in the Dome available for event use.

Shot 15 

Time-lapse of people leaving in same position as previous time lapse of the hall.

Shot 16 

Time-lapse in the same position as first time lapse of outside the Dome, but now night time and showing everyone leaving the Dome.

Shot 16.1 – Cut to the men’s back in a wider shot who is standing alone in the centre of Dome. with Brighton Dome Logo.

Shot 17 

Black background, with words ‘Imagine your event. We can create it.’ in Mrs Eaves font, and contact details ‘event@brightondome.org 01273 261524 @brightondomeconf’

10. Draft Script for Pitch

Draft Script for Pitch

This was collaboratively produced as a team with my personal tweaks to each section. Myself and Sadie constructed a majority of this draft as other group members will have worked on their section of the presentation separately.

Slide 1 - Intro - HON





Hello, we are Team Visionary, and we are pitching our proposal today in response to the Brighton Dome TEDx case study video brief. 





Slide 2 - Project Brief - WINNIE

We have interpreted the aim of the project brief as needing to produce a short case study video, which provides an insight to the TEDx: Losing Control talk at Brighton Dome, whilst showing why Brighton Dome is the perfect and unique venue to hold events.

We know that from the brief you provided us with, that you want the product to be: Friendly & fun Fast-paced & Vibrant Enticing & Professional And most importantly —> Creative & Memorable.

So we are aiming to take all of these key words into consideration for our idea, which we can now explain to you.

Slide 3 - Our Idea - SADIE

Our main focus is to share the experience of holding an event at Brighton Dome, using TEDx as the exemplar event. Through the video, we are aiming to demonstrate the extent of the beauty of Brighton Dome in terms of it size and architecture and to allow viewers to obtain a sense of how their event could work in such a stunning and unique venue.

The main concept of our idea that we have come up with is to visualise a journey through the Dome first-hand as an event organiser, as they experience an event being organised and hosted to show the beauty of the venue and the ease of holding an event there.

As mentioned in the previous slide, there are key words we will take into consideration, but based on our idea we are going to focus on two words ‘transition’ and ‘imagination’. We have decided to work with these words in the video for the following reasons:

Transition - we want to show the transition from a normal day at Brighton Dome to the work that goes in to an event being set up, and what it looks like once complete.

Imagination - we want the event organisers watching the video to aim to imagine their event being held there, and to be amazed in response to the set-up and how stunning the venue looks.

Following these ideas, we will heavily incorporate the Brighton Dome brand, time-lapses and interview footage with key personnel to keep to the brief we have been given, but still putting our own creative twist on it.

Slide 4 - How will we deliver this? - GEORGE

We plan on delivering our proposed idea of visualising a journey through Brighton Dome on the day of an event by using point-of-view (POV) shots with use of dolly cameras, Go Pros and fish-eye lenses touring around the venue. This puts us in the shoes of an event organiser experiencing an event at the Dome.

Our main twist which we will include during editing to deliver the idea, is to use a split screen. For example, we will see the Dome on a normal day on one side of the screen, and on the other side we will see the busyness of the venue on event night, being set up, etc. Using split screen will exaggerate the beauty and functionality of Brighton Dome when no event is taking place by getting footage of the interior architecture. Then, in contrast we will also see the beauty of the Dome when the event is taking place, to display how a traditional venue can host an inspiring, fun and professional event.

Slide 5 - Structure of the film/Storyboard (1) - WINNIE

We have produced a storyboard of shots to figure out a structure for the video. The structure and content can be summarised as follows:

Exterior shots of Brighton Dome so viewer is aware of the location, in the form of a time lapse. Point-of-view shots to show the event organiser moving into the venue, with time-lapses of the setting up of the event in various rooms involved, which will be split screen with the venue on a normal day. The interview footage and cutaways in between will be used to suggest time moving forward, and to tie the journey through the Dome together as the day progresses. Interviews with the main event organisers and delegates/clients about holding events at the Dome.

Please take a look at the back of our handout as it will give you a visual interpretation of our narrative structure for the video

Slide 6 - Examples of Inspiration & Music Ideas - ERIKA

Whilst researching our ideas we found some examples of inspiration so that you are able to get an idea of what we are hoping to produce.

This is actually footage from the Dome, and we are inspired by the time-lapse from the outside of Brighton Dome as you can see in the video, and obviously the set up.

(Dome video)

Secondly, this shows examples of the split screen idea that we are planning on including.

(Split screen video)

Music is also incredibly important to set the right tone of the video, as it impacts the viewers response, and we want it to set an appropriate pace. This is just an example of music we think could be best suited for the video.

(Play music)

[Talk about the feel the music gives]

Slide 7 - Requirements - GEORGE

These are just some requirements that we will need to check are okay with you in order to produce the video.

We will need to obtain footage on the days of the TEDx event, of time lapses of set up, behind the scenes, and numerous interviews. However, we will also need to visit the Dome on a day before or after the event to film a ‘tour’ around the ‘empty’ Brighton Dome. Therefore, we need to know the dates we are able to come and film the Dome on the ‘journey’ of the event organiser, and the key personnel we will be able to talk to on the day of the event, or any personnel who are available for an interview prior/post event.

Slide 8 - thanks for watching/any questions? - HON

Thank you very much for listening to our proposal, does anybody have any questions?

9. Hand-Outs

Hand-Outs

For our pitch, we decided that it was imperative to have a hand out for these reasons:

• Provide background/detailed information
• Outline a course of action
• Pose conceptual teams ideas and points of view
• A visual aid to help our clients imagine our idea
• Summarises and defines our project concisely
• Gives our client something to take away and reflect on after the pitch
• Stops them from having to make notes on their own
• Provides inside to key elements and project requirements

There are many reasons why a hand-out would assist our pitch in comparison to not having. Therefore, Sofanh and myself made drafts of many different hand-outs which we sent into our team's group chat for us all to comment and make changes to. Here are some screenshots drafts of the hand-outs as well as a printed copy of the final version we used for the pitch.

Hand-Out: Version #1



Hand-Out: Version #2



Hand-Out: Version #3



Hand-Out: Version #4

8. Time-Lapse & Go Pro Footage Research

Time-Lapse, Go Pros & Fish-Eyes

Time-Lapses

I have experience in filming and editing a time-lapse style footage. Whether it is speeding up of slowing down, there are various different ways of producing time-lapse footage.

One method requires you having lots of charge for you camera (back up battery or mains plug in will be required) as well as having extra memory cards and a tripod for the camera to sit on. You can simply get time lapse footage by recording you shot for say 30mins, which in the editing stage can be condensed down to 30 seconds. 

A technique which I like to incorporate is a reverse time-lapse which simply is playing the footage on reverse. This technique would be handy for us as it means we wouldn't need to film the set-up and deconstruction of the TEDx event. We can just film on or the other and play one in reverse, giving the same effect.

Another method is setting your camera to take photos every minute over a few hours. This saves battery and camera memory but doesn't have a smooth transitioning between shots as the previous method. However, you do get a much bigger time gap to acquire stills of. You must also be cautious about the settings of the camera, I would manually set-up the aperture, focus and brightness settings as this will change for every shot and we want consistency throughout setting the camera up manually before starting this method of time-lapse is crucial.

Go-Pros

eBay explains that "In the last few years, the GoPro has really taken off in popularity. What was once just a loyal niche fan following has turned into a worldwide demand for these items. The surge in popularity might prompt those who don't know to ask "what is a GoPro?""

The GoPro is a HD-quality, waterproof, video camera. It is very small and compact, yet it can deliver amazingly crystal-clear video. The GoPro cameras are completely shockproof so they can be used in any type of environment or conditions. 

Currently there are three different versions of the GoPro video cameras. These are the GoPro Hero 1, the GoPro Hero 2, and the GoPro Hero 3 video cameras.

We would be using GoPros to film our 'tour' like footage around the interior of the Brighton Dome during the TEDx event. I have little experience with using GoPros so I left this to other members of the group to look into, mainly the two people who would be filming the event.

Fish-Eye Lenses

These lenses are great at capturing actions and expanding the spatial environment. Popularised by skateboarders for filming their flips and tricks, these types of lenses can get really eye capturing shots. We though these lenses could provide some great shots of the stage of the event or of the grand hall in the Brighton Dome as it would give of the message that this traditional venue is large and beautiful building. Here are some photos using fish-eye lenses. As you can see, the lens can create some really captivating images.

Bibliography

1. http://www.ebay.com/gds/What-Is-a-GoPro-/10000000177744699/g.html

7. Our Group Pitch [Practice Run w. Paul]

Practice Run of Pitch: Feedback

Our practice pitch we performed in the week prior to our actual pitch with our clients in front of our tutor and workshop group.

Since our team was still split on an idea for our project and how to incorporate the two, the structure of our pitch wasn't fluid and needed to be reformed. Here are some summarized points we received from our workshop group at tutor.

• Think about the structure of you pitch, put your proposed idea across to your client as clear and concise as possible and explain how you will achieve this.
• Be more interactive - Perform you pitch, get really into your project and show passion for it in your delivery
• More visuals! This will make your presentation stand out more, possibly add some to your hand out
• Chose wisely who is going to pitch. Some people in the group had a quiet and unclear delivery of their dialogue. Use people who are more confident with presenting to pitch the idea across to your clients.

From this feedback, we aimed to transform our google slides presentation into something that was clean, vivid and professional. We had a couple of meetings and lots of discussion on our group chat about preparation and materials needed for the pitch so we decided to split up the roles in our group by having some of us prepare the scripting for the pitch, someone creates the hand out, someone creates the presentation, someone to prepare a shot list etc. This would mean we all had an involvement in the pitch in some form or another, we just hope our client likes our proposed idea. 

6. Pitching: Tips & Techniques

Pitching: Tips, Tricks & Techniques

Since we would have to pitch our project proposal to our clients, I thought it would be beneficial if I did some research into pitching presentations to help me with my own strengths and weaknesses as well as aiding me when it came to reflecting on my own pitch. I did various forms of research such as reading articles surrounding the subject pitching, watching footage of successful pitches and finding out from experts what they think makes a successful pitch. Below is some of the results of my research into pitching.

1. Presentation Tips For Pitching - Richard Branson

Carmine Gallo is a communication coach, keynote speaker, and author of several books including The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs and his latest, Talk Like TED: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets Of The World’s Top Minds. He wrote an article for Forbes magazine last year about tips for presentations from his interviews from people who have successfully pitched to mass organisations or owners and operators of these organisations. In this article he explains the following points, mainly from his interviews with Richard Branson.

- Keep the story tight, short and simple.  --> Great leader are simplifiers. “They can communicate to their entire audience in terms that are universally understood.” Branson says when he hears a long-winded speaker, “It’s all I can do to prevent myself from grabbing them by the collar and yelling, ‘Life’s too short! Get to the point.

- Start with a headline --> The big picture should be summed up in no more characters than a tweet. The human brain sees big picture before details. If you can’t articulate the big idea behind your product in a short sentence or two of 140 characters, keep working on the message. In one interview with Branson he told Gallo that if an idea cannot fit on the back of an envelope, “it’s rubbish.” Enough said.

- Wear your passion on your sleeve! --> “Passion (capital P) is unquestionably the secret sauce of every one of Virgin’s scores of highly diverse businesses,” writes Branson. In my 25 years of studying communication I’ve never met an inspiring entrepreneur or business leader who isn’t abundantly passionate about his or her company and the role it plays in improving people’s lives.

- Enjoy making a difference. --> “If you aren’t making a positive difference to other people’s lives, then you shouldn’t be in business,” says Branson.

- Demonstrate good listening skills. --> Branson carries a notebook everywhere he goes and constantly solicits feedback from employees and customers. And when he listens, he really listens. “Listening while keeping your mouth shut and saying nothing is a whole lot smarter than not listening, speaking up and saying nothing,” according to Branson.

2. Deborah Meaden's Tips on Pitching

Deborah Meaden is a successful UK entrepreneur and Dragons' Den investor. Being a big fan of the show, I thought I'd look into her opinion on what makes a good pitching as she will have a huge amount of experience and knowledge surrounding the matter. Some key points she makes which I will take from are:

- Really know your stuff

- Be clear on what drives the business forward

- Get the message across in a concise and credible way

- Use your own language, don't try to be over-clever by using "insiders" jargon; you will run the risk of baffling your audience and looking like a smart-alec!

- Memorise key points throughout your presentation so that, if you lose your thread, you can easily pick up again.

- Make sure you look good and therefore feel good on the day. Wear your favourite suit (or relevant clothing), take time with your grooming in the morning, make sure you feel "a million dollars". All this will help with your confidence and confidence is contagious. 

Bibliography

1. http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2014/09/12/5-presentation-tips-for-pitching-richard-branson/
2. http://www.deborahmeaden.com/20/pitching