Video & Sound Production - Lectures and Exercises
Lectures and Exercises
Week 1 - Week 13 | 22/09/2025 - 22/01/2026
Aina Ahmed Aleem | 0355701 | BDCM
Video & Sound Production | Mr Kanan Thiagarajan
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Lectures
- Exercises
- Feedback
- Reflection
LECTURES
WEEK 1
INTRODUCTION
During this class, we were given a short briefing about the module and
what to expect. Then we did a short class exercise on premier
pro.
Video and Sound Production
Video and Sound Production is a time-based creative process that involves three main stages: Pre-production, Production, and Post-production. Each stage plays a vital role in shaping the final outcome.
Pre-production is the foundation of any successful project. It involves careful planning and preparation to ensure that the production runs smoothly and stays within budget and schedule. Without proper planning, a project may face issues such as delays, overspending, or missing footage during editing.
This stage typically takes the most time and includes:
- Idea Development: Concept, treatment, outline, screenplay, script breakdown, and shot list.
- Story: Developing a strong visual narrative.
- Storyboard: Visualizing scenes before filming.
- Visual References: Creating precise visual guides to represent ideas.
- Location Scouting (Recce) & Props: Identifying filming locations, organizing props, and managing financial and technical logistics.
The production phase is where filming and recording take place. This stage is often shorter in duration; the faster and more efficient the shoot, the lower the overall cost.
Key elements include:
- Lighting: Setting the mood and ensuring proper visibility.
- Costume: Enhancing character portrayal through wardrobe design.
- Principal Shooting: Capturing all planned footage and sound on set.
Post-production is where all the captured material is assembled and refined into the final product.
This stage includes:
- Offline Editing: Combining clips, cutting, and creating a rough or draft version of the film.
- Online Editing: Adding visual effects, color correction, and producing the final cut.
- Audio Editing: Enhancing sound quality, adding sound effects, dubbing, and sound design.
WEEK 2
FRAMING & STORYBOARD
Cinematography
Cinematography is the art of visual storytelling through motion pictures. It involves all on-screen visual elements: lighting, framing, composition, camera movement and angles, lens choice, depth of field, focus, color, exposure, and filtration.
A motion picture is made up of many shots, each requiring careful camera placement to best convey the story.
A shot is a continuous view captured by one camera without interruption.
Shot Sizes:
- Extreme Wide Shot (E.W.S): Shows scale, distance, and location — placing the character in their environment (e.g., city or landscape).
- Wide Shot (W.S): Establishes the setting and includes the full body and surroundings — often used at the start of a scene.
- Medium Wide Shot (M.W.S): Balances the subject and background — usually framed around the knees.
- Medium Shot (M.S): Frames the subject from the waist up — commonly used for dialogue and body language.
- Medium Close-Up (M.C.U): Highlights facial expressions and small actions — framed from the chest or shoulders up.
- Over-the-Shoulder Shot (O.S): Shows the subject from behind another person’s shoulder — often used in conversations.
- Close-Up (C.U): Focuses on a face or object to emphasize detail or emotion.
- Extreme Close-Up (E.C.U): Magnifies a specific feature or detail to heighten drama or focus attention.
- Camera Angle (Rule of Thirds): Place subjects where horizontal and vertical lines intersect for balanced, pleasing compositions.
- Subject Angle (45°): Shows two sides of the face or object for depth and realism; diagonal lines add perspective.
- Subject Height
- Eye Level: Neutral and natural viewpoint.
- Low Angle: Makes the subject appear powerful or dominant.
- High Angle: Makes the subject look smaller or vulnerable.
- Dynamic Screen Direction: Movement should stay consistent across shots (e.g., left to right) to maintain visual flow.
- Static Screen Direction (180° Rule): Keep the camera on one side of the action line to avoid confusing the viewer.
WEEK 5
MISE EN SCENE
Mise en scène is a French term meaning “placing on stage.” It refers to everything arranged within a scene and how these elements communicate mood, meaning, and narrative.
Key Components:
Mise en scène is a French term meaning “placing on stage.” It refers to everything arranged within a scene and how these elements communicate mood, meaning, and narrative.
Key Components:
- Setting & Location – The environment and time period that establish the story’s world.
- Props – Objects that support the plot, reveal character traits, or carry symbolic meaning.
- Costume & Makeup – Define a character’s personality, status, role, and emotional state.
- Lighting – Creates atmosphere and guides emotion (e.g., dramatic vs. soft lighting).
- Composition & Framing – How elements, actors, and camera angles are arranged to influence relationships and focus.
- Performance – Actors’ gestures, expressions, and movement that bring characters to life.
- Color Palette – Sets tone and mood, with specific colors evoking specific emotions.
- Spatial Relationships – The distance and positioning between characters or objects, suggesting closeness, tension, or isolation.
WEEK 6
Color Theory, Color Correction & Color Grading
Color Theory
The study of how colors interact and influence emotions. For example, red conveys passion or danger, while blue suggests calmness. Understanding color theory helps create visual harmony and strengthens storytelling.
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Color Wheel: Shows relationships between colors.
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Color Harmony: Pleasing color combinations (e.g., complementary, analogous, triadic).
Color Correction
The first step in post-production. It fixes technical issues like white balance, exposure, and contrast to make the footage look natural and consistent.
Color Grading
A creative step done after correction. It adds mood and style by adjusting tones and colors—for example, warm tones for nostalgia or cool tones for a somber feel.
EXERCISE - ADS EDITING
WEEK 1
We were taught the basics of Premier Pro and did an exercise to learn how
to compile short video clips together.
Fig 1.1 In class exercise - Mints ads editing
Fig 1.2 In class exercise - Doritos ads editing
PROJECT 2 - EXERCISE 1 - LALIN
WEEK 8
For this project, we were tasked with watching a short film titled Lalin. We were provided with the storyboard, graphics, and all raw footage. Based on these materials, I assembled and refined the video to create a cohesive final edit, ensuring it met the required duration of exactly 35 seconds.
I started by reviewing the original video to understand the intended style and pacing. Then, I imported all the clips into Adobe Premiere Pro, organized them, and trimmed the footage.
Next, I added transitions and text message overlays. To enhance the messaging effect, I included a notification sound, selected the most suitable tone from the audio file, and trimmed it to match the timing of the messages.
Color Correction & Grading:
I corrected the footage by adjusting contrast, highlights, and shadows, and used comparison view to match the color across different shots. After that, I explored three grading styles using the color wheel to refine the overall mood of the video.
Fig 1.3 Lalin editing exericise
FEEDBACK
WEEK 1 - Compiling short clips
This module seems interesting. Today, I learned how to compile videos
together and it was my first time using premier pro. I am looking forward
to learn more.
WEEK 3
- Ensured that the final video clip was exactly 35 seconds in duration.
- Added transitions across selected clips to create smoother visual flow.
REFLECTION
These projects were enjoyable, especially the production shoot, which greatly contributed to building teamwork, communication, and hands-on experience in a collaborative environment. It helped us understand each stage of the workflow from pre-production to production and post-production and allowed us to apply these processes in a practical setting. Additionally, the production shoot gave us valuable insight into how trailers are created in real movie productions.
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