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Is there anything I can do about this continuity problem possibly?

H

harmonica44

I was hired to do a video for a company where they were changing parts of their building around, construction wise. Basically they want to have a before and after result in the video to show what changed.

However, during construction snow started to fall at the end of it, and by the time I got the footage, the end results are covered in snow. So because of this, you cannot tell the difference of the before and after changes in the construction much, cause a lot of the end result is covered in snow. I talked with the boss of the company about this, and he says that in the editing, to just do the best with what I have.

However, I am having trouble creating a sense of continuity in the process, because of the snow, it feels like not the same place at all. And since the construction crew and or the boss, didn't give me any blue prints, and just wanted me to capture it all on the fly, I couldn't really shoot a lot of the results from the same angles, since the angles were not always available, cause the building kept changing, thus I was not able to stand in the same positions each time, when I kept coming back.

So I was wondering what else I could do creatively, in the video, if the continuity is mismatched. I have a lot of footage of a building under construction to use, but do not want to make it all random and boring. But at the same time, the after results, are not usable per say, cause of the all the snow. So what do you think, if anyone has any suggestions?
 
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This is your fault for not preparing for the expansion and how it would impact time lapse angles.

harmonica44 said:
And since the construction crew and or the boss, didn't give me any blue prints, and just wanted me to capture it all on the fly, I couldn't really shoot a lot of the results from the same angles, since the angles were not always available, cause the building kept changing, thus I was not able to stand in the same positions each time, when I kept coming back.
Click to expand...

You can't blame them for this, you are the expert, you have to ask for the plans or at least have them walk around with you to show you the expansion areas so you know your setups in advance.

Now you are left with this:

harmonica44 said:
I talked with the boss of the company about this, and he says that in the editing, to just do the best with what I have.
Click to expand...

Finish to your best ability and move on to the next one. Hopefully you learned a lot.
 
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Okay thanks. But could I really have prepared better? The construction company is the one who makes the decisions of when to build things. If they go into winder, then they go into winter and it was outside of my control. I did not have final say on whether or not the building was going to be completed before winter. They had the final say on that, and I had no command. So what could I have done really... Plus the construction company as well as the boss of the building, kept constantly changing their minds about things, and there was no set plan. So when they change their minds and never inform me of these things, could I really have prepared better? Perhaps, I just needed to be more aggressive and tell the construction company, that we do this my way or the highway, but I was afraid they wouldn't have taken me seriously, or afraid of being relieved of the job.

Another thing, is the boss of the company told me when to be there to shoot. But a lot of the building was done over the weekends as well, which he did not tell me of, so that activity did not get shot. I don't blame him, it wasn't his intention or anything, but I was not informed of all the changes that went on.

But I will finish to the best of my ability. Even though I didn't ask them for blue prints specifically, I did ask where the expansion would be, but then it just so happens, it wasn't like they said in the end result. I think maybe they didn't understand the concept of filmmaking that I needed certain areas free too shoot and needed those areas to be cleared for the whole thing. So maybe I'm to blame by not making them understand, filmmaking wise. Next time I will try to make more time to communicate filmmaking teachings to them, so they can understand the concepts better hopefully. But the problem with that is, the boss is not going to be okay with me taking the construction guys for a few hours and teaching them all this filmmaking stuff and how it works. He just wanted me to shoot what was going on. But he wouldn't want me to lecture them for hours on filmmaking and what I need. Or at least I assumed me he wouldn't. Perhaps I still should have tried to persuade him.

Like for example, there was one shoot where I asked the guy, can I shoot him from here and then shoot later and show a before and after? And he said, yeah sure, you can shoot there. And then I come back later, and that now has a big wall in the way, so I can't shoot, cause the wall is blocking the view. So perhaps I just needed to ask the boss for more time to come up with with a plan for the construction crew.

Another thing I learned was to keep better track of the focal lengths from the before and after, cause even though I thought I got it right, there are some focal length differences in some shots.
 
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Okay then, thanks. Well I will just finish it as is, and do the best with what I have, and give it to him. So for future lessons, if I get a job like this again, what can I do to get the construction company to not go over the due date, and not go overtime into the winter season?
 
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There you go blaming them again. I can't really help you except say always have a plan B and plan C.

What happens if you schedule a shoot, hire crew and actors, and file permits for a specific day, and on that day it rains? Do you blame God in an indietalk post? Or do you have a plan B and C?
 
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Okay thanks, you're right I shouldn't blame them just because they changed the date and went overtime into winter. So for next time, if winter comes, and I still have to match the seasons, what can I do for a plan B?
 
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I've always had plans B and C, it is vital. You have to figure that out for yourself. But... shit happens!
 
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Okay thanks. I thought of this before when shooting, I thought shit, snow is coming. But couldn't come up with any plans to get rid of the snow, or couldn't find a way to make it not the center of attention in the shots. So I just hoped for the best, when the editing stage came.
 
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There you go. You knew it could be a factor. You could have had a plan B or expressed the weather factor to the company explaining how it will impact your final product so they are prepared.
 
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Okay thanks. I already expressed it back then, and the boss said there was nothing he could do. So I just kind of left it at that, as in the his project was finished, but I should come up with a plan B, now that he has decided to finish it, even so.
 
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Right, so really, you are in the clear. The weather was a factor which you anticipated and expressed. So now, you just deliver the best product possible. Done! That was easy. :D
 
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Okay then. I do have some footage so far, before snow came that I could use. It's mainly a master shot of the main overview of the building. Not the whole building before snow fell, but a main overview of the finished product.

The only thing is, is cause of construction and time set up, I couldn't get any dolly's or tracks for smooth movement for the location, so I had to go handheld and it looks handheld and somewhat shaky, when moving from one side of the location to the other. So perhaps I could smoothen it out somehow, and use one of those takes.
 
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I think you should get the most of what you have - just like the client says. Try thinking of an overal concept your video should have, tempo, mood etc. and apply post-production tools to achieve that mood and pace. And some music to make it all work, of course ;)

Hope it works out.

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Actually, it turns out I have more footage than I thought, when I went through every little piece of coverage. I cannot get the finished building from all the areas, but I have enough areas, to sell the effect, I think.
 
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Well I still don't have all of the progress... There is one side of building missing, but I have just enough for the rest I think.

When it comes to being payed to edit, how long do you think a person should expect it to take? The person who hired me has no experience in filmmaking, and so far it has taken me about 8 hours to edit a minute of footage. That's getting it as perfect as you can, after trying different types of rough edits. Do you think that maybe this is too long, or the boss will expect more to be edited in that much time?
 
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