Car Manufacturer Response and Team Planning & Locations and Scouting

Over the weekend a few very positive things happened with our project.

• Smart (The car manufacturer) Located in Maidstone got back to me and said that they are very interested in helping my out in my project. They needed to check with upper management to check if it can go through with the project and in what way we would use the car etc. It was very exciting to finally get a contact on board and get the project moving, we have other contacts still tbc but we hope the Smart Car pulls through as it is very convenient for us!

The biggest problem is that they only have one car right now and if it sells then it's "tough luck" We have our fingers crossed because they seem interested in the project and hopefully will give us input into the facts they want broadcast.

After some more planning we have decided that we will split the show into a few parts, mainly we will be using the car for a Piece to camera whilst driving as well as "beauty shots" of the car while it is still. We also plan to get shots of the car moving but right now we are unsure how we would do that so Cailan has contacted Maidstone council as Kent Film Office did not answer.

OVER The weekend I made some jobs for us to have been completed for Tuesday as I wanted to keep us rolling along as a group. I probably know the most about cars in the group so I was happy to delegate roles in a way I felt was fair. (Apologies for the spelling I did it on my phone!)

I made a little system so we could mark when we had completed our part.

• George had been in contact with a electric car expert and he is happy to be a part of our project, we just need to finalise an idea of the direction of the project in terms of what idea we are trying to push before we can tell him what questions we are going to ask him

• Andrew continued to look at Branding for Electric cars, Car sites in general as well as technology websites so we could get the best idea possible of what colours and font styles were used most. He also looked at potential locations to film the car moving

• Cailan worked to find some more locations to film, finding places that could be an interesting backdrop for when the car is parked and we are getting the beauty shots.
• I had to create a very basic shoot schedule so we could have an idea on what we would film on certain Days. It looked like this...

Day

1. Shoot day with car: B-Roll of the car Moving - Beauty shots of the car motionless - PTC while driving the car, my thoughts of what teh car is like - Exploring the difference between a electric car and a petrol version (could be done at the dealership)
2. Interview with expert:  Talk to teh expert and he should give us his opinions on electric cars and why he likes/dislikes them. We would be interested in knowing the future and past of electric cars - We would film b-roll at the location that we could splice in later
3. B-ROLL & Intro sequence shots: We want to film some slick shots in the tech district in london to use for possible b-roll and prominently for the intro sequence where we will introduce electric cars why we are making this news piece about them. Possibly could present the intro and outro here - Also time lapse and mass motion shots could be filmed
4. Filming in a science museum or similar: In a location surrounded by science and knowledge we are thinking about rolling off some facts that we could use in our final piece. Alternatively on this day we would film at Dungeness and film the introduction of the project with the Nuclear power station as a backdrop.
5. Studio-piece: We don't think that we are going to have a new anchor but we may leave a day aside just incase we think the flow may work better with one.

Overall a 5 day shoot schedule which includes 5 very different days, when we confirm the day which we will be lent the car the other parts will fall into place. 

On Tuesday we went out as a squad to look at some possible locations. We had a look a location that Andrew had found and along the route we stopped at a few locations to see if they possibly could work.

A place that could be a nice shot is the car going under this railway bridge, there is access either side but of course it is a health and safety issue and would have to re-recce the scene to make sure it is safe to film. 

We want to recreate some of the shots you would see for example on top gear. We want the car to look like it is gliding along and going through scenic locations.

Whilst at the scene we had to consider access, filming locations, potential closures etc and we feel it is a nearby location so would work well if we get clearance to film there. 

We could film from a various amount of angles on this small road alone, we could do runs up and down the road with the car following a camera car for example as well as setting up shot around certain corners to get the car moving and in a location not to far from the studio.

All of this however comes down to if the Maidstone council would let us film here. Cailan sent off an email to them and we are awaiting a reply. The Kent film office did not answer when we tried to phone them so we may try again tomorrow.

When we got back to the Studios Cailan and I put together a simple idea of what the timeline of the news piece may look like, this is what we came up with:

• Intro - 15 to 20 seconds - Dungeness Nuclear Power Station ("So much of today's energy is generated by fossil fuel power stations.")
• Opening - 30 seconds of b-roll + narration - b-roll of tech, new cars, electric cars, modern architecture - London technology district
• Package on Electric Cars Vs Petrol Cars - 2m 30 seconds - Summary of either car's features, advantages, disadvantages. B-roll of Smart ForTwo going along the road and still, B-roll of petrol version vs electric at dealership - PTC while driving electric car, explaining why cars are being forced to go electric, as well as incentives to do so.
• History of Electric Cars (Cont. from PTC in the ForTwo /w overlay) - 20 - 40 seconds TBC - Where did electric cars originate from and why did we not go electric sooner.
• Future of Electric Cars (Cont. from PTC in the ForTwo /w overlay) - 20 - 40 seconds TBC - What happens from here? Do they start planning for ways to get electricity in a totally carbon neutral way?
• Studio Time - 20 seconds - Andrew Introduces the live interview context, throws to Alex . We're not sure if we want to do this yet, may include andrew sooner as well.
• The 'Live' Interview - 2 mins - Several questions which will be arranged once car and interviewee are in place
• Conclusion - 20 - 40 seconds - Wrapping up the show, what have we learned and am I tempted to go electric?

I also once again said we should designate work to be done by Thursday

• Alex: Find relevant Smart car info, facts and figures etc. Look at similar car news shows and see how they are presented.
• George: Get in contact with interviewee and see when he is free. Contact Kent Film Office
• Cailan: Get info from maidstone council. What items do we need to include in our channel intro.
• Andrew: Research tech YouTube channels - Branding and content, what do they tweet about, what social media do they actually use? Which social media do they have the biggest following on?

We also have to complete a task for Helen ready to shoot for Thursday. We are going to have a group Skype discussion tomorrow to get that work complete.