1. What are the three stages of production?

Pre-Production – Stage 1
Pre-production is a critical part of your video project. Essentially, you are organizing everything to ensure the entire project goes smoothly. First you’ll need to identify the goals and objectives for your video. Your target audience needs to be clearly identified. The tone, pace, actors, style, feel, pacing, verbiage, music and length of the video needs to be geared to the temperament, attitudes and interest of your intended audience. You also need to determine what your budget is for the project. If you plan on utilizing this video to generate more business for your company, you should plan on spending some money to do it right. Next you’ll want to prepare an outline of the points you want to make. If you’re promoting your business, your outline may consist of identifying your mission, background, products or services you provide, how you can help solve your audience’s problems or meet their needs, testimonials from satisfied clients, costs, distinctions between you and your competition, and any other factors that will convince your target audience to do business with your company. Once you have a rough outline of what you’d like your project to include, its time to get a professional video production company involved. The right video production company will be able to steer you in the right direction and coordinate things like the script, actors, crew, locations, shoot dates, interview questions, budget, and project deadlines. Once everything has been planned, the production stage begins.

Production – Stage 2
Ok, you have your objectives, goals and script ready. You have everything approved, organized everything and everyone, and now you’re ready to shoot your video. If you are producing an animated video such as an instructional, sales, marketing or tutorial video that does not require any shooting, this stage may not apply to you this time around. Here are the major considerations for the video production stage.
Safety
Above all else, practice extreme safety measures such as making sure that wires are taped down, that lights have sandbags on them to prevent them from tipping over and other potential accidents are avoided.
Set-up and Breakdown
Make sure you allot time for the crew to set up, test and break down the video equipment on location. Also, if you hired an actor, or have interviewee(s), you can tell them to show up later, so they don’t get in the way or become impatient while everything is being set up for the shoot.
The set up period is when the crew will assess the shooting environment, test equipment, set up lights, do audio checks, set up props and signage, tape down cables so that no one trips over them, and perform other activities necessary for the production process to take place.
Conversely, allot plenty of time to break down the equipment and make sure proper security precautions are taken.
Director
As the name implies, the director directs the production. Generally, the technical people know what to do and won’t need hands-on direction, unless there’s a problem. But the director will direct the actors and orchestrate the production process, as he or she is responsible for success or failure at this crucial stage of the project.
Make Up
If you have the budget to hire one, a make up person is indispensable. It is their sole job to see if the talent is ‘shining’ and requires make-up due to sweat, oily skin or the way the light is hitting them. They are also responsible for hair and the general appearance of the actors. When you’re on the set, it’s no time for a bad hair day! The make up artist can also be responsible for wardrobe and making sure all of the little details of the talent’s grooming are tended to.
The production process can be quite invigorating. It is important to work with a video production company with a great attitude, great communication skills, and one that you work well with.


Post-Production – Stage 3
Whether it took one day or months of shooting, you finally have enough content to begin the post-production process. Now it’s time for the video production company to bring everything together into a coherent, entertaining, and enticing video. If you chose the right video production company to handle your project, they should have the experience to take the project to the finish line on their own. To ensure this process goes smoothly and quickly, make sure your video production company has all the resources they need to begin the editing process. Some of these things could include: your logo, website screenshots, brochures and graphics, and most importantly, if you haven’t provided a deposit for the project yet, now would be a good time do so. It is also very important to be prompt in responding to any needs or questions the video production company may have throughout this process. Your delays in response will only delay the post-production process. Once the post-production process is underway, don’t hesitate to ask to see a sample of what they are editing, just to make sure they are headed in the right direction. Especially if this is the first time you’ve ever worked with them on a project. Once the video production company submits their first draft of the video, this is your chance to provide any feedback and or changes to the video. It is advisable to submit all of the changes and revisions in one email as opposed to several emails over the course of a few days or weeks. This will allow the video company to make all of the necessary changes in one edit session as opposed to multiple, which will also speed up the process and ensure everything is done correctly. Once you have your final masterpiece, approved and ready for the masses, make sure the video production company provides you with all of the compression formats you will need for things like social media, your website, blog, etc. Quicktime H.264 is best because of its small file size and sharp quality. We recommend a small, medium and large approach. The small size would be 640×360 pixels, which is standard YouTube and Vimeo size. The medium size would be 854×480 or 960×540. The large size would be 1280×720. Depending on where you plan on hosting your video, it is always nice to have all possible sizes just in case. We wish you the best of luck with your upcoming video production.

via: http://videobuilders.net/3-stages-of-the-video-production-process/

2. Provide example from online or class of the three stages (video, pictures)

via: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuv8Ht02h0U

3. List four types of shot compositions- close up, extreme close up, wide shot

Here is an example of an extreme wide-angle shot:

Here is an example of an extreme close-up shot:

Here is an example of a close-up shot:

Here is an example of an over-the-shoulder shot:

Here is an example of a wide-angle shot:

4. List three types of transition (cut, dissolve, fade) and what are their purposes in the editing process? Show video examples from class or online.

CUT TO means the picture goes from the end of one scene to the beginning of the next without any effects. 

DISSOLVE TO and FADE TO are similar to a certain extent but have little differences:

In either case, the scenes change as above, but the pictures change with an effect. In a FADE, one picture freezes while the next scene seems to grow out of the center of the screen. In a DISSOLVE, the opposite happens. The first scene seems to disappear into the center or the screen while the next one appears frozen until the action begins. In a SWIPE, the second scene replaces the first and it almost looks like a line moving left to right or right to left across the picture. Both pictures are frozen until the second scene is full screen, then it picks up. This a quick process, an editing tool to make the scene changes an interesting part of the film. Usually, the action taking place in the story dictates how the scenes are edited together and that is why there is an editing category in the Oscars. The job is an artistic one, having a lot to do with how a film is received by audiences. Hope this helps.

5. What is your favorite part of the production process and why? Planning, doing, or fixing?

I really enjoy the doing part of production. I enjoy working as a host on camera and working impromptu, I think this best fits my personality. 

6. What's the best part of this class so far and why?

I really enjoy the overall attitude of the class. Together, as a class and as an individual group aka the Sisterhood, we work very well and get things done while still having a lot of fun! I love spending time in the studio and really getting to work hands on with filming. I think I have learned a lot more actually video taping myself and my peers than I ever would have simply sitting in on lectures. 

7. Evaluate yourself and how you have grown in this class. Evaluate your group and how they have progressed. Evaluate Doc Chris.

I believe that I have grown a lot more comfortable both in front of and behind the camera. I believe in this class practice truly does make does! Because we work so hands-on in the studio, I along with my other group members, have become more confident in our filmmaking capabilities. As a group we have been able to channel what we have learned in class into our work outside of class! I really enjoy working with Doc Chris because he makes class interesting and therefore engaging and I learn a lot while still having fun. Time flies in his class and it's all due to his optimistic attitude. I really enjoy coming to class and look forward to continuing to develop my film skills.