Okay so like we said before we want the future Unicorn BLOG too not only give you a look into what we are doing but also how we do it. So in this BLOG entry we are going to share our process for how we wrote, shot and edited “The Unicorn Express” video.
Step 1.) Vision, script and storyboard. Originally I just thought it would be funny to have a really fast skit where I sing and dance like Dick Van Dick in an old Disney film. So from that idea I started thinking about what type of costume I might need as well as what the skit would ultimately be about. I just knew that I wanted to make it as absurd as possible. So we landed on this mayor/mc style character that appealed to us most. From there I wrote the song and Jeremy and I brainstormed the rough story outline while I scribbled out a storyboard.
Step 2.) After I spent some time writing the lyrics for our disney style song we figured out what we were going to need as far as props and costumes and briefly discussed the dance number I would perform. At this point we set up the blue screen and started shooting. The interesting thing about our process is that it is planned thoroughly before hand in a storyboard so things are timed right and we know generally how to shoot for our edit; but when the camera rolls we improvise within the guidelines we set for ourselves. Here is a clip of me singing and dancing in front of the blue screen.
Singing over blue screen:
Step 3.) After reviewing the footage we do a rough edit of the blue screen footage in order to find out which of the shots we need to knock the blue screens out of. From here I create the backgrounds that Jeremy will us to composite with the video footage. Here is an example of one of the backgrounds I created in process. This step is fairly tedious but rewarding…
Step 4.) Now it’s time to ad the finishing touches like sound effects, light sabers, sparkles and magical beans. This too can take considerable time but really makes a big difference.
So the video is now finished but there are always a few things we wish we could have used but for some reason or another we can’t. For this video we had a few takes of the ending of the dance scene we really liked that were just unusable. Here is a clip we liked but couldn’t use.
Blue Screen Disaster:
