CSE 591 -- Data Science (Fall 2014)

Prof. Steven Skiena

Video / Filming Instructions

• Team introductions and back reel (due Tuesday, September 23, 2014)
• Work through background presentation / brainstorming (due Thursday October 9, 2014)
• Work through progress report (due Thursday, November 6, 2014)
• Work through final project presentation (due Thursday, December 4, 2014)
• Pre-event, event, and post-mortem (generally finals week or early 2015)

Filming Methodology

• There will be eight teams, each of three to four graduate students.   Each team will be given a GoPro camera and will be assigned to document its own project.  Each team will pick one lead videographer who shoot their group and identifies editorial content.   The videographer will edit this film and organize time with an editor to upload and organize content.
• Dini Diskin-Zimmerman (jan.diskin-zimmerman@stonybrook.edu) will be our editor.  Each videographer should expect to communicate with her to get feedback on improving the raw footage you provide to her.
• Each team will be responsible for filming a total of  five segments, detailed within.   Each segment should be the product of several shooting sessions.  Each group will be given a time budget (15-20 minutes) on how much video they can pass on to the editor per segment (from presumably about one to two hours of raw footage per segment)
• There will be three sessions of filming Skiena in the studio, each with about 15 minutes of commentary per team.

1. Introduction to each project (week 4)
2. Mid-project review: how’s each team doing, with exposition of methods (week 11)
3. Project post-mortem (early 2015)

• At the end, we have about two hours of film per episode to be edited down to a 30 minute program, which will be done by our professional video editor (Dini).

Filming Needs for “The Quant Shop”

• Back reel shots of student teams
• Background interviews with students, developing them as characters
• Student project reports (in class, filmed by each team’s GoPro and Echo360)
• To camera descriptions about what they are doing and how they feel about it.
• Talking heads (faculty experts speak on the problems/methods)
• Field trips to relevant places to provide color and interesting video
• Campus/student kibbitzing about the winners/results
• Watching the event / post-event commentary

Filming Instructions

• Have fun with this!   Enjoying what you are doing will make for the most enjoyable viewing experience.  Within reason, ham it up and make it interesting.
• Viewers want to see compelling characters.   You will be the characters.   Figure out your narrative thrust/story so viewers will root for you.  Each group should have only two characters which are developed to represent the team, but make them interesting.
• Include scenes where you talk to the camera and (1) explain what you are working on, and (2) how you feel about the project and how it is going.   These scenes should be about 1-2 minutes long each, and you should prepare what you will say before filming.
• Make sure you have enough light for proper filming!
• Make sure the audio is good, particularly for scenes with multiple people.  Use your cell phone as a recording device to get a backup version of the audio as needed.
• Make sure to pan in tightly on the person talking.  We need video which holds interest, not just documents the event.
• Avoid having any branded products/logos in the image.  This includes food and drinks, clothing, computers and other electronics.  Avoid using any recorded music or video, even in the background.  Because of copyright concerns, we cannot use this footage.
• Filming will be particularly challenging during several of the actual event scenes when we will be wanting to record your reactions to the events in real time.  Ideally use two cameras, one on the media and one behind the device focused on you.

Camera work suggestions

• Film people tight: you want to see them only as heads and chests like a Roman sculpture bust.   Our experience suggests this means holding the GoPro within 2 feet of the subject.  Don’t cut off their heads, but get in tight.
• Use the default narrow angle setting for most shooting.
• Use the high-resolution TV mode for shooting.
• Having people turn to you facing ¾ is generally more exciting than face on.
• Film groups tight: stand close or sit on a couch/chairs without arms so you can get close.
• Make sure you can hear the audio clearly.
• Pick a background that is ideally interesting, quiet, and reusable.  Blackboards with relevant drawings, clean-enough dorm rooms, and offices with books are good.
• Use props to make things visually interesting.
• Identify images and video to put in the film, but make sure you have copyright permission.    Ask and get permission in writing before using anything!  An official release form is available on the course webpage.

If any group’s video does not obey these suggestions/checklist I will make you redo it.

Checklist for Each Shot

• Do you have enough light?  Is it in front of the camera?  Backlit visible light sources like windows and lamps are very bad.
• Is it quiet enough to record sound clearly?   This probably means indoors in a small room for most scenes.
• Speak slow, clear English
• Are you panned in tightly enough to create an interesting shot?
• Have you cleared away all branded products/logos and other copyrighted material?
• Do you have signed releases for anyone photographed.
• Do not wear green if all possible.

                                Possible Character Narratives

You will need to establish a “narrative” and “personality” for your character.   It should be based on who you are for real, only more so.   We need to have the viewer rooting for you to succeed.   Possible narrative lines include:

• The Fish Out of Water: knows nothing about the problem but makes a determined effort to immerse themselves in it and master it.
• The Interesting Back Story: during interviews, reveal something about this character’s experience or story which is interesting and compelling.
• Us Against the World: this is a story of teamwork, people with disparate backgrounds that initially don’t mesh, but come together to be bigger than themselves.

Editing Instructions

• It is your job to film an hour or more of video for each of the five segments of the project, and to edit each segment down to 15 minutes or so of footage.
• Your goal in editing is to isolate only the footage which you think might be best to use in a project narrative.   A professional editor will make the final cut from what you give them.  
• You should try to order them to tell a story, but that is ultimately the professional editor’s business.
• If you have multiple takes of a scene (which I encourage), it is good to include the best two of them in your reduced segment for the editor to choose from.
• Each group’s editor will work with media lab coordinator Paul St. Denis ((631) 632-1033, paul.st.denis@stonybrook.edu) to upload the video and cut it down.  Be nice to him as he is a friend.
• The easiest way to edit the video is to watch it once or twice and jot down the time codes of the beginning and end of each interesting segment.   From this the editing is mechanical.   Give an extra 15 seconds before and after each segment so we don’t chop it off inadvertently.

Typical Episode of “The Quant Shop”

• Introduction / posing the problem (Skiena 1 segment)
• Title sequence / opening credits
• Introducing the student team (Student 1 segment)

• team selection
• t-shirt ceremony (appointment to the team)
• interviews with students about backgrounds

• Problem overview (Skiena 1 / Student 2 segment)

• historical background
• possible use of talking head

• Brainstorming session (Student 2 segment)
• Background research (Student 2 segment)

• previous academic/modeling efforts

• Data collection (Student 3 segment)
• First model (Student 3 segment / Skiena 2 segment)

• discussion of the modeling techniques
• class lectures or talking head
• group presentation
• evaluation of first model: things look bad (Skiena 2 segment)

• Second model (Student 4 segment)

• improvements
• evaluation of improved model: things look good

• The final event (Student 5 / Skiena 3 segment)

• predictions from the student rabble
• the prediction from our model
• the result as it happens
• post-event commentary from the team (Skiena 3 segment)

• Closing credits