Pre-production: Top Tips Powtoon

In order to create the Powtoon presentation we did a pre-production case study of a SkyStorm Productions and created a top tips Powtoon. They shared a report on the pre-production elements. They also shared the planning of the video. Our task was to find the strengths and weaknesses of the SkyStorm pre-production. Using the websites my group focused on identifying the weaknesses of the pre-production and the other group identified the strengths.

We found that SkyStorm Productions wrote mostly about their strengths and didn't really want to own up to their weaknesses. The areas we looked at were the pre-production elements,  missed opportunities and the lesson learnt. Some of their strengths were:

• They were organised so they didn't forget anything. On one of the websites there is a time-lapse video showing the set being designed.
• They managed their budget well. It was not stated how big their budget was but they had enough money to have extra props they didn't actually use in the video. 
• Their foundation allowed the production support to operate efficiently.

And some of their weaknesses were:

• They spent money on props that weren't used instead of spending it on talent.
• In the time-lapse video we noticed that they kept changing the design of the set and in the finished video the set ended up being hidden by the actors and props.
• Their camera shots focused on the people instead of the background they spent so much time correcting.

In conclusion, SkyStorm Productions should have spent most of their budget on the talent. In the video clip at the bottom of their report a member of the cast wasn't dancing to the music and others didn't know how to act naturally in front of a camera. Another point we've learnt from their pre-production report is that storyboards are very important and can save you some time if you plan out the set design before actually setting it up on the day of filming. Also, SkyStorms Productions should have used a lot more long and wide angle shots to show off the background they spent so much time designing.