Production blog for Documentary & Soundtrack Production

Log 1  04/11/2014 - Today i have put everything into order in my production file and labelled all of my plastic wallets and now i know what i need and what i have. Now that i know what i need i get get through the paper work faster. I still need to make contact with my interviewee and this will be done sometime this week.

Log 2 05/11/2014 - Today i have contacted a few interviewees and am waiting for a reply i have also looked into sending my documentary (when its finished) of to the BBC fresh web page. This will help my film and also i have completed several forms that are to be added to my pre-production folder.

Log 3 10/11/2014 - Today i have gave a small presentation of my idea and also I reviewed my fellow classmates ideas and gave some feedback. I have also received good feedback on my idea and this has built my confidence in my idea and i now feel that by the end of the week i can have my location and interviewees all sorted and then i can organise my production.

Log 4 - 17/11/2014 - I have spoken to the guys that run the Rude Grooming Hair Salon in Middlesbrough and they are willing to speak to me and help me with my film, i will have a conversation with the man who does beards tomorrow over the phone with the view to going over to them and filming. This is a huge step forward in my film as this moves me closer to the fact that i might have a location soon.

Log 5 - 25/11/2014 - I have been out today doing Vox Pops in the town centre and i have got 6 minutes of footage which i have already went through and cut down to 30 seconds and the footage is my first piece of footage for my documentary. Now I'm ready to move onto the Friday were i will go to the hair salon to film for a short while. For my vox pops i used a shot gun microphone as its fast to set up and i just need to point it towards my subject and i would get good and clean sound.

Log 6 - 26/11/2014 - Today we went out filming i was on camera for this member of my group and it was all looking good and it looked like this member would be the first to be finished when we got back to college we found that the tapes was broke so we cant capture the tape but we are going to go back there soon to rerecord, although a hiccup it is redo able. When it came to set up the camera top microphone, during the interviews we used the lapel microphones which were good for getting just the sound of the interviewee.

Log 7 - 27/11/2014 - I have guaranteed my location now and its looking really good. I am still stuck on the time and the date of whether or not i can film my interview and if not i may have to settle on just interviewing the manager and owner of the salon where i am going to film. I am currently working on my voice over script and on how long my voice over would last. I have been working further on my 30 seconds of Vox Pops to go into my documentary and i will get more footage tomorrow. Although I'm still nervous I feel that in a way its all falling into place.

Log 7 - 28/11/2014 - I have been down to the hair salon today Rude Grooming in Middlesbrough and i got 13 minutes of footage, including cut-aways, interviews and a short bit of footage of a man having his beard trimmed. I have arranged to go back on the Tuesday and i can say that i am feeling confident nothing has gone wrong and at this point I'm checking everything to make sure nothing can go wrong. When i go back i aim to get interviews with the owners and managers of the salon and when i get back i will record my voice overs. While i was at the salon i used the camera top microphone to gather some background noise to put over some of my voice overs and also what the camera sees the microphone will record the sound, its also easy to set up and once its on and set to the right settings you can leave it to do its job. I also used the lapel microphone for the interviews because its the best way of doing gathering sound for them as there is no background noise.

Log 8 - 2/12/2014 - I went down to the hair salon again today and i have got some great footage, I'm looking forward to editing my documentary together and making something out of this. I want to send it in to the BBC fresh competition which deadline is in January and I'm looking forward to trying to get my factual piece on their website. I have finished all the filming that I need to do although the rest of the week will be spent working on my fellow classmates work. Today when I went back down to the salon i took similar equipment that i used in the visit and i came out with similar great results. The sound equipment that i used was a camera top microphone and a lapel microphone. The camera top microphone was used to gather sound the cut aways and also for one interview outside because it had to be done quickly because the guy had to leave but the sound was OK we just needed to turn it up a little bit.

Log 9 - 4/12/2014 - today we went out on location to a vegetarian restaurant for one of my groups factual programmes, I was on sound for this production. We have brought a lapel microphone and a camera top microphone to capture background sound and the lapel for the interview. When we arrived the staff were expecting us although the restaurant was empty and none of the staff were vegetarian we managed to get an interview with a staff member. I made sure that we got background sound was captured and i made sure that the sound was OK or the interviews with the staff and that it wasn't to loud or distorted.

Log 10 - 5/12/2014 - Me and my group have now finished all filming today and from the looks of it all is well, I started the day working a little bit on sound while we were waiting for the final member of the group to arrive and i also did camera but because all the equipment went like clockwork then there was no problems. When it came to set up the camera top microphone we had some issues with the settings to get the volume up to the right level. During the interviews we used the lapel microphones which were good for getting just the sound of the interviewee.

Log 11 - 8/12/2014 - All footage is captured and we have found a few problems such as the sound in one or two clips isn't the best but this is a fixable problem but its something which will slow the editing process down. We are going to do some pick ups today on one of our groups work which isn't difficult at all since its in college. My editing is going very well everything is falling right into its carefully set out place. To say its looking good for me and my group may jinx it but the futures bright.

Log 12 - 11/12/2014 - I have been though all of my footage again today making chances and noticing different faults that have slipped through the net upon previous viewings. All looks set and ready for next weeks viewing of my documentary. I have also put on my sound and I have went through and edited the sound to certain parts of the documentary. After the last assignment about sound and the use of sound this has really helped me a lot on my and my teams documentaries because sounds makes an audience feel. I have also spent today looking for a soundtrack i have a few pieces of music that i am considering using and they will be put on my work to see what is does to my film and to what it does to my audience

Log 13 - 15/12/2014 - I have been through my documentary again to day to check over any sort of faults that i may have. I have taken parts out that i feel are boring and that i feel don't make any sense i have exported the film to the BBC specification and now I'm ready to show the film.

Soundtrack Blog
I have been through my factual piece of film and wrote down all of the musical pieces in my film and voiceovers using a sound spotting sheet. I have been through all of my spotting sheet and I've made note of all of the music and voice overs used in my film.

This is my finished Documentary please watch and leave a comment with your thoughts and views.

 

 

Conclusion

I think that overall, the whole production went well. This was a first for me as everything fell into place and all the equipment worked as I wanted it to and nothing stopped working or ran out of charge. The pre-production went well because once I had my chosen my topic well and the research i gathered from places such as the History Channel and the Movember website. In the production i had planned my production well and had no complications and i had a great team behind me. The post production was even more enjoyable for me as i had all the music I needed, and my voiceovers we're already recorded and this made the editing easier and faster. Overall i am proud of my finished product and i hope that i can match and then better myself in future ventures. 

Unit 64: Task 1 Understanding current uses of motion graphics and composting video

Users of motion graphics and composting video

DVD Interfaces and interactive menus
There are several reasons why film production companies like to put in an animated interface on their DVD's, one of them is to entertain the viewer and show clips of the film which give the audience who have never seen the film a look into what they are going to watch. The interactive menus also help the viewer make their movie experience more to their required taste. I have found a few different examples of DVD interfaces and menus which include Slumdog millionaire and Ratatouille.

Title and Credit sequences 
There are many films that will blend their titles into the start of the film for example they will put names of stars and contributors at the bottom of the screen, but some films such as the James Bond series have a history of making eye catching opening titles. Many films choose to put some outtakes at the end of the film and in some cases there is more clips from the film, things like alternative scenes and added scenes to the end of the films (More common in comedy films).

Animated captions
Animated captions appear a lot more these days on programs such as the news when we see an interview with a person when the news report is on a specific subject. They also sometimes appear at the start of a program to tell the viewer who the host of the show is and maybe what their profession is. There will also be the names of the crew for example the director, the producer and other important members of the production team.

Stings and Idents
Stings and Idents can help promote a channel to an audience because they are sometimes used which there is a commentator telling the viewer what program would be coming on next and also an ident will usually show what kind of audience the channel is aimed at. The BBC has a great history of making eye catching and entertaining idents which were usually for BBC 2 but recently BBC 1 has received more of the ident attention. For example for all of ITV 2's idents they all feature young people in thier idents and the announcer is a young person too and this is the most obvious example of showing what an ident is and how it is aimed at its organisation. 

A sting is described by audio network 'stings are used in film and TV production as a form of short-hand or punctuation (perhaps to introduce a regular section of a show, or as a dramatic climax approaches.) This selection of Stings for Music Production will cater for any genre of Television; including, but not exclusively, Daytime TV stings, News and Current Affairs stings, Comedy stings, Drama stings or Sports stings'.

Musical Idents



An musical sting that would be popular to many would be the X factor sting and the Britain's Got Talent sting. Also with these shows they use graphics in the lower third of the screen to show what number to call to vote for the contestant and it is read out by the presenter. The video below is an example of the lower third graphics.

Web Banners
Web Banners are a good way of advertising a television show which can reach out to an audience. When a person would click on a website some websites would have banners on the top and down the sides advertising a show or film. Commonly these adverts are found on websites such as TV guide and various cinemas websites who will try and promote their films. A lot of time is spent by the advertising companies making these animations or pictures at the side of the screen making them as eye catching as possible. you can see the advertising of the show Ugly Betty on the link below and this was on the TV guide website. http://www.simrendeogun.com/next-level-online-banner-ads/


The characteristics of motion graphics and composting video

There are three main characteristics to motion graphics and video composting these are; graphics, movement and visual effects. All three are integral to making something eye catching worth watching either on television or in a film. 

Graphics occur in so many programs and films now that its is harder to find a film or show that doesn't contain special effects ranging from Coronation street to the more obvious end of the graphics spectrum with programs such as Doctor Who. Programs like Doctor Who lead the way for Sci Fi fans who are a fan base that enjoy the special effects of a show or film. Graphics are also key when it comes to the posters and adverts that are sent out on all forms of media to advertise a show or film and when these are produced they are layered and put together to create an experience for a possible movie goer. 

Movement in animations are still made using the same tools in the basic stages for example to make the animations they have to be drawn out first but that's when 21st century technology comes into play as the computer software then would do the rest whereas before it was down to coloring film now less time is needed and given to this subject. An example of a company that has learned a lot from their experiences is Disney which is still leader in moving animations. 

Visual Effects are key to many Hollywood blockbusters with films such as Life of Pi and Transformers make the action of a killer robot and tiger become a real and entertaining view. These visual effects are expected now to be great and are expected not to make an audience question the reality of the situation they are watching. A company working on many of the big films coming out of Hollywood is Industrial light and magic who are owned by George Lucas and re part of his film empire. ILM have worked on many films that have broken the records of visual effects with films like star wars, Pearl Harbour and Star Trek. A link to the website of ILM is below and on their homepage you can use the mouse to see their visual effects before they edit them and add the magic to the shot that we as viewers assume is already there. The video below also shows how the visual effects were made for The Avengers film.
http://www.ilm.com/

Technology issues

Software
The types of software used by both professionals and amateurs range in price and in quality. One piece of software which is used by both professionals and regular animators is Adobe After Effets. This is a piece of software that i have used and isn't too difficult to use and does all of the jobs you would expect from a piece of animation software.

Frame rate
The standard frame rate for television is 24 frames per second and this has become the norm and has been the same ever since the birth of cinema. The reason we see film in 24 frames per second is that any quicker or slower and the film would appear jumpy. Many motion graphic sequences are worked on frame by frame and in the early beginnings of motion graphics there was a lot of problems to work out and it was made easier by the fact that they could work through the film frame by frame.

Video Format
There are about 20 different video formats and they all have different uses in the world of film and television. The most common video formats are MP4 or .avi and they are used by both the professionals and amateurs. I have used formats such as .avi when im on things like Adobe Premiere Pro and when im watching a digtial copy of a film or television program. An .avi file can be cut up and moved around easily as it is a versatile format and therefore suitable for programs such as Premiere Pro. On the link below you can find out what the different video formats are and how they are used.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_file_format

Screen Ratios
Screen ratios also known as aspect ratios have been around ever since the dawn of cinema. There are several examples of different types of aspects ratio range from the first 1.25:1 ratios and then the widescreen view of 16:9 that is still used today. The video that i have put in below is about the history of the aspect ratio.

 

When motion graphics come into play in the history of the aspect ratio the ratio was 1.6:1 which was the computer screen ratio. I have edited using premiere pro and the aspect ratio i have used on there is the widescreen ratio. The link below shows the history of the aspect ratio (like the video above) written down and also contains a timeline.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_(image)

Resolution
The display resolution is done in pixels and these are the pixels that would appear on a television and computer screens. An example of a display resolution is one that many if not all will have encounted and that is 1080p. 1080p is the display resolution for the 16:9 ratio and this is why this resolution is one of the most common. This is most commonly used in motion graphics because it has the widescreen qualities. The link below is a history and explanation of resolutions used through out films history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_resolution

Digital Compression
Digital compression is when an image is squashed up and broadcast out to the veiwing audience. This was first done in the 1930's and when first done was only done using colours but by the late 1940's scientists in america were able to transmit images of objects and people around their country. Motion graphics and video composting is more easily broadcast using digital rather than analog transmissions. With digital television it makes the graphics made by special effects look better and appear better to an audience rather than the old analog television transmission. The link below contains a deeper and more detailed explaination of what exactly digital compression is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_television

Unit 27: Task 1

Unit 27
 

Introduction

Factual programming has a set of issues at its disposal to create an effective and entertaining programme that will keep man audience involved. Factual programmes come about when a certain subject is explored by a person who will then find out facts and relative information about the subject. In factual programming, the subject tends to be aimed towards a single interest so the viewing audience will know what they are watching. The provider will give out facts and an interesting story to the audience. To make sure everything broadcast in the UK there is a regulator known as Ofcom.  Ofcom is for the benefit of the public and is not for commercial purposes. Ofcom protects the public from anything that may cause hurt or harm both physically and mentally.

Accuracy

Accuracy is key when it comes to factual film making because when the public what a documentary they expect to be informed, and when information is given out by these programs it is expected to be true. If the information turned out to be false then this would be when Ofcom would step in and take action against the team who helped put the documentary on air. It is important that the information is true for both sides of the argument to present a fair viewpoint for each side. If the information is not true then they may lose the trust of their viewing figure, which with all of the social networking and the speed of which information can be transferred so fast can be bad news from the network. 

Programmes that must be accurate are things such as the news, which are much of the public’s only way of getting information from around the world. The news is real, and gives an accurate presentation of a story, and offers both sides of the story and they must be careful to give real facts. Although they try to keep a balanced argument sometimes, a bias opinion comes in for example in interviews. If they are unsure about a story, they will only report on what they have on that story but if they have heard rumours on a story, they will stress that it is not fact before revealing the information.

Balance

Balance is when and argument is presented with both parties having a flag bearer for their opinion. This means that the argument is kept balanced and that both parties can present their ideas for the story, this helps make sure that there is no bias opinion circling the issue. Usually when an argument is televised then there will be a host to keep the discussion in check. They will make sure that everyone has their say that everything stays in order and all the opinions are heard.

Impartiality

Impartiality is when the presenter does not take either side of a story; instead, they sit on the fence and offer no sort of opinion. In factual programmes, it is important to show both sides of the argument and offer no opinion. It is important to be impartial as there is two sides of the story and if there is a drift to one side then some of the audience may be turned away. To some networks it is important to them to remain impractical because this helps to maximum their audience. Many people watch factual programmes just to gain the facts, and they don’t want to see an argument because they it gets the mind going and takes the audience member away from the feeling of being relaxed.

Objectivity

Objectivity is when you make a judgment based on what you have seen. For example the information you present to you audience in documentaries are important, because they will make their judgment based on the footage that they have seen on the documentary. Being objective is being able to put an argument across and presenting all of the research gathered without being biased because if they present a bias argument then they will offer the audience an opinion, which many may not share. Giving the audience a chance to make up their own mind keeps the topic alive after the documentary is over. As i have shown with the documentary below which was 'Is Britain a racist country?' which was made by Channel 4. This is the same as an opinion piece because then you offer your opinion to the argument and when the audience can see your opinion and then have their own choice as to whether or not to listen to it.

Subjectivity

Subjectivity is when you make a judgment based on your own personal feelings and opinions, this is forcing your viewpoints on the public, and this can make you seem pushy and even in some cases stupid as maybe not all of the population shares the same opinions as you. Many of these types of documentaries present the topic in a bad way and a bad style to create a bad opinion on the topic and this creates and emotional feeling among viewers. I used the trailer from the very controversial documentary made by Micheal Moore which was Bowling for Columbine. Subjectivity is similar to an bias opinion because that is still your point going out to the audience.

Representation

Representation is when someone or something is being made to look a certain way. In a documentary if you wanted the audience to have a particular view on someone, you would have to show them in a particular way, either in a good way or bad. This can be done in several ways for example if the person does an interview they could a lot of things in that interview which could then be re-edited to make the person look bad, and to make a person look good they could re-edit it another way. To make the person look good you can create a feeling of sympathy for  the person and then the audience grows to like the individual. The media can also victimize the individual and make the out to be something they're not. They can also make some people fall into a certain stereotype and then make them out to look and sound like this stereotype. There may also be a host or presenter which may direct the audience to have a certain opinion on a person and this connects representation to a Bias viewpoint. An example of this is the Jeremy Kyle show and Judge Judy.

Access

Access is when you have the freedom to be able to use something or someone. For example when you use old footage on the subject or in a historical piece of film or an old interview that was conducted before a subject may have died or is not willing to conduct an interview. There is also the need to get access to film someone or in somewhere when you are going to film a documentary and then once you have the permission of the person you need the permission from a site where you will film, unless it’s a public place. In my exmple below I can see that the makers of the documentary used footage from around the time the documentary is talking about.

Privacy

Privacy is when you are able to keep something to yourself and you are at liberty to hand out this information if you wish to do so. No one has to share something to someone or currently the world if they don’t want to. In some documentaries, you see people’s faces being blurred out when they are talking. A person is able to say that they want the image of themselves to be kept private. This is commonly seen in news interviews and on reality television shows were people are seen in the background in things where they don’t belong for example on shows like the BBC’s ‘The sheriffs are coming’ where a person being reprocessed may not want their image show.

Contract with the viewer

Contract with the viewer is when the audience tunes into your documentary which maybe called ‘The moon’ and then you show a lot of shots of the moon and space or pictures and some footage of maybe astronauts on the moon and this is what the viewing audience member is expecting. The example i have used is called Sleeping Rough and is about people sleeping on the streets and if you watch it, its what you see.

My documentary - Beards; Hair Everywhere

 

I feel that my documentary will be accurate, as I have already begun to build up a portfolio of facts that I can use to show what my documentary is about and keep my documentary interesting. I have to keep my argument balanced and considering my subject, which is not too controversial, it should not be a difficult task.

 

I would remain impartial because I feel that this documentary will teacher me as well as my viewers and I will have to remain impartial because I have no other choice. I am going to be the presenter and I will lead the documentary rather than guide it to a place I want it to be. There will be argument in my factual documentary and although the two parties will not meet, I will have to edit my piece to give a controversial but fair viewpoint.

I aim to represent all characters in my story in different ways to give them more of a personality and a background, which will keep my audience more entertained and interested in my work. When it comes to giving my characters stereotypes, I have an interesting scenario because some of them are stereotypical and some are not.

I would be working closely with my characters and like many documentaries my documentary rely on my characters being open and relaxed so if they wish to remain anonymous then I would give in to their needs because they are integral to the story and if I don’t have them I don’t have a story. 

Unit 16: Film and video editing Techniques Review

Editing Technology (Software/Hardware)

The software that we used was Adobe Premier Pro, which is good because once we got used to it, it was easy for use to do the edit. The software was easy to use. We also edited in HD and so when it came to editing the film it looks a lot clearer and gives the film a more professional look. We had to run through the footage when we first got the footage and we found that on a few shots they had a red flash on them, which is caused by mobile phone interference with the camera.

 The software also made it easier to edit the film and the voiceovers that we used in the first scenes because of the different levels of video and audio, which we had to use to good effect. I also think that Adobe was the best program to use because with the voiceovers if we wanted the voiceovers to continue over the footage we just used the razor tool to cut the footage. I made sure that the tapes that we used we labels correctly and that they were kept safe during and after the shoot the labels on the tapes were similar to the labels on the footage on Adobe. We exported the finished film on MPEG DVD 2 which made it possible to put the finished film onto a DVD.

We also exported in this format because this means that we were able to get the audio and the video files separate which means that we can use Adobe Encore to put the film onto a disc. When the work was on a DVD it was then easier to let the director to see it and also it made it possible for use to show it in a after year show which is where the actors will see the finished film.

 

 

Editing Process

It also made the editing a lot easier with the fact that we can put the footage into ‘bins’ for example all of the scenes used in scene 1 we would put into a bin called scene 1. For the editing we had to make the film run smoothly so this meant that we needed the film to have seamless editing and this meant that we can’t have any uncontrolled jump cuts and using Premier Pro it is very easy to find and fix a jump cut. Our film ran with constant parallel editing which we had learnt to do earlier in the year.

 

In the film I used a lot of dissolves and different transitions throughout the film because if I didn’t put them in the film would have looked jumpy and untidy which meant that I wouldn’t be able to keep the audience’s attention which breaks the magic of the film. In the film I feel that in the film I and my team were able to convey information correctly. In the edit we also had to use sound to create a mood for certain shots.

 

I also had to use the editing to control what sort of speed I wanted the film to go at for example in the emotional scenes I wanted the edit to go slowly to keep the tension as high as possible and with the music and the voiceover playing at the same time this was a fairly easy thing to do so long as I got the timing correct. This was a very simple thing to do on Primer pro but it had a powerful effect.

 

Post Production Tools

The post productions tools that I used were things such as the on screen text and sound editing. The screen text was put on and continued through the film. At the start of the film we see the names of the actors used and we did this in white text on a black background to make it stand out. This was the same for all the names of the actors and the font that I used was called 1942 Report.  

 

 

 

We also used these colours and these fonts at the end while we were doing the credits and while we were giving thanks and showing our apparition to the people that had helped us out during filming.

For the sound editing because we were putting the film on DVD and showing it on a big screen we had to make sure that the sound didn’t go of the scale and become distorted. So we were told to keep the sound level at a steady -6 on the audio meters on premier pro and that means that when it came to editing our final edit we had to go through it in massive detail checking that the sound wasn’t over the top. We did this used both the audio meters and also using the sound bar which are in the top left of the picture.

 

Overall review of the edit

In the overall review of the finished film I can safely say that the film is up to a professional standard and it looks and sounds up to scratch with sound levels being at the correct height and everything being in order. In the edit I learnt a lot of different techniques on Premier Pro and I can say that I will take a lot of qualities from this film and from this final edit. The film is defiantly a good working piece and im looking forward to using this work as a springboard for better work.

Music video Blog

I’m am now a part of Youth Productions and we are making a music video for a up and coming artist named Elle Wood (Official Facebook page below) and with us she will make a music video for one of her recently recorded songs and now we are setting the task of making the music video to make her a star.

https://www.facebook.com/ElleWoodMusic?fref=ts

15/5/2014- Today we were two team members down and now we have to think of a whole new idea because our original one was shot down because it had no structure to it. At the start of the day we were just three normal people and by the end of it we had done a magical thing and made what we see saw as a great piece of work. All we need to do now is show that it can be a reality.

19/5/2014 – We now have to educate one member of our team who wasn’t in on Thursday and now we have to make the idea viable one in preparation for the paperwork to begin tomorrow. The other member who was off on Thursday has turned up now and once we have explained the idea to her we can now iron out any cracks in the story ready for paperwork to begin tomorrow.

20/5/2014 – Today paperwork was filled out to an industrial level standard and now we are moving closer to making this film a reality with only four more pieces of paperwork to be done tomorrow and we have to meet the actor who will be in our film scheduling will be done to tomorrow so that after half term we can go straight out and film this video.

22/5/2014 - We have a new plan now and the new plan is a Alice in wonderland based film and now we are ready me and our new director spent the day going through the idea and getting it ready and ironing out the creases. We are ready for the new idea with will be filmed on the Wednesday when we get back.

04/06/2014 - Today we went out to film. I use the film in loosest terms. 3 of our team arrived on set at 11 and the last 2 members and the make up artist with Elle arrived 45 minutes later. It had been raining all morning and so when it came to film we reverted to the contingency plan the contingency plan had several options including try another day, keep filming and see how it goes or find a local location to film indoors. We decided to keep filming because we had the costume and we had the artist so we went for it in the pouring rain. The shoot didn't go well ending in us deciding to pack up and go as the equipment was getting really went and the make up was smearing we had to try our best.

06/06/2014 - Today was judgement day for us and at the start of the day it defiantly looked like it would go swimmingly but at 9:15 we were told our talent has a doctors appointment at 10 and this meant we were behind schedule already. When our talent arrived and we got to the park it was 11:15, we were now 45 minutes behind schedule. Then at 12:30 the batteries and the camera died we called for help and by 1:15 we were ready to go and within 3 hours we had a music video on our hands and a good one at that. All that's left now is to edit it.

09/06/2014 - Today we see if our hard work had paid off. First we had to capture the footage which is easy enough we had all done it before so it was a good start but then in typical fashion a problem occurred a big problem. Although on that day we had a microphone plugged into the camera in all the commotion earlier in the day we hadn't checked that the sound was on automatic or a higher manual level. The should was on but it was extremely quite this seemed like a massive problem and looked like our film wouldn't be done in the 2 days allocated but in the space of 1 hour, 45 minutes and several seconds it was done our director had done it with the help of our chief designer. To me they were hero's but to everyone else they had just fixed a problem. Throughout the rest of the day there was bickering and arguing over what to put in and where but (i think) we are all at peace with what it should by 2:30 tomorrow a musical masterpiece.

10/06/2014 - Today was about 'Wrap stabiling' as piece of software on Adobe Premier Pro which makes the film look twice as good if you have filmed handheld then for me now its a must it makes it look much more pro. The only problem is that a 6 second piece of film took 10 minutes to stabilise which means to put the whole 4 minute piece through would take days, days which we don't have. We are at full power as we want a rough copy by today to make changes tomorrow and to make a fully and ready edit done 1 day before deadline day.

Task 4 My review

At the start of this project I had no idea about Photoshop. I didn’t know how to work it nor did I know how to do anything at all but after watching several tutorials and a few lessons and many hours outside of class I developed so sort of artist quality that I then looked for in my work. When it can to designing my quad poster I thought about many ideas on what to do and many ideas on what It would look like I designed several different templates as I looked for a design that looked both professional and that had some good techniques used.

In the end I choose the design of the picture that we used in the background of the gun battery at Hartlepool with the 4 main characters on the top layer and the title on top. I feel looking at the poster now and now I think of the fact that I had no experience in using Photoshop when I first came to it I’m quite proud of my end product and I think that this poster sets me up for better thinks in the future. The techniques I used were basic but I feel if I was looking at it from a critical view I would say that the poster wasn’t as professional as I would have hoped with the white lines round it but I could have changed that had I had the skills to do so.

When I look at the DVD cover I see also that this is quite basic with the photo in the background and stills from the film on the back. I also liked this more than I enjoyed the film quad poster and when I look at the DVD cover I feel a bigger sense of pride because to me that looks more professional than the quad poster. The main image of the man stood in the field and this gives the film a lonely feel already and because the way the photo what taken I can use the left of the image to put the back of the cover on. The stills of the film on the back all show the main character and the other four main characters.  Looking at this from a critical view I would say that if I could do it again I would probably describe the film better on the back. I also had to put the BBFC rating on the cover which I decided to do based on the fact that the film contained moderate violence some scenes of an integrate nature.

When looking at the DVD label I used a different photo than the one used on the DVD cover this adds a bit of variety to my work and also this photo shows the character of James walking back from where he was killed and this is a good photo because it gives the film a good touch in an emotional way.  This is a very basic piece of work and this was because I wanted to use this picture and I wanted to draw the attention to the character on the front cover of the disc.

In conclusion I feel that the work I have done was to a moderate level containing all the content needed such as the main characters a shot of the location and the tag line I would say it’s good in the sense it gives you all the information needed but I feel it could be improved.

Task 2 -Software skills development

Task 2 – software skills development

This is a jpeg photo and has a total size of 1.03 MB. Its dimensions are 3508 x 2480 pixels. For this picture i used the crop tool for the letter in the soldiers hand. I also used the quick selection tool for the faded solider in the picture which was holding a rifle which I rubbed out. I used the text tool to write the title and tag line for the poster and I colour the title red to make it stand out.

This poster was originally as a prop for our film which I designed; using two spitfires in the background with the faded colour is in keeping with the time of the film because these planes were iconic. Also this includes a character from the film that we took a picture of and put at the bottom of the picture. The writing also stands out and when I used the texts I chose the texts to be in certain colours in this case the colours of Britain and when I coloured the words I used the fill tool. I also duplicated the layer of the planes to make two planes and then I used the move tool to make it smaller.

Task 4 Me and My films

Task 4 – Me and My movies

Relationship between audiences and films

The genre that I have picked to do in this blog is comedy. The reason that I have picked comedy is because comedy sticks in the mind and has a way of sticking in the audiences mind. The reason I have chosen comedy films is that they are always a good watch because they are uplifting and the fact that you laugh can put you into the active watching group.

Comedies also have a wide variety of different sub genres on the both television and film. The most popular on film is Romantic Comedies (Rom-Com) with its best titles including ‘Pretty Woman’ and ‘the wedding singer’. On TV, the most popular genre is Situation comedies (Sit-Com) which include shows such as ‘Friends’, ‘Scrubs’ and ‘The big bang theory’.

Comedy has always been a difficult thing to make and to do. Certain types of comedy will obviously not work with certain people making it very hard to make a comedy for everyone. There are two different kinds of comedy in physical and verbal and the best comedies are the ones that can put both of those together.

Of course, several actors have made a name for themselves while doing comedy films with actors such as Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell and Melissa McCarthy. These actors repeatedly star in comedies so when I see their names on a poster or on a DVD cover I see them as a great advert for laughter. I can probably see a film poster or look at the description of a film and it may make a film look like a disaster but when I see a name like Will Ferrell or Eddie Murphy it puts a bit of faith in me and I may change my mind on going to see it.

 

Many films use social networking to get in a bigger audience and comedy films are no exception to this ritual. The websites that are commonly used are websites such as twitter, Facebook and YouTube as these websites will reach almost half of the world’s population. Comedies such as ‘Bad neighbours’ and ‘Frank’ have both got Facebook pages and Twitter pages which allows the film to advertise straight to people and that will bring in more profit to the company.

Facebook pages for the films:

Frank: https://www.facebook.com/FrankFilm

Bad neighbours: https://www.facebook.com/badneighboursmovieuk

 

Active Spectatorship and passive spectatorship are both common in comedies. Active Spectatorship is seen when films go to film festivals such as the Texas film festival and the Vancouver film festival. The festivals are used to give audiences a chance to view a film before its release this can help with the research for the film and it can help spread a good word of mouth for the film (if its good) and be good should the audience decide to review the film. Comedy films also use active spectatorship when the viewing audience watches a film because you are an active spectator with in a comedy film when you laugh at the comedy in the film but you can also do this when the film is in the background (Unless physical comedy is involved).

Films affect audiences in different ways and some films make audiences think in different ways and some films even make audiences act differently in their own personality. Also audiences also have an effect on the way that a film is seen and the way the film is met by the general public. Comedy films are mainly watched for pleasure and general enjoyment there has been suggest four reasons why people watch films and they were put forward by Blumler and Katz who suggested the Uses and Gratifications theory which suggests these four reasons are; diversion, personal relationships, personal identity, surveillance.

Diversion is probably the most common reason people choose to watch films. Many viewers will watch a film just to get away from the problems and reality of their own lives. Comedy films make people laugh which takes away the problems mainly because you’re laughing at other people’s problems.

Personal relationship is a style of pleasure was some people may use films as a substitute for personal relationships. E.g. A viewer choosing to go and see a romantic comedy because they are single and like the idea of a relationship or finding a happy relationship is played out in the film.

Surveillance is another pleasure of film watching that means finding films that might contain information that is useful for living. While this could be considered escapism from own life in Britain, they could also contain information that is useful in life.

Personal Identity and the Frameworks of Interpretation are linked in closely with active spectatorship. Active spectatorship suggests that the audience is made up of individuals who all read and interpret films differently from each other. Age, class, ethnicity, education and past experiences all have some bearing on the way one reads and interprets a film.

Media literacy really affects how people see a film and also how people view a film. A viewer who is more media literate may be aware of how the text is positioning them and may therefore be less suggestible to the messages of the film. Some will not enjoy fantasy films as much because they are overly aware of how the special effects are created and this ruins the magic for them. Comedy films can be ruined this way when some character tries to ‘push’ a joke or when a joke doesn’t come off. Film boffins may enjoy films done by Quintin Tarantino because he uses a lot of references to old films.

Intertextuality is commonly seen in the spoofs of films. Films such as ‘scary movie’ and ‘disaster movie’ are both spoofs. Scary movie is a spoof of scream and disaster movie is the spoof of 300. Spoofs deliberately reference other films to parody them and make viewers who are aware of the film being referenced, laugh at the imitation. Any time a star such as Adam Sandler is cast for example, the viewer is likely to be reminded of previous Adam Sandler films. This can be used to sell a film or it can be used to subvert expectations.

Some argue that films can have serious and damaging effects on viewers. With films now being such a big part in children growing up its important that the films children are seeing are appropriate to their age. Children could be affected if they see too much violence on screen, perhaps they will not feel as strongly about it when they see it in real life but this also means the children may act what they see on screen and this could make them dangerous human beings that do not empathise with people in pain and therefore they would be capable of being more violent in real life.

Films have an effect on audiences but also audiences can have an effect on films. With fandom it can go both ways. Fans are people who love a particular film, genre, character or star and they share camaraderie with other fans. Comedy has no fandom at all with comedy just being a part of general life.

Comedies often have many of the best jokes in the trailers of the films and these jokes will not be as funny when they are in the final film if you have seen the trailer a few times. For some people (Not me) Comedies are a onetime watch. This means that when you have seen all the jokes from the first time that you watch the film you can’t watch it again because you know the joke for other it is also the same for live comedy shows.

Comedy films tend to be big Hollywood blockbuster films which mean that in the end of the film it all works out for the lead character who will come out on top with the prize of sorts for example in the film ‘Grown ups’ the lead character sees that friends and family are more important than money and that you can’t buy friends.