Monday, 31 January 2011

Evaluation Presentation Ideas

After looking at the ideas for our evaluation quesitons we decided to answer them together. Although we answered them together we will each present a question seperately and one together.

I will be presenting question one from the evaluations and I will create it in the form of a commentary voice over shown with the final cut.

Sunday, 30 January 2011

Evaluation Presentation Ideas

For the evaluation question I am presenting, I am going to use Prezi. I have used it before and i'm confident it is an effective way to answer Question 2. I will use pictures to compare the digi-pack with magazine advert. I will use the different aspects of Prezi to show the similarities and differences between the main product and the ancillary tasks.

Saturday, 29 January 2011

Evaluation Presentation Idea

After thinking through different ways of presenting the different evaluation questions, we decided to take on each question and produce separate responses to the evaluations with different methods of presenting each question. I have decided to use my skills in 3D design and computer editing to produce a 3D city-scape and integrating the responses of the evaluation in the final outcome.

Friday, 28 January 2011

Youtube Response

Our video was featured by Youtube which we were very pleased about. We are deffinately proud of our video and have tried to show as many people as possible what we can do when our mind is set.

Thursday, 27 January 2011

Chase Coy's Response


I sent the link to chase coy on his facebook page. I thought we should thank him again for letting us use his music and thought he'd like to see the final product.

As you can see he thought it was 'Awesome.'

Lesson Summary

Today we were filming for our evaluation question 3. It took a while due to things going wrong and us in hysterics. We managed to get the answering part of the video done and we hope to edit the footage next lesson.

We also hope to film more 'response' videos so we can create a mash up video of different ages/genders responding to the final cut. We managed to film one response of the main target audience, young females.

Wednesday, 26 January 2011

Storyboard vs Final Cut















The opening shots turned out as we planned and look pretty much the same.















For this shot we had to change the angle of the camera as we felt the framing this way was alot more effective.















For this we decided to show a CU of mike missing the girl instead of him carrying on playing on ther piano.















This shot was very much the same as what we originally planned. The shot is very successful as the framing of the scene is effective as it foreshadows where the story will lead.















We changed the location from our first plan and so we filmed the train instead of the bus.















We changed this scene as the actors didn't feel too comfortable sharing a kiss. The scene still fits with the story though.















This shot was slightly changed but was basically the same. We changed the angle of the shot so that the guitar was the same as the first scene. This was a kind of 'book end' effect.

Tuesday, 25 January 2011

Audience Feedback On Final Product

We got the other media class to look at our video and we also gathered people who hadn't seen it before to watch the final product for feedback.

This was just to see if the video was successful and is redunant to the audience and rather than entropic. We feel the video is conventional in parts and unconventional in others. Here is what they said:

Other Media Class:

-Some shots of guitar still not in sync
-Guitar shots are good
-New scene of sunset fits nicely
-Runs smoothly without a 'filler'
-Story is clear


New Viewers Of Video:

-Liked fading effect
-Liked Guitar shots at start and beginning
-Liked handicam section of video
-Could have had a bit less going on in the background
-Not many shots of artist playing the guitar
-Could have had a 'master performance' in one space


Youtube Viewers:

Music Video

Monday, 24 January 2011

Evaluation Question 4)

Notes on the question before we present them.

How have you used new media technologies?
- Camera (HD)
- Prezi (Research)
- Garageband
- Final Cut Pro
- Photoshop (Digipak/Mag ad)
- Photoplus x3 (Animatic)
- Movieplus x3 (Animatic)
- iPad


The HD Camera allowed focus pull effect which we wanted to use. Strong depth of field was also created using the camera. We could also change the ISO number therefore brightening/darkening the footage.

We had an idea to use the Sandi Thom music video effect, Slow motion but in sync. Final Cut Pro allowed us to create this effect however, we decided not to use this effect for our final cut as the audience suggested it was too much like a 'filler'. We used Garageband to help with this as we had to film Mike singing and playing at double speed. We cut part of the song that we wanted to edit and then sped it up, we then exported this to Mike's iPad so he could mime to it when in location.

The flashback effects we found on Final Cut Pro we decided not to use these however as we felt they were too, 'studenty' and 'gimmicky'. We used the fading technique to show the flashback merge with reality like a memory drifting through our minds. The fading was a simple effect that was able in Final Cut.

Unfortuantely, we didn't have a dolly and so tracking shots would be 'shakey'. We decided to use the zoom on the HD camera but slowly. This would give the effect of tracking back which is what we wanted to achieve.

We used Final Cut Pro for the editing of the video but encountered some technical problems while in post-production. The redering of the footage became a nuisance as it took time to render. The playback wasn't great either as the files were big and therefore when we tried to edit the footage would sometimes 'jump'. The only other issue was the exporting time, as the files were HD and large it took a long time to save them as Quicktime files.

For the Digipak and the Magazine advert we used Photoshop to edit the images. We edited the shadows/highlights and the brightness/contrast. This helped make the image appear more cinematic to its previous asthetics. We also downloaded fonts that were used in both ancillary tasks and kept the colour scheme throughout.

During our research we found new ways of presenting our findings. Using Prezi and Wordle we could show our technical skills in IT and it makes the Blog more visual. We used social networking sites such as: Myspace, facebook and twitter to gather some information on audience and other things.

The animatic was done using Photoplus x3 and Movieplus x3. Using a grafics tablet we edited the storyboard hand drawn. We did this by colouring in the images. After edited we piece it all together using the movie software and created the animatic.

Sunday, 23 January 2011

Evaluation Question 3)

Notes on the question before we present them.

What have you learned from your audeince feedback?

Audience Research: Who likes the song?
Pitch and the feedback
Animatic Feedback
Video Feedback: First lot of editing
Video Feedback: Second lot of editing
Feedback on Magazine advert
Digipak Feedback
Feedback on Rough Cut
Feedback on flashback effects

How we improved each step of the way thanks to the audience feedback.
Audience = Can aim at specific audience and use conventions specific to that age/gender group.
Pitch = Can finalise ideas and work on blogger work to prepare for the video.
Animatic = How we can improve the 'actual' video from the animatic. What effects the audience feels fits with the story idea.
Video = Improving the working progress and seeing what works and what doesn't to others opinions. Taking on board the audience feedback and listening to what they say and correcting our video from what they felt didn't work so much.
Magazine Advert = Changing order and text size. We also got rid of some parts of the text as the audience felt it didn't look right.
Digipak = Doing another shoot. Re-editing the photographs so they appear better. Moving and changing the typography.
Flashback effects = Taking on the audiences opinion we decided an effect wasn't specifically needed in our video and so stuck to no filter but the fading effect at the end of the 'memory'.

Friday, 21 January 2011

Evaluation Question 2)

Notes on the question before we present them.

How effective is the combination of your main products and ancillary texts?
Magazines advert + Digipak + Music Video.


Artist appears in all three. (Mike)
Typography is same for the ancillary tasks.
The colour scheme for the ancillary tasks is the same.
The song 'All those nights' and it's lyrics fit with the album title 'Those Autumn Days'.
The photographs link well with the song and the album title.
Mise en scene (Clothes and guitar) are the same throughout.

Unfortunatley, there is no scene in the video with autmn scenes or leaves on the ground.
Girl doesn't appear in the ancillary tasks but, we decided to focus on the artist.

Evaluation Question 1)

Notes on the question before we present them.

How does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products?

Forms and conventions of music video = Close ups for emphasis on artsit. Singing in sync to the music and instruments in time. Match on audio. No actual conventions as music video can be created however.

Forms and conventions of Singer/songwriter = Write. Compose. Heart throbs. Experiences. Love, Romance. Acoustic. Guitar, Piano. Solo.

Challenging conventions!
Locations =
The locations are mundane as its 'the little things you remember' mostly. Although, we ended up using a very conventional scene on the sea front at sunset however, this scene didn't include any 'love' between the two characters. It was just a performance shot.

Thursday, 20 January 2011

Editing

Today we were editing the shots we recorded after our last lesson. They turned out well and the lighting in a few shots is beautiful. Now everything is done, 'All killer, no filler'.

We did put alot of effort into the slow motion syncing effect but decided it really didn't look appropriate and wasn't 'needed'. We simply filmed the artist Chase coy/Mike singing and playing to the music in a scenic sunset location.

There is no fading in this scene as we felt the handicam footage is the flashback to this piece.

Now that the video is complete we will put it onto the blog in our next lesson as the uploading takes a long time.

Tuesday, 18 January 2011

Evaluation Presentation Ideas

Question 1)
Audio commentary over final cut
Audio commentary over images (after video)

Question 2)
Prezi
Stop Motion

Question 3)
Video
Text on Blog

Question 4)
Google Sketchbook
Prezi

Extra Filming!

Today we are going out for more shots as we felt the slow-motion-syncing effect doesn't fit well in the sequence. We will go to marine lake at sunset to film some shots of performance to include a more conventional scene of a singer/songwriter video. The home-made video style footage follows this and that will be like the flashback of the scene.

We checked sunset times and felt that we could film after the lesson 3:30 and then get a few nice shots of the sun setting.


Saturday, 15 January 2011

Final Flashback Idea

We decided to not use an effect as it isn't particularly needed. Adding an effect could make the video seem tacky and more 'studenty'. We also thought that the fading away at the end gives away that it was a memory and that he is trying to relive the time together before hand. This also makes it more subtle.


Friday, 14 January 2011

Feedback On Flashback Effects

We showed the flashback effects to some people to gain feedback. We will consider the feedback to alter our music video.

Sepia
- More traditional flashback effect, along with Black and white.
- Associated with past, history (Old photographs).
- Colour change is obvious for flashback.

Light rays
- Looks aesthetically good.
- More interesting.
- Not very subtle.
- Doesn't blend well with previous clips, non flashbacks.

Soft focus
- Just looks like the footage is out of focus.
- Blurred like a memory, imperfect, works with idea.
- More subtle than others to show flashbacks.
- Unfocused footage isn't normally associated with a flashback.

No effect
- fits well, continuation of story.
- Idea comes across with the fading away at the end.
- The memory blends with 'real life' like the character wants to relive it again.
- Unconventional for a flashback to have no effect.

Thursday, 13 January 2011

Colour Correction

We used colour correction 3-way to edit the underexposed scenes. We brightened the footage so it doesn't show much difference between the other location shots.

This wasn't too difficult to edit as its just layered onto the clip and then you change the colour, brightness and saturation.

Flashback Effect

We experimented with effects for the flashback scenes. We will gather audience feedback so we can decided if we use an effect and which one is better.

This is the sepia effect. We feel it shows the past as it is often used in movies to show old footage. The sepia colour correction is also associated with olden times.

The light rays effect is bright so it shows that its a separate time. It also shows that the world is brighter when together and gives a dream sequence like effect.

The soft focus is a subtle way of showing the flashback. Like a memory it's there but slightly faint like a dream.

Wednesday, 12 January 2011

Digipak Complete


We decided that we wanted to show the design in an actual CD case so that we could get proportions and allignment correct.

Thursday, 6 January 2011

Feedback On Rough Cut

The train sequence could start with him and girl then him on his own. X

Lots of 'aww-ing' so the video was effective. ✓

Lighting on train sequence isn't quite right, needs to be brighter. X

Hand on piano seat is abrupt and a quick cut. X

Syncing of guitar and hands are out in a few scenes. X

Guitar playing in the middle was like a 'filler' X

Needs to be more 'All killer no filler' X

Minor mistakes but on the whole good response. ✓



We will try and improve on all that we can from this feedback for our final cut. We will consider re-filming parts but with little time left we will see how the weather holds up as it's now the rainy season.

Rough Cut

Now all is edited and put into place. We will get feedback on this version so we can alter brightness/contrast and colour. We will also see if we need to film any extra shots.


The video has cut out the ending of our music video. We exported it several times but it doesn't seem to want to fully export the movie. We will get feedback from the other media group again so we can improve the video.

Tuesday, 4 January 2011

New Year!!

Today was first lesson back since last year. We were editing and importing the footage from before the term break. Now all the footage is on the computer all we have to do is finish editing it all together.

The train scenes appear too under exposed as Mike's face is hard to see. This is also because we were shooting into the light, window behind Mike.

We will try using colour correction 3-way to alter the video. We will do this for each location shot so that the video looks more effective.