“Digital technology turns media consumers into producers”. In your experience, how has your creativity developed through using digital technology to complete your coursework productions?
In the two projects that we have carried out, digital technology has been absoloutely vital, without the use of the technology our final products would look nothing like they do now.
When we made our thriller opening, we were still experimenting with the equipment and software, as for many of us this was our first experience of filming and editing footage. Howver in our music video we were far more confident and were therefore able to be more creative with our techniques. We explored different camera shots, and more advanced editing methods.
For both of the productions blogger was used to record the planning and background research being carried out throughout the projects. My blog for my advanced portfolio is far more creative and visually appealing than my previous blog. On my original blog there were not many images and everything was done in less detail. Whereas this time, I used technology such as youtube, to upload my music video on to the blog, and also SlideShare was used in transferring powerpoint productions on to the blog. Last year I would not have even known how to do such things. When I compared the two planning blogs, it was clear to see my rate of progression.
The editing software imovie was used to edit and put together both of our productions. Even though we used the editing software, our music video looks far more professional and well made than our thriller opening. Our editing skills had improved vastly.
In both of our projects we changed our mind quite a lot. In the first project we changed our basic idea atleast twice, due to issues with lighting and technological problems that we could not get around. And when producing our music video, we changed our song choice quite a way in to the course so we did not give ourselves a lot of time. If our organisation skills had been a bit better than I feel our video would be far more complex and advanced than it is.
Monday, 31 January 2011
Planning Questions
Organisation of Time and Equipment
We were not always able to get the necessary equipment on the days we needed to carry out the filming. As cameras were not always accessible, it was vital that we used our time with the equipment sensibly and got as much done as we could.
When filming the Foundation task, we only used two separate shooting locations therefore we were able to complete the filming fairly quickly. However as with our music video, we changed our idea/storyline atleast twice, due to issues with lighting and other various technological difficulties.
When filming our Advanced task, we did not film the scenes in chronological order. We filmed at our different locations when it most appropriate to do so. Also our actors were not always available to film certain scenes.
Selecting Actors Settings and Props
In our Foundation task, we chose to use actors that were in our media class, as they would be readily available when needed. Alfie and myself played two of the parts in the production as we knew exactly how we wanted it to work. Katie played the part of the female, however her part was quite small so we only needed her for one session of filming.
In the Advanced task, as like last time, Alfie and myself starred in the production. This time, Amy played the party of the female character needed. This time, we used more props and a wider range of shooting locations. As some of our group can now drive, we were able to explore more locations that were not accessible for us last year when we did our Foundation task.
Scripting and Storyboarding
For the Foundation task we did not stick to our original storyboard. The reason for this was because when it came to filming, we found we wanted to do things differently to what we recorded on our storyboard. After we had decided a final storyline, then we were able to produce a more accurate plan.
Foe the Advanced task, I did not storyboard to the last minute. We decided to use trial & error when filming, and wanted to experiment with our filming techniques. When making my final storyboard, I used screen dumps from the video itself, and put the images onto a powerpoint.
This shows progression in the way that I used more advanced ways of storyboarding.
Existing Media Practice/Products
When researching thriller openings for our Foundation task, we watched a range of different styles of openings. This research was useful as it gave us some ideas and inspiration for our own opening sequence. eg, lighting, font styles.
When researching music videos for our Advanced task, we watched lots of different types of music video (concept based, narrative based and performance based.) We had to choose a type of video that we wanted to produce. We decided to make our production narrative based as we felt it would be most effective.
We were not always able to get the necessary equipment on the days we needed to carry out the filming. As cameras were not always accessible, it was vital that we used our time with the equipment sensibly and got as much done as we could.
When filming the Foundation task, we only used two separate shooting locations therefore we were able to complete the filming fairly quickly. However as with our music video, we changed our idea/storyline atleast twice, due to issues with lighting and other various technological difficulties.
When filming our Advanced task, we did not film the scenes in chronological order. We filmed at our different locations when it most appropriate to do so. Also our actors were not always available to film certain scenes.
Selecting Actors Settings and Props
In our Foundation task, we chose to use actors that were in our media class, as they would be readily available when needed. Alfie and myself played two of the parts in the production as we knew exactly how we wanted it to work. Katie played the part of the female, however her part was quite small so we only needed her for one session of filming.
In the Advanced task, as like last time, Alfie and myself starred in the production. This time, Amy played the party of the female character needed. This time, we used more props and a wider range of shooting locations. As some of our group can now drive, we were able to explore more locations that were not accessible for us last year when we did our Foundation task.
Scripting and Storyboarding
For the Foundation task we did not stick to our original storyboard. The reason for this was because when it came to filming, we found we wanted to do things differently to what we recorded on our storyboard. After we had decided a final storyline, then we were able to produce a more accurate plan.
Foe the Advanced task, I did not storyboard to the last minute. We decided to use trial & error when filming, and wanted to experiment with our filming techniques. When making my final storyboard, I used screen dumps from the video itself, and put the images onto a powerpoint.
This shows progression in the way that I used more advanced ways of storyboarding.
Existing Media Practice/Products
When researching thriller openings for our Foundation task, we watched a range of different styles of openings. This research was useful as it gave us some ideas and inspiration for our own opening sequence. eg, lighting, font styles.
When researching music videos for our Advanced task, we watched lots of different types of music video (concept based, narrative based and performance based.) We had to choose a type of video that we wanted to produce. We decided to make our production narrative based as we felt it would be most effective.
Monday, 24 January 2011
Creativity
For our music video production, we used a number of different methods to try and make it 'creative'.
We decided to do a narrative based video, so it was important that the story was interesting because otherwise the viewer would switch off and not pay any attention to what was happening. The story changed throughout the video, relationships were broken, others formed, and then re-made at the end. When we made our thriller last year, we chose to have another twist in the plot. Everyone assumed it was the male character who had attacked the female, but the news report that we made said otherwise. We did this to try and confuse the audience a bit, and to make them question what they had seen.
In both of our productions, (the thriller opening and the music video) we have used black & white footage. In the thriller the use of black & white was to show flashbacks/memories of the event, with the present time shown in colour. For our music video, we wanted to expand on this idea and develop it further. We decided to use black & white footage to show sadness or anger/frustration and colour to show more postive moods. For example, when the female walks out of the house, the footage is in black & white. And when they get back together at the end, the footage changes to colour.
The clever use camera angles, editing and transitions also highlights creativity. When we were filming our music video we tried to use a range of angles and shots, we repeated one or two shots that we used in the filming of our thriller. The shot where the camera is placed on the ground and people run/walk over the top it creates a good effect. This is one of our favourites.
Another good example of creativity in the thriller was when we edited it so that it looked as if the news report was actually on the radio, when really we were just playing the recorded sound clip over the top of the footage. In the music video, we followed Goodwin's principle of matching lyrics to visuals. When the lyrics are talking about 'time', we set that clip of footage to slow motion, and also showed amy looking at the time on her phone.
We decided to do a narrative based video, so it was important that the story was interesting because otherwise the viewer would switch off and not pay any attention to what was happening. The story changed throughout the video, relationships were broken, others formed, and then re-made at the end. When we made our thriller last year, we chose to have another twist in the plot. Everyone assumed it was the male character who had attacked the female, but the news report that we made said otherwise. We did this to try and confuse the audience a bit, and to make them question what they had seen.
In both of our productions, (the thriller opening and the music video) we have used black & white footage. In the thriller the use of black & white was to show flashbacks/memories of the event, with the present time shown in colour. For our music video, we wanted to expand on this idea and develop it further. We decided to use black & white footage to show sadness or anger/frustration and colour to show more postive moods. For example, when the female walks out of the house, the footage is in black & white. And when they get back together at the end, the footage changes to colour.
The clever use camera angles, editing and transitions also highlights creativity. When we were filming our music video we tried to use a range of angles and shots, we repeated one or two shots that we used in the filming of our thriller. The shot where the camera is placed on the ground and people run/walk over the top it creates a good effect. This is one of our favourites.
Another good example of creativity in the thriller was when we edited it so that it looked as if the news report was actually on the radio, when really we were just playing the recorded sound clip over the top of the footage. In the music video, we followed Goodwin's principle of matching lyrics to visuals. When the lyrics are talking about 'time', we set that clip of footage to slow motion, and also showed amy looking at the time on her phone.
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