Celebratory Post

Congratulations to Myself, Rob, the rest of our class and to the teachers. This unit is over.

I would like to thank my Mum, God, and all the fun times we have had in class. It could not have been done without you!

Amen.

Evaluation - Preliminary Task

The Preliminary Task was done for the purposes of continuity editing practice. The aim was to create a short sequence of two peoples conversation in a room using as many camera techniques as possible.

Success

Here is the first draftHere is the final version

Success

Digital Technology: The HD camera was great quality which ended in a result of a crisper looking film to post. In my opinion the better the quality the better we perceive the video to be even though this is not always true as someone can have an amazing piece of work and the poorest quality camera.

Creativity: I believe the strengths of my work in terms of creativity are in the humour from the sound effects at each point something new is going to happen. Also, the concept of a thumb war is very creative comparing to our previous ideas.

Post Production: During the post-production I think that the editing went well. With a couple of tips from the helper for I-Movie, I quickly picked up the techniques to edit a video effectively. I managed to finish the editing and a sound effect before the deadline which was a great relief considering this meant the video was complete.

Research and Planning: During this phase the strengths certainly relied upon the research into the continuity editing. I looked out for TV programs that made use of certain shots such as match on action and the 180 degree rule. For example, Eastenders makes common use of the 180 degree rule which gave me a better knowledge of what it is and how to use it most effectively.


Failure and Improvements

Digital Technology: A disadvantage of the digital technology was that somehow we lost part of the footage on the memory stick and had to re-record certain shots whilst we had the time. However we then realized some of the shots had certain background footage in them that was significantly different to the original footage we had.

Creative: The weakness of the creative side of this project was that it took more time than expected to actually come up with a creative idea. It seems we got sucked into the world of creativity and amazing plots. So stuck into the thought of good ideas we forgot that there did not actually have to be a lot too it which is what made us resolve this problem and finally begin the project properly with a good idea.


Post-Production: I think I should of added some sort of extra music/sound effects into the video that would of participated in the effect of entertaining the viewer. For example in my partners video he used the song, 'Power,' by Kanye West which really built tension in the beginning of the video.


Research and Planning: The weakness of this side of the project was that the only real plan was the storyboard. I think we should have spent more time looking into how to plan out a video that only needed to be 1 to 2 minutes long. Believe it or not I think more time to actually think about it was required instead of rushing straight into making the idea.

In my final production we used the HD camera that was used for the ‘pre-lim’ task to enable a high quality viewing which worked to our benefit. It gave our sequence a more professional style.
    However a disadvantage was that we had some technical difficulties at times uploading footage onto our Mac which is similar to the problem we had in the ‘pre-lim’.

I believe our creativity was to a good stand. The idea was cemented from an early stage influenced from seeing our friends go through similar experiences. We believe the quality of our idea enabled us to have a clear and entertaining opening sequence that showed creativity and flair, for example through the jump cuts and quick changes in colour in each scene.
    A weakness is that we may have spent too much time thinking about small things that don’t have any significant impact on the creativity of the final piece – e.g. we spent at least 2 hours of lesson time thinking of an overall plot for the film when it could have been spent thinking about the plot of the first 2 minutes. Another is example is when we constantly thought about the name of our film, even though the name came up on the last week on the production.

The post production stage went well as we both have a good knowledge of how to create a piece of work with verisimilitude, partly down the fact that we took part in the ‘pre-lim’ exercise. We also did the titles successfully as they gave a good connotation of the representation of Jamie that we were trying to get out to the audience.
    However we found it difficult to get the editing spot on straight away for the rave scenes, going through various different ways of showing it, e.g. using a split screen, which we eventually decided not to do.

Our research & planning went particularly well. Our Vox Pops gave us a great idea as to what our audience wants in the main character and also managed to give us feedback on what people liked about our idea, supporting the argument that our creativity was to a high standard.
    I do not particularly think there are any big downfalls in my planning as it provided us with the in depth insight into the genre and themes of our sequence in order to get it spot on in terms of reaching the right audience and giving a specific message.

Digital Technology
I improved on my use of technology through using various pieces of equipment to film and record information. It widened my knowledge of editing programs such as Final Cut express which could aid me in my future productions for A2.
    As well as this, I recognised that every day pieces of technology such as an IPhone can aid your in much more than you would expect. Without my phone, the whole project would have taken a lot more time which means we would not have met all of our deadlines. However in the ‘pre-lim’ an IPhone was not necessary as the production was on a much smaller scale comparing to the opening sequence production.

Creativity
I learned to think creatively when in need of a good idea – to not just sit and think but look around on websites such as ‘postcardsecret’ and use a variation of techniques – e.g. walking around an environment and looking at each object and developing story on the basis of each different object you look at.
    I also improved on my creative skills by recognising how to use fonts to connote certain meanings. By looking at almost every available font to us on the Mac I got a good idea of which ones created the mood and effect we were looking for in the title of our opening sequence as opposed to the ‘pre-lim’ where we used a simple black font.

Post-Production
Most importantly, my editing technique has improved hugely from the whole process, from the ‘pre-lim’ to the final production. I have learned how to use Final Cut Express at a basic level with the help of my parter, Rob, who already had a basic knowledge of it which meant he could teach me how to use various tools and functions during the opening sequence production, comparing to the ‘pre-lim’ where we done it individually. This new skills means I have an advantage for projects using Final Cut Express in A2.
    As well as that I have gained the skill of being able to edit with continuity to make sequences look smooth and professional.

Research and Planning
I have gained a better knowledge of how to accurately research. In the ‘pre-lim’ I watched many TV programs to gain an idea of how continuity works. However in the opening sequence I specified what it was I wanted to find – e.g. news articles of squat parties.
    I did this by using a search engine. Now I know to save time and get more accurate research done you must specify what it is you are looking for. If I was to go back and do the ‘pre-lim’ again I would research a variety of programs that show constant continuity before hand to prevent me watching the ones that do not show continuity. 

Production log - Week 12

This week I focused on completing the rest of the evaluation tasks. The joint tasks were done in lesson with Rob whilst the rest were done in free study periods or at home. 

The task about social groups being represented in our sequence was challenging as it requires in depth analysis of why and how you used the particular conventions to connote various social groups. However, once I got into it I found it easier as the representations in the sequence are fairly clear. 

Here is a screenshot of the 'technologies' post enabled me to explain how we made use of various new media technology, but was fairly time consuming as I had to do 2 drafts in order to get the explanations right. Giving each item an evaluation made it clear as to what I might use in future media projects.

Evaluation - New Media Technology

Type of Technology	Pre-productions	Production	Post-production	How effective was it?
Blogger	The main use we allocated this website with was to act as a folder to hold all of our planning work. It meant we could aggregate it all into one place and extract the information we needed to continue producing our sequence efficiently by saving us time and helping us to extract particular pieces of work – e.g. looking at our Vox Pops when deciding on a plot for the film. Blogger provided us with advantages that a paper folder could not. For example using images and videos to express our ideas more clearly instead of writing it all down on a sheet of paper. We could also use hyperlinks to refer to other websites providing extra detail. We could constantly refer back to our work and make adjustments to create a more specific profile of research.	The production did not really make use of blogger. However we did still do our production logs throughout every stage which helped me keep track of what was done and what still needed to be done.	Similar to Pre-production, it acted as a folder for each part of the evaluation.	It enabled us to view each piece of information that we had previously made when needed to extract the necessary information. However it was less successful in aiding our production as it played no major role in the process. Blogs are useful for uploading information and getting into contact with the relevant people. They allow you to create an enhanced profile of research by using applications such as images & videos and hyperlinks to websites.
The internet - Google	Search Engines - The internet allowed me to carry out secondary research by finding web articles and statistics. I could analyse this information to find further information for the planning and research section. For example I found an article about police raiding an illegal rave which provided an insight into the public eyes views on the scene. The search engine allowed me to find specific example instead of going through hours’ worth of newspaper articles to find something relevant which was time-efficient and cost-efficient.			In terms of gathering information to specify our target audience and give our sequence a specific representation of the characters, very effective. Other than that, in production and post-production it was not much use. From using this we have learnt that there is lots of potential information on the internet – it can be considered as a useful resource. It is also cost efficient which links well with our low budget as an independent film production.
IPhone 4		The IPhone was a great form of communication, for example using I-message to contact Rob and other actors to let them know what time we were meeting to film. Also, it was our main recording device in the raves as it is small; good quality and still gave the phone footage effect we were looking for.		Very effective. It saved us from having to bring an expensive, large HD camera to raves which would potentially get lost, damaged or stolen. It also enabled us to have a realistic hand held effect when recording providing us with a creative and innovative edge that we would have lacked using a proper HD camera.
Final Cut Express			This was used to edit and put together the final piece to a high quality. We were able to use various effects and editing techniques that are not available on programmes also available to use such as IMovie which gave us an advantage over other candidates. This included technique’s such as colour fading the scene at 0:08 The learning process was helpful for future productions using this tool.	Very effective in terms of the Post production as it allowed us to use advanced editing and effect techniques that others were not able to use. However due to its complexity it was not always as straight forward as we would of hoped, meaning it was sometimes time consuming and frustrating – e.g. sitting trying to figure out how to add a particular effect.
HD Camera	We used the camera to record our Vox Pops. We done this so that we could record how the candidates were answering questions as well as what they were saying.	This HD camera was used to record the footage outside of the rave scenes in the opening sequence.  For example recording the group of mates walking down the high road to meet up with Jamie. It was useful as the quality of footage captured was very high which gives us a creative edge comparing to if we had used a basic quality camera. The camera is also fairly basic in terms of how to use it which made the task or recording footage a lot simpler. It was also used to record the credits which worked well as it was able to capture Jamie’s hands with the sheets and avoid all background footage, enabling us to leave the footage with the desired effect. An example of this is at 01:29 in our sequence.		This camera aided our success by doing the required job and allowing us to record in various locations with different styles and still coming out in a good high quality. I would say I learnt how to use the camera but it is fairly basic meaning there’s not a lot of learning required. However we did learn that uploading the footage can sometimes be an issue and you should check the camera is viable to connect to the computer you’re using before recording any footage.

Evaluation - Adressing Our Audience

Evaluation - Representation of Social Groups

We manipulated the entire sequence in order to connote a specific type of social group in our opening sequence.

Gender: 80% Male & 20% Female

Age: 16-21

Ethnicity: Mostly White, British

Interests: Electronic Music, Graffiti Art, Drugs, Raving,
Academic: None at all OR A-Levels/Uni

In this shot we get a clear view of the Mise-en-Scene specifically chosen to reinforce the representations of our characters. The graffiti on the walls shows the law-breaking element of the social group we were representing in the sequence, as well as drug use through the form on the 'joint' in Jamie’s hands and the drug bags being passed around. Here we are conforming to the stereotype of the modern youth - those who break one law, e.g. graffiti artists, are the ones that commit all other crimes that the youth as a group are targeted for. We decided to give this issue a celebratory theme through the loosely framed long shot, connoting the distance between this type of people and those that are part of the '9to5' social group. We showed the characters to have a sense of freedom in what they choose to do with a sense of rebellion against stereotypical society. However the bland lighting interlinks with their shady body language to connote a secretive group of youths who are paranoid because of their drug intoxication.

  
The editing is fast paced and makes use of jump cuts to represent the effect of drugs on our characters. The fact that it jumps from Jamie taking a pill to being straight in the middle of a rave connotes the extremity of their nights out and how every moment is a blur once it is over. Because we have not put a lot of camera time on Jamie actually taking the pill, it also connotes that taking drugs is no big deal to teenage drug users, the real fun is when the effect kicks in and being in a rave. We decided to represent this issue is an easy going and fun respect to highlight the lack of effort given by authorities to fix the problem. This explains the fast paced and jumpy editing style. This is why we focused more time on the rave footage which subverts to the stereotypical drug user who would eventually become addicted, connoting that drugs are part of everyday life and are no big deal to them. However the effect is that they love drugs, representing the social group as previous part time users that have now become full time addicts.

Here is the one of the only parts of our sequence that bares any aspect of a female being included in the entire 2 minutes in the form of a close up, other than the conversation with the teacher at the beginning. The women is a stage dancer, dressed promiscuously, representing the female social group as sexual object.

The close up emphasizes her sexual appeal - females are conformed in the sense that they are only present in our trailer when dancing to entertain the men. There are no females in the main scenes of the sequence connoting their lack of importance in the entire story. This supports John Burgers ideology that men are spectators of women who are only present for a man’s personal entertainment.

Here is the stereotypical rivalry between the academic social group of teachers, against school students in the form of a two shot, connoting the opposing opinions between the two people. Jamie's presence slightly towers the teacher to connote his lack of respect for the authorities. We gave this representation to connote the idea that the institution's general typical advice to people in Jamie's situation is not good enough to actually make a difference- almost as if the teacher does not understand Jamie's position. Another connotation is that Jamie prioritises his life over others like a stereotypical teenager and therefor does not listen to the teachers. Jamie takes the typical rebellious school boy role in this part of the trailer, connoted through his tie and shirt with a nice hair do. His presence changes to a more confident person who takes the leading role when meeting up with his mates. It connotes how his actions in school do not signify his personality in outside everyday life. Also, the colour of this scene expresses the dark and dreary feel of the school. The subtle hint of blue connotes the feeling of a lack of hope for the relationship between Jamie and his teacher.

This shot is used between the fast paced editing of the rave scenes as a close up. The angle is not straight and the lighting is poor in the background. The bunny rabbit face is almost menacing to the viewer, representing the raving social group as somewhat of an evil group of people who we should have fear in. We decided to give this representation as it creates a realistic view on what most stereo typical '9to5' people would think at an actual rave. However there is also a humorous side connoted to the bunny rabbit mask - a sense of freedom in the appearance of people in the raves. We gave this representation also to provide a polysemic insight into what we believe their thoughts are on stereotypical mainstream worries such as how we look and what people think of us. The rave culture is connoted as care-free and having fun with people similar to themselves.

Production Log - Week 12

This week we spent the first lesson noting down our opinions of all our classmates final productions. In return they done the same for us meaning we got hold of some feedback to note down when doing the evaluation of our production.

Then we started the first 2 parts of our evaluation - the brief which informed the examiner of why we chose the title we did and also the directors commentary, analysing our choice of conventional elements in our final production.

Although the unit was almost over at this point I felt a distinct pressure to get the evaluation done due to the tight deadlines set, which forced me to rush through the first two tasks. This did me no favours ass it meant the work was done to a low standard. I then had to spend the following night recompleting the work to make sure it met the criteria in order to achieve a good grade.