Barry Island Trip

On the Barry Island trip we learned about how to use chroma key or green screen and how to edit it in After Effects to change the background.

-We split up into groups with the aim to make a music video my group choose to recreate the music video to Busted Year 3000  we then found several backgrounds each.

-We then started the actual filming on the green screen it took several minutes to set up the lights to cast our the shadows and to find a position in which the actor wouldn't cast a shadow and set to film our individual bits.

- After all the filming we were tasked to 30 seconds of the song each to edit together in after effects with our backgrounds. This was the section I learnt most from as I had never used the program  before so it was all
new to me but I didn't find it to hard to use after I knew what I was doing.

-I also learnt a lot about using Apple Macs as I had rarely used them before and after the first complicated situation of how do I even use this it turned out to be not so different as I originally thought.

Lip Synching Workshop

 Lip Synching 

This was a workshop based around lip syncing to get the idea of how it's best to work with it when creating our music videos later on. The workshop was based around singing roughly a minute of Taylor Swift's 'We Are Never Getting Back Together'  then editing it together.



Review of Zheenyar, Patrice and Marcus

Review of what I've learnt from the lip syncing task:

Filming
-In the filming stage of this task I learnt several things such as using a tripod is always easier and looks more professional than holding the camera steady with your hands, in one of our shots as we wanted a high angle we held the camera up high as we couldn't get the angle we wanted otherwise luckily it wasn't to wobbly.
-In this stage we also figured that filming each shot several times or at different angles cuts down the amount of re-shoots that would need to be taken and makes sure there is a backup in case one shot comes out wrong or if the lip synching is slightly off  in one stage.

Synching

-We found out that singing the song aloud helps the lip synching look more realistic and also makes it easier to synch up with the audio as you can listen to the song and set it up so it's easier synched.
-Knowing the lyrics or having the lyrics near you out of shot means its less likely to forget or mess up the lyrics, If your given a song you don't really know also make lip synching more difficult as your more hesitant.
-Something that will be important in the actual music video is to make sure the actor actually knows the song or has a vague understanding of the lyrics.
-Confidence in your miming or singing also makes the lip synching look much better and less hesitant and acting like you love the song makes the video look that much more realistic.

Editing

-Filming the song several times allows for cuts to be made easier so that they can run smoothly and be cut at appropriate places in the song as to allow the shots to look much smoother. I also learnt that the use off markers makes it easier to synch up several lines of video so that all the lines are in synch with each other and that of the song.
-Something to make sure to do in the actual music video is to pace the cuts in time with the music so the whole video runs smoothly and in pace with the music making it more exciting to watch.
-It is also important to remember to film as much as possible so there is always backup shots in case one shot goes wrong. 

Composition and Framing

-I learnt to apply the composition and framing techniques to video such as e.g. colour, Perspective and rule of thirds. This make the video more visually exciting to watch and also means that in all the video will look a lot better if it is all thought of
-What I learnt was difficult was to cut things out of the shot you don't want and that it's important to think of the Mise en scene such as e.g. lighting and location. as there may be something's in the background of the shot that you don't want and it may ruin the shot.
-A good technique to apply when doing the actual music video is to set up a shot like you are taking a photograph this makes it easier to think about composition and framing and avoids complicating things.

Performing

- It is important to make the performance look good this is easily achieved by pretending you like the song this makes it look more energetic and believable. If your performance looks really miserable because you don't like the song it lets the whole video down.
-What I learnt was that you had to show confidence even if you were certain you got the lyrics wrong because it really shows if your unconfident. It is also best if you actually know the lyrics as well because you could be acting perfectly but if you have the wrong lyrics or don't know the lyrics then the performance can't be used.
-When I make my music video I will have to find an actor who is confident and can learnt the song lyrics and or know the song as it would make the performance side of things a lot easier.

Location
-In this section I learnt that where you choose to film can show stuff about the song which is hard to put into acting.
-What I learnt was that the location of the shot affects not only the Mise en Scene but also the composition and framing. Making sure you find a decent suitable location is one thing but actually applying composition and framing techniques to the location to get the best shot can be tricky.
-Something I'll have to remember when choosing locations for the music video is that the location has to make sense to the song and that it's best if it's a location where composition techniques can be applied.

Directing
-What I learnt from the directing side of things is that it's always good to listen to other peoples views and ideas because that way it's easier to try to come to an arrangement in the middle on things such as the location or where about the shot should be taken.
-If I create my music video with someone else I will have to take into a account their ideas because it may work out for the best as they may have a brilliant idea.

Equipment
-What I learnt about the equipment mostly revolves around the editing software Premier Pro. In the software I learnt about sequence markers which make it easier to synch up several videos with the audio.
-What I learnt ready for the actual music video is that using many video lines all synched up makes it much easier to cut parts you want or don't want. 

Composition and Framing- Extra Photos

Here are some photos I took at with composition and framing in mind.

-This utilities the technique of color as you have the dark green ferns in the background and have the pink flowers in the forefront. The line between the colour could have been made clearer to show distinctive separate colours.
-This photo also uses depth of field with the flowers in front being in focus and the greenery in the back being out of focus.
-One thing to improve this photo could be to have a distinguishable focal point to give the photo more meaning.

-This photo again uses the idea of contrasting colours this line is very distinguishable with the purple/reds and the greens. The clear distinction between the two colours was made really clear by the birds-eye perspective of the shot.
-You could also argue that the grass shows negative space but to make this clearer I could have taken the picture a bit more towards one of the sides so the flowers are in one of the thirds to show the negative space more and to make the photo that but more exciting.
-Again with the first picture there is no distinctive main focus to picture which is something that could be improved.

-This photo use the rule of thirds really well having the clear focal point of the image the red flowers to the left third. This makes the photo that bit more visually exciting.
-The photo also uses depth of field really well with the flowers being the only thing really in focus making your eyes be drawn to it first.

-This photo was aimed to use the concept of colour with the purple contrasting the green but it isn't overly clear of the contrast and the green colour appears more as a use of negative space which isn't a bad thing. The photo also uses depth of field in which the flowers in the foreground are in focus and the back ground is out of focus

-This photo uses depth of field to make it that much more exciting to the eye it keeps the closer flowers and leaves in focus and the rest out this shows the main focal point for the picture. This focal point is in the left third so it utilizes the rule of thirds as well.
-The way I took this photo also makes it look like it was taken on a peculiar perspective this again makes the photo that much more visually exciting.

 -This photo has a clear use of negative space showed clearly by the focal point of the image the daisy being in the right third and the grass to the left showing clear negative space.
-The photo also uses a worms-eye perspective to make the photo that bit more exciting.
-The photo is then topped off with the use of depth of field leaving everything in the background out of focus.
-I personally think this is the best composition and framing photo I took as it utilizes the most techniques and makes quite a average object really interesting.

-This photo again uses the rule of thirds keeping the flower which is the focus away from the middle. This is shown more clearly by the use of negative space showed by the grass to really emphasize that, that is the focus.

-This photo always has depth of field again showing the foreground in focus and the background out of focus.

-The colour of the flower against the grass also makes it stand out more.

Claude Levi Strauss

Binary Oppositions

Strauss came up with the idea of binary opposites by studying myths and legends all over the world and coming up with the idea that humans make sense of the world by viewing opposites he applied this to narratives and found that they also have binary opposites.
Example of binary opposites:
Good/Evil
Life/Death
Light/Dark
He concluded that at the center of all narratives are binary opposites if you take the average song into account the narrative is always opposites Love/Heartbreak, Sad/Happy, Lonely/Togetherness.

Compostion and Framing Task

We took part in a composition and framing workshop, in which we had a camera and a theme and we were tasked to take four pictures to fit in with this theme to begin with we were told about no techniques to improve the composition and framing. So the photos taken before were more revolved around the theme than the techniques. The photos after we learnt about techniques such as, space, perspective and colour used the techniques and the theme as well. The theme we had was Trapped/Free.
Before:

After:

 

 

-The first picture of the girl behind the fence was changed to represent framing as in the after picture she is shown to be under a sign to show the focus of the image the use of depth of field was also used as she was in a deeper depth of field to show that the fence is the main focus to show that she is trapped.

-The second picture of the foot on the flowers was changed in the second picture to show a different perspective, the use of space and thirds. In the second picture the foot is in the right third and there is a use of negative space to the left.This along with the depth of field show the different fields if focus. The depth of filed focus didn't turn out how it was supposed to so that is something that could still be improved on this photo.

-The third picture of the hand 'trapped' behind the window was replicated almost identically in the after picture the photo is slightly lighter and is more to the right than the before to show the use of  thirds this wasn't the best improvement and there still is a lot to do to improve this picture.

-The last picture of the girl on the steps was shown on a different perspective the second time and incorporated the use of negative space and also the contrast of colours from the grass to the steps however in this one the girl is not the main focus where it should have probably been to incorporate the theme.

I feel that I understand how to get a good shot better now after I've learnt about the different techniques to improve the quality of the shot, there is still a lot I can learn to make sure all the images I take incorporate these techniques but I feel like I can create better footage now.

Skills Review

Research and Planning

- In the research and planning stage I looked at the Gangster genre and learned all about it to help me out when it came to planning and production stages. The research went from learning the history of the gangster genre to the conventions you see in them. Then to link it all to the audience and why these conventions help the audience understand the genre. In the planning stage I linked all these ideas together to come up with suitable locations and music to fit to the gangster genre.

-From doing the research and planning stages I learnt all about the conventions of the gangster genre and how to link these into the planning stage such as the location I chose which had to be an urban city location as to link to conventions, I also learnt how important the target audience is in what you plan as if the audience doesn't understand why you've chosen to do something the way it is it will leave them confused.

-The way I want to improve from last year is to take into account the target audience more it was something I never took that seriously until the initial feedback last time so if I take it into account from the start there will be less confusion and less mistakes made. The notes I made on research and planning last year I felt were lacking in places so this year I want to try harder in these stages.

Using Conventions From Real Media Texts

-From all the research carried out in the research and planning stage I learnt about the conventions of the gangster genre things such as.

-Mise en scene: The location was nearly always urban city scapes,  the lighting was nearly always dark but we learnt the hard way it was hard to incorporate this into our film opening as it was always to dark. The characters in gangster films were nearly always men the was a complete lack of females most of the time or they had such little roles it didn't matter.

-Sound: The music was nearly always parallel to the scene with the exception of  Quentin Tarantino who was famous for his contrapuntal sound. Which was something we tried to incorporate into our film opening.

-Shots: gangster film were prone to a lot of two shots and mid-shots as to show who was in charge and the relationship between the two characters. There was a lot of  

-Editing: The editing was quite continuous and at times was quite fast paced depending on the scene the typical gangster film opening had no fancy editing unless it was newer it mostly had quite basic editing techniques such as fades and black outs whereas the newer openings had more fancy cuts and edits to comply with technology.

-I learnt at this stage that is was important to incorporate a lot of conventions form previous films into my film opening as it made it easier to not only to not only show the conventions but to make it clear and easy to understand.

Creativity

-The creativity aspect of the film opening is the section I liked the best, this was the section in which I thought of the ideas of the opening and to think of an idea that would be fun and visual pleasing this meant taking suitable shots with the lighting, framing and sound all into account to make a decent and fun film opening.
-From my experience of doing the film opening I learnt the importance of creativity to create my own unique film opening. However I also learnt that sometimes you can be to creative and have no way to fit your ideas into the film opening without it seeming too much. I also learnt that creativity is not just only thinking of fun ideas and stuff but it's also to apply this creativity to the location choices and the music used even to the shot types used to emphasize the creativity of the shots.
-This time around I would like to improve the quality of the shots used as some of the lighting in the shots in the opening were a bit off so this time I want to use different techniques to ensure the shots are of great quality and to avoid doing the creative side of things too quickly and to ensure a more professional looking finished piece.

Digital Technology

-During the production I learnt a lot about using the video cameras and the editing software, I had never used a video camera much before as I preferred to use normal digital cameras this was a new experience which I learnt a lot from. I learnt how to use the camera with the tripod and how to keep the  camera steady on the tripod. I also learnt the importance of varying shot types and that it's important to take several shots to ensure that if one doesn't go well it means we have a back up this was only something I learned halfway through the shooting when we realized we had to re-shoot everything.
-This time around I want to make sure I take several takes for each shoot to cut down on the amount of re-shoots I have to do I also want to use a bigger variety of shoots with the lighting and location good in all of them.

Post Production

-After we took the footage we had to upload it to Premier Pro to edit it. This was the aspect of the film production I learnt most from as I hadn't had much experience with film editing. I learnt all about cutting the clips to appropriate sizes as to ensure to shot is to long as to keep the audience entertaining and interested. I also learnt about how to clip and cut the audio of the clip to cut out unwanted sounds or silences so the audio runs smoother.
-This time around I want to use different effects and play around with the program more because we only used the program for simple cuts and edits and I want to be more creative with what I do.