MUSIC VIDEO:
Technology was a crucial part of the process during the construction stages. Firstly, we used digital camcorders to capture the shots we required, using 3 separate cameras to allow each member of the group to control one. This allowed us to not only film the main shots that we had intended and planned on the storyboard, but additionally provided us with extra shots of the same footage from different angles and viewpoint - this was effective as it meant we saved time by not having to repeat the same action a thousand times in order to capture all of the necessary angles and footage we required, and it also proved to be a useful technique in the editing stages, allowing us a wide choice of footage to select from. This turned out to be incredibly helpful, as not all of the shots we had captured from the 'main' viewpoint - that which we had planned on the storyboard, ad turned out in the way which we had envisioned them. Luckily, this provided us with the opportunity to substitute clips of the same action, but from a different perspective, without dramatically affecting or ruining the running narrative. The cameras were one of the main problems in the construction stage, due to the fact that we had learnt from last year the importance of being quite thorough in shooting our footage, therefore requiring prolonged periods of filming. This evidently made for trouble with the cameras, as their battery life was not sufficient enough for the extensive filming we had hoped for, however this was resolved fairly easily by the fact that we had multiple cameras, and therefore we were still able to capture all of the footage that we needed.
While our usage of camera in our coursework last year was fairly basic and simplistic, we decided to be more adventurous in our use of camera this year. We chose to experiment with different effects and uses of the camera in order to achieve different visual styles. One of the main effects we had hoped to achieve through the use of camera was that of the conventional focus shift, allowing the two character to be together in the frame, but causing one of them to be blurred and out of focus, whilst the other is clear to the camera. We felt this technique would be effective in our portrayal of the distance between the two, perhaps insinuating the blur that their relationship has become. However unfortunately, this was a technique that we could not seem to be able to create, and therefore we found alternative means and manners in which to convey this idea of separation between the two characters.
From our AS coursework last year, we had learned the importance of using a tripod in our construction stages in order to stabilise the shots and reduce hand shake which can have an abrupt and unsettling affect on the audience, not allowing for ease of viewing. Unfortunately, this was an idea that worked more in theory than in practise, as we were only able to borrow one tripod, meaning the other two camera's had find a different source to steady them. This meant that when the original stable clip was ruled unsuitable and unusable in our video, many of our alternative substitute clips were of a less stable and perhaps even less professional execution. Fortunately we were able to overcome most of this through the use of editing, cutting out any wobbles or shakes that had a major affect on the ease of viewing and the flow of our visuals, however this was unfortunately unavoidable in some places.
In preparation for the filming days, I purchase a pack of 5 mini-DV tapes, which allowed us to have one per camera, and 2 extras should we encounter any problems with the original tapes. We found very little problem with these, as we were all familiar in how to use them due to our coursework from the year before. We had learnt from last year's experience that it was beneficial to wind the tape on for a few seconds at the beginning in order to prevent a loss of visual quality should the beginning of the tape start to become damaged in any way. This meant that we would not loose any of our shots, or sacrifice the original quality of them in any way. We had also learnt not to excessively and continually rewind the tapes for replay, again so as to not sacrifice any of the original visual quality. However, we did recognise the importance of reviewing the shots we had already taken as demonstrated through the troubles we faces in the filming process last year, when we did not review the shots we had taken and therefore did not know how they had turned out and if they needed to be re-shot, which led to problems at the editing stages. This year however, we did take one or two opportunities to rewind and review the shots we had taken up to that point, allowing us to see if any shots needed to be redone.
In the editing process, we used a Firewire to import the footage we had filmed from each individual tape, uploading it into iMovie. We had grown incredibly accustomed with this programme through the AS coursework, and so we were able to navigate the software itself with relative ease. Our group found a number of small complications during this process, but we were able to overcome these fairly quickly with the help of other members of other groups. We each broadened our knowledge of the programme, using it to a much bigger potential than the fairly basic approach we chose to take last year. This year, we experimented with a range of effects in order to create the desired impression, such as editing the flashback scenes to a slightly more sepia colour, creating connotations of warmth and happiness, whilst clearly distinguishing the scenes from the modern day narrative. We encountered some problems at this stage regarding the quality of the footage we had captured - for example in the flashback scene of the couple playing scrabble, our use of low-key lighting to create a romantic atmosphere had not turned out to be the most effective, and therefore the shots we were left with were fairly dark and poor in quality. Unfortunately, almost all of our shots from this part of the narrative had turned out in pretty much the same manner, however we were able to resolve this slightly in the editing stages by changing the brightness and contrast of the clips.
ANCILLARY TEXTS:
We used a digital still camera throughout the entire construction process, in order to document the process in the form of production stills showing our group in the act of filming. It's main usage however was for the various photo shoots for the images for our ancillary texts. We captured each picture shooting mainly for the image as opposed to the effects that could be added during the editing stages. We felt that this was important as we wanted to emphasise the conventional naturalistic themes that are often associated with the indie / folk genre. I personally feel that this was an effective approach to take, as it meant that the editing stage would merely be for enhancement to bring out the full potential of the image, as opposed to creating a much more constructed, computer graphical image that we did not feel would be at all in fitting with this particular genre, and therefore not at all reflective of the music in any way.
We spent the day at the i-City Learning Centre in Horfield working on the construction of our ancillary products. We had already prepared the images that we intended to use in our products, and stored them on a USB in order to transport them with us for use on this day. As a back up, in case anything happened to the images on my USB, I emailed the images to myself as attachments, meaning that if we encountered any problems with the memory stick, we would still be able to access the images to work on.
We were given a brief introduction to Photoshop elements, helping us to get acquainted with the software, and given an indication of how to achieve certain effects. Although this was useful to us in order to help us familiarise ourselves with the programme, this was not particularly adhered to in our group, and we had always intended to keep editing to a minimum to emphasise the idea of naturalism and innocence synonymous with both the genre and the artist.
We experimented again with the brightness and contrast tool, in order to enhance the image slightly and accentuate the colours, in line with the generic conventions. We cropped the images to fit to the size of the template provided for us, which was significantly smaller than the size of our original images. This allowed for some creativity in the framing and composition of the images that we had perhaps not devoted enough attention to when capturing them.
Technology was a crucial part of the process during the construction stages. Firstly, we used digital camcorders to capture the shots we required, using 3 separate cameras to allow each member of the group to control one. This allowed us to not only film the main shots that we had intended and planned on the storyboard, but additionally provided us with extra shots of the same footage from different angles and viewpoint - this was effective as it meant we saved time by not having to repeat the same action a thousand times in order to capture all of the necessary angles and footage we required, and it also proved to be a useful technique in the editing stages, allowing us a wide choice of footage to select from. This turned out to be incredibly helpful, as not all of the shots we had captured from the 'main' viewpoint - that which we had planned on the storyboard, ad turned out in the way which we had envisioned them. Luckily, this provided us with the opportunity to substitute clips of the same action, but from a different perspective, without dramatically affecting or ruining the running narrative. The cameras were one of the main problems in the construction stage, due to the fact that we had learnt from last year the importance of being quite thorough in shooting our footage, therefore requiring prolonged periods of filming. This evidently made for trouble with the cameras, as their battery life was not sufficient enough for the extensive filming we had hoped for, however this was resolved fairly easily by the fact that we had multiple cameras, and therefore we were still able to capture all of the footage that we needed.
While our usage of camera in our coursework last year was fairly basic and simplistic, we decided to be more adventurous in our use of camera this year. We chose to experiment with different effects and uses of the camera in order to achieve different visual styles. One of the main effects we had hoped to achieve through the use of camera was that of the conventional focus shift, allowing the two character to be together in the frame, but causing one of them to be blurred and out of focus, whilst the other is clear to the camera. We felt this technique would be effective in our portrayal of the distance between the two, perhaps insinuating the blur that their relationship has become. However unfortunately, this was a technique that we could not seem to be able to create, and therefore we found alternative means and manners in which to convey this idea of separation between the two characters.
From our AS coursework last year, we had learned the importance of using a tripod in our construction stages in order to stabilise the shots and reduce hand shake which can have an abrupt and unsettling affect on the audience, not allowing for ease of viewing. Unfortunately, this was an idea that worked more in theory than in practise, as we were only able to borrow one tripod, meaning the other two camera's had find a different source to steady them. This meant that when the original stable clip was ruled unsuitable and unusable in our video, many of our alternative substitute clips were of a less stable and perhaps even less professional execution. Fortunately we were able to overcome most of this through the use of editing, cutting out any wobbles or shakes that had a major affect on the ease of viewing and the flow of our visuals, however this was unfortunately unavoidable in some places.
In preparation for the filming days, I purchase a pack of 5 mini-DV tapes, which allowed us to have one per camera, and 2 extras should we encounter any problems with the original tapes. We found very little problem with these, as we were all familiar in how to use them due to our coursework from the year before. We had learnt from last year's experience that it was beneficial to wind the tape on for a few seconds at the beginning in order to prevent a loss of visual quality should the beginning of the tape start to become damaged in any way. This meant that we would not loose any of our shots, or sacrifice the original quality of them in any way. We had also learnt not to excessively and continually rewind the tapes for replay, again so as to not sacrifice any of the original visual quality. However, we did recognise the importance of reviewing the shots we had already taken as demonstrated through the troubles we faces in the filming process last year, when we did not review the shots we had taken and therefore did not know how they had turned out and if they needed to be re-shot, which led to problems at the editing stages. This year however, we did take one or two opportunities to rewind and review the shots we had taken up to that point, allowing us to see if any shots needed to be redone.
In the editing process, we used a Firewire to import the footage we had filmed from each individual tape, uploading it into iMovie. We had grown incredibly accustomed with this programme through the AS coursework, and so we were able to navigate the software itself with relative ease. Our group found a number of small complications during this process, but we were able to overcome these fairly quickly with the help of other members of other groups. We each broadened our knowledge of the programme, using it to a much bigger potential than the fairly basic approach we chose to take last year. This year, we experimented with a range of effects in order to create the desired impression, such as editing the flashback scenes to a slightly more sepia colour, creating connotations of warmth and happiness, whilst clearly distinguishing the scenes from the modern day narrative. We encountered some problems at this stage regarding the quality of the footage we had captured - for example in the flashback scene of the couple playing scrabble, our use of low-key lighting to create a romantic atmosphere had not turned out to be the most effective, and therefore the shots we were left with were fairly dark and poor in quality. Unfortunately, almost all of our shots from this part of the narrative had turned out in pretty much the same manner, however we were able to resolve this slightly in the editing stages by changing the brightness and contrast of the clips.
ANCILLARY TEXTS:
We used a digital still camera throughout the entire construction process, in order to document the process in the form of production stills showing our group in the act of filming. It's main usage however was for the various photo shoots for the images for our ancillary texts. We captured each picture shooting mainly for the image as opposed to the effects that could be added during the editing stages. We felt that this was important as we wanted to emphasise the conventional naturalistic themes that are often associated with the indie / folk genre. I personally feel that this was an effective approach to take, as it meant that the editing stage would merely be for enhancement to bring out the full potential of the image, as opposed to creating a much more constructed, computer graphical image that we did not feel would be at all in fitting with this particular genre, and therefore not at all reflective of the music in any way.
We spent the day at the i-City Learning Centre in Horfield working on the construction of our ancillary products. We had already prepared the images that we intended to use in our products, and stored them on a USB in order to transport them with us for use on this day. As a back up, in case anything happened to the images on my USB, I emailed the images to myself as attachments, meaning that if we encountered any problems with the memory stick, we would still be able to access the images to work on.
We were given a brief introduction to Photoshop elements, helping us to get acquainted with the software, and given an indication of how to achieve certain effects. Although this was useful to us in order to help us familiarise ourselves with the programme, this was not particularly adhered to in our group, and we had always intended to keep editing to a minimum to emphasise the idea of naturalism and innocence synonymous with both the genre and the artist.
We experimented again with the brightness and contrast tool, in order to enhance the image slightly and accentuate the colours, in line with the generic conventions. We cropped the images to fit to the size of the template provided for us, which was significantly smaller than the size of our original images. This allowed for some creativity in the framing and composition of the images that we had perhaps not devoted enough attention to when capturing them.
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