Month: January 2019

BRIEF: TECHNOLOGY REVIEW VIDEO

Working in crews of 4, you will create a 4-5 minute video in which you review the Canon C100 digital cinema camera in comparison to the Canon 77D DSLR camera. The video is intended to help students understand the main differences between the 2 cameras as well as the benefits of progressing from the 77D to the C100. You must have at least 1 presenter on screen and use the supplied graphics as found on the week 12 moodle page. You can edit on either Avid or Premier, and it will be a group edit rather than individual edits. You can use materials shot on previous tasks and modules to showcase the differences in the images each camera can capture.

Reflective Essay:

The technology review video enquired working in crews of 4 and creating a 4-5 minute video in which we reviewed the Canon C100 digital cinema camera in comparison to the Canon 77D DSLR camera. The main intentions for this video was to help students understand the main difference between the 2 cameras as well as establishing the benefits of progressing from the 77D to the C100.

Although this artefact was a simple project it was proven to be a challenge due to been given the brief in the morning and expected to film there and then resulting in time been our crucial enemy. ‘Typical production problems reflects on lack of planning, and planning is the most important element for successful productions’ with this in mind and our tight schedule we decided to split roles with the group, two people set up the equipment, some researched existing review videos to understand what style was expected in a review video while others made a brief script for set.

A major concern for this artefact was that there was no other time for re-filming. Therefore we took into consideration that ‘the eye is superficial, the ear is profound and inventive’ (Bresson, 1977). With this in mind we did many test shots to ensure that sound was clear and that we was happy with the way the presenter was showcased. This was beneficial for postproduction as no problems were found with the footage.

The main aim for this artefact was to give the audience as much information as possible about the progression from the 77D to the C100 cameras. Therefore we decided to take the ‘less is more’ approach towards the video as we believed we could show a clear and detailed video without it been over complicated for the audience. This is established with the use of simple effective shots such as close-ups to show demonstrations.

‘It takes time to achieve perfection’ (Forsyth, 2013) with this statement in mind we decided that tie was no object when it came to postproduction especially as it was our enemy for preproduction.

Overall, from this artefact I established that I can work efficiently under pressure within a group in an effective way while creating a using video for other people’s use.

Bibliography

Bresson, R (1977) Notes on Cinematography. New York, Urizen books. Pg39.

Forsyth, P. (2013) Successful Time Manaagement. 3^rd ed. UK, Kogan Page Publishers.

BRIEF: MAKING A MUSIC VIDEO

Working in crews of up to 6, you are to create a music video to any song/piece of music of your choice. The video can be in any style you choose but must be appropriate for the song/piece of music. Each crew can have a maximum of 2 cameras and include up to 30% non-original footage. Videos must be edited (as a group) in Avid. 

Reflective Essay:

The music video brief was very immense as we was able to create a music video of any style as long as it was appropriate for the piece of music. Therefor this allowed me and the crew to be creative and think outside the box within our ideas, however it did mean that the planning and organisation was key in order to create a successful and professional looking music video.

Steve Cartwright (2012) states that ‘the key to good production planning is being organised’, therefor taking this into consideration for pre-production the crew made a production schedule based on everyone’s availabilities. At this stage, problems occurred due to the lack of availabilities from crew members due to other responsibilities. However we did manage to resolve this issue and find an appropriate date that suited all of the crew as we discovered that it would only take 1 day which consisted of 9 hours for setting up and filming.

Each crew member has assigned roles so that when it came to filming the production would run smoothly as possible. I was in charge of lighting, this role was important to the whole crew especially the camera operators as I needed to ensure that I understood and facilitate the crews vision with energy and creativity. Within my role I had to set up three point lighting with the lighting kits, which includes key light, fill light and hair light. All light were flooded in order to diffuse light which helped decrease intensity and harshness (Kindem 2009) which give the setting a bright but not hark light. This therefore resulted in a more profession artefact rather than an unpleasant piece which lacked creativity and professionalism.

Filming was undertaken in a crew members garage, this location/setting was perfect as it was accessible and we was able to create the set that we had in mind. No problems occurred when shooting due to production organisation as previously mentioned.

In post-production we used Avid to edit our music video. Issues occurred when using the software due to lack of experience therefore adding effects and transitions was proven hard and overall very time consuming to achieve a finished music video. However, using Avid was a great learning concept as I now have more experience with other editing software’s and would feel confident in using this for future projects. 

Bibliography

Cartwright, S (2012) Pre-production planning for video, Filming and Multimedia. Taylor and Francis.

Kindem, G (2009). Introduction to media production: the path to digital media production. 4^th ed. London: Focal Press-M.U.A. pg’s 241, 225.

BRIEF: PITCHING FOR A MUSIC VIDEO

Working in groups of 3-4, you are to create a presentation (max. 10 minutes) to address the creative brief. The presentation will be given in class on Monday 3rd December in your respective workshops. The presentation should include a video montage of examples of work that reflect your ideas for the music video. You must also include your own creative treatment in response to the bands brief.  

Reflective Essay: 

For the music video pitch we was given a client brief from The And Ensemble which are a band from York and they was requiring a music video producing for the track titled ‘Perfect Isn’t Enough’. A pitch had to be created addressing their creative brief as well as including a video montage of examples of work that would reflect our ideas for the music video.

‘Research in screen production is by no means a homogenous activity but usually involves the production of a film (or other screen work)’ (Kerrigan, 2015) therefore with this in mind we decided to look at existing music videos from current artist, in which we establish the current trends for music videos such as styles, tone and messages. We also looked at the music video what the band have already published and gained a clear understanding of who they are. From this research we was able to create an idea and pitch the idea that suited the current trends in music videos as well as accompanying the same style as what the band have already created themselves. From this research we knew we or pitch had to be fun and interesting.

‘When pitching, it is best to consider the perspective of the person to whom the pitch is being made.’ (Benedetti, 2002) with this statement in mind we decided to include a animatic video within the pitch as we believed the band will gain a better understanding of our music video idea but in a visual aspect. The animatic was a learning concept for me as it’s a great way to show the flow of narrative before the footage is shot.

Additionally another important aspect to include in the pitch was ‘demographics, the age and economic class of people whom the project will appeal’ (Benedetti, 2002). Therefore, we included supporting documents, such as photos, existing videos and graphs as it helped to validate the scope and importance of the pitch.

Overall the delivery of the pitch was successful despite the issue of a missing group member, however this issue was resolved from quick thinking and a group member taking on board the role of the missing member as well as their own.

Bibliography

Benedetti, R (2002) From Concept to Screen. Boston, Allyn & Bacon.

Kerrigan, S (2015) screen production enquiry: a study of five Australian doctorates. Studies in ausrasian cinema, pg’s 93-109

BRIEF – lifestyle product ADVERTORIAL

In groups of 4, you will creative an advertorial video.  Choosing a lifestyle product of your choice, you will create a video which shows the audience how to the product is used in an instructional context. Think ‘how to’ video which serves to promote a specific product.

STORYBOARD

 

SCRIPT

 

Reflective Esssay:

The advertorial video artefact involved working in a group and creating a video that shows the audience how a lifestyle product is issued also with instructional context. Firstly we decided to base our advertorial on Asics (netball trainers) however this concept had to change because a RECCE form was not done for the location as we discovered it was not suitable due to lighting but this was discovered on filming day.

This issue was resolved by changing our ideas from Asics to Zodiac Palette (eyeshadow) a product that all crew members was familiar with. With a more realistic idea in mind we decided to focus more on the pre-production aspect and create a script and storyboard in which includes frames, shots, location, cast, set and props (Schenk, 2015). This preparation allowed the crew to create the artefact that we had planned. Also having the storyboard and script on set to shoot was useful as it reminded the crew of the vision and how we wanted each sequence to look.

When filming the crew decided to experiment with lighting gel sheets in order to create different looks based on each sequence. Using this simple idea was very effective as we was able to create different looks and in a suitable atmosphere. This was a massive learning aspects as I’ve never used gel sheets before but know how to in the future.

Soundscape was another aspect that needed to be included in the advertorial. Therefor I took into account that ‘the tradition on most film-making countries is to record the sound at the same time as shooting’ (Gates, 1993) and decided to capture soundscapes that was suitable for my video such as camera’s clicking, blowing a kiss and tapping of brushes. This improved my video as it allowed me to create a more fun and exciting atmosphere and therefore appeal more to my audience.

The advertorial had to be edited individually therefore within post production I decided to organise my footage by shot names and also placing them in chronological order so that the editing stage was made easy and no time was wasted. Overall, this artefact was a good group project that shows collaborative work as well as expanding my own understanding of my media production skills within the editing stage.

Bibliography

Gates, R (1993) Production Management for Film and Video. London, Focal Press.

Schenk, S and Long, B (2015) The Digital Filmmaking Handbook 5thed. Boston, Cengage.

BRIEF: YORK TOURISM TRAVEL VLOG

You will create a group produced 3 minute video in the style of a travel vlogger which showcases York as a desirable destination for young people. The video can contain up to 20% stock footage, but the rest must be shot by the group. as part of this task, you must also create a stripped-down 1 minute version of the same video for use on Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

Here is a shortned clip of our York travel vlog ?

A post shared by Bethany Stephenson (@bethysjmedia) on Jan 13, 2019 at 9:58am PST

Reflective Essay:

The main focus of the travel vlog was to produce a 3-minute video as a group in the style of a travel vlogger which showcases York as a desirable destination for young people. As well as creating a 1-minute stripped-down version of the same video for use on Instagram.

The brief states that our target audience for the vlog is young people. However, we decided that we wanted out vlog to be extremely assorted therefore ‘aim to appeal to a wider audience’ (Ward, 1997) following on from this we included various locations that would appear desirable for all audiences. These locations were chosen from research of existing vlogs such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8xh1EGsIlc which shows a couple exploring York. From the research we also discovered what style we wanted our vlog which was realistic/ professional. Therefore the vlog featured handheld movement (realistic) and still footage (professional) doing this we was able to meet the brief of creating a vlog style video but also include requirements such as footage used from Jib and Track equipment.

‘Production Schedule is the glue that holds the production together (Brown, L. Duthie L, 2016). With this statement in mind I and my crew decided to prepare a production schedule for the day of filming so that we could shoot as much footage from different locations as possible in a specified time frame.

‘Typical production problems reflect the lack of planning, and planning is the most important element for successful production’. Due to lack of planning, several problems were encountered with this artefact such as we discovered during post production that all footage had no sound which was a key aspect that was needed in several parts of the vlog so that viewers has a clear understand of what the vlog was about. This issue was resolved by creating voiceovers and adding it over the footage which was proven difficult to match.

A learning outcome from this artefact was that attention to detail is considered to be very important and that in future production I should ‘record the sound at the same time as shooting’ (Gates, 1992) as this can result in saving time when it comes to post production.

Bibliography

Brown L. Duthie, L (2016). The TV Studio Production Handbook. London, I.B Touris.

Gates, R (1993) Production Management for Film and Video. London, Focal Press.

Ward, S (1997) Ethics and the Media: An Introduction. New York, Cambridge University Press.

ZIGZAG – PITCHING FOR NEW BUSINESS

In groups of 4, you will carry out research into the clients of York based digital marketing experts, Zigzag. You must identify opportunities for video content creation for a zigzag client of your choice.  ou will use that research to create a 15 minute group presentation in which you must demonstrate an understanding of that client and their customer base. The presentation will include your plans for 3 pieces of content for that client, and why the content is relevant. Each piece of content must have an individual creative brief. 

Booths Creative Brief 1

Booths Creative Brief 2

Booths Creative Brief 3

Reflective Essay:

In this artefact the aim was to create a group presentation in which demonstrated an understanding of one of Zigzag’s clients, in my case Booths. Within the pitch I needed to ensure that I identified the opportunities of video content creation for Booths and create an understanding of their customers while also ensuring the pitch included plans for 3 pieces of content for Booths and include information of why the content was relevant.

‘Preparation and planning was essential’ (Bamford, 2012) this statement is relevant to the pitch as our main preparation for the pitch was research. The research concept worked effectively due to each members of the group focusing on different aspects of the company, Booths. For example, I focused on Booths target audience while others looked at existing adverts for Booths and the success of these. Research was the most important aspects as we was able to establish Booth’s client audience as in who they are, what do they do, why do they do it and how they do it.

After research we decided to create a mind map of several ideas for Booths adverts and then eliminated these ideas to 3 as this was all that was necessary. The ideas was then developed into more depth individually such as the ‘demographics, the age and economic class of people whom the project will appeal’ (Benedetti, 2002) this was very beneficial because when it came to pitching we all had a clear thoughts of our ideas and who they were aimed for.

For the pitch we decided as a group that important that we had supporting documents, such as photos, videos and graphs as it  helped to validate the scope and importance of the pitch.

Overall, he delivered Zigzag pitch to clients was very successful which was due to effective planning and communication from the group. ‘Effective communication is an important element of success’ (Mcintosh, 2008). This artefact was very helpful for me personally as it allowed me to gain confidence in public speaking and I know that I would be able to create a pitch for future projects and present with confidence effectively.

Bibliography:

Bamford, N (2012) Directing television, a professional survival guide. London, Bloomsbury.

Benedetti, R (2002) From Concept to Screen. Boston, Allyn & Bacon.

Mclntosh, P (2008) Interpersonal Communication Skills in the Workplace. USA, AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn.