Jack Godfrey A2 Media Studies

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Equipment:

Panasonic HD DV Camera - This was used to film all the shots for the music video. Within the camera itself, we were able to use effects and increase/decrease the lighting. We used this in some places to make the darker areas brighter and the areas that were too exposed, darker.

Digital SLR Camera - We used this camera for the photo shoot. In different photos we used a combination of manual and auto focus; we did this so that we could decide individually whether to choose what was the main focus, or so that the focus was reliable with other shots.

Mobile Phone - We used phones in order to arrange appropriate times with the cast; this was by ringing/texting people and also by using media 2.0 on the internet to do this.

iPod - This was used to play the song in the background so that the cast could perform and lip sync to the music to make it look more professional.

Websites:

Facebook.com - We used this to create a group to organise our characters/ band members to find out what times were appropriate for everyone. We also used it to talk to people instantly to discuss ideas for our video. This also relates to using a mobile phone as we could use Facebook on them to check for any replies whenever we wanted. We also used Facebook to find appropriate photos whilst creating the cast list, as this was the quickest and easiest place to find them. This was the main example of media 2.0 that we used.

Blogger.com - We used this to keep track of our progress, which helped with organisation.

Youtube.com - We used Youtube to post our video, so that other people can watch it and give feedback. We also used it to research other reggae music videos such as Richie Spice and Collie Buddz songs. As well as researching these videos, we also found the section from "This Is England" which inspired us in a section of our video.

Prezi.com - This site was useful for the planning stages as it gave us an opportunity to write clear guidelines in order to help us use and adapt existing ideas for our video. It was also used to explain to our cast what our intentional narrative was so that they had a clear understanding of how to act during the filming process.

Google.co.uk - We used Google to find pictures for the prop list to make it clearer what we intended to obtain. We also used it to find information on our chosen band, Skindred.

Software:

Adobe Premiere Pro - This was the main software we used in order to edit the clips together.

Apple iMovie - We used this software to create the animatic storyboard during the planning stage so that we could add effects such as the "Ken Burns effect" in order to pan and zoom at the same time. This made the animatic slightly more interesting and gave an idea of how we intended to film each shot.

Adobe Photoshop - This was the main software I used to create my digipak. I used various effects in this process; these included fading, cropping and the colour dropper tool, which I used to keep the colours consistent.

This is how I made the smoke effect on Photoshop:

I began by changing the brush size to roughly this size.

I made sure that my background colour was relatively dark so that the smoke was easy to see. I drew in white a rough smoke shape, making sure to leave some gaps to make the outcome look more realistic.

I selected Filter > Liquify...

I then edited the settings of the brush size, density etc.

I smudged the shape using a variety of different tools on the "Liquify" screen. By using spirals, waves and just by moving sections around, I tried to make it look like smoke as much as possible.

Here are the different tools I used. I used the "Forward Warp," "Pucker," "Bloat" and "Twirl Clockwise" tools in order to create the desired effect.

I then went on Edit > Fade Liquify and faded it by 50%.

I repeated this process until I was satisfied with the outcome of the smoke.

I found all this technology useful because it allowed us to easily adapt our ideas on the computer, whilst also keeping the project in good time. I don't think technological determinism played such a large part in the creation. Although it did help vastly with the production of the video, we still filmed exactly what we wanted to film and managed to keep our on creativity rather than allowing the technology's aspects to take control of our project. We didn't use too many effects on the camera/computer but only used ones we thought were absolutely necessary for the video to improve it.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

By using the same group on Facebook as I did during the planning stages, I have managed to obtain different opinions on our music video:

The comments have made me realise that the main things that could be improved in the video are the continuity errors. This is mainly the use of costumes of the characters; if I re-made the video I would make sure that the cast wore the same clothes for every day of filming to keep consistency to a high standard.

I asked two people in real life similar questions as the facebook group to see if they had any different views on the video, but the main response was that the continuity standard could be improved. Overall, I have learnt that the narrative can be interpreted in different ways which will hopefully make the video enjoyable when watched multiple times.