Ryan Culham BTEC Film and TV

Monday 2 July 2018

Primary Research

Examples of primary research: production research

Audience Feedback

For our audience research, we asked people to look at our advert and we got results based off them. The majority of people said they liked it, taken from a group of around 7 people, but we do have a couple of quotes from the people that we asked.

Beth: "I really enjoyed how the advert flowed and the music that went with it. The overall idea of it was good and it made me laugh a little bit. The advert did promote the deodorant of Dove, but it did seem a little bit indie and not professional. There was also a few shaky shots and out of focus moments, but overall it did good."

Kayleigh: "The advert was not too bad. It had a couple of good moments and nice shots but the music needed room for improvements as it did not fit the advert at all."

Matty: "I didn't really like how the advert flowed and came together. It all seemed like a jumble and a bit of a mess. I did like the shots but I feel like they could have been pieced together so much better."

From our audience feedback, I can safely say that there is definitely some parts to improve on, such as the music, continuity and overall piecing of the shots, but with that in mind, it seems that there is a lot of places to improve on.

Examples of primary research: survey / focus group

Survey Responses (18 responses)

How long have you been playing Maplestory?
0-1 years: 4 people
1-3 years: 5 people
3-6 years: 7 people
6+ years: 2 people

How many hours a week do you play Maplestory?
1-3 hours: 2 people
3-6 hours: 3 people
6-10 hours: 10 people
10-15 hours: 2 person
15 hours+: 1 person

Would you say the game has opened up more social opportunities for you?
Yes: 12 people
No: 4 people
Not sure: 2 people

Do you find it hard meeting people in real life, and is it easier online?
Yes, it's hard, and it's easier online: 13 people
No, it's easy, but easy online too.: 1 person
Yes, it's hard, and hard online: 2 people
No, it's hard, and hard online too: 2 people
Not sure: 0 people

Would you say the game is more than a game, and a social experience too?
I agree with that statement: 9 people
I disagree with that statement: 4 people
It's more of a social experience than a game: 2 people
Not sure: 3 people

Do you feel the game has good social elements?
Yes: 17 people
No: 1 person
Not sure: 0 people

For someone new to the game, what would you say a good social aspect is? *Optional*
"The party system"
"The buddy system is really great!"
"The chat system is really easy to navigate and has a lot to offer"
"Guilds are a great way to meet new people"
"The guilds"
"Party chat"
"Party quests bring people together"
"I like guilds"
"The guild systems"
"Guilds"
"Guilding system"
"I miss the family system, but guilds"

Examples of primary research: questionnaire

Secondary Research

Rebranding Prezi

Example of secondary research: internet sources (BARB, Unilever site)

Job Roles Brochures

Example of secondary research: internet research (Creative Skillset, Prospects.ac.uk, NCS)

Television Advert Analysis

Example of secondary research: video sources

Friday 29 June 2018

Introduction To The News

I watched a BBC broadcast which was around 60 seconds long and in this they fit in a lot of stories. The specific one I watched was with a woman presenting and they covered 5 different stories ranging from the "Adam Johnson Scandal" to laser pens becoming a deadly weapon. The stories were placed in what seemed to be order of importance or what would generate the most attention. The presenter started speaking about Adam Johnson and his sexual assault case, which at the time was huge news. This specific TV show, or mini-show starts with a big introduction and consists of a clock with the number 60 inside it, to show that it will only last 60 seconds.

The reason I believe this type of broadcasting is quite popular is because it gives you a quick fix of news if you're in a rush or just need an update. It's particularly handy having something like this you can just "flick on" during the advert breaks of a TV show without having to watch an entire news broadcast.

This particular broadcast had the 26 yr old Sam Naz as the presenter. She's quite popular in and around the BBC and is not shy of being on TV, when she began in 2003 as a News Reader. These people quite literally present the news to you over the TV, radio or any other form of multimedia. They are usually at a desk, but can be at the scene / near the scene of the news report. You're expected to be a great speaker and be extremely confident with the camera. You should try to be enthusiastic and in a sense "promote" what you are saying. You should always try to be typically unbiased towards your news report, as this could reflect back on the station you present on.

News ordering is the order that the stories are shown in. Just as I explained above, it will either be because of breaking news, importance and how much it will affect the person watching the news. Breaking news is slightly different though as it literally breaks the news order, this could be due to a major event which takes priority over anything else. Prospect lists are things that the editors come up with to possibly put on the broadcast. The editor can then cross out and re-arrange the news order as to how he/she sees the best fit. A slow news day is when more trivial stories are covered because there is not enough interesting topics to cover, they would look towards the prospect list and work things out over the broadcast. News values are how you know how much light you should give towards a story, and the guidelines are used by newspapers and TV broadcasts alike. Galtung and Ruge came up with this idea through common interests throughout the news and made a 'scoring system' with a list of values to see how big of an impact the story had on the general public.

The values they had listed are:

Negativity: Stories which don't give happiness, stuff like "Child murdered by dad" or "Plane crashes into WTC".

Close to Home: More local news things, for example if it was about Lowestoft it could be "Lowestoft Fishing Brought Back To Life!".

Recency: A fight to be the first to report breaking news, newspapers are a culprit for this.

Currency: A story which runs for a long time but is still popular, such as the Madeline McAnne case.

Continuity: Interesting reports which leave the audience wanting more and more, keep wanting them to tune in. Things like long haul police chases, or a missing person.

Uniqueness: Quirky things which grab your eye: "Man eats computer a day for 30 days" would be one.

Simple: Easy to understand news headlines which get straight to the point: "Tree burnt down in forest"

Personality: Usually these news reports are about someone, most commonly someone in the public eye. For example "Justin Bieber has a new girlfriend!"

Expect: If a news story was exactly what you expect it to be, or what everyone is saying it will be.

Elite: A story which covers someone with power, or a huge nation. For example a terrorist attack in USA would overshadow a terror attack in Mexico.

Exclusive: If a station gets an exclusive to interview someone or something, maybe about an event or recent happening it will generate a lot of attention.

Size: How big the story really is. A cat getting stuck up a tree is less important than a train crash killing 50 people.

In the broadcast, it mostly covered the Adam Johnson case which was a huge scandal at that time. The reason for this being and having a huge feature is due to his prominence, or "eliteness". Being a celebrity footballer and being accused of sexual assault is degrading, but it's also incredible news for the news stations. They can get a lot of viewers very easily and just like G and R said, this news story would come under the Personality section, which generates a lot of attention. Adam is represented as a bad person, which is completely understandable due to the nature of what he's being accused for. The news made it seem and feel like he was guilty, and I really did not like Adam for what he did. The media directly influenced me to think that Adam is a sick man. This news story was at the front, which obviously showed how important it is.

Bias is a huge problem within the media industry because you are always trying to remain unbiased towards everyones opinions. Some editors specifically remove stories as it doesn't fit their agenda and they are bias towards another view. A great example of this is when President Trump was running for president. While Fox News only ever showed the good, CNN only ever showed the bad giving this huge clash between media and it influenced pretty much everyone. Bias placement is when you simply put something at the front so more people would see it, pushing your agenda more than anything else. Biased headlines also exist, and they would go along the lines of making sure it sounds much more interesting than it actually is.

A photo bias is specifcally choosing a bad photo to put the celebrity in question in bad light. A good example is of Trumpo boarding a plane and his hair flying everywhere. There was a lot of shots taken that time, but this one was specifcally chosen because we all know Trump hates his hair. Bias through names and titles is quite eays to explain, its when the editor will usually get something bad from you and then use it against you. Finally, bias through language is a good one to speak about as it can be used to promote a bad message. For example instead of terrorist, it could be scum, scumbag or even more.

Thursday 28 June 2018

3MW - Primary Research

Survey Responses (18 responses)

How long have you been playing Maplestory?
0-1 years: 4 people
1-3 years: 5 people
3-6 years: 7 people
6+ years: 2 people

How many hours a week do you play Maplestory?
1-3 hours: 2 people
3-6 hours: 3 people
6-10 hours: 10 people
10-15 hours: 2 person
15 hours+: 1 person

Would you say the game has opened up more social opportunities for you?
Yes: 12 people
No: 4 people
Not sure: 2 people

3MW - Proposal

Maplestory Logo 2007 - Present

In my 3MW, I plan to explore MapleStory, an online MMORPG created by Nexon in April 2013. I'll be discussing the basic overview of the game and a clear emphasis on the social aspect to the game, and how it brings people together, even over the internet. I'll talk about the classes in game, and how each class can bring certain people together (for good, or bad reasons). I will also mention the guild system, alongside the buddy system, and how these two help bring people together.

I am going to be aiming this documentary towards players and non-players of the game, between the ages of 16-22. I feel like the documentary would intriguge people both male and female as the game has an equal divide between both. I feel like people between the ages of 10-15 and 22-30 are my secondary audience as they are not as involved within the game as the other age ranges. I did a bit of research to figure out this demographic.

The actual aim of this documentary, or 3MW, is to show people that this game is more than just a game and how it can clearly give you friends over the internet who you can talk to and hang out with. This can end up in actual fulfilling friendships, and people meeting, to even marriages. Due to personal experiences, I can speak about this very openly and explain how I've come to love this game for more than just killing monsters or trying to get to the highest level fast, but to use it as an escape from reality. As I plan on interviewing other people of the game, I will first have to brief them on what I plan to achieve with my documentary and hopefully make it quite clear. As these people live far away, I will be using Discord to speak to them. All of the people live overseas and have given me permission to use their voice, as long as I change the pitch of it. I will not need to be present within the interviews, but I will be doing a voiceover throughout the documentary.

I have compiled a list of questions that I plan to ask the three candidates which are:

How long have you been playing Maplestory?
How many hours a week do spend playing Maplestory?
Would you say the game has opened up more social opportunities for you?
Do you find it hard meeting people in real life, and is it easier online?
Would you say the game is more than a game, and a social experience too?
Do you feel the game has good social elements?
For someone new to the game, what would you say a good social aspect is?

I won't need to supply too much equipment and props are not necessary at all. I am going to be recording my screen with a piece of software called Nvidia Shadowplay, which allows you to record your desktop screen in real time. I will be using this to get pieces of footage from the game, and videos of other people around me. I want people to see actual footage to see how social the game actually is, and that there is more than meets the eye.

Documentary Mini Task

What is a documentary?

A documentary is something that should promote or show information and cannot be staged, or have some sort of bias (to a certain extent). A lot of people watch documentaries for information and usually class the information from them as real, which is why they cannot be staged. A documentary is something real and not something from a film, and it will usually show/feature the film-maker within it.

Expository Documentary

An expository documentary is something that will direct it towards the audience to show a point with evidence and explain it. This is the most common type of documentary and will usually be featured from a voice-over. For example, Blue Planet is a great type of documentary for this as it featured Sir David Attenborough with a voice-over with a lot of footage in the background. The use of his voice is to highlight key features and things which are going on, on the screen, because without him it would be a very bland and boring video, but he brings it straight to life. These type of documentaries take a long time to plan and film, and it includes a lot of travelling, but in the end it should always give the audience more information and involvement and will usually produce an excellent watch.

Reflexive Documentary

These types of documentary are commonly called an experimental documentary and they make the audience feel more aware of problems within the documentary its-self. Louis Theroux is a great start to talking about these types of documentaries as he is involved within the filming of the documentary and overall narration, but he tries to stay somewhat impartial to the action involved. A great example is when he went to visit the West Boro Baptist Church. He did get involved within their activities, but he did try to stay quite far back when things get rough. Experimental film makers are all around the world and are usually known as being quite indie and niche.

Observational Documentary

These types of documentary are more cinematic than anything and the film-maker is usually not involved with the filming at all, but he will still have a presence in the film. An example of an observational documentary could come under Big Brother. While more a reality TV show than anything else, it did used to broadcast celebrities 24 hours a day, while we just watch in. The film-maker does not have a direct influence on the celebrities involved and just gives us a 24/7 documentary for us to watch.

Interactive Documentary

These documentaries show the film-maker having a huge presence within the film as he or she will drive the entire film. Just like last time, a great example of this is Louis Theroux and most particularly, When Louis Met Ann Widdecombe. While he is a huge presence, and so is she, Louis is fighting to get the truth out of this controversial woman, and will ask things to shock the audience, or maybe even trip up Ann. These documentaries usually have a smaller budget and only a small crew due to the amount of travelling involved within it, and because the film-maker is in the shot, he is usually always on camera. These documentaries usually show peoples true colours and engage the audience much more clearly.

Performative Documentary

The final documentary to talk about is Performative. These documentaries usually always show the film maker and the film maker is usually directly involved within the action. They usually show someone trying to show their view on the topic they are making a documentary about. For example, Fahrenheit 9/11 is a great example of this. It shows Michael Moore giving his direct opinion on the controversy between the Invasion of Iraq in 2003, saying how the media influenced it and gave an entirely bias opinion to it, and the presidency of George Bush. Because it being so close the 9/11 attacks, and being a play on words of the novel Fahrenheit 451, it generated a huge amount of controversy between it.

In my opinion, the best style of documentary is Interactive. It involves the user and film-maker and really engages the audience and gets them involved within the action too. You can see what feels like real reactions and real interactions between the film-maker as they are getting involved in potentially dangerous activities to show you what life there is really like.

Dove Advert Rebranding - Evaluation

TV Advert: Dove Rebrand

In this assignment, we were tasked with successfully regrading and creating a brand new advert for our chosen brand, which was Dove. I believe that our advert met the topic brief efficiently, while also allowing room for a brand new target audience for our chosen brand. We chose to target teenagers, specifically male teenagers as Dove does not seem to be branded towards them. In our advert, we used male teenagers who do typical things which we believe the target audience would do, for example, play games.

The filming process was very tedious and had a couple of issues which we face
d throughout the process. An example of this is the outdoor filming that we had to do. The issue was the different timescales that we had to film in, and at the time the weather was fluctuating from snow, rain and sunshine. This meant we had to cut the amount of footage we had outdoors and instead, replace it with indoor footage, which was not our original plan. Another issue was the costumes we wore. As we were filming on different days, sometimes the group forgot to bring in the exact same items of clothing they were wearing before, therefore this set filming back even more as we could not film the scenes we wanted to at that particular time.

Despite these setbacks, we still produced a finished product well within the timescale provided. We used a lot of camera techniques such as POV shots and high/low angle shots. Even though these shots were particularly effective, they were a hassle to film. The shots looked shaky and unprofessional, so to overcome this, we used post production techniques in editing to get a clearer image, this technique is called stabilizing. For continuity, we made sure to always watch back the clips so we could start the next clip at the exact same position it was left at before. There were a couple of continuity errors which we had to go back to fix, but this caused no problem and ensured that the quality of our advert was at the highest level possible.

The music we used in the advert worked quite well and went alongside the TV advert. I feel like the use of music really added towards the feel of the advert and helped promote the kind of idea we went with. I do feel however, that the music could have been changed to something more slower as Dove is not exactly a intense brand and the music could have been portrayed more lighter to promote this. While on the topic of sounds, we did not include any sound from the footage recorded as we felt most of it was background noise and unnecessary. We did contemplate the idea of adding in SFX for the clips, but there was not enough 'kickers' to add the sound effects in for.

We tried to keep the style of the scenes continuous throughout, this being a light tone, while being not too dark and not too light. This is because the advert is meant to promote something good, so having these light tones helps engage the audience. If we were to have darker and more dull tones in the clip, it would not give across the same message.

Our film does follow the guidelines to the BCAP code as it only promotes fun and energetic vibes from teenagers and we are not trying to enforce any bad behavior. It's also a common fact that people who play video games sweat quite badly, and with current stereotypes, these people dont usually have a lot of friends due to their 'poor hygiene', so using the product to help you smell better will hopefully give you a chance at becoming higher in the social hierarchy, even though I do feel this is a bit wrong. The idea of the film to promote people coming closer together can be seen as a small breach of the BCAP code, but if we look at adverts such as Lynx, it becomes clear that we have not breached the code. This does in-fact mean our advert is suitable for viewing and clear to be aired on TV.

Other than a few set backs, I do feel like the product is ready to be viewed and is suitable for the brief we were set. If I was to attempt this again, I would most definitely spend more time on the editing and get the filming done much quicker. The filming took a huge amount of time and was not fair on us as we only had a strict time slot to do this in. I would have also liked to film a couple of extra shots as the continuity and flow did not feel completely there in all of the shots. I was mostly involved within the acting and some pre-production paperwork handling. The group did work together well and I would like to work with Callum and Kieron again. Overall, the advert is good, but I do feel we could have done this to a much higher standard than the work we submitted.

Audience Feedback

For our audience research, we asked people to look at our advert and we got results based off them. The majority of people said they liked it, taken from a group of around 7 people, but we do have a couple of quotes from the people that we asked.

Beth: "I really enjoyed how the advert flowed and the music that went with it. The overall idea of it was good and it made me laugh a little bit. The advert did promote the deodorant of Dove, but it did seem a little bit indie and not professional. There was also a few shaky shots and out of focus moments, but overall it did good."

Kayleigh: "The advert was not too bad. It had a couple of good moments and nice shots but the music needed room for improvements as it did not fit the advert at all."

Matty: "I didn't really like how the advert flowed and came together. It all seemed like a jumble and a bit of a mess. I did like the shots but I feel like they could have been pieced together so much better."

From our audience feedback, I can safely say that there is definitely some parts to improve on, such as the music, continuity and overall piecing of the shots, but with that in mind, it seems that there is a lot of places to improve on.

The Nature and Purposes of Research

Wednesday 6 June 2018

Preparing Material for Editing

Wednesday 23 May 2018

Editing Quiz - Answers

Editing Quiz

1. What do the numbers 16:9 refer to?

1A. The numbers 16:9 refer to the aspect ratio of the screen. This means the width and height is 16 and 9 times the size of a number. Depending on the screen shape, this will determine the aspect ratio. The smaller the numbers are together (ie 4:3) the more square it becomes, whereas the further apart they are (16:9) the more rectangle it is. When computers and monitors were first becoming a thing, monitor sizes usually started at 4:3, which gives quite a square image. In the modern area, monitors are usually 16:9, producing a HD image at 1920x1080 pixels.

2. What is the frame size of a 1080p video file?

2A. The frame size of a 1080p video will be 1920x1080 pixels. This means that the image is 1920 pixels wide, and 1080 pixels high. Another video, which is 720p, would have an screen resolution of 1280x720, meaning that there are less pixels in the shot.

3. If you have a video file which is 720:50p, what is the frame rate and what does the 'p' stand for?

3A. A video file with this in it would be a 720p video, with a frame rate of 50 frames per second. The 'p' at the end of it stands for 'progressive' which is a type of scan which you can set before filming. There are two types with is 'interlaced' and 'progressive'. These will be explained below.

4. What is the difference between 'p' and 'i'?

4A. 'P' stands for progressive, whereas 'I' stands for interlaced. Interlaced would show half of your frames, at any moment in time, so you can see interlaced movement, however this sometimes causes a distortion effect, or 'interlace lines', whereas progressive puts them in order, giving you a much smoother transition between the images.

5. What frame rate is real film shot at?

5A. Real film is typically shot at 24fps, however you can choose to opt in to higher frame rates if you require to shoot film in slow motion, or high action scenes. The smoother the frame rate is, the higher the video file size is. An example of using a different frame rate in film is during James Bond (and any other action movie!). You can see the clear divide in the high intense scenes, rather than the dialogue and slow scenes. Another example of an interesting choice of frame rate is in The Hobbit, which was shot at 48fps, double the normal frame rate.

6. What might be the advantage of shooting at a higher frame rate?

6A. As explained above, in high action scenes you can get a much smoother quality and less of a 'blur' effect when there are a lot of things happening on the screen. As you are shooting with lots more 'stills' there is more for the camera to process and slow down, for example at 60fps, you have 60 shots per second, rather than the typical 24fps. This is also highly used in slow motion clips, as with lower frame rates, you get a lot of fading on the screen.

7. What defines a lossy file?

7A. When a file is created, it is usually compressed automatically by the computer. This is usually due to the file type which it was created at. Lossy files are highly compressed, and this is to usually save space on the computer. A great example of a lossy file is the JPEG, which compresses images down to extremely small sizes, but the image takes a huge hit on quality and it is usually visible. Lossless files are the opposite, and take quality of space, making the images much more crisp. An example is the PNG, which usually give big file sizes, but excellent quality images.

8. Name three file types commonly used in video editing

8A.

.mp4 - An MP4 file is a video format which is one of the more common video files. It's very versatile and has a small amount of compression added to it. It supports many different editing software, and computer systems too. An MP4 is usually medium in size.

.veg - A veg file is a Sony Vegas project file and is used when you save your project. This file holds all of the information together about a project you are working on, and is easily accessible to gain all of your hard work back.

.vlc - A VLC file is a file related to the software VLC Media Player and is a very versatile file type. It can be used for images, audio and even video. These types of files are usually uncompressed, and can be used in most computer systems.

9. What is the difference between a video file type and a codec?

9A. A video file type is usually what data is contained in, such as your wonderful singing voice, or that video you love from the internet. These files are usually .mp3, .mp4, .mov and more. A codec is how the audio or video is compressed to get inside the container and then decompressed to play it back to you. For example, when rendering in Sony Vegas Pro 13, you can choose the type of codec you wish to render your file in, such s H.264. This is the most common codec to use as it provides good video quality, at quite a low bit-rate. After selecting your codec, you will obviously need to change your video project settings to suit it, this is so it renders properly and efficiently. Obviously, the higher the bit-rate, the better the file will be. This codec can also compress audio or video, up to 8k UHD.

10. What is bit-rate?

10A. Bit-rate is the rate at which 'bits' are processed through the system. For example, when rendering a video file, you can opt in to a higher bit-rate which will give you a better quality image. For example, to render to YouTube you're going to want to set a max bit-rate of 50,000,000 bits, which is megabytes-per-second, meaning a 10 second video is going to be 62.5mb in size. The higher the bit-rate, the more processing power is needed, so unless you have a strong enough computer, you're going to need to stick to lower bit-rates otherwise you rendered video is going to be worse quality, glitchy or corrupted.

Bibliography

https://www.theverge.com/2014/12/19/7422633/hfr-might-work-even-though-it-looks-really-awful - The Hobbit Frame Rate

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLC_media_player - VLC Media Player

http://www.prismo.ch/comparisons/desktop.php - Monitor Sizes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC - H.264 Codec

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/301451-sony-vegas-proproper-video-settings-for-youtube/ -Bit-rate and YouTube

http://www.networxsecurity.org/members-area/glossary/b/bit-rate.html - Bit Rate PNG

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/logopedia/images/2/22/Sony_Vegas_Pro_12_Icon.png/revision/latest?cb=20121220165412 - Sony Vegas Logo PNG

https://www.geeksaresexy.net/2015/06/10/15fps-vs-30fps-vs-60fps-animated-gif/ - 60fps GIF

http://www.thehobbit.com/ - The Hobbit PNG

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/Aspect-ratio-16x9.svg/2000px-Aspect-ratio-16x9.svg.png - 16:9 PNG

Editing Booklet - Facts about file types, rendering, codecs and more.

Thursday 17 May 2018

3MW - Maplestory Research

Complete Mindmap of Maplestory Research

Wednesday 18 April 2018

TV Advert - Talent Releases

Wednesday 14 February 2018

Assignment 1 Feedback

Friday 26 January 2018

Editing Techniques Analysis

Friday 12 January 2018

HSBC Advert Analysis

Tuesday 9 January 2018

Evaluation - More Than Monopoly

The Story of Film: An Odyssey

The Story of Film: An Odyssey is a film about the history of how films came to life, and how they became as big as they are today. We watched Birth of the Cinema (1895-1920) and it showed us how people such as Thomas Edison created the photograph to help shape the way towards modern films, and how the Lumiere Brothers created what we now call a projector to show us films.

The film also reflects on early editing techniques and how they were made, alongside certain camera shots which were also created in this era such as the close-up and reverse angle shot. It also showed us early movie stars and how they were born, such as the very first movie star, Florence Laurence.

I have learnt about how the film era was started and broadened into a new art style which we call Cinema. It also taught me about the history and development of film, as well as certain techniques used in the early eras. Films in those days were used to mostly show and create a message, and due to being a mostly silent era, the films had to really show that based upon acting and editing. I learnt that the film business started on innovation and ideas, but has unfortunately rapidly grown to become focused on money and branding, rather than focusing on the people that make the films.

Friday 15 December 2017

Pre-production Paperwork

Sunday 3 December 2017

Film and TV Booklet

Thursday 23 November 2017

Letter of Complaint

Wednesday 8 November 2017

Ownership and Funding

Tuesday 7 November 2017

1st Brochure

2nd Brochure

Tuesday 31 October 2017

Existing and Developing Technology in Film and TV

Consumer Products

Like any household, most of us have access to a camera or other type of film equipment. This allow us to create home movies, or just take pictures at home. Cameras are quite expensive if you want a good quality one, but for most of us, we have access to our smartphones. Nowadays, most phones have a camera included in them, meaning the need for cameras are becoming obsolete.

Cameras work by using a little light box, this light box lets in the tiniest piece of light to capture an image. Once the image has been taken, it is transported via electric signals to produce a pixel image. Depending on the pixel size, the better quality the pictures will be.

An image can then be taken into software such as After Effects, Photoshop or Sony Vegas. You can edit photos in Photoshop with distortion, colour changes or many other things. The reason Photoshop is increasingly popular is due to the rise of young women realizing they can edit themselves in photos to appear 'better' online.

With the rise of YouTube, and people realising they can make a career out of doing something they love. This leads to a need to buy Sony Vegas, or Premiere Pro. 'YouTubers' can edit these videos from home and use professional equipment, for the starting price of around £8.50 a month.

The only issue with all of the equipment is the price. The price for Sony Vegas is around £500, and this is extremely inaccessible for the normal person. This price has actually led Sony Vegas to be one of the most pirated pieces of software on the internet. This means it is becoming more accessible, but in an illegal way.

The good that comes out of all of this is the fact that you could use your knowledge to gain a job in editing or camera work for a film company. You could use this on your CV to make yourself stand out to the employer.

Image result for sony vegas

Satellite and Cable

A house must have either a Cable or Satellite connection. There are a couple of differences between the two and some have more benefits than the other. The first one we will look at is Cable. A cable connection to your house is underground. This is better if you don't get good signal in your area, or have a more modern house. Most modern houses run via cable nowadays, but this does mean the connection will be a little weaker. However, to upgrade your cabled connection you can use Fibre Optic which is an extremely popular method, but does require more money. Virgin and BT use cabled connection to send you television services, along with most ISP's doing the same. Fibre Optic cabling is easier to install than standard copper cabling due to the cables being stronger and lighter which means the engineers don't have to worry about being extremely careful when handling them, and they are also less prone to snap when being put in the ground.

Satellite is a signal which gets sent to your home via a dish on the top of your house. The signal is sent from Earth, to the satellite in the sky, the signal then bounces back down to produce a television service to your home. Sky is a company which usually uses these signals, but they usually only send their own signals via their own satellite.

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Analogue and Digital

When TV first was released, it was always used via an Analogue signal. Since the 00's, companies rapidly started to progress towards a digital signal, which gave a wider variety of channels, whereas analogue only had a maximum of seven channels. In October 2012, it was issued to every signal house had to be upgraded from analogue to digital. As explained above, the reason for this switch was because digital had a wider variety of channels, and gave a much better signal overall. It also took up less space, and allowed time and space for the new 4G wireless signal which was in the works to be broadcast nationwide. While digital is far more expensive than analogue, it gives a wide variety of channels to watch. For example, Sky has around 900+ channels to watch, all with different content on.

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Internet and Interactive

The internet has a wide variety of uses when it comes to viewing media content. For example, the recent takeover of Netflix and other streaming services allows users to simply watch films/shows at the comfort of their bed, over the internet. You can also use BBC iPlayer to catch up on TV you may have missed, using the internet to stream these shows. However, with this brings in a more popular method of watching shows, which is pirating. Pirating is either using a Torrent software or illegal streaming site to watch a film or show, for free. This means the copyright holder, or company who have created the media earn no money.

Companies can also interact with the users that buy their content, either by adding in games to DVD's or Blu-Rays, behind the scenes, or simply allow you to pause/play the film using your remote. They can also use the internet to promote the film using games, or ARG's (Alternate Reality Games) to bring the film to the real world. A popular example of a game which used an ARG recently is No Man's Sky. No Man's Sky is one of the most hated games in history, due to it being slammed for false advertising the entire game. The creator, Sean Murray, was hit with a lot of hate messages due to his perception of the game, but the game was far from how he said it would be at release, but using an ARG brought the game back to life, and made people think more positively for the game. Essentially, it was just advertising, but it involved people online (and in the real world) to help solve this puzzle!

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HD and 3D

Most TV's released nowadays come pre-built for 1080p viewing. Some television sets still rely on standard quality, but most people opt for the HD due to the increase in audio and video quality. HD basically uses more pixels to produce a better image, the more pixels, the better the image quality. With the rise of 4K, and even 8K television sets, more people are opting in for clearer image quality. For comparison, 1080p uses 1920x1080 pixels, but 4K uses 3840x2160 pixels, double the image quality of 1080p.

3D is also very popular in cinemas, such as IMAX. This can often be quite expensive, and usually people seem to have trouble in the viewing experience due to it causing a whole range of health effects. However, more recent films have adapted 3D and made it more easier on the eyes, and using surround sound for a more compelling experience.

Pay-per-view, On-Demand, Streaming and Digital Recording

As previously said, the rise of Netflix has many people swarming to stream content. While Netflix is 100% legal, some sites offer free streaming for shows or films, which is illegal to watch. The good thing about streaming is the fact that the shows are always available, and you can watch for hours, go to work and then come back and not miss anything from your shows. However, for people without Netflix, using a Sky Box is an excellent way to catch up on TV. You can simply record an entire show or film, keep it there until you are ready to watch it, then delete it, or keep it there until you are ready to remove it. Digital Recording is quite expensive, and you will usually have to pay an upgrade fee for some services.

Pay-Per-View is like a digital ticket to an event. For example, when iTunes holds concerts, you can digitally stream it for an entry ticket price. Or, more popular events such as boxing hold quite steep pay-per-view prices, causing more people to use illegal streaming sites to watch these. Pay per View evens usually cost around £100 for a ticket to a popular event, such as the Floyd Mayweather fight, which took $500m in pay-per-view ticket sales alone.

While recording shows may seem fantastic, more people tend to stream nowadays due to the internet becoming faster, and streaming just becoming much easier to use. When you stream, data is transferred and then destroyed once the film has finished. When you download, data is transferred and it stays on your hard drive until you destroy it. Streaming takes up no space, and you wont have to worry about pausing, or removing films as the film will be there for eternity, ready for you to watch in days, months or even years. The reason

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Friday 20 October 2017

DepicT! Analysis

https://www.depict.org/2017/family-dinner/?category_request=2017

Family Dinner was one of the first films I watched from the DepicT! website, and it was fantastic. While the acting in my opinion was not the greatest, they did a great job of showing an over exaggerated family dinner. We have the grandparents, who are traditional and blind to the ideas of modern ideologies (the grandpa with the Kindle, he doesn't grasp the idea of electronic books). Then we have the parents, protective of their teenage daughter. We then see the three teenagers, 2 of them are in a relationship and playing a card game. They are being loud and drinking alcohol, this is the typical stereotype of a 18-21 year old. We also see the girl on her phone, ignoring everyone, in a bad mood and gets caught out kissing a boy. This is how we think of the modern day 15 year old. They are engrossed into their phones and are experimenting in the world of relationships. The final character is a 8-10 year old boy. He's confused about relationships and is asking question about what he's heard in school.

This film can be related to in some sorts, as a family dinner usually has lots of different people, with lots of different age groups, with lots of different conversations. However, I will give credit for the camera movements. They are simple but really effective.

Overall, this film was funny and had a great comedic value. I give it a 8/10.

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https://www.depict.org/2017/picking-sides/?category_request=2017

Picking Sides was a short animated movie about a man and his dog. They are fishing until two ships are having a battle right beside them. They are throwing everything they have at each-other (missiles, planes, turrets etc) but in the end, they both destroy each-other. The man and his dog are stuck between 'a rock and a hard place' and this is just one of the messages this short film portrays. Another message is that all the war and destruction going on around us is not achieving anything, but the ultimate death of each side. At the end of the film, a dolphin appears - this is to symbolize that even through all the destruction and life lost from the fighting, nature and life will still go on.

The film had a solid narrative and a really excellent set of animation. The only issue was the sounds were not the best of quality, however this is only because it is an indie film. This was my favourite out of all of the films we watched, so I give it a 10/10.

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https://www.depict.org/2017/amusements/?category_request=2017

The Amusements was a 90 second film about a young man trying to impress a girl. The film had no speaking in it and was really, really simple. The man simply lights a firework, and lets it fizz out in an attempt to impress her. She simply walks away, leaving the man by himself - waiting to impress yet another girl.

The most impressive thing about this film was the use of camera angles and positioning. The man is taller and more relaxed, while the girl is shorter and seems more inhibited. This could be used to symbolise how men put themselves out for women in the modern day. When she walks away, this could be used to show how hard women are to impress, or it could be just be used to show she is simply not interested in him.

The film was short and simple, had a decent narrative and had good camera angles. It wasn't my favourite film, but I really liked it either way. I give it a 7/10.

Monday 9 October 2017

Change of Hands - Evaluation

The task that we were set was to create a short 1-2 minute film of a 'Change of Hands'. We decided to set our film in the college with an 'invisible package'. The reasoning for this was because we wanted the film to be different than a simple exchange, but we also wanted viewers to feel as if they could make up their own mind on what the package is.

I feel like the task went well and I would definitely like to work with the people who I worked with again. We got on with filming, editing and planning extremely well and we really combined and shared ideas.

My favourite part about the film we created was the editing. I think we have a lot of different techniques which make the film interesting and unique. For example, we have a part in which we outline the 'package' so the viewers understand the point of the film, and other parts with extremely slow cuts but others with fast cuts. The change of editing makes the film much more interesting and fun to watch.

Moving on to continuity, I believe our film does a brilliant job at keeping in with continuity. While there was a few errors during filming, we could quickly rectify this during editing. Each shot continues on from the last one and works really well to make sure the audience is well informed, but also so the film does not break and produce continuity errors. I feel that the only part we fail on continuity is during the halfway point of the film. This is when Ellis looks through the glass. It feels choppy and some shots don't exactly line up with each other, apart from that - I feel like we achieved the given criteria.

However, I would definitely have to change the music we have used. While we are giving the viewer a chance to figure out what the package is by themselves, the music makes the entire film gloomy, and depressing. While this could give a nice effect to make the entire film seem 'sad', I just personally feel like it doesn't work given the context. If this was my choice, I would have made the film into a more 'silent movie' with a passive soundtrack.

Despite this, I also think my camera angles and certain shots made the film feel unprofessional. Certain shots were shaky, off center and poorly positioned. I really feel as if but camera angles could have made the film seem a LOT better.

Either way, I do feel like our film is good and unique and definitely meets the given criteria, however - if given another chance, I would work on the points I have outlined and make the film even better than it is now.

Wednesday 4 October 2017

The Meeting - Evaluation

Evaluation

My video I made was a mere test of the capabilities that the editing software Premiere Pro has. I feel for my first time, experimenting with effects and sync was a top priority into learning how to use the program.

I feel like the use of the stills and text making it seem like a silent movie worked really well. This is because it felt unique and no-one else has done it. I also felt like working with text on screen was a good way to learn how to use the program. I also feel like the use of it being black and white was a nice touch because it made it look more like a silent film, rather than being in colour.

I do feel like the music worked at some points as it felt like a silent movie like track, however – I think for the most part the music could have definitely be changed. I was focusing on more of a contrasting track rather than a suitable track. I would have also changed the other effects I used. I was going for a grainy, old look with the noise effect I put on, but I used too much static and made the film look like it was made in poor quality, rather than an old movie. I also feel like the black bars ruined the aesthetic and staging of the shots, making things seem out of frame and framed poorly.

I did like how I changed the shots and the shot length due to them being shaky, unfocused or too long. This really helped develop a more professional look, rather than it being an amateur film. Despite this, I do feel like the effects I used were poor and sloppy, ruining the decent editing I did with the clips.

Overall, I feel like my approach was well executed and good for a beginning, however – I would need a lot more experience, perfection and skill to make something which looks/feels like a professionally made film.

Friday 22 September 2017

Connotation Task

Friday 15 September 2017

Icebreakers

1. Why is your interest in Media (either viewing or production) more than a hobby?

I have always found it interesting, I used to actually study the Media AS Level during my first year at college. I really enjoyed the production area of it, like making magazines and editing pictures. I didn't really get on with the more logical side to it, such as studying magazines. I took this course in a hope of a more creative side to media, with filming etc.

2. Have you ever done any voluntary or paid work for a Media company?

Yes, I have. I was auditioned on a show called 'Ducks Quacks Don't Echo' in which I had to lie about eating a biscuit as an experiment to see if my mum could tell if I was lying. I never got put on the show, but I did get paid for it (yes!!!!).

I've also done a lot of performing arts, but the more up-to-date 'media' company I do work for is my YouTube channel. I have a channel with around 6,000 subscribers in which I look at the infamous game 'No Man's Sky'. I get a lot of views on my videos, and I try and actively put up videos.

3. Have you ever used (insert list of programs here)?

I have used a LOT of those programs. I am more common with Sony Vegas, After Effects and Photoshop as I use these a lot for video editing. I used to do more heavy video editing with another YouTube channel.

I have briefly used Premiere and Final Cut as I was looking for SV alternatives, but I couldn't get on with these very well.

4. Who / what is your favourite (insert list of people/media here)?

Actor (TV): Mads Mikkelsen [Hannibal]
Actor (Film): Will Smith
Director: Christopher Nolan
TV Programme: Rick and Morty
Film: Inception
Website for Media Content: YouTube
Way to watch Media Content: On my PC

5. What is your first memory of watching a Media product? Who did you watch it with?

I remember a very, very vivid memory of when I used to listen to the song Rollercoaster, by Ronan Keating (I think?). I watched it on MTV with my parents when I was around 6 years old.

6. Who do you like consuming Media content with?

Either alone or with my girlfriend.

7. What is your dream job?

My dream job is probably to be a web developer. I really enjoy coding.

8. What have you done in order to pursue your dream job?

Well, I have learnt web coding! But, I have also taken the course at college to learn more and more about the subject, as well as get a grade in it to go to university with! I have also made a couple of coded programs at home. The most recent one being a small bot in a chat software called 'Discord' which allowed users to interact and talk with this bot I made. It was quite simple, and had a few return values but nothing of interest.

9. What else could you do in order to pursue your dream job?

Definetly look at getting work experience in the field, whether voluntary or paid. I think this could help get an idea if this is definitely what I want to do. I also think spending time at home making my own programs could help show employers what I am capable of.

10. What are you most looking forward to studying on the Film & TV Production course?

I am most excited for the 3MW documentary! I was in a previous 3MW from my cousin, Liam Culham! His was on our YouTube channel, shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGFg4MAOups

It is probably my most exciting part because I have a lot to show off and speak about. I don't know if I will do it in a group, or solo. Either way, I really enjoyed being a part of his 3MW, so I can't wait to make my own!

The Sound of Music [★★★★★]

Thursday 14 September 2017

Photoshop Task 2

This is my first proper attempt at airbrushing. I have used Photoshop many, many times - mostly to create YouTube thumbnails for my YouTube channel. The tasks were mostly simple, using some basic techniques which I have used before - however I did find the airbrush to be a bit more challenging and tedious.

I liked the movie poster due to it being more like creating a thumbnail as such. I used to mess around making fake movie posters, but I stopped due to losing interest in it. It was fun to do it again.

Hardest part was probably the blur effect on the skin. It's hard to get the balance right to make it look real, but not fake. My attempt was the best I could get it, I think it turned out alright, but in some points if zoomed in it is too blurred.