The Killers- Shadowplay from Megan Painter on Vimeo.
Monday, 14 March 2011
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Evaluation Question 4
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Untitled from Megan Painter on Vimeo.
Transcript:
Media technology has been vital in the construction, research and planning process of our A2 Media Coursework. During this time there has been a wide variety of digital technology available to us, which we have taken full advantage of. This has been crucial in every stage of our work enabling us to create a professional looking project.
The Internet has played a key part in the research stages of our project and has provided us with an infinite supply of existing music videos and digipak helping us to understand the conventions of these products. This ensured that we were able to create a realistic and professional; product which complied with the industry’s conventions. Not only this but the internet has also helped us to research our target audience, UK tribes.com was especially helpful in allowing us access to our target audience, giving us and insight and in-depth knowledge of the music they like, their interests and hobbies. This allowed us to target our media products correctly. This information has been indispensible to our coursework and arguably would not have been so detailed without the use of the Internet.
We used a Sony DCR-HC62 camera to film our video. The high quality camera enabled us to achieve the crisp look we wanted and needed for our video to look professional. The camera also allowed to use settings, which manipulated the footage and lighting to give a better effect. For example we used the spotlight setting, which concentrated the lighting giving the footage a more enhanced, defined look. When filming the melting candle we used the “smooth interval tape recording setting” which filmed the candle for one second every 2 minutes and we left this running for 3 days. This allowed us to speed up this footage whilst maintaining a smooth appearance and get an effective clip of the melting candle. We also experimented with different ways of holding the camera. We used a handheld effect to create the illusion of Harry being watched or followed we also used a point of view, handheld whip-pan to create a relationship between viewers and the characters by allowing them to see things from Harry’s perspective.
Once we had completed our filming we uploaded all of our footage into Final Cut via an Apple Mac computer. We imported our audio and locked it into place. We then captured all of our footage and it was ready for us to drag into our timeline and begin creating the final product. We dragged clips into the viewer and marked the sequence in and out to attain the part of the sequence we wanted. Our final video was gradually pieced together in this way and using Final Cut we were able to watch the material we had placed in the timeline as we went along. Final Cut also enabled us to use transitions in our video to give different effects. We used the “Fade In Fade Out” transition to give a smoother change between clips when needed, for example in places where the music slowed down. We used cross dissolves in order to convey Harry’s confusion as the blurred images effectively conveyed this feeling of disorientation as he awoke in a completely different place. Another important effect Final Cut enabled us to achieve was the overlay. Using the different video layers we could merge images and effectively portray the idea of Harry's nightmare as he is trying to fall asleep but cannot seem to escape the taunting images of the clown. This also enhanced the professionalism of our video, and as a technique used often in indie rock videos, meant we were conforming to the conventions of this genre. Using the modify toolbar in Final Cut we were also able to manipulate the speed of our footage. For example by increasing the speed of our time lapse section we were able to convert a 10 minute clip into one that only lasted 6 seconds effectively portraying Harry’s isolation and the sense of being trapped in his own mind as the whole world moves on around him.
During filming, we often took a digital camera on set to take pictures for our digipack and magazine advert. The camera we used was A Samsung ES60. This is a high-resolution digital camera, which produces quality pictures and is equipped with an array of features. These include the focus feature, which allowed us to blur the background and focus on two objects. This feature allowed us to produce the image of Harry and The puppet in the woods. The use of the camera contributed to our planning stages of the digipack and magazine advert. We also had the capability to change the scene of the camera to a scene called ‘Dawn’ which allowed us to produce the slightly lower contrasted images, such as the photograph of the alleyway. This camera also provided a spotlight setting, which allowed us to take focused, and more concentrated photos. This was very useful when attempting to take the image of Harry. The camera had a 2.5" 230K Intelligent LCD screen, which enabled a contrast and colour reproduction, allowing a wider and clearer image. The camera automatically detects environmental illumination and adjusts LCD brightness for optimal image viewing, which was extremely useful for the different environments in which our photos were taken.
Photoshop contributed majorly, with the construction of our digipack and magazine advert. The final image for the magazine advert consisted of two photographs of the clown, and one photograph of Harry. We used a faded eraser to eliminate the background of the images to ensure that the edges were not too harsh. We then adjusted the opacities and fills of the images to be able to combine the images, and produce a paranormal-like image. After adjusting the brightness slightly, we inserted a black background to draw attention to the faint image, creating a soft spotlight on Harry. With the use of the free transform tool, we were able to insert each image on a separate layer, to create the final one. The second image used, was of the puppet and Harry in the woods. We simply desaturated the image and used the history brush tool to recover the colour of the puppet. In a similar way, the third image was also desaturated. However, we used the lasso tool to enhance the colour of the alleyway. The back cover of the digipack consisted of two main images: the background and the weak image of Harry. The background image was simply reduced to opacity of 30%, and placed onto of a black background. The image used on the actual CD was a high quality photograph, and therefore, all that was needed to improve the image, was to desaturate it. We had to use the elliptical marquee tool to draw a circle around the image, and inverse the selection so that the image of harry, was shaped to blend onto the CD. we could then use the eraser tool, to erase the background and create a circular shape. Photoshop also gave us the opportunity to warp the text around the shape of the CD. Many images were manipulated in Photoshop to create the final products. Photoshop is equipped with a huge variety of fonts, which gave us a huge scope of font choices for the different texts used. We would not have been able to do this in most Microsoft programmes, as they do not provide the vital fonts we required for our digipack. This also contributed to planning and research, as we could ask our target audience on their views of the fonts.
Photoshop also helped to display the digipack, in a 3 dimensional format on Blogger. With the warp tool in Photoshop, I was able to warp the images onto a canvas and upload them as a JPEG in Blogger. Blogger is an interactive blog and been used for the display and planning of our products. Blogger is like an interactive folder, which contains labels, posts, links, and archives. Blogging allowed us to manage our time as it allowed us to see what needed to be completed, as well as to present/show all the research and construction of our work. Through Blogger, we were able to display our research of media conventions through the embedding of example music videos. This was a simple process, and simply involved copying and pasting embedding codes. We were also able to create collages in other programmes to post our planning and research onto Blogger. With the use of programmes such as SlideShare, we were able to upload presentations onto our Bloggers to display our planning and research into our target audience. Blogger, also allowed us to include hyperlinks in our work presentation, which was used as part of our research and planning stages.
During the evaluation stages of our project, media technology has been key in presenting ad assessing our work. We have used technology to answer this very question using the audio from the camera, which was then exported to stream clip, which extracted the audio only. This has allowed us to present our work in an engaging format using digital technology to our full advantage. We have also used the cameras to present our feedback evaluation question where we have tried to adopt an interview style commonly associated with the music industry. This was then edited and cut in final cut pro. We have also used the social networking site Facebook to get more audience feed back for our products. This was a useful platform for us to use as, as shown from our research this is one of the main ways our target audience consume their media.
Evaluation Question 2
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Question 2
View more presentations from hlevent
Evaluation Question 1
In order to answer this question we had to first identify the conventions of Indie Rock videos which we discovered in our research through watching videos on Youtube and reading about theorists such as Andrew Goodwin.
We discovered typical indie rock music video conventions to be:
Using Visuals to either illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics and the music (Andrew Goodwin)
Once we had chosen our song our next step was to interpret our lyrics and create a narrative that would effectively illustrate them. We printed off the lyrics and annotated certain words that created a certain meaning in our minds whilst listening to the track. As a trend commonly found in Indie Rock music, the lyrics did not tell a coherent story but could be ambiguous in interpretation. Our group interpreted the music as follows;
As a general Idea the title "Shadowplay" inspired our idea of using shadows and alongside the lyrics we felt there was an element of being unable control of all of your actions:
"In the shadowplay acting out your own death, knowing no more"
The general mood of the lyrics and the atmosphere the music created seemed to create quite an eerie, creepy image. This led us to the idea of the puppet and a sense of being trapped in a nightmare which we felt successfully illustrated the bleak lyrics and uneasy music.
"To the centre of the city where all roads meet, waiting for you"
We created a motif for this re-occurring section which is the time lapse. From our first images where Harry is trapped inside, suddenly to a busy city creates a good effect and adds to the disjointed story of our video. The fact that he is still whilst the whole world seems to be moving at lightening speed around him signifies his isolation and sense of being trapped in this nightmare which prevents him interacting with the outside world.
Genres have their own iconography and style
Our genre is Indie Rock and through our research we discovered that styling and mise en scene in videos was often closely linked to the style of the target audience. With this in mind we styled Harry in a way that would make him appealing and relatable to our target audience, which he ultimately represents in his age, gender and our song we have used.
The places we chose to shoot our video also fit in to this relatable style and add a sense of realsim to our video. At the same time they are also quite bleak successfully illustrating the lyrics and mood of our music and narrative, tying the visuals, lyrics and music all together.
Camera Shots and Angles
A key convention in all music videos is to create and enhance star iconography. This is predominantly achieve through the camera and the way in which the "star" of the video is filmed. Framing and Close-ups are essential for this. By centring the star in the middle of almost all of the frames a video should successfully promote and sell the star. The close-ups not only add to this sense of promotion but also add intimacy between the viewer and actor/singer in the video.
Another convention we conformed to in terms of camera shots and angles was the use of hand-held shots. This technique if often used to involve the viewer, making them feel like they or part of the visuals or create a sense of being followed.
Lighting
In our research of Indie Rock music videos we discovered that lighting was of paramount importance in creating the atmosphere for a video. By using mostly low key lighting through out our video we portrayed the bleak and eerie tone the music created. The use of candles and flames created concentrated and defined lighting and cast effective pools of lights and shadows, which was important to our video.
Coloured lighting is used to convey emotion. In contrast to the pale, low key lighting we used through out most of our video, we felt the change to red lighting would successfully convey the change in mood and Harry's anger. Experimenting with lighting from different angles also helped achieve the contrast and once again cast effective shadows.
Effects
The most popular form of transition for Indie Rock music is the Jump Cut. This generally fits with the style of music, which is often moderately fast pace with a strong bass line making jump cuts effective on the beat. We used jump cuts through out most of our video as it worked well with our music and fit into the disjointed style of our narrative. However variety is also needed and in places where the music changed, or slowed down we used Fades, and Cross Dissolves. This made the transition slower and gave a blurred effect. This is another convention typical of music videos that we have conformed to.
Over lays are another popular effect used in Indie Rock music Videos. They are used to create effect, add professionalism and sometimes convey a certain feeling. In our video we used them to convey the sense of Harry's entrapment by the puppet and his nightmare.
Lip Syncing
Despite the style of a narrative almost all music videos have some element of performance, whether it's a whole band performance or lip syncing. This establishes the idea of the song belonging to or being sung by the artist in the video.
"Final Cut" - The editing process
Through out our whole editing process we used Final Cut to create our final product. This program was vital in order for us to manipulate the moving images with effects and create a professional video. Here are a few of the effects we used in final cut;
Transitions
Most of video uses quick, clear cuts due to our disjointed story and fast pace music with strong beats. However at some points where the music slows down or when we wanted to convey confusion or blurred images, reflecting his thoughts, we used Cross dissolves, Fade In and out and also a Non-additive dissolve.
Overlay
This technique enabled us to effectively portray the idea of Harry's nightmare as he is trying to fall asleep but cannot escape the taunting images of the clown. Time Lapse
This technique effectively portrayed Harry's isolation and also the sense of being trapped in his own mind as the whole world moves around him and he cannot. It also worked well with the lyrics "In the centre of the city where all roads meet, waiting for you" the busy movement gave a good impression of a city and yet Harry is still, waiting.
Evaluation Question 3
Once we had completed our rough cut we organised a viewing of our video to a group of young adults (our target audience). We received this feedback which cumulated ultimately to a few major points which led us to make the following changes;
Re-filming sequences in order to improve lighting and framing:
We decided to re-film the strings section and the section where Harry is trying to fall asleep, as we felt the lighting was too dark and affected the quality and over all look of our video:
Rough Cut --> Final Cut
Change of Mise en scene for first alleyway scene and final scene:
From the feedback we also discovered that our audiences felt the alleyway scene did not fit into the over all look of our video and made it look amateur. We decided to re-film this sequence in the woods as it was a location used through out the video and therefore maintained continuity and professionalism.
We also changed Harry's costume for this section and the final section as the black hooded jacket made the video look slightly amateur and cliche.
Improvement of editing in the lip singing sequence:
One point that was raised in all of the feedback was that the lip singing sequence was too long. We decided to break it up with images of the clown between the lyrics, when Harry's lips aren't actually moving. This made it more interesting and exciting and effectively portrayed the idea of the clown taunting Harry.
As a form of feedback most commonly used in the media industry we also decided to interview our target audience on their responses to our video. From this we learnt some of the main factors in our video that had appealed to our audiences and also what we could have improved...
Untitled from Megan Painter on Vimeo.
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Monday, 7 February 2011
Digi Pack Plan
Whilst editing our video we also began the process of designing our digipack for our ancillary tasks in order to use our time effciently. After researching other Killer's designs for their products we began to barin storm ideas for our own design. We felt we had to vary some of the conventions in order to portray our story and idea of shadowplay and unlike most Killer's album covers we used a prominant image, rather than just a low key background they tend to use. This made our work more unique and striking. We did however comply with the font conventions as it kept in with the uniform style. Here our the drafts and initial barinstorm ideas:
We really liked the effect of an overlay as it successfully conveyed the idea of the boy's entrapment in his nightmare, represented by the clown. We also wanted to use our uniform colours of black, white and yellow which represent the shadows and lack of light in his life/nightmare, whilst the yellow is a striking colour for details such as text that we want to stand out.
On set we began taking photos on Aisha's camera for our magazine and digipack. Here is a link to all the original photos we took as ideas for our final ancillary products.
With a good idea of the look we wanted to achieve we began manipulating images in Photoshop:
We took this image using a torch underneath the camera, facing up towards Harry’s face. This provided bright lighting and a slighting menacing look we wanted to achieve. We then desaturated the image and increased the saturation of the image. We also erased the background with a faded brush, so that the edges were not too harsh. We then used the circular shape tool to draw a circle around the image, and inverted the image so that we could erase the outer shape. This was the image use for the CD.
This image was used to overlay over Harry for both the cd cover and magazine poster. Editing the puppet posed some difficulties due to the puppets hair, and the original lighting. To produce the image on the left, we had to increase both the contrast and brightness of the image. We also added a faint lighting effect (spotlight) in the bottom left corner of the image. We also erased the background of the image with a faded rubber, to ensure the edges were not too hard. We then placed the image on a black background.
This image above, was eventually used for the back cover of our digipack as we decided a less overpowering image would be the most effective and this was also a convetion we found when doing our research. The image was taken in the woods, where some of the footage was filmed. To create the image to the right, we had to reduce the fill and opacity of the original and place it on top a black background. We also imputted an extremely faint image of Harry in the bottom right corner. We achieved this effect by manipulating the opacity and fill are both to around 20%, so it is extremely faint. We decided to incorporate this because it is unnoticeable, similarly to how the puppet was unnoticeable to Harry.Wednesday, 2 February 2011
Audience Feedback
Once we had completed our rough cut we had a group viewing with members of our target audience; young adults who enjoy Indie rock music. We presented our video to the group and received both positive and constructive written feedback once they had seen the video.
The main responses we received were:
- The editing matched the pace of the music well and that there was a good distinct change between the beginning and where the music builds in the instrumental.
- Angry scene (instrumental) was effective and lighting and pace of editing helped achieve this
- The alleyway however did not match editing and most people felt the pace of cuts needed to be faster
- Some shots, such as the strings coming down, were too dark
- There were extra clips in the switch between shadows and no shadows (chorus)
- The pace of editing in the forest could be slowed down
- The clip with lip-singing was too long and needed cuts between
- overall people really liked the idea and concept
The feedback session was very useful and important to our project as ultimately our target audience's opinion is the most important and helped us look at our video from a different perspective.
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Time lapse
we centered Harry in the middle of the frame to give him dominance over the busy movements around him and used this technique through out most of our filming. we also made sure he was at the forefront of the frame despite it being a long shot.
Friday, 7 January 2011
Digi Pack Photos
From experience we gained last year and further research into Indie genre conventions we had a good idea of how we wanted the CD cover to look. We wanted to somehow overlay the images of the puppet and Harry in order to portray his inner torment and a sense of being trapped in a nightmare in which the puppet is the dominator.
Here our some of initial drafts just to get a feel for how we are going to manipulate the images in photoshop and the kind of look we want to achieve;
Using photoshop we manipulated the contrast of the photos in order to create a sharper more striking image. We then inputted some text and our choice of font was influenced by our research into previous Killers albums:
We chose the colours according to our research and also the effectiveness of the colours against our the background of the woods which had the potential to be very overpowering. However the yellow was striking and eye catching and so we decided to make this our uniform colour scheme along with black and white which represents our idea of "Shadowplay"
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