The biggest change and challenge in terms of media technologies for me this year, was the hosting of work as an online, blog format. It was one of the first things to be set up and has overseen the project from start to finish. Though blogger was at first confusing to handle, the blog has proved to be a great way to display multimedia skill, an easy place to access work from anywhere and visually more interesting than showcases from projects before.
Due to the fact it was necessary to expand into web 2.0 for A2, it was essential that I find a variety of other online mediums to showcase work on my blog. I began to use video-hosting sites such as vimeo and YouTube to upload my music video, audience feedback, diary entries and also for evaluation videos. Blogger itself, proved useful for audience research and feedback through its I also used soundcloud to put up short audio blog posts at times. I found vimeo was particularly good at hosting HD videos though both it and YouTube could be difficult to handle when uploading large videos to online. I would often have to put my YouTube videos into windows live movie maker as that was a speedy way of uploading videos online – with the movie maker automatically reducing file size. Other online mediums include the essential ‘prezi’ presentation-maker. I used prezi for my resource audit at the start of the project and for lyric analysis – both necessary parts of research and planning. When I did similar product research or research into my audience, I would often display my results on Microsoft PowerPoint, this would then be translated to an internet version via sites such as slideshare and scribd, which was particularly useful when uploading documents such as hazard checks and model release forms. After the completion of my products, I would also Facebook Chat to gather feedback or post my video there to garner comments and likes to measure audience approval. I found online social media to be the most reliable and efficient method of feedback due to its instantaneous response and due to the fact its users are so vast in number. Facebook was also a useful communicative device for my cast and crew. At first I created an ‘event’ page providing all the details of the first shoot and what they would need, as well as the general concept of the music video – a brief of sorts. When I realised I may need my cast and crew for reshoots and for administrative details, I decided that it would be easier to make a ‘music video group’. This meant I could communicate with my personnel concisely, efficiently and all together.
In production, I shot my music video and the photos for my ancillary tasks using a Canon 550D. The camera was also equipped with a cinematic shutter speed and the 1.8 aperture lens, allowing me to shoot in shallow focus for a more cinematic and artistic effect. As my music video was an outdoors night shoot, I used a large fill light to illuminate the location of the back garden. The light was connected to the house via extension cables to power them. Once I had finished shooting the footage, I placed them into Adobe premiere pro cs4 initially. I began to edit the footage off this, but technical problems occurred with the software, so I switched to the more reliable cs5 version. It was on this, that I did the bulk of my editing. I cut up my footage using the razor tool and used the ‘dip to white’ transition effect on the section where my protagonist enters her garden – to alert the audience in a change of atmosphere. I also manipulated the speed of several pieces of footage – at times it was necessary for me to speed up a shot to fit with the music. At many points the footage is slowed – most memorably in the ‘transformation sequence’, to maintain anticipation for the change. Once I had finished putting the music video together, I placed the exported video into Adobe After Effects where I applied three filters over them. In the end I decided I would use the original exported version as the filters gave off an ‘over-produced’ feel.
My ancillary tasks were produced on Adobe Photoshop cs4. For my back digipak cover, it was necessary for me to remove myself from an image I wanted to use (as my featuring would break the illusion of a film). I used the spot removal tool to blur away my presence and then refined it using the background erasers. I also manipulated my images by placing ‘clouds’ on them and decreasing the opacity so that I could create a retro effect. I also changed the levels of lights and colours and increased the contrast so colours were more striking by pulling or pushing the lighting curves. I added text via the text tool and used the same font ‘birch std’ on every piece I made, to create a sense of familiarity and continuity.
I also used Premiere Pro to create several of my evaluation videos, which I would then upload to my blog. The evaluations would start out as word documents, which would then be video-recorded or audio recorded. I would place these recordings into premiere, edit out the unnecessary sections and then place footage and pictures over it in conjunction to the video or voice over. Once this was done, I uploaded my videos to vimeo and from there, embedded them into my blog.
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