Evaluation Q1

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

When developing research, for my end media product I looked at various forms of media in preparation for my final piece.  For example when identifying film genre and how it conveys generic conventions, which we expect to, see as a consumer such as the: mise en scene, lighting, camera shots, and editing. Not only did I discover the importance of micro features, but how Todorov's and Propp's theory has proved how mostly all films  follow generic conventions, I would not have gained this knowledge if it where not for challenging these concepts when completing my case studies.

·       A Comedy: would include high key lighting, odd clothing for certain characters, scattered living areas messy (we can see they have some money but don’t usually find out where it comes from) camera shots depend on the action taking place, but it is unlikely to have dramatic dolly shots and high master angles. 

·       A comedy I looked at and its title sequence was ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ in this I developed my research by looking at, how titles are put into a different context from main stream blockbusters. Many comedies follow alternative media conventions to attract a consumer. I have developed on this by talking about the timing of titles how they follow a repetitive beat and are in strict context with the music. The research into this sequence has challenged forms of my media product, which has caused me to  consider aspects such as pacing of titles and timings, I then developed on this by completing a timeline task, without this I would struggle to form structured timings, in my end media product. 

I also challenged Vladimir Propp's 'spheres of action' theory, & uncovered that it fits into most films, and is a generic concept, into how a plot operates. Propp's hypothesis is built around how a narrative is based around eight characters; and how they all circle around the main one; in this case it is Napoleon Dynamite, who is in the center, he is the sphere and the other characters, are the action that circulate around him.

·       I also looked at the film ‘Almost Famous’ which falls into the genre conventions of a comedy drama. In this opening sequence; film makers have produced an alternative piece by not using software, to portray their titles. They wrote them down; I studied how diegetic and non-diegetic sound has been used in the edit forming the conjunction between cuts to flow together well. I challenged and developed on this, as the use of sound and writing down the titles, was something I’d liked to respond to. This is a print screen of my own response to the film sequence which I regularly looked back at for ideas. 

·       For the sound which is more complex than it looks as diegetic sound is overlapped with previous clips to make the sequence flow, I developed on this by manipulating sound in my edit, as without  looking back at my research and planning  stages; I would find it complicated to develop a concise idea, and plan for my final product.

To further develop my knowledge in the genre I will be challenging, and presenting to my audiences, I had to research and analyse how my audience will respond if I did this by developing my understanding by looking at reviews of similar media conventions, films which follow the same hybrid genre that I was trying to produce. For example reviews for ‘Almost Famous’ the reason for analysing this is that I can distinguish, what people liked and disliked and how I can incorporate their views into my own end product, therefore challenging conventions of real media products, by converging public opinions to meet the goals of my end media product. 

     

    

To understand how media products are portrayed, in the real world I looked at varied sources, to understand how my end product; could also develop and challenge similar views.  From this analyse I discovered that many reviews focus on the film maker’s past filmography, before they delve into the key aspects of the film, the reason for this is so the audience can get a clear perception of the style of the film. I then analysed the reviews, many of which where positive such as this quote from the Rolling Stones online reviews: the ‘film's witty musical references;… it is a kick to find a movie that uses music as more than sonic wallpaper.’ From this I can develop my own media product by using these positives in my own sequence.   

However from these positives there are oppositional readings such as: “It's about a bunch of scattered, disconnected, poorly-developed emotional backdrops featuring the stereotypical characters … something designed for mass consumption.” This review is from IMBD,  unlike the Rolling Stones article review, this one is from a member of the public this alternative review also allows me to challenge my own media product, and how I can use original ideas with anti-stereotypes.  

  

Music

Music

 Drive

The introduction of music to a moving sequence, develops feelings of emotion for example: in the opening title sequence to ‘Drive’ the song ‘Kavinsky nightfall’; reflects not only the titles and how they become in concession with the beat of the song; but how the song relates to the driver lyrics such as: ‘I want to drive you through the night’ not only do film makers have to find a track original, but one which can describe the scene.

 Finding a song to do this is exacting; however the film makers have managed to find a song which relates to the dark mystery of their main character lyrics like ‘ I am gonna show you where its dark…’ all these play in the back of our minds as the credits move in beat.

They also emulate the characters emotion, not with his acting but with the music as he goes to his lonely small apartment, the music slows and quietens down, but when we go back to the city the music is back to its normal beat, showing that it is the environment he is most comfortable in.

 Catch Me If You Can

However not all music sequences have to have strong lyrical resemblance to the character and film to work well, take ‘Catch me If you Can’ the music is instrumental in this opening sequence and has been used cleverly throughout the film. No lyrics are needed to establish the film the music itself sets the genre clear into your mind. The suspense created by the music makes you think crime and drama, what’s cleaver about this is they let the sequence animation tell the story, and the music set the atmosphere for the film.

21 Jump Street

Also a sequence can have music with lyrics which do not make sense, but if the beat of the song and its genre is correct: then it works well with crime comedies, indie comedies and more… for example the film '21 Jump Street' the fast pace imagery and quick cuts of a ridiculous motion of drugs, sex and pointless close ups. Needs a fast paced track to fit with the funny action presented, the fast rap and quick beat fit well the titles. The film makers have found a song with a fast passed that fits well with the comic side of the sequence the fact there are funny shots of the two main characters dancing, makes the music funnier and shots more over the top. 

 

My Music for the Title Sequence ‘Underestimated’

For my opening title sequence: music was an essential elemental in stringing my footage together. It had to establish the mood my film, and the genre I was going to portray to my audience. The music had to be will suited, to my footage and be in keeping with my titles.

Finding the correct piece of music, is a more difficult process, than it may come across; especially if you are, not an established production company, with a lot of money to spend. This I was certainly not, so to achieve the task of finding music which is not copy written, I had to do extensive research the internet: as there are hundreds of  non copy-written songs… (This is now preferred by film makers as unknown tracks are cheaper and work well with their sequences) … after looking though many un copy-written sites, I found three options which, I could choose: songs called ‘the generator’, ‘riding my bike’ and ‘bird are indie’.

These songs most suited what I wanted to achieve; however I could not use all three, so to determine the appropriate piece of music. I had to play the music with some of my footage out of all three the one which was most accurate was ‘Birds are Indie’. This fitted the genre and came together nicely with the footage, working well in stringing the titles and the footage together.  The music also related to parts of my film with lyrics of ‘ I've had this record I love it so much’, playing in the back of your mind, with the shots of old vinyl records. Overall the song fits well in establishing the mood of the film and its genre.

Titles

Titles

Filming the titles compared to ‘Motion’

For my titles I wanted to experiment with alternative media, so instead of using computer based fonts and software to make the titles. I chose to create a piece where the titles are filmed being hand written on paper.

However I did use software such as Motion, which allows you to create titles using the software, I am familiar with how to use it, and can create titles using motion tweens or the templates available. I used the software three times, just to introduce the company logo and film title; as this looks more professional.        

I found that writing the titles was a quicker and a more efficient way of importing footage, into the timeline when editing.  In contrast to Motion, which if I used for all my titles will take more time; as it would be edited on a separate software and would need to be adjusted correctly: such as the; colours, tones, positioning, size, transparency and timings of the title etc, then saved and imported onto my Final Cut Pro ‘browser’. All this would need to done for each title, which would then be cut down and edited in Final Cut.

Where by filming the titles I did not have to adjust any settings, all my titles where imported with my footage, and could be easily selected and edited, then placed onto my timeline.

Filming the titles is not only an effective way to save time and be more organized when editing; but in addition draws more attention to them before as most people do not pay a lot of attention to the titles, but mainly the video and as the titles simultaneously fade in and out they become a side show to the main footage. However by filming the titles, this does not give the viewer any choice but to look at them, as they are a main part of the sequence which strings the footage together. I wanted my titles to stand out and not disappear behind the clips, and I feel by filming the titles I succeeded in drawing attention to them.

Timings and Number of Titles

I had to think carefully about the titles and how often they would appear and how many there would be.  So I began by doing some research and looking at the average amount of titles in a opening sequence, the average is between 10 -18, as most tiles last longer than 2 minutes which was our cut off time. I chose to film 10 titles, which for the time allocated was most suitable.

In all of my titles and footage I tried to make sure that they lasted for a certain amount of time. I made sure that the timings where between 0.03 and 0.05 for each clip.

1.      First title ‘Clear water productions’ was created in motion lasting for 0.04 seconds.

2.      Second was ‘Blue Vinyl Pictures ‘also made in Motion, lasting for 0.04 seconds.

3.      Third was ‘a clear snap shot…’ lasting for 0.05 filmed.

4.      Next was just footage lasting 0.05 seconds.

5.      A title ‘mark string pro..’ on screen for 0.05

6.      Film footage of items on screen for 0.05 seconds.

7.      After was a title ‘Sarah Jane’ on screen for 0.04 seconds.

8.      Next was a title which was rubbed out, lasting 0.05 seconds.

9.      Then some desk footage lasting 0.04 seconds.

10. Film of old memorabilia lasting 0.04 seconds.

11. Title ‘sound by kath….’ Lasting 0.0 5seconds.

12. Title ‘Colin Symons’ on screen for 0.05 seconds

13. Film footage of objects lasting 0.05 seconds.

14. Title’ Kevin Norman’ lasted 0.03 seconds.

15. Title ‘Martin Cooper’ on screen for 0.03 seconds.

16. Film footage of objects on screen 0.05 seconds.

17. Title ‘Maria Sutton’ 0.04 seconds.

18. Ripped page and Title of ‘Jason…’ 0.05 seconds.

19. Title ‘Casting by Fred…’ on screen for 0.03 seconds.

20. Motion title of film ‘Underestimated’ 0.04 seconds.

Sound used for Titles

The sound was a key element in making sure that my titles and the rest of the sequence flowed and I needed to make sure that I recorded each clip with a clear diagetic sound of pencil on paper. I did this in the edit by increasing the volume and sound levels of the clips and locking the video; so that it would over lap with the previous footage. The reason I’ve done this is that, the clips would look jumpy, and by using diagetic sound consistently through the footage, makes the sequence flow correctly.

Edit: Main Print Screens

 

 

 Edit: Main Print Screens for Final Cut & Motion

This specific image is from 'google images'
This is an outlook on how the software looks and what each part does.

I followed alternative media conventions in edit, as I challenged the preferred way of creating titles as: instead of constantly using title software like 'Motion', I had filmed my titles and was able to adjust settings using 'Final Cut'. 

The ‘Browser’ was used to display all my imported footage and titles, it can be edited such as renaming footage, it also includes video transition’ in ‘effects’, and a library to manipulate the video.

The ‘Viewer’ was used to edit and cut my footage before placing it onto my time line, also adding markers (in & out points), and adjusting the picture quality.

The ‘Canvas’ was used for me to view all my edited footage to see how it looks; it shows everything I’ve done so far, it was a essential for me to have it, as I could look at, what I had done and see what needed improving.  

When editing I also looked back at some of previous work such as my timeline task, which supported me in being more cogent, in how I organized the timing of the tiles. I also implemented some of the knowledge I gained when, analysing my case studies such as in I discovered how the distributes are shown first, in my second case study that some of the credits have the speed adjusted and increased so that the credits appear at correct times which is what I have  implemented in my edit.

First I imported all my footage onto ‘Final Cut Pro’: a modern editing software. Once the footage was all on the viewer, I could organise the footage by re-naming it, this is useful because it would make my edit easier and more efficient.

Then I opened Motion, and went onto, ‘File’, ‘Open Template’, where there was a selection of templates on the software, once I’ve selected the template. This would be the only time I used motion, as all my titles had been filmed, which made editing more efficient and less complicated; as I had already chosen the style in how my titles would be displayed.   

 … I  edited the only software based titles I would be presenting in my title sequence; which where the production company names. I choose a similar style in which large production companies use, when being presented: simple yet classic. I used the selection tool and the text tool adjust the type, and then customised it 'library' where I can increase the size colour and shades... I then was able to import it into my time line.

Then I could start to focus on my footage, and begin to edit it. Previously I used basic editing software called 'i Movie' in the preliminary task, where we learnt basic techniques. Now i from using 'Final Cut Pro'  I have developed my knowledge in a more advanced software; which has allowed me think more like a producer, then a consumer, such as inputting marker heads, to cut down my footage. once i had edited my footage in the  I dragged it from the viewer, so that I can see it my time line.

All my footage has sound and I am able, to edit it by double clicking on it, then it is displayed in the viewer. So I can manipulate which sounds I want to mute and which sound I want to increase the volume of by inserting maker heads.

I have developed on this by talking about the timing of titles how they follow a repetitive beat and are in strict context with the music. The research into this sequence has challenged forms of my media product, which has caused me to consider aspects such as pacing of titles and timings, I then developed on this by completing a timeline task, without this I would struggle to form structured timings, in my end media product.

I could also import music, which I can drag down onto my time line then move into the correct position I want.

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I can also adjust speed by going on ‘modify’, then ‘speed’ and changing how fast or low I want to adjust the footage. This is a useful technique especially if you are not satisfied with how the footage flows. However the downside to adjusting speed is the fact it changes the quality of the footage.

I can also edit and manipulate the actual display of footage by adjusting the way it looks such as brightness, saturation, being able to sharpen it. This is a similar technique to how you would adjust an image in PhotoShop.

However I need to be careful as some of these video filters ruin how the video is displayed, however ‘image controls’ such as  ‘colour balance’  is an effective way to equalise the colour in the clip.

 

 In some of my footage I added transitions between clips; it is an   effective way to connect footage, which is slightly jumpy. You can import it by going on ‘effects’, ‘video transition’, ‘dissolve’ then a selection of transitions, I used ‘cross dissolve.’

There is also a tool used to connect clips called ‘link connection’ and ‘snapping tool’. The snapping tool allows you to connect footage together.

The time line is used to organise your footage, and presents the order it’s in it was effective in seeing how my title sequence flows together and if some footage needs cutting down.

I also needed to render my footage due to the fact, when footage is uploaded onto final cut, you are unable to view it in the ‘canvas’; it needs to be rendered because the footage  has be converted to a format which the edit software can manipulate, I rendered my footage as I went along as I found it easier.

This is the process: when I rendered. It should usually takes under a minute depending on the length of the footage.

Also this warning came up on one of the viewer slugs, telling me that some footage is offline this means that when saving my footage on memory stitch and on the computer that some of it is not in the correct place, to solve this all I need to do is find where I saved the clip then import it and save it in write place.

 

 

My Opening Title Sequence

Final Opening Title Sequence

This my final filming piece for my opening title sequence for AS Media Studies

Story-Board and Planning Sheet

STORYBOARD AND PLANNING SHEET

First I had to plan what I was going to do, it is very important to plan, as it establishes how you will be working, for example without a plan you will miss shots, not have enough footage, the time you thought it would take to film,  will be unrealistic,  when you begin to edit you will realise that you need to film again or that you missed something out...

… for example working without a plan you will miss shots, not have enough footage, the time you thought it would take to film,  will be unrealistic,  when you begin to edit you will realise that you need to film again or that you missed something out...

… These are the reasons why I  planned as I then had a clear brief on what needed  to be achieved; and how long it will take me to achieve it. Not only is a plan a successful way to complete a filming assignment, it is also realistic, as in the filming industry planning is key in completing a filming project; not only does a plan correspond with each step you take in making the film: it also gave me a clear understanding of how I would edit;  as thinking and planning ahead is key in developing a well made piece,  showing that you are competent in doing so.

At first I found planning difficult but my tutor said that there are many sites such as ‘The Art of the Title Sequence’ and ‘OCR media studies.weebly.com’ by doing some research and looking at these sites and studying a lot of title sequences, I began to paint a clear picture in my mind of what I wanted to create and how I was going to do it.

The storey board you see is what I achieved from some of my planning. It was essential in helping me film my title sequence; as I used them frequently to check if I was on track, and so that it would all come together when I edit.

To conclude I am glad that I planned as it was an effective and practical way to direct my self; when it came to filming,  I was not obscure in my decisions, but focused.