Video screenshots

25/05/16

 The program I used to get the name and job titles of the interviewee was in the same program I used to compile the footage together, Adobe Premiere. I basically just opened up a title sequence and typed what it needed to say.

 I had some of the animals with a natural background, i.e. this emu, to give confidence to the viewer that the Hope Nature Centre takes care of animals in an outside space. It's also in a medium shot and a cutaway to create interest and/or information on the context.

 This man, Clive Bond, represents a visitor that came to the centre and had a good time. I was also conscious of how the camera was positioned with the interviewee, that the interviewee was not to stare directly at the camera.

 I liked how this Eagle Owl took a curious interest in me, so I had to include him in my film. Though this wire mesh was a bit of a problem filming him.

This final shot gives a good ending to the video, for it tells you that this video was all for the Hope Nature Centre and it invites people to come along. I also gave it focus transition on the camera to make it natural.

FMP Final thoughts

23/05/16

Does your finished product reflect what you originally set out to do?
A little bit, because I was originally just making a poster aiming for Bath Cats & Dogs Home, but then I focused so much on the video and I was unable to get permission to film and couldn't use abuse stats on my poster, so instead I went for Hope Nature Centre. There were two huge differences between the two, Bath Cats & Dogs is an animal rescue centre, while Hope Nature is a centre focused on helping people with learning difficulties.

What did you struggle with? - be honest and specific.
We struggled with the questions, because the ones we had prepared were accidentally left behind, but of course we improvised by coming up with a different set of questions. So to avoid having this sort of disaster happen again, we may take a checklist with us. We struggled with the wind which blew through our microphone, but I didn't do anything about it, because it was to be more natural and the ways I was doing in getting rid of the bluster made the people sound like robots. I struggled with making the video as long as the music, so I couldn't include the other footage we did and I could not get the release forms to people in the un-used footage. I also struggled with getting the footage of Bath Cats & Dogs home, because they have a confidentiality policy about abused or neglected animals being filmed and if they were filmed and it was put together on Youtube, the abusers will see it.

What did you enjoy and why?
Meeting the people and the seeing the animals, because it helps with being social and the animals are in a way therapeutic.

What could you improve on and how?
Possibly the wind sound, by taking the microphone with the 'dead cat' cover. Again I can remember to bring the questions by taking a checklist.

If you were to do this project again/had more time and resources what might would you do differently?
Like the previous question, the wind sound and get the permission release forms sooner. But apart from all that nothing else.

Are you happy with the final product?
Yes I am, because it gives a happy and peaceful atmosphere with the animals and the music.

Are all of the above combined in a blog post?
Yes.

Model release forms

19/05/16

The only release form we need is from Metin, the animal park supervisor.

Recce

19/05/16

What is Primary and Secondary research?

19/05/16

Primary research is generally brand new information provided from specific issues or questions. This type of research can be obtained by giving questionnaires, surveys or interviews, whether it is reliable. I personally already knew what primary research is and found out some new information from my charity video.

Secondary research is information obtained from research that already exists. Primarily secondary research is there when you do not have any information on a certain subject and look it up on newspapers, books, reports, videos or generally the internet.

The only people who answered my questionnaire appear to be three males. I could have gotten much more widespread and gender diverse responses from different people, by asking more folk in person around the college. Having more members of a different gender would most definately balance it all. out.

I had myself a narrow range of ages from my respondents. My video was not directed at any particular age group.

I had two of my recipients being donors to charities. I should have really let them give more detail into 'Other.'

Everyone responded, 'No.' It granted me the opportunity to introduce the centre to anyone who doesn't know it.

 My recipients answered they all do like animals and they give explanation of why.

The answers they gave was not entirely useful as the animals they mentioned are domesticated. Although technically, the animals at the centre are domesticated animals, but they are not entirely the kind you would normally keep as pets. I may not include that question next time.

This was useful (apart from the tiger or lion response) because it they wanted to see animals, I give it to them.

HNC Promo

17/05/16

My FMP is a video to promote the charity Hope Nature Centre. I used a camera, a tripod and a microphone. I seem to know right away on how to use the equipment, especially the shutter-speed, I never entirely knew how to use it at first, but I know now that you use it to brighten up or darken footage depending on the light.

What enjoyed of filming was getting to see the animals, though with some of the small ones, I had trouble with filming them while behind wire mesh. I also enjoyed talking to some of the people at the centre, especially the members of public. I also enjoyed compiling the video recordings together on Premiere. I had a few interviews and cutaways all in between each other. I did tracking shots on the animals, for example the rabbit. The final shot was the sign of the animal park, I first filmed it out of focus and then I added the focus for a natural transition.

I used the song from a website called Bensound.com that has downloadable royalty free music. I chose the song on basis of having the video a casual, happy mood. But of course, I had to discard some other footage we took from getting into the video on account of the length of the song. I made a second version where there's a different song 'Carefree' by Kevin Macleod, in order to fit all, including the missing footage into the video. I had some trouble with the sound of the wind, because it turns out we used the wrong kind of microphone, instead of using the 'dead cat' mic, we accidentally took the regular mic which can record the wind too well. I followed a tutorial on Removing Wind Noise in Videos: Quick Audio Fix by Justin Brown for the second version, but I decided to not do it after all, because, the interviewees would sound too robotic. The interview question we had prepared were not in our hands, so it had to improvise the question.

We had some successes and problems when it came to release forms. The forms for the volunteers were sent to their families. So I could not use all of the footage, because we were not given the permission of filming them.

FMP Storyboard

27/04/16

From what I found out from my questionnaire is that most of my respondents are male, three out of four of them like animals and they would like to see "happy animals," "the great work the people at Bath Cats & Dogs do" and "interesting shot of the dogs and cats." Because of this, I have put almost all of that into this storyboard.

These are question I will ask at the charity:

1. What is Bath Cats & Dogs Home?
2. How much is the annual cost of feed for the animals?
3. How many paid staff do you have and do you rely heavily on volunteers?
4. What would you say is the percentage of the dogs that would be put into fights before being rescued? 
5. What would you say is the percentage of the cats that would be neglected by their owners?
6. What would you say is the percentage of the other animals that would be abused?

10/05/16

I made a lot changes to my storyboard, such as the animals, one of the members of staff and possibly it's style. I started to identify the key things in interviews, including cutaways (when one scene cuts to the next one or "a cutaway shot is the interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else." from Wiki)

There will be an establishing shot, shots of the interviewer including 'noddies', a type of camera shot used in recorded news or current affairs interviews. The noddies consist of nods and other similar "listening gestures" made by the interviewer from Wiki. The panel of the woman walking the dog was dropped due to the fact that it may be irrelevant to the video and the fact that there are no dogs being walked at Hope Nature Centre.

There are five main people from the centre that I may interview, such as, the animal park supervisor, animal park assistant, tearoom supervisor, manager and fundraiser/marketing person.

Redone questionnaire

I have also done a release form for the people that I will be interviewing. For legal purposes.

FMP WIP Poster

05/05/16

I decided to make it plain and simple, nothing complicated. But I also gave the background texture using 'Blending Options', because I think that having it with no texture doesn't give a feeling of something. I also like how I use different simple shapes to make animals, as an example of existing infographic posters.

The one last thing I need to do is find out the proper statistics of the animals in Britain.

With change of animal rescues, so did the poster.

I change the background from white to a pale tan-like colour, because white reflected the previous charity. I replaced logo of Bath Cats & Dogs with the logo of Hope Nature Centre. I used font called Superclarendon Black to resemble the font on the logo. The infographic animals were replaced with the three kinds of animals that are at the centre. I added statistics, not of the animals that were troubled, but of young people with learning disabilities.

Skills I need to do FMP

03/05/16

The skills I need to do my FMP include:

• Communication skills: Eye contact, straightforward clear communication, open questions to know more and serious but friendly expressions. I do feel confident in using these skills.
• Camera skills: Checking equipment, framing, lighting (stabilising shutter speed), audio (I want to improve my skill by handling the boom kit) and angle (I shouldn't make the camera be pointed straight at the interviewee.)
• Interview Skills: Location (it should be relevant to the subject), goals (I want to hear the opinions about statistics), questions (as openly possible and plan them out), flow (the order of the flow of the questions) and medium (whether it is audio/video or written, to not use interjections like "Uh-huh" in audio interviews to keep the tape clean.) I have a wingman to help me with the interview video. I have to learn avoid obsessing over every single detail and quality. I may need to revisit some questions that may have not been answered. Work up the interviewee. Endure awkward silences and be prepared to tell about their process.

This was researched from this article.

Testing audio recorder

In my previous events with A Knight for a Call, there were some issues, such as the wind. It caused a disturbance in recording the dialogue. Due to that we decided to do a test before the actual filming day. We were testing out the mounted microphone on the camera, because using separate audio boom kit and then trying to sync it up to the recorded video will be complicated. Our first take was that the camera didn't had a memory card and I didn't turn on the mic, so we did it again but we had a few outtakes, due to me getting tongue-tied and started laughing a lot, before we perfected the final mock interview.

My animal charity disaster/salvation

03/05/16

I have been looking into Bath Cats & Dogs Home, but after receiving a message from the organisation saying they didn't had the resources, I was a little gutted. Then I researched other animal rescue centres which are the most closest to me possible, such as, RSPCA, Somerset & Dorset Animal Rescue, Blue Cross, Holly Hedge Animal Sanctuary.

Just as Bath Cats & Dogs were unable to accommodate me, Hope Nature Centre may give me the window of opportunity. It was explained at the last minute that they don't allow people to film the animals due to their backgrounds, considering other videos from Bath Cats & Dogs which features their animals. I am wondering why I'm not allowed to film, because their are already videos of the animals online.

I e-mailed Hope Nature Centre, I found out, it is a registered charity that gives placement for young adults with learning difficulties.

Primary research

28/04/16

What I learnt from my questionnaire is that not a lot of people took a shine to it. But despite that, I learnt that people would like to see the great work people at rescues do and good shots of happy and healthy animals.

Secondary research

28/04/16

What I learned from some secondary research is that in order for me to shoot a good short video, I have to handle my equipment with care, especially my camcorder. I also learned I need a spare battery, clean memory card space, a tripod and lighting which I may be going for natural. For my audio, I'm going to need a microphone plugged into the camera, but of course Im going to talk to my tutor about it.

For interviews, I learnt that you cannot shoot right up against a wall, which leads me right up to 'Selective Focus'. Selective focus shows what is the most important thing by focusing on the interviewee, while the background is blurry. Rule of thirds is generally visually pleasing, for the subject should be positioned at the point where the lines intersect with each other.

Review of 4 TIPS TO COMPOSE THE SHOT by Steven Shattuck

The author of the article is the Vice President of marketing at Bloomerang. Like the Rick Broida article, it's main purpose is to teach amateur filmmakers how to shoot, but mainly interviews.

It is presented as being equally friendly and a mixture of formal/informal. An example of this being a mixture of said is when it mentions "Poor Joe, we can't see his face at all." As it relates to the point of filming in front of a window.

It gives the first tip: Avoid Shooting into A Window. It mostly tells that to avoid backlighting from the sun, from making the interviewee look like a shadow.

Avoid shooting up Against the Wall. This tip shows that making the subject pop out from background is essential so that the focus is correct.

Make sure the room is well lit. This tip is helpful when your interviews are indoors, especially when avoiding unnecessary shadows such as, the 'racoon' effect. Fluorescent light helps with giving a cooler (cold) atmosphere to your video, whereas incandescent light gives a warm effect.

The final tip teaches you on the Rule of Thirds. Which I am already familiar with the concept and it also influenced my filming of my charity video.

So in comparison to the other article, Steven Shattuck did his best not to be rude, when Rick Broida himself failed at.

Sources:

Video link

Interview link

Review of 8 Ways to Shoot Video Like a Pro by Rick Broida

The purpose of this article is teach amateur filmmakers how to shoot their movies like professionals.

I found some parts of the opening a little rude when it mentions 'You suck at making home videos.' But it was possibly provoking to read on. Rick Broida's approach in the article was quite snappy and witty. A few things he could do without saying is using the word 'videography,' just say 'filming,' because it would make a lot more sense and try to keep unnecessary detail/going off on a tangent.

It does however mention some helpful points: RTM, which is short for read the manual. An equipment checklist, such as, spare battery, duct tape and a lens cleaning cloth. Use a tripod, to avoid making your film shaky. Raising the light, in case there are any potential pitfalls including the sunlight being too bright or too dim or rain could stop people filming outside. Audio I have fortunately already planned for this. Set up shots by using rule of thirds and not use camcorder effects. I learnt that digital zoom is not the best way to go, so go for optical zoom to avoid graininess. Generally just plan in advance to achieve a great homemade film.

Bath Cats & Dogs Home mind map

18/04/16

I did this because I really didn't had a choice. Some of the things brought up about this subject were a bit less than comfortable. Such as, ISIS or 9/11 were subject that are frowned upon. Why not feel more comfortable on filing on animal charities?

This other group discussed the concept of 'time.' They mostly just talk about the units of time, such as minutes, hours or days and the fictional shows and movies that revolve around time travel. Then there is a quote from a member of the group.

'Public opinion' has different ways of seeing someone's opinion, including, the press, news, Vox Pop and Gogglebox. There was also finding out other people's opinion, such as, research.

The group did do a Retro future mind map, but none of them bothered to upload a photograph of it onto the Facebook page.

I would possibly make a new logo, because I feel like they need a change.

This is my first draft of an infographic poster for an animal charity/rescue. I am also making a film to relate to my poster. A promotional documentary.

Reflecting on Units

21/03/16

Unit 1, 2 & 3 - Media Passport

I guess what went well was how I survived through this without trying to blow a gasket. I learned in Unit 1 about the process of making a film, the different members of production, camera shots and rules.

What went well in Unit 2 was how primary and secondary research works in getting information. I learned that primary research is done by one-self, while secondary research by or obtained from different people. I carried out a survey that i posted on Facebook for the members of my class were to take. Only five took my survey, I expected more people to take it. I learned that there are other ways in carrying out a survey, such as, hand out paper copies or ask them in person. The purpose of all this is to see what people think about postcards - to choose a target audience. To be honest I really don't know what I would do differently.

Unit 3 I learned about layout on Adobe programs, such as, InDesign.

Unit 4 - Christmas Card

I had some fun with the christmas cards, because I can just let go of my christmas imagination based on a few ideas from Pinterest. I became more comfortable with tracing over the scanned original drawings. At that time I was quite comfortable with the task when we were using the computer mouse.

Unit 5 & 6 - Caller Unknown

I wished I had a bit more time to come up with more ideas for my Caller Unknown film. I learned that you have to suffer to make a film in a sense that you cannot put in a lot of your creative energy into it, because of the restrictions on the brief. As for the audition, I really think I need those performing arts students to engage with their judges or at least acknowledge that at least one of them is going to be picked for a film. The equipment front has been a challenge as well, such as recording the dialogue outside, because of the blustery wind getting into the mic, so I learned that I could record some dialogue inside a quiet room. I had also learned that I need to check if the camera or microphone had a memory card or if it is full.

Unit 7 - Steve

I enjoyed basing my construction toy off of something from a game - The Elder Scrolls. Though the one thing I do not enjoy was that i had to create a whole original system of child construction. I dare say I progressed well, such as grouping shapes or creating a 3d effect on InDesign.

Comic Project Review

17/03/16

I think of what went well was how I was able to make most things historically and culturally accurate, while most other people did contemporary. I guess I did this for the Ninja Spider to make people learn the actual term and nature of a ninja.

Maybe one thing I could change would be the redesign of one of the characters: Shogun Sasori, maybe improve better shape of his tail and claws by giving them a bit more detail.

I learned that by joining the lines in Illustrator, they become one whole thing, overall I did get better at using it. The skill would like to learn to do is learn how to use the frame tool.

CPR Campaign

15/03/16

I thought up this poster after I heard about a court case of many people who took selfies with a man who needed help. After hearing this, it sickens me of how people can be so ignorant when another person's life is at stake. So I drew a smartphone with the picture of a dumb person, posing for a selfie while there is a dead person in the background! I also drew out a rhetorical question whether it's even a good thing to be taking a picture with a dying or even dead man. Answer: neither of them is good!

Comic Panel experimentation

10/03/16

Perhaps maybe to change this, I could make one panel bigger than the others to dominate the page.

I don't really know why I made this panel bigger, but maybe it was possibly to establish a scene of the character's introduction.

I just randomly chose these panels, mostly because I thought we were going to do something that was not relating to the brief. I had to work my head around on what would happen in the first panel and then work my way on the other panels. I choose the black and white because it would give this simplistic effect as Yojimbo Usagi did.

Comic panels

10/03/16

Light

02/03/16

Key lighting is an important setup for a cameraman or photographer. The key light is used as a highlight the dimension of a person or object.

Fill lighting is used to brighten one part of the shot that the key light could not reach. It is useful when trying to show all the details of the object or character.

Backlighting is used as an illumination from behind the subject. It also gives the subject a nice illuminating effect.

Illustrator Tutorial

03/03/16

The Complete Beginners Guide To Adobe Illustrator

It mentions that there are 19 episodes of Illustrator tutorial. After you sketch your design on paper, you can trace it over in Illustrator, mostly by adding shapes and brush lines. I have learned that colour squares are added on the poster designs to collaborate the colours to printers.

Vox Pop

07/03/16

I went into a group to ask a lot of random people a question, but the problem was, we didn't had a subject for our question! Instead we chose a the most generic question on earth: What is your favourite animal?

We had our question, except the people in my group could not make up their own minds on who to ask. They had the confidence of a frilled neck lizard. We had the interviews filmed.

Comic book review

01/03/16

The comic I will be reviewing is 'Usagi Yojimbo' by Stan Sakai.

In the first panel, Miyamoto Usagi comes across a Japanese fortress town on top of a hill. As everyone should know it tells about a ronin (master-less samurai) rabbit who goes on pilgrimage of Japan's countryside giving his services as a bodyguard. I do like the layout with the grey sky with white clouds above the town and the mountains surrounding the grassland area. I also do like how the scene suggests the direction the wind is going, because Miyamoto's ears can draw the viewer's eye across the page. The wind suggestion also promotes a feeling of 'greater calm' to the scene and possibly the reader.

 

The second are five panels with two panels of Usagi fighting on horseback against enemy warriors and winning. I do like the overall simple black and white style. Although it was just a way of saying money, but it's okay because it doesn't need flashy colours. I like the facial expressions, but I also want to point out that the detailing is too intense and thought it should be more simpliefied. Tomoe Ame's quote "He's fighting like a demon!" is a simile comparing to the way Usagi fights whether it's in a positive or negative contrast. I do like the full-plated samurai armour that Miyamoto is wearing because of the authentically drawn design.

Personally I think Usagi Yojimbo can really help with my Ninja Spider project, because it stays faithful to Japanese culture and history.



Reflection on construction toy poster

01/03/16

For some weeks i had to come up with a construction toy and it had to be original idea and I felt like this had my brain injuring itself as the task was very challenging. I had to do some research on existing construction toys such as K'Nex, Zoobs and Toobez, then that's when I had the idea of connecting sticks. But that was then I felt like I needed to get this further out to other people. So then I thought 'What could be the most coolest thing to make kids buy it?' I thought of Lego Ultrabuilds, but instead of DC/Marvel Comics or The Legend of Chima, I decided to go with Skyrim and I guess it made me feel better.

I showed what Stks looks like with the detail connecting, including the side view. Illustrator was not as simple to use as photoshop, considering I had more experience with Photoshop than Illustrator. I didn't exactly feel more confident after that, it had no paint bucket. If I did the project again I would add the arms and improve my grammar.

HEY I'M GRUMP! I'M NOT SO GRUMP! *Warning: explicit language*

01/03/16



Game Grumps is a video game commentary show featuring Arin Hanson AKA Egoraptor and Leigh Daniel Avidan AKA Danny Sexbang or simply Dan. In these shows they normally comment on about weird things that happened in their lives, talk about made up funny scenarios or talk about how good a game they're playing is or how bad. The reason why I like these Game Grumps animated is the fact it has this fitting hilarity, especially with what they say and how the animator(s) fitted the commentary and the action of the cartoon. Part of the comedy comes from their frustration or the contrast of different moods. I may just see that as my FMP (Final Major Project), by taking different parts of the commentary and animate them.

Film peer assessment

25/02/16

Speedrun by Daniel Milsom


I guess I liked the tracking and over the shoulder shots, because respectively it follows the character throughout the film and I liked seeing the letter left to Ryan. In my opinion, the audio was too quiet with the exception of background noise. No dialogue can be heard, but then again, not all short films have to have speaking. The music was a little too dramatic for something that nobody knows of what is going to happen. If I were to do this differently, I would try to change the establishing shot, because it was too slow. I would make the hooded guy come out unexpectedly instead of him appearing out of thin air and slowly walking towards Ryan. I can give Ryan a lightning quick reaction to the hooded guy. Overall change to the film, is try to show a bit of plot. The genre must possibly be action-thriller like The Bourne Identity, but I'm not really sure.

Unknown Caller by Aaron Chandler


I particularly liked the opening of the film  -the panning shot of old buildings in Bath and the dramatic music worked well together. The audio was dominated by the dramatic music - there was no other sound. I would not have used dramatic music for the entire film - some different music or periods of silence or background noise would have varied the tone more. I think there are elements of thriller and mystery, partly because of the final scene in which the 3 characters stare at each other but nothing is said - there is an air of menace but also of mystery. The opening shot was a panning shot; the medium shot where he takes the phone call was effective, and the medium shot of the protagonist meeting the caller and his assistant was also effective.

Final blogpost of the Term

16/12/15

What you enjoyed about the project and what you didn’t

I guess I enjoyed doing the editing, but I did not enjoy of how poorly planned the film was.

Identify 3 - 5 areas that you could improve on next time

1. Write down a plan
2. Always check the equipment
3. Try to give this film a bit more sense
4. Think about the white balance a little more

3 Things you liked and justify why

I like the editing, because I get to have fun with the sounds and effects.

I got to have a part in the film, because I would love to be a rogue character.

Talking to some of the locals, because it gives me the sense that we are aloud to film in certain places.

Also write about how you feel you have improved over the course of this term…

I think I have gradually improved, because now I believe I know how to use other Adobe programs a lot better.

Blog your storyboards, scripts, treatment and focus groups.

Storyboard

Script

Treatment

Focus group