Final Cut

Here is the final cut for my short film, Wrong Number. You can see the text effects have all be finally added. And small improvements based on audience and teacher feedback. Enjoy!!

EVALUATION- Question 4- How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I would say that this project requires a good use and understanding of new media technologies, an important part of media studies is utilizing the forms of technology we have at our disposal and producing media of all formats. Film is something which has been developing since the invention of motion picture cameras in the late 1880’s, since then technology has grown astoundingly and now anyone is able to capture footage and produce a film. Having said this, creating a film to the standard of big budget productions and television dramas is not an easy task. It would require expensive professional equipment and training in using these tools, and I think this is the biggest hurdle I have faced in this project. Trying to produce a professional looking film with the equipment available is near impossible and so I have had to work around the resources as opposed to producing my ideas without restraint. However I think that the technology I have used in both of my subsidiary texts and my blogging has been that which would be used by professional film makers and I am pleased with the standard of work that I have produced in these areas.

Technology has been present at all stages throughout my project, starting at the research and planning for my film. The research I did was all done through the use of the internet. Not only is it the best place to research anything and everything about films but it’s also the most common form of distribution to independent film makers, who make short films. This is because short films are not often picked up by distributers they are either produced and distributed by conglomerate companies such as 'Disney', or they are discovered through film festivals. The only other way for these film makers to get their short films seen is by uploading them to the internet. 

There are many web sites designed for publishing films, such as ‘YouTube’ and ‘Vimeo’. Social media sites can also be used as a way to get your work seen, what ever format it is in, ‘Twitter’ is a popular social networking source for artists and film makers to share their work with large audiences by 'tweeting' there work with links to ways of viewing them, this is a great way of reaching the mass markets and online audiences. 

Should your film then become popular then you have a chance that it will get noticed by websites like ‘Short of the Week’ who cater for a niche audience of short film fans. Because of all of these opportunities I had access to a extensive library of short films, my main sources was ‘Short of the week’ and the 'BBC Film Network' who select some of the best short films from both well known or suggested film makers. This means these sites can have a mix of shorts made by companies with big budgets and from independent groups of film makers. ‘Short of the week’ not only let me view thousands of short films but it also gave me a feel for the industry, I found through this website the conventions of short films and what makes a short film successful as every film had a review. 

I found that using online short film viewing website I could look for inspiration for my short film on and seek lots of advice and research into short films and their conventions. I also found it useful to search for help using software in producing my final product. It was useful using Youtube to find both professional and amateur short films for textual analysis to see their conventions and treatment so I can plan and learn how I should treat my own short film.

For my filming I used a Nikon D3100 as a video camera and for a DSLR camera for poster and magazine photos. This is a very high quality DSLR camera that has many options as well as HD video recording. The frame rate on the camera is of high quality and boasts its HD storage and great versatility. I was extremely happy with the quality of my footage and so happy that I had the opportunity of having and using this camera in New York. I also used my iPhone 5 for very small on the spot footage (only in New York) when I did not have the possibility of using my DSLR, this is in the instance of on the plane and quick things (like nature, e.g. the squirrel in central park. To film this I needed to be quick of miss the opportunity). This smartphone offers a very good standard of front facing video recoding also in 1080p HD quality which I feel cannot be distinguished between the DSLR footage. The disadvantage is that the iPhone is not as professional as using a high quality video recorder or DSLR and has less possibilities to alter the recording settings and overall quality I also can't attach any kind of equipment like a tripod or dolly etc which can enhance recording and overall quality.

Also the camera stored recordings onto an SD card which made transferring my videos onto my Macbook Pro a lot easier than having to rely on a USB lead or sending them via email. However I did use an iPhone for taking pictures of locations meaning I could map them too. I was pleased with the quality of the phone recordings and do not feel they affect the overall quality of the finished film, which goes to show how technology is advancing, giving us more opportunities through devices like smart phones. 

I think that the stage in which the most digital technology is used would be editing. I personally had a lot of difficulty choosing my editing software. When using Adobe Premier Pro for my AS Media Studies coursework I encountered many difficulties when saving and had issues when rendering, mainly due to the school system having limited saving space which caused the system to be slow and takes hours, even days to render. This means that for this years coursework I decided to use my own personal Macbook Pro to edit my footage on iMovie. I feel that using iMovie is a lot simpler and still has the basic features required for editing including text, cutting of scenes, transitions etc. I really enjoy using iMovie and have used it a lot for previous projects. The interface is extremely straightforward and the software has everything I would need to edit the short film to the way I wanted it. I was very impressed with the alterations I could make to video including sound enhancing and colour improvements although compared to Premier Pro I could not change as much with the very precise parameters Adobe offers. Adobe Premier Pro would be the obvious choice for a more professional film maker or as a combination to alter only certain footage that needs precise alterations that could then be rendered and finally edited using iMovie.

Google also played a fundamental role in my research, search engines are often essential as you have encyclopaedic knowledge of everything at your finger tips. When I began to research full length films to influence my own film, IMDB was very helpful. Not only is it a data base of films which you can go to, should you need information on something, but it also has a number of viewer created lists which I found particularly useful when looking for romantic films. Once I had found a film which sounded like it could be beneficial, for example, The Fault in Our Stars, I could then go onto it’s IMDB page for more information about the plot, the cast and for pictures and interviews on the film. YouTube also became useful for more specific short film research.

A particularly modern example of new media technologies would be the use of Adobe’s Creative Cloud & Microsoft Remote Desktop. The combination of these two systems meant that using Microsoft Remote Desktop I could access my school Windows 8 Based operating system remotely using my Apple Macbook Pro from home. This not only gave access to all of the expensive software including the full Adobe Suite which normally you have buy with a subscription and download them straight onto your system I was able to access all of the programs using the schools paid licence saving a lot of money, memory space and time. I was also able to access my school documents so I wouldn't have to keep transferring them using a USB and have to keep track of lots of saved versions. I found this very useful firstly because I could work on my magazine or poster at any times of the day even at school without having to find a desktop computer and I saved lots of money without purchasing a costly monthly subscription to Adobe, which in the end would have been a waste of money as I probably wouldn't use most of the products ever again.

The subsidiary texts went a lot more smoothly in terms of technology compared to the editing of the film. For my film poster I used Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended, which is a program I am familiar with so I didn’t have to spend some time getting my head around the interface and tools. Without photo editing software like Photoshop I would not have been able to make a convincing looking film poster. From removing the image background, enhancing it and layering the text, there are specific techniques used along the way which could not be done in cheaper alternatives such as Paint or perhaps Microsoft Word or Publisher. For my magazine review page I used Adobe InDesign CS6 which is a publishing program designed for producing articles for magazines and leaflets. I hadn’t used this software before so I had to watch some beginners tutorials on YouTube, which is again an advantage of new media technologies, once I knew my way around the interface it was pretty simple. Some of the graphics on the page I created in Photoshop and then placed them straight into InDesign which was fluid and simple because both are Adobe products.

Another important part of my project was blogging my progress, this could not have been done without the publishing websites, in this case Blogger. As this was the website I used last year to produce my blog I knew how everything worked so this didn’t set me back. Blogging is a really good way of presenting your work as it looks neat and organised you can also include pictures and links to videos to support your written work, and its also personal to you, with hundreds of themes to choose from and different ways to present your posts you can demonstrate your technical ability by creating a fluent and attractive blog. My other option for this would have been Word Press, however I think that this site is more basic in the ways you can change the views, sizes and add more creativity to make your blog personal because in my opinion, Word Press constricts your possibilities meaning you sometimes cannot alter the blog as much as you can using Blogger.

For my presentation techniques I used a range of technology to keep my planning, research and evaluation as easy to understand and more interesting than lots of pages of text. I used lots of different resources like Emaze, Prezi, Scribd, Visme, SlideShare and of course Youtube videos. These make my work more engaging. 

For my evaluations and research I found using surveys very useful. For this I created
online surveys which could easily be sent out to my audiences. I have used smart survey, survey monkey and free online surveys. Surveys are a classic method for data collection. They are flexible, easy to implement, and offer a nearly limitless range of data with reliable results. The data gathered during an effective survey provides a unique opportunity to obtain detailed insight into a program. Because you can gather large amounts of feedback directly from individuals who are affected by the program, surveys act as the finger on the pulse of your project and can measure its strength.

I chose to utilize online surveys to gain research or feedback from my tasks. Tis included researching the ancillary texts as I was not as knowledgeable about posters and magazines so I could easily send a survey out to my potential audience and quickly see what they had to say about the industry and their habits. I then used this research to shape my products and ask once again using a survey their response to the product for feedback and evaluation purposes. I feel in a number of ways that surveys (especially online ones) help to save myself and the audience time and quickly receive answers in the most simple way.  

 

 

It would be acceptable to say that the use of new media technologies in this project has been extensive. Without modern, digital technology much of what I have produced in this project would not have been possible. From the actual filming and editing to the blogging of my work, technology has played a significant role throughout.

EVALUATION- Question 3- What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Here is the presentation explaining how I gained audience feedback and what I learned.
If the presentation does not load please click on the post to view it separately or click here. Thanks!

EVALUATION- Question 2- How Effective is the Combination of Your main product and Ancillary Texts?

EVALUATION- Question 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Please watch my video below where I am showing and talking you through the ways that my short-film has used, developed and challenged forms and conventions of romantic short films:

Sorry that its 22 minutes, I hope I don't ramble on too much! 

Magazine & Poster Audience Feedback

http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/144545MMRYG

Here is my response to this feedback:

Progress Video 6