Apple Mac
Throughout the planning, construction and evaluation of my music video, I used an Apple Mac to create and store my work. I did this as Mac's are predominantly used within media industries because of their fluidity between creative software, meaning that I could flick back and forth between large programmes without the risk of my computer crashing and causing me to lose my work. Using the Mac's allowed me to create work of a higher quality as they are able to run larger, more sophisticated software than normal PC's. We have an issue with the internet at my Sixth Form which prevents us from being able to look at online images occasionally whilst using Google Chrome on a student account, so at times I had to use the teachers Mac which has two connected apple monitors. This was very useful, especially during the editing process as it allowed me to have several applications and programmes open at once and access them all easily at the same time. This helped me to stay organised and focused on the task.
Google Blogger
I used Google Blogger to create a blog to organise my Advanced Portfolio and store it all in one easy, accessible place. The online website allows you to compose written posts and insert images and videos to support the text. You can also embed videos from websites such as Youtube, which was useful when I was conducting research into other music videos as it enabled me to link the videos to my analysis of them. I was also able to personalise my blog with my own chosen colour scheme and layout, which made it look more professional as the standard settings are very basic.
JVC Camera
When filming our product, we used a JVC Pro HD camera with a lens that allowed us to alter the focus and depth of field. We learnt how to use the camera efficiently to create effects and determine which camera angles and shots would be the most effective to use. We had to learn how to use the camera through a workshop in which we were shown how to adjust settings and attach it to tripods and a dolly trolley. We also had to learn how to use the SD cards and where to import them to ensure that the footage was stored properly and didn't corrupt.
Premiere Pro
The most important technology we used whilst creating our film was Premiere Pro editing software. By using this software I learned how to import footage and audio to the sequence, edit footage and audio and how to use different editing tools for example:
The Track Select Tool moves all the clips at the same time so you don't have to move them individually which would have caused a problem for us due to the sound bridges we had made.
The Rate Stretch Tool changes the duration of clips and stretches them out and speeds them up or slows them down. I have also learnt how to move clips around on the timeline to put them in the right place.
Rendering is another technique which was useful to learn. It takes your footage and makes it run smoothly and adjusts it to make it a better quality. Premiere Pro informs you that your footage needs to be rendered by putting a red line above the clips in the sequence. Once you render the footage by going into 'Sequence' and clicking 'Render entire work area' the bar above the clips turn green to let you know it has worked successfully. This was one of the most important things to learn whilst editing together our film as without this, the footage and sound would be poor quality and wouldn't have smooth transitions making the overall video appear unprofessional.
Pixlr Express
Instead of using generic photoshop on the Mac, I decided to use an online website that I am more familiar with as I was on a tight time schedule and did not have time to learn how to use the Mac photoshop in an effective way. I have been using Pixlr Express for approximately three years as I enjoy doing photography as a hobby and this is the programme I usually use to edit my photographs, so I decided I would get the best results from my print artefacts if I used a programme I was familiar and comfortable with.
After importing the photo I wanted to work on, I then began to use the airbrush tool to smooth over the pictures of Lydia's face and remove any blemishes to make the artist look entirely flawless as this is something that is commonly done within the music industry. I then used a brightening tool to lighten the colour of the skeleton's body, as it was originally very brown and dirty looking, which wouldn't have been very attractive to look at had I decided to leave it that way. I was then able to layer filters and overlays on top of the image to create my desired effect. This was particularly useful when layering the geometric shapes over the top of the album cover to give it an abstract theme, as I was able to position the triangles over the top of the image and then gradually fade it into the background to ensure that the artist's face was still the main focus of the image. I also used this programme for importing the text onto the print artefacts. I used fonts "Trash Hand" and "Mountains of C" to do this from the "Handwritten" collection, as I felt that this text was most appropriate at fitting in with the childlike theme.
Microsoft Word
I used Microsoft Word to assist with the editing process of the print artefacts. As I was editing on a school computer, some of the features of Pixlr Express were blocked from being used as the school did not have the correct edition of Java to access the whole website. I therefore had to use Microsoft Word to do the small bits that I couldn't do on Pixlr Express, such as writing the Polydor information in tiny font underneath the barcode on the album cover as well as on the CD Disk itself. I also used Microsoft Word to create the framed photos on the wall on the left inside panel of the CD cover, as Word had an easy way of framing images with the simple click of a button that looked just as effective as if I had struggled to do it myself. I also used the horizontal layout of word to put my CD template together as it was an easy way to align everything into the correct place and then simply screenshot it and save it as a photo file, rather than having to save it as a document and then crop it to take away the white background.
Free SFX
Green Screen
We used a green screen for the evaluation process. We recorded ourselves reading our script with a camera for question one in front of a green screen with the assistance of bright light to make our faces more illuminated and easy to see. We then uploaded the footage from the camera to the mac and imported it into a new timeline on Premiere Pro and used the facilities on the software to remove the green background from our footage and layer this over several images and videos that related to what we were talking about. We made sure to make the video and timings correlate well to what we were saying, exactly when we were saying it to ensure that everything was clear and made sense. This was an effective technology to use for the evaluation as it allowed us to present a large amount of information in a visual, more interesting way.
Voice Recorder
We used a voice recorder to record ourselves reading the script for the evaluation question two. We then exported the sound clip from the SD card inside the voice recorder and imported it onto the computer to begin constructing a video to assist our voice over.
Quick Time Movie
I used Quick Time Movie on the Mac to record myself constructing one of the print artefacts. This technology basically records a video of your computer screen and captures whatever you do on the computer for as long as you want it to. Once you have recorded, you can then export the footage as a movie and then import it to wherever you want to display it. In this case, I have imported the video to my blog to show the examiner how I used the media technologies 'Pixlr Express' and 'Microsoft Word' to create the inside panel of my CD cover.
No comments:
Post a Comment