Evaluation
Sian Thody Fd Photography 1
Having now produced our video for the video production module, I can look back and think about how or more specifically, what I would change, should I make the film again.
Our initial idea of basing our video on the titles for the television show ‘Dexter’, turned out to be out final idea for the production of our video. We all agreed we liked the style of filming of the video and also the editing used. We also liked the plot and story of the video, the simplicity of showing a man getting up, making breakfast and leaving the house. Yet it is visualized, and produced so well that it becomes so effective.
After watching the video, we then actually played it again, stopping the video each time the frame or even the angle of the camera changes, documenting this whilst we watch it. I think doing this was crucial to our video production as it shows how many times the frame changes throughout the short sequence. It would also show us how important the editing would be in our own production, and how simply we could shoot the footage as long as the editing was effective. By dissecting the video so carefully and thoroughly so early on in the project was also beneficial as it showed us just how much we would have to do after the filming of the video. Therefore I am glad we started the filming of our video so early on in the project, so that any problems or creative changes we may come across would be dealt with quickly.
The filming of the cooking sequence was very successful in my opinion. We all individually had a go at filming some shots, which I thought was important. Although we all had fairly loose roles in the production I don’t think any of us wanted a ‘director’ of the video.
I think the only thing I would change about the cooking sequence would be the cup used when we show a tea being made, It would have been much more effective if we’d have used a cafetiere or ground our own coffee beans like on the Dexter video. I also would have zoomed in more on some of the table sequences, like the cake being cut or the blood orange being squeezed. Although we were able to zoom in and edit out the background on final cut express, it would have been much less time consuming if we’d had thought about it when filming.
I feel that being able to choose our own groups this time had a positive effect on the production of the video. We knew each others strengths and weaknesses and what area each person would be best working in. I also think that our concious decision to do everything as a group, such as the filming and the editing of the video had a positive effect. It relly helped with group dynamics and created a fairness in sharing the roles. We didn’t want to feel like one person was either carrying the group or being carried by the group.
I feel my weakness in the group showed when it came to the editing of the video. I have very little experience and confidence in final cut express and as Charlotte and Corinne seemed to know exactly what they were doing, I very much took a back seat during the editing process. We did all however, give our opinions and thoughts on the editing and were all equally pleased with the results.
In my opinion, the sequence which works the best is at the end of the video, where I am walking through the underpass towrds the camera, and give a glance and a laugh towards the audience. During editing we slowed this frame right down and faded it to black. I think this works really well and I especially like the look to the camera, almost triumphantly, like I’ve eaten my meal and now I am completely satisfied!
If we were to make our video again I think I would probably change the lighting in the kitchen to a much more low-key, atmospheric light. Also, personally, I would like to have more editing confidence, I think this is hard when you have someone so talented within the group. I felt my strengths showed the most with the initial organising, showing the group the Dexter video and writing the treatment. However my weakness in editing is something I would like to work on for our next video production.
Overall I am very pleased with our final video and the way we delegated jobs and worked together as a group.
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Weekly Planner
Jan 9th – week 1
• Watch videos from the first part of project, re-briefed on second part of project.
• Good chance to look back at first video and think about what and how I can change anything for this next part.
• Get ourselves into groups for new project. Dean, Charlotte, Corinne and Myself.
Jan 16th – week2
• In our new groups discuss ideas and possible approaches for new video project.
• Look at ‘Dexter’ titles, perfect starting point for an idea. We all agreed we liked the style of the video, the quick frames and fast editing. We would like to emulate this in our own video.
• After watching the video, we REALLY watched it, detailling every time the frame changes in the video and the second it happens.
• Discuss how we can use these techniques in a video of our own, a storyline, plot or theme.
• Also in our groups divide up jobs for each other:
Dean – Music, brother can do the composing – chosing suitable music for our video
- Filming of the title sequence.
Sian – Starring in the video
- Writing the treatment and the storyboard
Charlotte – Film most of cooking sequence
- Chief editor! Has most confidence in using final cut express.
Corinne – Also helping with the editing.
- Filming the sequences at her house.
Jan 23rd – week 3
• All agree on using food as a theme in our video, because we want to use quite fast paced editing we want a fairly simple plot for the video. A simple routine, such as cooking something to eat and eating it.
• Write treatment for idea and storyboard initial shots and framing ideas.
Jan 30th – week 4
• Start filming of the video. Film, what will eventually be the title sequence, either at the beginning of the video or at the end.
• Capture the tiles from an underpass near college for the title sequence. Want to emphasise the repetition and routine of the tiling on the wall. Have me walking towrds the camera alongside the wall. Quite dark and dingy, similar to Dexter titles. Eye Contact!
Feb 1st – week 4
• Utilize extra editing session in MM2 with Mike Flowers.
Feb 6th – week 5
• Film the rest of our video. Buy food for filming the cooking sequence.
• We decided to use some shots we particularly liked from Dexter, like the egg and ketchup shots with blood connotations and also the squeezing of the blood orange
• Film the entering of the flat and the key turning in the door.
• Consider editing when filming, what will look best faster/slower, what won’t work? The sequence of the food being cooked and the eventual continuity of the video.
Feb 8th – week 5
• Capture some footage to final cut express, play with both the speed and the opacity of the video.
• We manage to edit about a minute of our video today – remember what editing what all about and how time consuming it can be.
• Decided to all be present for the editing even though for some it might just be about giving an opinion, we thought it would be good for group dynamics of we all showed our support for the video.
Feb 12th – week 6
• Complete the editing of our video, add the credits to the end and the name of our film, ‘Breakfast not at Tiffanys’ to the beginning.
• The music can now be chosen for our video, decide as a group what will suit the theme best.
• Burn the video as a quicktime film to a dvd.
• Watch videos from the first part of project, re-briefed on second part of project.
• Good chance to look back at first video and think about what and how I can change anything for this next part.
• Get ourselves into groups for new project. Dean, Charlotte, Corinne and Myself.
Jan 16th – week2
• In our new groups discuss ideas and possible approaches for new video project.
• Look at ‘Dexter’ titles, perfect starting point for an idea. We all agreed we liked the style of the video, the quick frames and fast editing. We would like to emulate this in our own video.
• After watching the video, we REALLY watched it, detailling every time the frame changes in the video and the second it happens.
• Discuss how we can use these techniques in a video of our own, a storyline, plot or theme.
• Also in our groups divide up jobs for each other:
Dean – Music, brother can do the composing – chosing suitable music for our video
- Filming of the title sequence.
Sian – Starring in the video
- Writing the treatment and the storyboard
Charlotte – Film most of cooking sequence
- Chief editor! Has most confidence in using final cut express.
Corinne – Also helping with the editing.
- Filming the sequences at her house.
Jan 23rd – week 3
• All agree on using food as a theme in our video, because we want to use quite fast paced editing we want a fairly simple plot for the video. A simple routine, such as cooking something to eat and eating it.
• Write treatment for idea and storyboard initial shots and framing ideas.
Jan 30th – week 4
• Start filming of the video. Film, what will eventually be the title sequence, either at the beginning of the video or at the end.
• Capture the tiles from an underpass near college for the title sequence. Want to emphasise the repetition and routine of the tiling on the wall. Have me walking towrds the camera alongside the wall. Quite dark and dingy, similar to Dexter titles. Eye Contact!
Feb 1st – week 4
• Utilize extra editing session in MM2 with Mike Flowers.
Feb 6th – week 5
• Film the rest of our video. Buy food for filming the cooking sequence.
• We decided to use some shots we particularly liked from Dexter, like the egg and ketchup shots with blood connotations and also the squeezing of the blood orange
• Film the entering of the flat and the key turning in the door.
• Consider editing when filming, what will look best faster/slower, what won’t work? The sequence of the food being cooked and the eventual continuity of the video.
Feb 8th – week 5
• Capture some footage to final cut express, play with both the speed and the opacity of the video.
• We manage to edit about a minute of our video today – remember what editing what all about and how time consuming it can be.
• Decided to all be present for the editing even though for some it might just be about giving an opinion, we thought it would be good for group dynamics of we all showed our support for the video.
Feb 12th – week 6
• Complete the editing of our video, add the credits to the end and the name of our film, ‘Breakfast not at Tiffanys’ to the beginning.
• The music can now be chosen for our video, decide as a group what will suit the theme best.
• Burn the video as a quicktime film to a dvd.
Jason Tozer, American Psycho
A collaboration between Jason Tozer and Katy Ingram, 'We wanted to create something together exploring our darker sides. This is how it turned out...'
Although photography not video I feel this shoot shows what we originally wanted for our video. Quite a stark, horror feel to it. Whereas where Tozer here has been quite obvious with the blood and bodies we wanted to show more subtlties. Using food as perhaps representing the body and connotations of blood and horror.
Hype Williams
Hype Williams has essentially spawned an entire generation.
Williams signature style, although not exhibited in all videos, involves shots placed in regular widescreen ratio, while another set of shots is placed in the spaces which would normally be left blank in widescreen ratio videos.
Widely known for his 'flashful' style, which he brings to his videos, Hype reinvigorated the music video landscape and set new limits for music videos to take.
Monday, 18 February 2008
Treatment Part 2
For our video production, we are working in groups of four, Myself, Dean, Charlotte and Corinne. We have got many of our initial ideas from the opening titles of a television series about a serial killer called ‘Dexter’. It shows a simple routine of him waking up and getting ready, yet it uses many framing and editing techniques which make it so effective. It uses very short, quick frames with a range of angles for the shots, it also speeds up and slows down certain frames emphasising what message they want to give the viewer.
We would like to use some of these techiniques in the filming and (mostly) the editing of our film. We intend to use a simple routine, like making something to eat and eating it as the basis of our film, but feel that with clever editing and layering of footage we can make this simple idea much more effective and successful.
We have decided to loosely give ourselves roles for the production to divide the work as equally as possible. Dean will do most of the filming and also will sort the music out for the video. I will star in the video and do some of the production, writing the treatment and drawing our storyboard. Corinne and Charlotte will do the editing of our video as they have the most knowledge and confidence with this area.
We would like to use some of these techiniques in the filming and (mostly) the editing of our film. We intend to use a simple routine, like making something to eat and eating it as the basis of our film, but feel that with clever editing and layering of footage we can make this simple idea much more effective and successful.
We have decided to loosely give ourselves roles for the production to divide the work as equally as possible. Dean will do most of the filming and also will sort the music out for the video. I will star in the video and do some of the production, writing the treatment and drawing our storyboard. Corinne and Charlotte will do the editing of our video as they have the most knowledge and confidence with this area.
Evaluation Part 1
I think our video has worked well to show the theme of Vanity. I think our change of idea should have happened sooner in the project, so we’d have had more time to think about and develop our idea. We individually filmed different people we know putting make up on from two different camera angles. I chose to use my mum and my sister to film. However I had a dodgy tape and much of my footage was unusable for the group, but I still thought it was good we salvaged some as it showed a variety of faces in the final video. This problem didn’t really have much of a negative effect on our video however, as we changed the speed of the film so much, slowing sequences down and speeding some right up.
I feel it would have been beneficial for group bonding and dynamics if we’d have filmed some footage together, even thought this wasn’t necessary it would have been good to see how we each work differently.
Another thing I probably would have done differently if we were to redo our film is that I would include some sound clips In the final edit. We couldn’t think of or agree on what would work best with the footage we had. This is something we can think about over christmas and change for our next video production.
I feel it would have been beneficial for group bonding and dynamics if we’d have filmed some footage together, even thought this wasn’t necessary it would have been good to see how we each work differently.
Another thing I probably would have done differently if we were to redo our film is that I would include some sound clips In the final edit. We couldn’t think of or agree on what would work best with the footage we had. This is something we can think about over christmas and change for our next video production.
Lauren Greenfield
"Photographer Lauren Greenfield reveals the insecurities, dreams and secret rituals of American girls. What emerges is a portrait of two generations growing too fast."
An American documentary photographer, photojournalist, and documentary filmaker. She has published three books of her work, and has featured in a variety of magazines. Her photographs generally deal with issues relating to youth culture, gender identity, body images, eating disorders, and the influence of popular culture on how we live.
Weekly Planner
Week 2- Wed 7th November
• Point of view shots – Research- What does it make you think about camera person?
• Elle Muliarchyk – Vanity
• Music, Guillemotts, ‘Made up love song’
• Idea - A walk from A to B, Holding the camera, people to stop and stare. Then stop. Camera turns to holder, Not vain, Hood up, Hidden face
• Quite a dark and gloomy video
• Looking around with camera, like you would if you were walking.
Week 3 – Wed 14th November
• Change of plan! Tutorial with Jo and Maria. First idea has been done too many times, choose something more subtle and easier to make look really good and really effective.
• People in mirror putting on make up, looking towards camera…and also looking into the mirror at the reflection of the person.
• Can all shoot footage separately.
• Use editing techniques to capture videos. Edit it quickly to cut between shots and faces.
Week 4 – Wed 21st Novemeber (Tutorial week)
• Complete storyboard, although can’t fully storyboard until edited really, need to see which order works best when we edit it.
• Will have different faces doing the same things, showing flashes of four girls all doing lipstick, then four girls all using blusher.
• All sped up so it cuts between girls effectively.
Week 5 – Wed 28th November
• All individually rent a camera and shoot around ten minutes footage, try to shoot two girls each to get some variety.
• Me – Mum and Sister
Dean – Charlotte and Mum
Jen – Sarah
• Get shots straight on and reflection into mirror, two camera angles. Blusher, lipstick, mascara and eyeliner shots.
Week 6 – Wed 5th December
• Capture the footage from the camera to the computer – using final cut express.
• Edit the footage, use a mix of fast and slow shots. Think more about the sound. NOT a recognisable song… not a soundtrack. Classical music?
• Burn final video to 3 discs. Burn as quicktime movie.
• Point of view shots – Research- What does it make you think about camera person?
• Elle Muliarchyk – Vanity
• Music, Guillemotts, ‘Made up love song’
• Idea - A walk from A to B, Holding the camera, people to stop and stare. Then stop. Camera turns to holder, Not vain, Hood up, Hidden face
• Quite a dark and gloomy video
• Looking around with camera, like you would if you were walking.
Week 3 – Wed 14th November
• Change of plan! Tutorial with Jo and Maria. First idea has been done too many times, choose something more subtle and easier to make look really good and really effective.
• People in mirror putting on make up, looking towards camera…and also looking into the mirror at the reflection of the person.
• Can all shoot footage separately.
• Use editing techniques to capture videos. Edit it quickly to cut between shots and faces.
Week 4 – Wed 21st Novemeber (Tutorial week)
• Complete storyboard, although can’t fully storyboard until edited really, need to see which order works best when we edit it.
• Will have different faces doing the same things, showing flashes of four girls all doing lipstick, then four girls all using blusher.
• All sped up so it cuts between girls effectively.
Week 5 – Wed 28th November
• All individually rent a camera and shoot around ten minutes footage, try to shoot two girls each to get some variety.
• Me – Mum and Sister
Dean – Charlotte and Mum
Jen – Sarah
• Get shots straight on and reflection into mirror, two camera angles. Blusher, lipstick, mascara and eyeliner shots.
Week 6 – Wed 5th December
• Capture the footage from the camera to the computer – using final cut express.
• Edit the footage, use a mix of fast and slow shots. Think more about the sound. NOT a recognisable song… not a soundtrack. Classical music?
• Burn final video to 3 discs. Burn as quicktime movie.
Treatment Part 1
Our videos title is Vanity. We have chosen to show this theme by looking at make up and the way women will routinely use make up every day, almost like a ritual. To show this we will use techniques like repetition and fast editing. We intend to use two camera angles for each person we film. One will be with the model looking straight into the camera putting their make up on as if the camera was the mirror. The other camera angle we will use is with the camera looking into the mirror, so we capture the reflection of the person.
Although not entirely crucial to the production of our video it would help if we all filmed a similar distance from our models and all in similar posistions, with similar lighting. The main purpose of our video is to show that it is not just vain women who make themselves up using cosmetics. Make up used to be a way to rebel, to look different, yet nowadays, especially in our shallow, looks obsessed culture, it is someone who doesn’t wear make up is seen as different and almost frowned upon.
We want to show putting on make up as something which is ritually done by women daily. A thing which is seen a socially the right thing to do. Almost like a tribal routine millions of people over the world do every morning.
Although not entirely crucial to the production of our video it would help if we all filmed a similar distance from our models and all in similar posistions, with similar lighting. The main purpose of our video is to show that it is not just vain women who make themselves up using cosmetics. Make up used to be a way to rebel, to look different, yet nowadays, especially in our shallow, looks obsessed culture, it is someone who doesn’t wear make up is seen as different and almost frowned upon.
We want to show putting on make up as something which is ritually done by women daily. A thing which is seen a socially the right thing to do. Almost like a tribal routine millions of people over the world do every morning.
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