G325 Timed Essay

Discuss how far digital technology has enhanced the creative process in your media production work.

Digital technology has enhanced the creative process in my media production work in a number of different ways, through cameras, editing software and the internet.

My technological skills with cameras has vastly improved over both the AS and A2 portfolios. I learnt how to use a variety of different cameras including Mini DV cameras, SD cameras and now high definition cameras. Now during the A2 year, we have updated our cameras and are now using HD cameras. There is a distinct quality different between this years and last years cameras, which allow you to show the video at the largest size on big screens without a distinct loss in quality. The new HD cameras have a number of interesting features, such as an image stabilizer which help reduce shake on handheld footage. They also have better zooming capabilities than last years cameras with no loss in quality when zooming at high levels. This allows us to explore different camera shots making our work differ from others.

The internet has greatly enhanced the research process of my media production work. Video sharing websites such as YouTube allows anyone with an internet connection to upload and share their work and it is also used by professional media organisations such as EMI and BBC. During the research and planning stage, YouTube allows me to search through millions of videos for inspiration, ideas and analysis purposes. As well as enhancing the planning and research stage it also allows amateur filmmakers to make a name for themselves. With the possibility of a worldwide audience, many filmmakers such as ourselves have had millions of video views and become internet hits.

Another useful technological tool which has been very useful during the construction of both my AS and A2 media portfolio is the ability to use blogging to present my work. Websites such as Blogger and Wordpress allow anyone with an internet connection to sign up and create a blog allowing them to share their thoughts with the world. I have found the blogs very easy to work with and useful as I can update them from both school and at home. Blogging also has advantages over traditional paper based work presentation, as it can display a various number of different media types including videos from websites such as YouTube, which can be embedded into the blog and then supported with text or images. Blogs also have a record of when everything was posted showing when students have posted work etc. Blogging has enhanced the creative process during the construction of both my A2 and AS portfolios as they allow me to display a number of different types of media through just one webpage, such as videos, images and text.

Editing software has also enhanced the creative process with new and improving software now becoming available for the masses. Software such as Adobe After Effects allows users to enhance and edit footage, adding special effects, changing colours etc. A video can be completly transformed using this software with a number of different effects available. These effects include adding lightning, explosions and lots more, all in the post filming stage. This means that if a shot is not quite as you hoped, it can easily be changed by experimenting with colours and contrast and adding effects. This software has enhanced the creative process greatly as it allows me to edit footage professionally and add professional looking effects to my videos. After Effects is usually used before the main editing of the footage begins, as the footage can be changed and effects added before you start editing the main video on video editing software. The software which we are going to be using to edit the video together this year, is going to be Adobe Premier Pro. This software is much more advanced than the iMovie software we used last year, and can lead to a more professional looking video. However because the programme is much more advanced than iMovie, it takes a while to learn all of the basic features, whereas iMovie is much simpler and videos can be created much more quickly. However once you have learnt the basic features of Premiere Pro, it can enhance the creative process during the editing phase of production, because there are more options to choose from, such as video transitions and timing can be done more precisely. There are also more exporting options, such as different file formats which the video can be saved in, allowing higher quality videos to be produced.

Overall, digital technology has enhanced the creative process during both the AS and A2 media portfolios greatly. The internet allows us to gather ideas and research, and blogging websites allow us to display our work in a creative and effective way. Camera technology has also improved which means higher quality and better footage can be produced. Video editing software such as Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro also allow us to modify and change videos to suit our needs.

Research & Planning prompt questions

How did your research into genre contribute to your production work?

During the construction of my AS Media Portfolio work, i conducted lots of pre-production research into the genre of my film opening. I did research into similar genre films such as The Bourne Identity and then analysed them on my blog. I also analysed the opening of other films such as Quantam of Solace. Aswell as looking at proffessional productions, I also looked at other students work from previous years and marked them using the official mark scheme. I think that this was beneficial and contributeted to my production work, as it meant i knew what the examiners were looking for in my practicial piece. I gained ideas and inspiration by looking at other similar genre productions which contributed to my final two minute opening production work.

How did your research into audience contribute to your production work?

Before starting filming, i conducted lots of detailed audience research including asking people what they thought made a good opening to a film and why. We created a video and uploaded it to our blogs afterwards. I think that the audience research was also beneficial to my production work, because asking students about what they wanted from a film opening allowed me to create an opening which would interest and engage the viewer. During my A2 project, i am looking to do more audience research and ask a wider range of people. In AS we only had time to conduct interviews in and around the school, which meant that the research we gained could have been biased or similar from person to person. This time I am hoping to get a wider range of views by asking a number of differant people varying in age. I am also looking to target my audience research at my target audience.

How did your research into institutions responsible for the production and regulation of the media influence your production work?

I also did lots of research into institutions responsible for the production and regulation of the media industry. For example, during class we did lots of research on large organisations such as Time Warner and IPC Media. However i don't think that this research was very influential on the production of my practical work because this was more exam related than production related. Despite of this it was very interesting to learn about the differant institutions, and i enjoyed learning about the oligocharly organisations such as Time Warner and the News Corporation who own lots of smaller worldwide companies in order to reach as many people as possible and dominate in the world of media.

What pre-production planning techniques did you employ (scripting, storyboarding, shot-lists etc.)? How effective was your planning – how did it help you in the production phase?

I employed a variety of differant planning techniques during my production. My opening had no dialogue so my script was a more detailed shotlist outlining in text what i wanted from each shot before i started filming. I looked at some other proffesional scrips from films like the Bourne Identity to gain inspiration and see what my script shold have looked like. I also employed the storyboard technique where i drew out each individual shot and included information such as the lighting, mise-en-scene and the positioning of characters within the shot. This helped me during filming as i took my storyboard out on location so i knew exactly what i wanted from each shot rather than rushing into filming without any planning beforehand. Creating a shotlist was very handy during filming and overall all the pre-production planning techniques were very helpful during the production phase.

How did you use audience feedback to influence your production work while it was in progress?

During the filming progress i often refered back to the audience research video we created. By doing this it reminded me of what the audience wanted from film openings. During my A2 work, i will probably refer to the feedback more often during planning and production, because it will be in more detail and length.

G325

G325 - Critical Perspectives in Media is a synoptic written exam, which we will sit next summer. Section A of G325 is related to my AS and A2 production work.

1) Describe briefly the research tasks you carried out, including audience research/research into similar media texts.

• Looked at similar media films, such as the Bourne Identity etc.
• Interviewed students on what they thought made a good film opening
• Created a moodboard, with images relating to the piece i wanted to create
• Wrote a short pitch describing about our film openings.
• Analysed the specification for the course.
• Brainstorming activity on all of my ideas.
• Reviewed example films from the OCR website.
• Marking similar film openings from previous years, to get an idea about what the examiners wanted from our practical work.

Overall i think that the research i carried about before filming, helped me understand what audiences want from film openings and how to improve them.

2. Describe planning activities undertaken - including scripting/storyboarding/actors' notes.

• I created a series of storyboards, breaking down each individual shot in detail, including lighting, camera angles and what type of shot i wanted to produce.
• I investigated possible filming locations before filming started, which helped in the planning process, and made filming easier and quicker.

3. Challenges which arose during post-production - including editing/layout design.

• Some of the footage had lighting issues which i had to change during the editing process.
• I had some editing issues, whilst trying to create titles for my opening, which i managed to resolve towards the end of the editing process.
• I had a small problem with rendering my videos because of the file format.
• Due to copyrighting issues, i couldn't use the music which i had chosen in the planning stage. This meant i used lots of valuable time trying to find suitable music, instead of editing the actual piece.

Extended question

1) Assess the impact of the activities/tasks/challenges you have outlined above on the success (or otherwise) of your finished foundation portfolio.

I think that the audience research phase was very important to the success of my film opening. By understanding what the audience wanted from a film opening, i was able to create an opening which would be popular with the audience. However i think that the planning activities were the key to the success of my project overall. Without careful and detailed planning, my project would have been disorganized. Without visiting possible filming locations first, the filming would have been more difficult and would have taken much longer than it did. I think that breaking down each individual shot and creating a storyboard was very helpful when creating the final project. By doing this i was able to have an idea of what i wanted from my project, and what it would look like when complete. I also refered to my storyboard during filming, which helped me create a good project.

Improving at A2

To improve my A2 work this year, there are a number of differant things i would do differantly.

• Improve my audience research. During the research stage of my A2 Project, I am going to ask a larger range of people rather than just students from our school. By asking a range of differant ages, i think my audience research will be more proffesional and relevant.
• Improve my planning. For my A2 project i want to improve my planning and plan in more detail. Although my planning was very helpful during AS, i think that my planning needs to be more detailed and i need to spend more time on this stage.