Showing posts with label Final Cut Pro X. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Final Cut Pro X. Show all posts

Saturday, 19 December 2015

Evaluation Question 4

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Research and Planning.
Technology was heavily used during this stage, and in many ways was one of the most used tools. I used a MacBook Pro with Retina Display and a Windows PC (Lenovo X1 Carbon and generic desktop) to carry out most of the secondary research on areas such as clothing, video techniques, existing media products amongst many others. The way I got to the answers I was looking for varied and usually included Google (used to search for results about the topic that I was researching, including the images platform), Tumblr (for finding images and posts relating to various topics), Wikipedia (For looking up aspects of my research usually filming techniques or narrative theorists and such like), UK Tribes (This was essential in determining our target market), YouTube (another essential piece of software for looking into existing media products). I then used Keynote/Pages and PowerPoint/Word (to present the research). Blogger was also used to publish my research on the internet so that it could be assessed and to make it easier to look through. The web browsers I used were Google Chrome, Safari and Firefox

Ancillary Tasks production
Photoshop CC (and CS6 at school) was used primarily to create my digipak and magazine advert as this software makes it easy to move items and create visuals. I used disk wizards to download a template so that I find need to add all the measurements in. I also used an online barcode generator to make a custom barcode so that my digipak was more professional. All of this software was run on a MacBook Pro Retina, Windows PC (Lenovo X1 Carbon and generic desktop) and iMac and when a web browser was required Safari, Google Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge was used. Other software such as Keynote, PowerPoint, Word, Pages, Preview and few others were used in passing. As with the R&P section Blogger was used throughout this section.

Construction
Pre-production
For the pre production element of the video we used a range of iPhones (5,5s,6s Plus) to develop the storyboard and test the shots, we also used the phones to create images of the storyboards we created in oder to post them on Blogger so that they could easily be found and referred back to. In addition to this the iPhone 6s Plus was used to create an 'animatic' for both the storyboards in order to give a closer representation of what the video would look like. To edit these videos, we used Final Cut Pro X and Adobe Premiere Pro CC as well as iMove, the software was run on a range of computers, MacBook Pro Retina, Windows PC (Lenovo X1 Carbon) and iMac. These 'animatic' videos were then uploaded to youtube and embedded into a blogger post.

Production
During the production phase, we used a variety of technologies the most important of which was the iPhone 6s Plus we used for filming, our entire video was shot on this device using a mix of the standard Apple camera application, and FiLMiC Pro (a professional camera application allowing manual controls for aspects such as focus and exposure), this application allowed us to create the fade in shots and lock the exposure so that it wouldn't auto just in the video. The application makes the video form the iPhone 6s Plus DSLR quality. I then used a Microsoft Surface, an Apple iPad or a MacBook Pro Retina to review the footage and ensure the quality of what we were taking. We also used a battery operated LED light in order to better the lighting (a tool that was crucial, given that we were filming during the dark). A further technology we used was Apple Music (or Spotify) to stream the song so that the actors could sing to they music (this also made it easier to edit as I was able to match the music to the sound on the editing software in post production). We used an iPhone 4 and 5 for this part, in some cases paired to a speaker. Blogger was also used

Post Production
This phase required a high amount of technology, due to the nature of what it entails, firstly we used Final Cut Pro X in combination with Adobe Premiere Pro CC (for some effects) to edit the video, using iMovie to import the raw footage (or directly into Adobe Premiere Pro CC on PC) from the iPhone 6s Plus it was taken on. The editing software was run on a MacBook Pro Retina, Windows PC (Lenovo X1 Carbon), iMac and Mac Pro. These machines were chosen due to the fact that they could provide enough performance to edit efficiently. We used the combination of the software with the hardware we chose in order to make our video visually exciting, and make it as close to established media products as we could. Other technologies we used during post production was Apple iTunes, this was essential as we needed to purchase the song in order to use it in our video. I also made use of Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay H8 headphones to tune the audio of the video.

Support Technologies And Evaluation
We also used other technologies that supported the categories above such as Twitter, this was used to Tweet as the band in order to create a more authentic feel, Vimeo, a video platform that we aloud posted our video to, bing (in order to search for some items), Adobe Lightroom CC (in order to edit photos for the blog and twitter) and Squarespace for the logo.
For my evaluation I used a range of different presentation services and products, such as Adobe Photoshop, Infogram, Word/Scribd and PowerPoint/Slideshare.

Monday, 7 December 2015

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 4

As a group, we frequented on YouTube in order to find the common conventions in existing indie music videos. It was also helpful in all aspects in giving us ideas for set locations, shot lengths, shot ideas and the type if video we wished to try and create. Our main source if inspiration was "Undercover Martyn" by Two Door Cinema Club.  After collecting ideas we made a storyboard which enabled to to see visually the direction we wished to take our video. It was also useful in letting us find out what equipment we were going take need and if our video was feesable. An animatic was also created in order to help the group be able to visualise the final video and see the development of what we had already created.


All members of our group found that Blogger was a useful tool in acquiring feedback from our audience. It also meant we were able to post the continued progress of creative journey. At any point we were able to go back and change or develop our blog posts if we had altered or thought of something new. Our audience were able to post any concerns or feedback they had thought of from viewing our post about the development of our product. As previously discussed this feedback was vital in creating a successful finished video.
For the filming we used the camera from an iPhone 6s Plus which shoots at 4k resolution also we used an app called FiLMiC Pro which gave us manual control for exposure and focus and other aspects of effects. Then few tools the app posed were no match for some of the cameras the other groups were using but we thought that this may actually give our video an edge over others. Other groups may be tempted to use all of the features at their disposal which could lead to them over complicating their video and end up with a confusing or clustered music video. From the reap search, these are very much things you want to avoid when trying to appeal to music audiences especially those in the indie genre. Whilst filling in the dark the LED light we were using was very helpful in lighting the set and allowing us to create the right mind and vibe for each shit that we desired. The additional lighting was also good when filming close-ups, the fact that the audience can clearly see the band members facial expressions is vital in creating the sense of intimacy between them and the band which can help emote certain feelings in the viewer.  Final Cut Pro X helped us to edit the video and get the best finish for the video and create the look we were attempting to re-create in other videos we had seen. Spotify was used to stream the song whilst we were filming so that those performing were able to hear it and sing in time. it also proved useful when getting an idea of shot lengths for each part of our video. Nathan was then able to match the music to our footage whilst editing the video which made the post-production phase slightly easier.


The photoshop software on the Windows PC I was using was the only tool I used whilst creating both my digipaks and magazine advert. This software possessed all elements I needed during this process. Most notably the cut tool, which enabled me to edit images I had taken or found to my desired effect. The colour wheel was useful whilst searching for the colour i was going to use on my digipak. It offered me countless variation of all colours to use; this was an important decision because I had to consider my bands representation. using the wrong colour could mislead audiences that my band is something that it isn't and may deter certain people from listening/viewing/purchasing the album. Both the vertical and horizontal text boxes were also very useful when creating the layout of my album cover. It was especially important to my product as the text is the centrepiece of the product and is the main attraction to audiences/passers by. The macbooks were also useful to me during my evaluation process so that i was able to write up my questions. I used other presentation formats available to me on the computer in order to bring my evaluation together. These formats included: Prezi, Youtube and Scribd. The aim was to provide and original and differing way of presenting my work to not only make it interesting to read, but to also show-off my media skills.
Overall, I feel that the technology I used during this creative process were central to the finished products. Without these pieces of software or programmes I wouldn't have been able to develop my ideas in the way I did and to create these products without these technologies would have been virtually impossible.