video production evaluation

Video production advert

For my video production course work I was set the task to create a freaky or unique advert which would promote a product of our choice. At first we had to learn the basics like main functions of a video camera such as how to white balance the cameras and how to place them on the tripods correctly without the cameras being damaged. Additionally we had to research other adverts that were freaky or unique and we came across multiple options. My group who consisted of Drew, Scottie and myself came to the conclusion that we should attempt to mimic the ghost girl advert from phones4u because it could amusing to recreate for our self. Also we had to decide whether to use diegetic or non-diegetic sound because either of them could have worked but we finally decided that non-diegetic would be better due to the fact we can emphasise certain aspects like heavy breathing and wind. Throughout our filming time we went to many, different locations. This meant that in each place the lighting would be different so therefore we had to constantly white balance the camera so that the lighting was on point every time we started filming. Overall I learnt many skills which will help me in the future such as white balancing. This is drastically important because all my clips in the future need the right amount of light. Additionally I’d say that learning the basics of the tripod really helped me because now all my shots in the future will be steady and come out with a good quality. My final piece genuinely turned out better than I expected. My initial idea was to use many basic shots however I eventually gained the confidence to try out more complicated shots such as jibs and steady cams which in return created a lot more tension throughout our adverts. However there are many things that could be adapted. Such as if drew had makeup that made her look a lot more pail then we wouldn’t have had to change the whole clips to black and white. And maybe used some more powerful sound effects like tense music during chase scenes. Yet overall I’m proud that our group managed to get everything done and edited with in the time frame and still had time left to spare. And I’m glad that it all went well.

photography/ graphics evaluation

Photography/ graphic evaluation.

For this whole project our main aim was to produce a magazine advert that was either freaky or unique. I decided to go with the freaky approach because it was coming up to Halloween and my advert would fit in perfectly. I had multiple ideas on what to do for this project. In the end I made an advert to promote the popular drink Pepsi. I had researched a multitude of things for this project in college and in my own spare time, and the more detail you put into advert the better so that’s what I aimed for. My final product took many different designs that I had created previously and I decided why not to just add all the ideas together into one and come out with something that uses all the ideas. I had around six sketches on how my advert could look yet I went with a very basic design. Yet I used a creepy background to attract attention to it. During my research I had found a page that explains the essentials of a magazine advert so I used this as a helping hand. It told me to use text that not only stood out from the background but out from the actual picture. Hence why the white is still on the text.

Overall I learnt a variety of skills. Mainly using Photoshop and learning from the basic, essential skills to being able to create my magazine advert with some advanced tools which took time to learn how to do. I tended to get stuck with some aspects though such as cloning however Owen managed to get me round that issue. Mainly I understood what each tool does and how I can use that in my final piece.

Furthermore I’d like to believe that my final piece came out excellent, however some things may need changing. I could have used my own image for my background in which I could have obtained some more credit. However id say that my final piece was well structured and followed the exact guidelines that Owen and Mark wanted. Additionally I spent ages trying to get the text to the right size so that did take up time when cropping some other things. If I was to do this again I may attempt to try and develop my designs more so that they are more specific. 

photography proposal

Photography project: proposal : Freaky or Unique

For my photography course work. I have been asked to take photographs of objects so that I can promote a product. The product I decided to attempt to promote is Pepsi. For my photography I will need multiple pieces of equipment. For example to make sure that there are no shadows on my items, we should use very special lights that are called red heads. This is so that there is an even coverage of light. We also should use a seamless background. This is so that the pictures can have a sense of depth and that all the light can be reflected evenly. I will also need a camera and a decent SD card.  For this photography project I will be located in the classroom so that its dark and the red head lights can have more effect on the images. I will be using props such as cans and bottles since I am trying to promote Pepsi. For the main process of editing I will be using Photoshop to edit my images. This is because I can edit certain aspects individually such as light without effecting anything else. Also I can edit the background out so when I create my magazine advert I can add an effective background. During this project I may run into to a multitude of complications. For example the battery may die. Therefore I will carry an addition battery. Moreover the tripod may be faulty so ill will insure that the tripod is set up properly and ensure that everything is tight and upright. We would also have to consider what time of day I would shoot in but since I will be in the studio it wouldn’t really matter what time of day because I’d be using artificial light. For my photographing time I’d like to get most of it done within about half an hour however I may end up using a lot more time so that I can get multiple pictures so in the end I have plenty to choose from. Also I may take a variety of different angles so that a different amount of light can be seen. So overall I feel confident in this piece of work and hopefully I will end up keeping on top of my work and end up with a decent grade out of all of this.

photoshop magazine advert

today we were set the task to create a magazine advert to promote our chosen product. we had to consider what fonts to use, logo and slogan placement and background effects. since our advert was about a "freaky" drink i decided to continue that concept. here is what my final design turned out like. we also had to sketch out some rough ideas of what our design should look like. in the end i combined two of my ideas to come up with my final piece. i used dafont to create my text and then went on google to find the logo and bottle as i had forgot my sd card today. as you can see i disaturated the background yet left colour on the bottle and logo to make them stand out from the background. also i made sure that the word haunt was bigger then the rest to attract the audience to it.  finally i used the magic wond tool so that the pepsi bottle had no unwanted background on it

advert filming

for our advert we have been sent out to record our clips that will be used in our advert. Our advert is about a ghost girl chasing someone for there drink. We included various types of shots such as steady cams, jibs, pans and lots more. we used steady cams to give off the effect that something is chasing our actor. Additionally we used a jib shot twice to be able to see actors round corners and it gives off a great effect. we finally joined the pan shots with a jib shot to give off the effect of something peering round corners. when it came down to editing we had to flip some of the clips that we used a steady-cam on because they were recorded upside-down. however in the adobe premier editor it was easy to do this because all we had to do was drag a flip option onto the clip we needed flipping. over all i say our recording session went well because before hand we got all our paperwork sorted out and finished so that we had plenty of time to record. Moreover we took each shot multiple times so therefore we had plenty of shots to choose from for our final  piece. we all backed up the files as well so therefore nothing was lost. our team worked well together because we all listened to each others ideas and took time with our planning.


however we did have to change one of our locations because we were planning on using the elevator yet it was consistently in use so we never actually got time to use it. in the end we just used a different hallway however the outcome was still fine.



ONCE FILE IS FULLY EDITED I WILL ADD IT TO BLOG.

theory lesson 4

In today lesson with Faye we basically got all our paper work sorted. things like our story boards, location recces and other things like that. we also managed to create a logo. since we are doing a freaky advert we decided to use a website called 'dafont.com' to find a freaky font which then gives of the effect of creepiness. we also got a shot list done so therefore we can easily get our filming tomorrow quickly so we will end up having more time to edit our footage. I will hopefully finish the recces later on this evening and therefore everything is set for tomorrow and filming. Drew will be sorting her make up out and ill be sorting out the label for the bottle that we will be using. additionally with this new label we can add this to the end of our advert as a finally image and maybe have a dark voice say the slogan. however we will figure the fine details later 

here is our new logo :) 

photography three

So in today's lesson we had to start taking pictures of objects that we could use in our picture advert.
i decided that i was going to use a different brand for this task then my video advert because i want a little more variety. We also got introduced to using the lighting devices called a  'red head' which in return gave even lighting to my pictures. i also used the rule of thirds on some of my pictures and used some of my own knowledge to create some unique pictures.

i felt confident in this because i was first to get all my pictures done and and now all i need to is edit some of these pictures together in Photoshop. however i could improve on some of the angles that i was using as some aspects were missing and maybe the lighting could have been better.

but all together i am happy with my photos and how they came out. as you can see below my lighting is decent. we also used a curved backdrop so that there was a sense of depth. This backdrop will also in Photoshop because it clear what needs to remove

here are the best ones :

in tutorial today we went down to the library to use the printers. we were set the task to find a book, film or magazine that interested us. i chose the film kick-ass because i have a strong passion for action based films as well as comedy so since this has both it really intrigued me. here is a picture of the case.


i have already seen the film yet i constantly want to watch it again because of the comedy aspect

proposal , recce and srotyboard

so in todays lesson we had to get a basic idea on what our advert will be selling and our locations that we will be using. we have decided that we will be trying to sell the popular soft drink pepsi. we have also decided to go with a freaky approach to this by taking inspiration from the " phones4u"advert that we researched. The ghost girl that will be played by Drew will be appearing in different places as scottie tries to escape her. eventually scottie will get caught and then the drink will appear in drews hands. we have chosen three locations to do the filming which are in the main entrance, elevator and staircases. we have also done recces on this locations to make sure they are suitable for filming. throughout our recording stage we will be using non digetic sound so that more tension and fear can be shown as scotty tries to run away. the story boards will be used to give us the basic idea of how our advert will be done whilst recording

we has additionally created a story board to remind us of how our advertisement will be recorded.

here is some examples :

logo for advertisment

today we were set the task to create our own logo design. we went onto a website called ' dafont ' which allows you to use all different kinds of fonts. since our advert is about Pepsi i decided my fonts would say that. all i did was simply print screen and then crop the images of the fonts so that they were around the same size.

here is some of the ones i chose. i chose these because they seem to stand out above the rest and since we are doing a "freaky" advert i decided to chose ones that look a lot more unusual and freaky. in my personal opinion i would choose the second one because it resembles blood or liquid so it will fit perfectly with my product.


from these i was able to create a label for the drink bottle, you used some images off google to make this label seem freaky and creepy, here is an image of what my final product turned out like. i also added on a ghost girl because in our recorded advert we should be using a ghost girl character. to edit most of this u used the eraser tool due to it being a lot easier to use then something like the magic wand tool. i also merged all the layers together at the end so there for nothing could get lost or accidentally deleted during the process of saving.

video production | Introduction and Research and Main advert Idea

So this was our first day on our first assignment to make a freaky or unique advert.

We were split up into groups of three. My group consists of Drew, Scottie and myself. Our first short task was to get to know each other and find out each others strengths and weaknesses. Drew tends to be more confident behind the camera because she feels more confident recording the advert whilst me and Scottie act it out. my main strength is video editing so that's what our group decided that i would edit a majority of the advert. additionally drew has good make up skills so this could come in handy as she could make either me or Scottie really scary and there for draw even more attention to our advert.

Our second task was to research some freaky adverts that was used on Television. We went onto YouTube and found a video with a top ten scariest/freakiest adverts. The main ones that appealed to us was the two " Phones4U" adverts. They both shared a similar theme of a scary figure chasing them and then telling them about a certain phone. They used steady cam shots mainly to give off the effect of something chasing them however if we were to create this then we may use a variety of different camera shots. Our second and finally choice was an "Audi" advert which had an old battered car rapped up in webs and then a spider jumping down and then turning into a car. this advert used a variety of shots from panning to tilting and possibly some jibs as well. So over all i think we should use the phones 4 u adverts as our inspiration and maybe try replicate something similar to these. Especially the chase scenes as they tend to really draw they viewers in.




here is the link to the video we researched.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qNhkw_Ah4U

Our main advert Product is to try and promote a mobile phone. to make it freaky we are going to use Drew as a ghostly figure who will be stalking Scottie , i will be the camera man. Scottie will be walking into college and as he walks in Drew will appear all of a sudden. then once Scottie turns around she will be gone. Scottie then tries to run for the elevator and is frantically checking behind him. once the elevator arrives he will think hes safe yet Drew as the ghost girl will be stood waiting for him in the elevator. she will then say something about the phone and then a slide with the slogan on will appear. our slogan will be something along the lines of "buy from us or it will haunt you" therefore tying the freaky element in with our advert!This is uniue compared to this advert because we are basing it inside college, somewhere that is easily recognised by people.

photography lesson 2

so in photography today were were set the task to take photos out of a national geographic magazine which use different techniques such as depth and and view points.

i felt confident in this because i have an understanding of what each type of picture was and what techniques it used

however i could improve on my lighting skills because some of the photos we took were underexposed.

here are some of the pictures we took

here is a list of some of the techniques that we had to find

Rule of thirds states than an photograph is most pleasing when its subjects or regions are composed along imaginary lines which divide the image into thirds — both vertically and horizontally

balancing elements

Placing your main subject off-centre, as with the rule of thirds, creates a more interesting photo, but it can leave a void in the scene which can make it feel empty. You should balance the "weight" of your subject by including another object of lesser importance to fill the space.

leading Lines

When we look at a photo our eye is naturally drawn along lines. By thinking about how you place lines in your composition, you can affect the way we view the image, pulling us into the picture, towards the subject, or on a journey "through" the scene. There are many different types of line - straight, diagonal, curvy, zigzag, radial etc - and each can be used to enhance our photo's composition.

Symmetry and pattern

We are surrounded by symmetry and patterns, both natural and man-made., They can make for very eye-catching compositions, particularly in situations where they are not expected. Another great way to use them is to break the symmetry or pattern in some way, introducing tension and a focal point to the scene.

Viewpoint

Before photographing your subject, take time to think about where you will shoot it from. Our viewpoint has a massive impact on the composition of our photo, and as a result it can greatly affect the message that the shot conveys. Rather than just shooting from eye level, consider photographing from high above, down at ground level, from the side, from the back, from a long way away, from very close up, and so on.

background

How many times have you taken what you thought would be a great shot, only to find that the final image lacks impact because the subject blends into a busy background?

The human eye is excellent at distinguishing between different elements in a scene, whereas a camera has a tendency to flatten the foreground and background, and this can often ruin an otherwise great photo.

Thankfully this problem is usually easy to overcome at the time of shooting - look around for a plain and unobtrusive background and compose your shot so that it doesn't distract or detract from the subject.

Photoshop | Ghostly Images

In today's lesson we were set the task to create some ghostly images in Photoshop. 

My first step was to research and find a background image and a ghostly figure that could be used.

Even though last week i wasn't able to access a computer to learn the basics. I'm still proud of the following images i created 

here is an example of what i made : 

As you can see there are two ghostly images of people. I used the eraser tool to remove any unwanted background images from these pictures. Then i used a filter so that all the colour was drained out of these two images. Afterwards i used the blur effect to make them a little unclear and so that the faces were slightly distorted. Finally i changed the opacity of the image therefore the image now looks ever so slightly see through. 

I felt quite confident in this because it has used tools that i had somewhat of an understanding of. Despite this, i may improve these images by learning how exactly the "magic wond" tool works so therefore my images would look a lot more realistic when removing the excess background.

Here are the other two pictures i created:

Also today we made our own banner using similar techniques. we started out by making basic shapes and then editing them. We also changed the colour and added our own freaky image on to it. I tended to struggle with editing the shapes because i didn't realize i was using the wrong tool to do it, however owen showed me how to sort it properly and i managed to get it done

here is the banner i made

subversive advertising

also today we learned about subversive advertising. this means the reverse of what the company wants to do. this can be a variety of things such as instead of trying to sell a product someone has made an image of the logo for example and edited it so that it makes the company look bad. for my design i decided to use the toyota company because recently they had many cars recalled due to either an acceleration pedal design default or and engine default. my design springs upon this and shows the public that this car brand doesnt attempt to think about our safety yet give a humorous vibe

here is what i have created.

as you can see i have made a pun out of the companies logo " moving forward" and added the word " constantly" to the end to point out the fact that since the cars acceleration pedal would stick that the car would be constantly'moving forward.

there have been other images posted on the internet about this recall yet mine stands out because of its unique placement of words.

here is where i found most of the information about the recalls:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/toyota-reaches-12-billion-settlement-to-end-criminal-probe/2014/03/19/5738a3c4-af69-11e3-9627-c65021d6d572_story.html

advertising : music and sound UPDATED

So today we started to learn about sound and how and why it is used. We started out by listening to songs and what sort of products they would be best advertising. after that we were set off to do out own research to find adverts which were interesting to us.

first of all i chose a car advert. the car advert that mostly interested me was the new Ford Focus RS advert. the reason why i liked this advert was the non diegetic sound of drums in the background and because of this the advert gained a lot of suspense and drama since it was using a major key. also the sound of the loud engine of this car which introduces the utter power of the cars itself

 Ford Advert:            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDofgYyTxEg









the next advert we had to research was a makeup advert. i chose a maybalean advert which promotes mascara. the reason this is effective is that there is quite a basic yet major key music in the background. there is also a voice over or a narrator who has quite a steady voice which means that the point is given off easily.


maybalean advert :          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt3bmJgKj9g

the final advert we had to research was a sofa advert. i decided to look at one of the Harvey's furniture adverts. these were very sort videos with a slow yet up beat tempo song. there was a lot of non diegetic sounds such as the song itself and the narrator yet there was no diegetic sound what so ever.

harveys furniture advert :        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GwJhrL6rpE

photography lesson 1

so today was out first photography lesson. in this lesson we learned about the basics on using the camera and what all the buttons do. we also managed to go out and take some of our own images that replicated four images in an ncn booklet. so far i have learnt the main functionalities of a camera and how lighting is drastically important whenever taking a picture. additionally i have learnt that we can change and control the shutter speed so a different effect can be produced. moreover i have learnt about all the different modes the camera can be used in. for example an action setting can be used when taking an image of something that is fast moving. and we can use macro setting to take pictures of something small and detailed. so far i have really enjoyed photography and cant wait for us to start the practical work.


this is one of the shots we replicated:

advertising research

Advertising research

So today was my first day and I have already learnt so much. Our first task was to create an on-line advertisement for trainers which was aimed at bushiness men over the age of thirty .out group all had the similar idea that people of this age range all wish to return to there younger days. now this is physically impossible to make someone younger however we based our trainer brand around this idea of making someone feel younger. Our logo as you can see only has one letter coloured in. this is to represent that if you are wearing our trainer brand then you will stand out in public as well as with you work colleges. Additionally our slogan uses textual slang which in return gives the effect of youths common textual language, and therefore the company and anyone wearing these trainers are socially " up to date ". One thing our group did struggle with at first was understanding what exactly an "on-line" advertisement was but with a little research we managed to figure it out. If we were to improve our performance today I think we would all agree that we need to manage our time allot better then we did because we unfortunately didn't mange to finish our final design on time. despite this my first day was entertaining and I look forward to what lies ahead 

advertisement practical

Advertisement Practical

On our second day we met our media practical teacher and started to develop basic skills with using equipment such as tripods, microphones and camcorders. We started out by naming different directors, male and female, and listing at minimum 1 film they had directed. we then watched a short film about anti bullying. Afterwards we were let out and about to record a variety of different shots from extremely wide shots to extreme close ups. we also got shown how to 'white balance' our camcorders and how to set them up on tripods. we also discovered the differences between a 'pane' and a 'tilt'. Over all our second day was entertaining and yet i still look forward to using Photoshop and Blender. however we should be covering this tomorrow.

Here are some of the shots we got: