BINS & LABELS USED FOR ORGANISATION - PROMOTIONAL

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The labels on each of the clips are colour coded.

KEY:
      - Clips that need stabilising/MAYBE will make it into final production
   
      - Clips that will make it into the final production

Editing Evaluation - Development throughout the course

The Development of my editing skills is apparent throughout the course of the year, especially comparing projects such as the 4 hour film challenges to my more recent final productions. I have allowed myself to explore various styles which account and accompany other genres in cinema, considering camera and lighting techniques and how this would combine in real cinematic productions.

From the beginning of the year, I established my editing capabilities through the combination of Unit 1: Contextual Studies, alongside the four hour film challenges. If we look back at the final production's of my Contextual Studies unit, we can see a distinctive difference in editing accuracy and style - part of this is due to the genre I was focusing upon, which was Wong Kar Wai's visual influence in Hong Kong cinema. However, I noticed that my editing did not match up perfectly with the voiceover that I did for my video essay, alongside the occasional stuttering of words which caused the clips to not align perfectly. If we look at more recent productions that involved a voiceover such as 'Mind.' (my Unit 11 - Film Studies, final production), we can see that the footage shot, alongside the audio matches perfectly, this is due to the thorough planning of the editing process, such as the script I wrote and prepped for, alongside filming based upon areas of what I have written in each paragraph - the process has allowed me to successfully produce a short film that considers audio, camera and lighting techniques; alongside a thorough editing process.

I have managed to learn and expand upon my knowledge during the year with various editing techniques/styles - to extensively improve my editing language between non-linear editing softwares. An example of this would definitely be the use of the Colour Key tool in Premiere Pro, that I used for my Unit 36 - Music Video. I wanted to imitate the use of a green screen, but instead on a white background to imitate the post modern/early technology of the green screen, commonly used in the 80's. I did complete a blog post on the full instructions to how I managed to achieve this (under the Editing label, alongside Music Video), however, this is the before and after:

                        

before .    vs .     after 

color key

I did also experiment with the colour balance of clips, allowing them to appear either lighter/darker or desaturated. I did this with my Hong Kong new wave production, where I imitated a short film of the isolation of the Hong Kong residents during the handover of the nation from the US to Mainland China. I used the Color HLS tool to do this, decreasing the saturation and adjusting the hue to a colour to emote the mood of the film, just like Wong Kar Wai does in his projects. 

Editing on the beat to a song was vital for my music video production, however, despite doing this successfully in that unit, it was not the only time I have practiced such methods. Within one of the 4 Hour challenges, we had to edit a production using stock footage. I did this with the song 'Dreams' by the Cranberries, allowing me to portray the messages of Love, Freedom and Youth which connotes throughout the song. 

Applying theories to editing was limited, although there is a few examples that can be taken from my blog. The Kuleshov, reaction theory was used in one of my 4 Hour Film Challenges - 'Behind the Door V2', conveying the character of Charlotte to be frightened when a cupboard door opens by itself, despite having a blank expression initially - creating an allusion to what she feels in that sudden moment. 

To conclude, I believe the editing skills that I have acquired throughout the year have allowed me to produce projects reasonable to a cliental standard. It has allowed me to create and experiment with new styles of editing, allowing me to widen my horizon but to also engage with various demographics. I believe that the projects I have produced throughout this year, can be successfully decoded with the intention of the directors subliminal/connotation messages that they wanted to portray, thus being myself.

EVALUATION + FINAL GANNT CHART OF SCHEDULE (Promotional)

The bar when filming on second day, closed off
with no key accessible.

After completing production on my promotional video, I finished off the editing by adding a royalty-free soundtrack, to avoid any copyright strikes or lawsuits that the company could go under, as a business would not have permission to use this. I then lined up and followed the editing tutorial(linked to my blog); matching the transitions with the beat of the song. I chose an upbeat song for the promotional video as Mr Barlow discussed in our initial meeting how he wanted to appeal to a younger audience at the club, as the demographic currently withheld is 40 years+. I believe the editing process worked out successfully, as my time management was consistent - as shown by my gannt chart, leaving me less stressed and allowing me to make mock-ups of what i want the final production to look like. I also found the custom transitions a vital part of the video as it portrays a more professional & modern feel towards the audience, it also approaches the product launch sub-genre that I planned to conform too.

Within Editing, I also had to consider such things, like typography and legality information + any requirements/information that needed to be added. My client did not have any specifics when it came to such things, besides asking, all that was required was the highlight the new pool room and preview the new diner complex which is still under construction. I chose the typography that consists within the majority of the final product to have a Bold font; named: 'The Bold Font', which was 100% Free, meaning that I could use this commercially, without any legal issues. This font was coloured white with a black outline, alongside a gold outer glow - as this allowed the font to stand out without contrasting with any main colours displayed in the footage, such as green from the pool tables. I took the opportunity to also include a chalk board like font, to coincide with the chalkboard footage I shot whilst I was at the Sports and Social Club, this was to promote any offers - and to also enforce a visual aesthetic to the audience, allowing them to feel intrigued and relaxed when watching. Within legalities, I knew from previous projects that I would have to include the 'drinkaware' logo for responsible drinking as I was advertising for a business which sells alcohol. Furthermore, this will also reinforce the place/product that I am advertising for the consumer.

Shooting itself, was okay, I managed to organise the filming of each clips by doing focusing on different angles of an area in each time slot. I did also film quickly the rest of the club quickly per shoot, so I had a back up if anything did go wrong. I would, however, change some of the footage, as I found some of the preparation from the club itself unsatisfactory. I am thankful I had two days as my contingency to film, however, I found certain facilities that I wanted to re-film(i.e: the bar) not available, and not being able to film - such as the Bar area, as the shutters were down and the person running the club for me to film during did not have the keys. It made things difficult, but to get over this I should have spent more timing on this during the previous session.

In conclusion. i’m very happy with my final outcome, I believe that I have conformed to the Product Launch sub-genre successfully, allowing successful promotion towards the newly refurbished Pool Room and new launch of the pool room, with the facilities and accessibility I had when filming. I would definitely refilm for a third day if I were to improve this process in the future, shooting in specific areas to allow a wider range of film. I would also improve my time management also to be consistent as I found during the middle of the timeline, I was lacking in productivity, this is a personal issue that I will work on in preparation for future clients, to prove my reliability.

CLIENTAL FEEDBACK

FINAL PROMOTIONAL VIDEO - BENTLEY ROAD SPORTS AND SOCIAL CLUB

STORYBOARD W CONTINGENCY CONSIDERED

This storyboard is accountable for both a contingency planning in regards to the newly refurbished diner area, as in the meeting, it was discussed that the Diner area wouldn't be functional until mid-end of may, I had to make some compromises, therefore in my planning I have made the decision to introduce the new diner area in a short but straight to the point 'Coming Soon' approach, as this will build up further anticipation for the clubs business. The overall advertisement will be approx 1 minute long, this is due to advertisements used in television/social media platforms being within that format - Especially comparable to sites such as Alton Towers, where they advertise for approx 45 secs. 

My first shoot will be on Wednesday 8th May 2019, therefore I will be ensuring that all legalities of this shoot are accountable for, due to me shooting at a period of time where the club is closed, I will not have to worry about Release Forms, however I will still need to gain a Location Release form from the client in order to allow myself permission to shoot there over the next two weeks.

EVALUATION ON FINAL VIDEO (EDITING PROCESS AND CONCLUSION)

EDITING PROCESS:

I edited my video using Premiere Pro, and decided to screen record 3/4's of the process. The main focus of my video is to key out the white background using the colour key tool, as reflected in my questionnaire, I decided to continue with the clip that I shot in Shoot 1 as a baseline, due to subject being quite nervous in the beginning - almost emulating stage fright when singing Karaoke. The Background Gifs were all sourced from Tumblr after searching for the term 'vaporwave' as "it's essentially digital backgrounds that takes 80s synth classics and slows them down over unique beats and samples"(Davidson, 2016). I also increased the brightness and contrast of the footage used, using the Lumetri Colour tool, to enhance the makeup and facial features - comparable to bright vivid colours of David Bowie. The footage above follows the editing process. I could have been maticulous and used a green or a blue screen to film for my video, however, i purposefully wanted to create that rough edit/halo like effect around the subject - as it emulates the technology advances back in the 1980's. This is also the same reason why I decided to experiment with stock transitions, as in the 80's era of the music video, this resembles the experimentation of the new technology and effects of non-linear editing software.

Evaluation:
Overall, i'm extremely happy with how my final video turned out. I was aiming to follow elements of Andrew Goodwin's theory upon genre in Staged Performance and Conceptual/Experimental, whilst also considering the Diegesis theory from Carol Vernallis. I believe I articulated this well, using a staged performance but incorporating conceptual elements within post production, experimenting with vapourwave style backgrounds and stock transitions. Diegesis is then created also through the memorable backgrounds and transitions that play along to the beat. If i were to change anything, I would most likely incorporate different members, perhaps playing an instrument to add an element of variety. But, I believe that I have created a music video that emulates creativity, throughout various amounts of quantative and qualitative research and thorough planning.


Bibliography:

Joey Davidson, 6th October 2016, [online] - "Make your own aesthetic Vapourwave image whilst you listen to your favourite 80's hit" https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.technobuffalo.com/make-your-own-a-e-s-t-h-e-t-i-c-80s-image-while-you-listen-to-your-vaporwave%3famp

TESTING 'COLOR KEY' PRESET ON PREMIERE PRO - IMITATION OF GREEN SCREEN

IMITATION OF GREEN SCREEN: PLANNING

Practicality is definitely a huge part I need to consider before producing my music video. Therefore in advance I decided to test out and think of ways I can use particular techniques without certain equipment. Therefore, I decided to test out the 'Color Key' tool that is available on Premiere, but instead of a Green Screen (which I do not have access to/the facility to use), I used the white backdrop in the Photography Studio. 

When setting up, I knew I had to be aware of the lighting situation as "It is really difficult to shoot green screen video. The goal is to have a flat background with no shadows"(Phil, 2019). I knew I had to be as accurate as possible when it came to lighting techniques, therefore, i used the three point setup, in order to avoid any additional shadows, where possible. When filming, I got a friend to be my subject, asked her to move around to see how well the effect will work in post production.

When editing, I followed a few steps.

The settings I used for the clip embedded above

Step 1. Import and select the chosen clip from the library onto the timeline (Video 2).
Step 2. Go into the Effects tab>Video Effects>Keying>Color Key, drag this onto the clip in the timeline.
Step 3. In Effect Controls, use the filter tool to select the background.
Step 4. Increase the capacity of each three sub-categories in the Effect Controls tab.
Step 5. Drag your chosen background clip/image and place this in Video 1 of the timeline.

Overall, I found that when shooting a close up, this will work perfectly fine, as long as there is minimal white within the scene. However, when shooting a mid-long shot, the effect can reveal more of the background - this can be an advantage and a disadvantage, allowing a more post-modern, purposeful approach, but also allowing the video quality to look poorer. I have to consider in preparation to filming that my subject is wearing nothing similar to the background colour. I am happy to continue using this, if a green screen isn't available when filming.

Bibliography:

Phil, Accessed 27th February 2019, [online] Video School Online - Green Screen: How to chroma key in Adobe Premiere Pro https://www.videoschoolonline.com/green-screen-how-to-chroma-key-in-adobe-premiere-pro/

EVALUATION OF FINAL PRODUCTION (mind.)

I am more than happy with the final production I have been able to create. I believe I have been able to represent and apply depression in conjunction to Lacan's 'Mirror Stage' theory effectively. I split filming into three separate days in order to allow myself a variety of shots within each told narrative.

The first shoot was the vintage videos I shot, which are found in the beginning of the narrative. I used an app called VHS Cam on my phone (Samsung Galaxy Note 9) in order to produce old style, VHS Camera footage. The reason why I chose to do this for my project is that it is common in most families to have "your most cherished family memories are stored away on old VHS tapes" (Komando, 2016), and I wanted to give a meaningful back story to the subject in the film. Furthermore, I really wanted to emphasise the good things in the subjects life, in order to gage background on the idea of the depression and to allow the viewer to percieve the Lack of happiness that the subject is witnessing, due to the soul draining mental disorder. I did have to adjust the dates in the app settings screen to give background upon what is being shot - this was no issue but it allowed viewers to encode information, without being an active viewer. I found the clips easy to film, I shot at my sisters house (as shes just had a baby), at a fast food restaurant, a friends house, a coffee shop, and college - I wanted to ensure that I had enough 'memories' to enforce a detailed vision into my subjects mind. Within editing, these shots were montaged together in the beginning of the sequence. I believe that these worked effectively in conjunction to the voiceover and the backing track.

The second shoot was done in my own home, using my Canon 200D DSLR, two led lights, and most props on the list, such as: medication, cigarettes. The first thing I ensured in this shoot is that health and safety was explained to the person assisting me in filming, I made aware any tripping hazards and explained safety when using the lighter, making sure that the equipment/household items weren't subject to catch fire, or that myself wasn't burned when using it for the shot. I wanted to recreate the cinematic shot first that I analysed in my planning. For this I adjusted my camera frame rate to 50fps as I wanted to capture an increase amount of motion, for if i wanted to use the clip in slow motion. After setting my lights up in the places they were previous (one facing myself, the other facing the other subject who enters the scene later), I then altered the camera settings to film. I kept the shutter speed as low as I could get due to the slow shutter speed used in that previous image, however, part of me believes this was a mistake as of the 'double shutter speed of frame rate' guide, I found no problems in post production with this clip. The aperture was kept as wide as possible (f1.4, 2.8) to allow more light into my shot, without getting as much grain impact from the ISO, which was set to 6400. All shots in the bedroom maintained the same settings. Within lighting, one light was adjusted in certain scenes to flash like a strobe, I wanted to portray the feeling of anxiety - a common side effect/disorder felt with depression. The shots following this were shot on the stairwell in the mirror, to furthermore reinforce the idea of Lacan's mirror stage, bringing in an actual mirror. I wanted to show what the subject saw themselves, allowing the viewer to engage into his personal life. Shots I used to emphasise the personal life in this shoot included, over the shoulder, close up, long shot (still). I did also experiment with edge lighting in one shot, to connote the contrast between the good and the bad parts of the characters life.

The third shoot was in the studio, shooting footage on a black background for the paragraph where i discuss existential thoughts. I refreshed upon my knowledge on health and safety and made sure i referred to my blog post before entering, to remind myself of the rules. In terms of the camera settings, I ensured the exposure triangle followed the studio settings of 1/125, F8, ISO 100. The (singular) studio light was pushed to the back of the room so it couldn't light the marks upon the black wall, but still allowed for the subject to be lit.

Editing was pretty simple, I used Premiere Pro on my iMac to edit. It all ran smoothly apart from one particular shot, which was the three clips overlayed of the subject in bed - this caused my mac to freeze in playback, allowing extreme difficulty to edit. I am unsure why this is as my Mac is a newish mac with 16GB of ram, using an SSD to read and write data, I believe this was a software bug. Other than that, transitions such as crossfading were simple. I used a constant power transition and the razor tool upon my soundtrack in order to lower the volume seamlessly when the monologue/voice over is added in. I recorded my monologue using a Blue Yeti Snowball Mic and encountered no issues importing into my project.

I chose the soundtrack M83 - Wait, due to the minor chord progression and its previous use in the film 'The Fault in Our Stars', which was used in the same technique, a voiceover featuring montage of clips, with parallel editing of the 'then' and now. The one issue I did have was with trying to find an instrumental of the song, I looked on various services including YouTube, iTunes Store and Spotify and couldn't find one. I, therefore concluded to just using the original song, and lowered the volume as said when necessary.

I believe that overall, this project was successful, despite issues I encountered along the way. I ultimately have nothing I wish to change about this project in terms of filming, other than editing - which would to be - be more precise in transition timing, but that is all.  I can say I focused upon the Lack (Lacan's theory) in my characters life, whilst also displaying the positives, offering an awareness/insight to people who live with depression.

FINAL PRODUCTION: 'mind.' - UNIT 11 FILM STUDIES

Applying Lacan's Theory: Bad Mom's Scene

Applying Lacan's theory to Bad Mom's: The PTA Meeting

Bad Mom's is a 2016 Comedy genre film directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, which focuses upon the plot "When three overworked and under-appreciated moms are pushed beyond their limits, they ditch their conventional responsibilities for a jolt of long overdue freedom, fun and comedic self-indulgence." (IMDB, 2018). In this particular scene, we see the characters of Gwendolyn James (the current PTA president) upholding an emergency PTA meeting to parents and carers of the school. We also see the other character of Amy Mitchell who has arrived late from a long day of work. I feel we can apply Lacan's theory significantly to this scene, whilst also arguing an opposing conformity of the theory. I will also be referring to Freudian's theory of 'the Self'.

The scene starts with an establishing shot of the school, followed by a shot of Gwendolyn James introducing the meeting. We can immediately see that within the mise-en scene, Gwendolyn is dressed professionally, wearing a full suit, with good posture and public speaker manerisms, she is also placed on a platform above the audience of other mothers. Her name is written in Gold, with the text shining behind her - the directors Lucas and Moore has evidently done this to portray how Gwendolyn is the 'perfect' mum, an ideal figure for other mums to look up to, this is further pushed forward in the next shot where we see the audience of mothers wearing casual clothing, looking substantially less professional than Gwendolyn. This can be also reinforced by the camera and lighting techniques, as Gwendolyn is well lit and considered in the 'spotlight', where as the other mothers are in the dark. Applying Lacan's theory into this, I believe the directors are portraying Gwendolyn as the perfect reflection of a mother, where as all of the other mums in the audience are the Ego, listening and engaging in how to become like her. The scene following this portrays the arrival of Amy Mitchell, who is portrayed to be distressed, due to her suit - similar to Gwendolyn's, being damaged, cut up & not worn in the professional manner. This creates a distinctive binary opposition between the two characters (arguably, including the other mothers on Amy's side) trying to reach up to the goal of the Super-ego (Gwendolyn) ). 

As the film is a comedy, we do have some comedic references and an exaggerative perception to the mothers stereotype "Farce is a type of comedy that uses absurd and highly improbable events in the plot. Situations are humorous because of their ludicrous and often ridiculous nature"(The Drama Teacher, 2018). The emergency meeting is held due to the annual bake sale, with banned ingredients being highlighted (and exaggerated). We hear Amy's character sigh with the line "you've got to be kidding me". This displays how the character is worn out with trying to conform with the super-ego, and the Id is becoming overpowering, as she sees the reflection to be unreachable. The other mothers in the audience are listening still as they are fixated on achieving the role of a perfect mother. The id eventually overpowers Amy's mind after she tells Gwendolyn that she will not be partaking in the bake sale 'police force' - although comedical, we see that Gwendolyn's social stance is much higher than Amy's due to the other mothers being shocked (with audible diegetic gasps, heard from the other mothers). I believe the directors focused upon this in order to portray Lacan's theory is supported in all ranges of adulthood, that relevantly, woman with children try to compete to be the perfect mum, they are shocked when Amy goes against this.

The technical codes help reinforce the application of Lacan in this scene, The angles in particularly and the lighting. The mum's aspiring to be Gwendolyn James are constantly in the dark and shot at a high angle, reinforcing they are lacking the 'perfection' and power Gwendolyn holds. Gwendolyn is also dressed in a suit where as the other mum's are wearing everyday casual wear, reinforcing my point of lack.

Bibliography:

IMDB, Accessed 6th December 2018, [online] - Bad Moms (2016) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4651520/

The Drama Teacher, Accessed 6th December 2018, [online], - Farce - The Drama Teacher, https://thedramateacher.com/farce/