Monday, 10 December 2012

Unit 62; Reflective Learning Log

14/11/12


The brief for this specific video element is to produce a video relating to raising the profile not just within the school but externally as well, to create a video to support the website of the P.E department. This also aims to show the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and to fall in line with the deliverance of the Olympic legacy of using sport as tool to improve social and moral attitudes as well as being fun.

It is important to complete research for this project because without the usage of research we wouldn’t be able to fulfil the requirements of the website for example; the content of the website may be different to what the P.E department asked for, but on the other hand if you conduct the right amount of research than the website will become a success as you’ll know who the target market are what they want and why they want it this’ll help us to fulfil their needs. The type of research which is relevant is mainly secondary research, as we need the usage of previous websites, videos and contents within the websites which requires us to go on the Internet and search for existing information. We also need primary research as we will need to conduct questionnaire’s etc. to find out who and what our target market want and need this will help us on creating a successful and beneficial website for the P.E department. Mr Hutchinson gave a small list of websites which he wants the website to be based around.

One of the three stages of the pre-production is the understanding of the requirements of a specific media production, for example our task is to create a video which is related to everyone being involved in physical activity from all backgrounds but not just within school but also externally we have to consider quite a lot of things for example; locations where we will take the video, contributors who will be involved this will most likely be kids from main school and materials needed for example video materials to video the scene and possibly sport related materials what we will need to create this media is important because we wouldn’t want to waste money on something we don’t need. The second task is to document the specific media so for example in our case we will need to find out when the ‘contributors’ are available and fit our time scale, identifying resources available researching what we have got to work with. These are important because we will need to know what we will have available because we can’t plan something if certain things aren’t available. The last task is to actually apply all of these pre-production planning and putting them into action the more time and effort put in the planning the better the final video will turn out

21/11/2012
Today we did quite a lot of things, first we had a little 'recce' on locations of where our possible video could take place we explored different locations within the school but mainy where physical activity takes place for example the gym, fitness suite and basketball courts etc. After this we came back to class and uploaded the photos then we started to create our 'proposal' for our task which was sectioned down into the following sections; aesthetic, content, concept, purpose, client purpose, style, target audience and locations. the last task we did was the start of our 'gantt chart' which i was knew to as well as the software Microsoft project first we did a gantt chart on making a tea, then we did one on our task and the amount of time we should take on each of the 'small'tasks.
27/11/2012
Today we discussed the tasks we needed to complete for the next day which was to consider the things for the pre-production of this project which consists of;





























  • Finance- this means the budget that's available for the renting/buying of equipment etc.
  • Timescale- in this specific section i talked about how we created a gantt chart to support our timescale of the whole project. i also talked about how its important that i meet deadlines and the consequences of deadlines not being met.
  • Personnel- In this section i talked about the people involved in the video and why they are involved with the message we are trying to get across to the target audience.




































  • Facilities- In this section i talked about the possible facilities we could use to produce the video, why the specific facilities are good for our video, risks assesments etc.
  • Materials- The possible materials we would need when recording the video, in our case the materials are already provided for us by the school.
  • Contributors- The contribuitors links in with the personnel but we will most likely use students from school.
  • Locations- The locations of our video production.
  • Codes of practice- The possible infringements we may infringe.
  • Regulations- Same with the codes of practice, they are pretty much linked togeather.










  • on the 28/11/2012 we had our meeting with Mr. Hutchinson, we discussed a lot of things for example, for example the digital graphics side of the website itself for example the types of themes the buttons he wants them to be etc, he gave us a major feedback which will help us and give us a more clearer idea of what the p.e. faculty need and want. The feedback we got from our client on how proffessionalism within that meeting was positive, the room for improvement is our verbal communication/clarity from the feedback we have recieved is that we needed to be more relaxed as we were quite nervous. we will use this feedback improve on this certain aspect

    04/12/2012

    Today we discussed the coursework we did which was due in today it was about looking at all the aspects of pre-production considerations, we compared with our considerations to the others in our group which was good because we got different ideas from others which was added to ours. we worked in the following groups ; dieter, josh, edna and deniz and my group was ; nicole, sam, me and jessica.
    This helped me to realise all the aspects of this project and how important they are. the difficult part of this coursework was the finding out of the 'codes of practice and the regulations' of the project. i was intrigued by some of the regulations i found on the internet 

    05/12/2012
      
    In today's task we started our visualisation of our video production. we created story boards for our video so we have an idea how it'll be set out. now we also understand the concept of the video and know what direction the video will be heading into. We considered all the aspects of the project for this specific stage. We put each step on a seperate piece of paper and tried to put as much detail as we can we also put the shot type in each of the scenes so we have an idea what it'll look like.



    11/12/2012


    In todays lesson we updated our learning logs, we needed to add more detail to our logs as we felt that we didnt have enough detail on our logs, i  looked at other peoples logs and realised i wasnt analysing my problems and stregnths within my work enough if not at all, that was my main problem. so hopefully from now on i will view my stregnths and weaknesses of all of my work and possibly working on overcoming my weaknesses


    12/12/2012


    Todays lesson was all about doing our storyboards all over again but instead of using drawings, we were told to take pictures that matched each picture of our storyboard. This will help visualise our storyboards even better as it gives us a better idea on what we could possibly change in the actual video production. we took pictures from the p.e department to a conversation between two people. the main problem was probably the weather as we wanted a match being played on the grass, but cause of safety reasons as the pitch was frozen because of the ice cold weather. So instead we took various pictures of a group of year 9's playing football in the sports hall.
    18/12/2012
     Today we created the script for our video production, we included what will happen with the usage of screen shots this would help us to give us a visual of how we should set out our video and something to go along with, but we may have to tweak our actual videos because we may come across some `
    19/12/2012
    Today’s lesson we started with the risk assessments based on our locations, we had to answer the following questions on our blog

    1. What is a risk assessment? Risk assessment is a step to asses hazards within a specific locations, whether they are significant and if so if you have taken satisfactory precautions.

    2. How are risk assessments used in media production industry? it consists of 5 steps; identifying the hazard, decide who and how the person might be harmed, make an evaluation of the risk and decide on a precaution, record your findings and implement the findings and finally review the your assessment and update if necessary.

    3. Find an example risk assessment and comment on the appropriateness.

    I have found a 'risk assessment' template from the 'HSE' website; I personally feel that it is appropriate as it covers most if not all the aspects of risk assessments for our media production. It has the name of the person who is responsible and also has a section on what has been done for the risk to be covered. It has a section where it states that the risk assessment will be checked and revised every certain amount of time, which I personally feel is important as the risk assessment may change dependent on the task given. It covers the usage of equipment, machinery and facilities as it covers training that will show if the staffs is fit to work in this specific field. They also cover the implementation of emergency procedures.
    07/01/2013

    Today we had a practice of playing about with the video cameras so we know what types of angles we will be using in our actual video for the website. We based this video around another video which was about 'how to film techniques'. we had to complete all of the types of shots within a video and had to be creative about the way we conveyed the video, we didnt have any problems as everything was available it was down to our team in the efforts we put in which would show within the video as the video would be good enough to inform people from a neutral perspective on film techniques.
    08/01/2013

    Today we created our production schedule for our tasks for the project, we added a small paragraph on specific days for example we have a deadline for the video footage of our video, which is the 25th of january, this Friday we are going to record the footage of the year 11 cup match, we will be videoing the students playing and representing the school aswell as recording the other school competeing aswell therefore we will need to create consent forms for the students in case theres any problems etc. Since we have created a production schedule we have to stick to it as it is pointless if we don't it will make us look un-professional, the only problem we had was getting used to the software aswell as getting used to the new Mac's we have, because of the new softwares etc it was kinda difficult to get the hang of the softwares and hardwares, but in the end we got the hang of it and completed our tasks for the day.

    09/01/2013
    Today we carried on with our schedule planning on the celtx software, which had a 'production schedule' which is perfect for our tasks. we have a deadline to meet for the completion of the recording of all the footage, as after we will have a deadline for the editing of the video, today we started the recording of a P.E. lesson we recorded a year 9 P.E lesson they were playing football we knew this was only a bit of practice but we took it serious to the amount where we wouldn't struggle when we are recording the actual thing. we tried different types of shots and angles as well as adding a creative cutting edge to the shots we were doing, the only problem we came across was the students being

    10/01/2013

    Today we had a free day because we didn't have a scheduled day for recording today, so instead we looked to put more input in other parts of the project so we could be up to date. other parts such as the updating of our pre-production planning which consists of the following the tasks on celtX; script, storyboard, recce, production lists etc. Also the gantt chart. There there was a lot to get on with without realising but on the other hand we did finish most of the tasks but i feel i could add more details etc.

    11/01/2013
    Today we was meant to record the year 11's cup match but the opposition cancelled the game because they didnt have enough players, so we didnt do any recording therefore we e-mailed the P.E. teachers to ask if theres any games going on before our deadline. we are curently waiting on our response, this is a big problem as we havent got no footage of a football match at the moment which is the main part of our video.

    14/01/2013 - 15/01/2013

    Today we updated our schedule as we had some cancellations to our recording slots, But on the 16th we recorded  this is a problem because a football match is the main part of our video as we are trying to promote the successful work the P.E. faculty are doing through football, if we don't get a recording of a football match we may have to tweak our approach in the video. today we recorded another P.E. lesson, we recorded the bottom set of P.E. they were in year 8 we tried to use different types of shots within our recording, we also switched roles in the directing and the person on the camera, so we both have the fair share of experience.



    16/01/2013
    Today we were scheduled for recording for most of the day, we booked the cameras the day before and took them home because we needed them in the morning to record students coming into school this will be part of our video as we will record students talking about the upcoming football match. We also e-mailed Mr.Trowbridge about the fixtures for football so we can try and record a match before the deadline.
    we also started recording another P.E. lesson but this time we asked the students of the P.E. lesson to walk over the camera so it gives it a creative effect on the video. we also recorded the students playing football, we did various different shots etc. We took shots from different parts of the building to help us out so we get the best possible footage. The problem we had to overcome was the students being camera shy in the beginning but we explained to them that we actually weren't zooming

    17/01/2013-18/01/2013

    These couple days we didn't have a scheduled shoot for these days so, we just updated our blogs, storyboards etc. Today we decided to review the footage we have recorded so far which in the end was a good idea as we didn't record certain aspects of the video which was needed from this we decided to address these aspects with the next scheduled shooting.


    21/01/2013

    We sent an e-mail to Mr. Trowbridge, about the fixtures of football matches and he replied with an instant, stating that there will not be any matches before our deadline for the recording of all footage, therefore we will have to do recording after the deadline another time this will be inconvenient to our progress of work but it has to be done as its the main part of our video. Therefore we will just have to hold out until the weather which is the main cause of the cancellations of the football matches gets better, until then we will need to get everything we need and make sure we prepare well until then.
    The reply of the E-mail;

    With the current weather situation, it is highly unlikely that we will be playing any football fixtures before 25th January. Mr. Hutchinson has a game penciled in for next week and it may be worth asking him if this is still scheduled to go ahead.

    Mr. Trowbridge
    22/01/2013

    Today we didn't have a scheduled as were scheduled for the next day so theres much that i could write about, but we were asked to look at videos softwares related to our future task which is the editing of videos, so i looked at premier pro and adobe softwares, as they are complicated softwares so it'll take time and practice to get the hang of the softwares which will be a problem if we cant get the hang of the softwares but to overcome this problem we will need to have a lot of practice with the softwares.

    23/01/2013-28/01/2013

    Today we had a scheduled day to record some footage of p.e. student , we had a deadline to meet for the finishing of all the footage which was the 25th but we finished all the video footage couple days before the deadline and evaluated all the video footage we took which was quite positive. as we completed all the footage apart from one which was the main part and that was down to the weather but we will have to record the video at a later date. That was the only problem we came across. When we didn't have a scheduled day of recording we just carried on with the theory side of the project so this consisted of the whole pre-production planning so scripts schedules etc.

    29/01/2013


    Today we had a task to do for the next two weeks, we has three tasks to do which were to carrying on with the updating of the blog by adding each day in a post reflecting on my progress so far, adding in screen shots reflecting on the editing process. The second task was to use adobe premiere to edit our final video together whilst considering the editing techniques used in the task description which leads on to the next task which was to create another post named; 'post-production considerations' we had to research and type up all the definitions and words/phrases these are listed in our task description. all three of these tasks weren't group work so we had to do it on our own but we was allowed to speak to each other about the tasks.



    30/01/2013

    We continued with our 3 tasks we started on the 29th but we had an extra task, mrs gave us a technique from the adobe premier software, we had to present the chosen technique to the rest of the class as it'll help the rest of the class to learn different techniques. my technique was the 'trimming' technique, this technique is vital as it allows the user to cut a certain


    01/02/2013

    Today i made major progress in the editing of my video with the help of classmates, as well as staying to do that bit extra during lunch which was worth the efforts, on this day i managed to gather all the clips together as well as trimming the clips before slotting them in the timeline using the 3 point editing on the timeline so i stay in line with time limits of the video so it doesn't become too long to bore the audience, there was quite a few complications when using the 3 point editing i was struggling to insert the clip for it to match the length of the 3 point editing i overcame this by extending the 3rd point a bit more.

    04/02/2013

    I continued with major progression of the editing of my video, today i used the different types of titles there are three different types of title feature; still title, roll title and crawl title in between the clips so it helps the audience to understand the concept of the video and conveys the message across With the addition of transitions from one title to another clip.






    05/02/2013




    My video was nearly done or done so i felt anyway, we were going to present our videos tomorrow period 4 as we have creative media all day, we are going to present our videos to each other aswell as recieve some feedback from everyone in the class on what could be improved etc. so i made sure that it was up to a high standard by asking my partner to watch my video and ask for feedback which helped a lot because he gave me major feedback, after my alterations to my video i continued with the updating of the 'post-production considerations



      06/02/2013

    Today i replaced some of the converted clip to the original because the converted clip lacked quite a lot of quality and was blurring from the start to the end of the clip. The process of replacing the clip consists of the following;
    1. first you search for the clip in the bin

    2. After you have fount the clip from the bin right click on the clip and click on 'replace footage...'



    3. Click on the original clip and it'll automatically replace the converted video to the original

    07/02/2013
    Today we continued with the watching of each other videos within the class, we had a few more people left, overall i felt that it was a brilliant idea that we watched each  others videos because we recieved and gave major feedback, which helped us to improve our videos even more, my feedback was to; fade Mr. Hutchinson's voice when switching from the previous clip aswell as the formatting of the video etc.


    08/02/2013

    Today was the deadline of the project, but unfortunately i didnt attend 6th form because of my state of health. i finished my video so the only thing left for me is thepost-production considerations and my reflective blog, so  there was no problem as i didnt mind doing the rest at home.

    11/02/2013

    Today we started our market research based on the video we created, i decided to create a questionnaire on survey monkey and send it to teachers, students as well as people outside of school. My questions will be based around the audio, visuals purpose etc. I also exported my final video and uploaded it to my youtube channel.

    13/02/2013-15/02/2013
    Today i carried on with my market research by sending out my survey link and youtube link of my video and sent it out to students, teachers aswell as to locals in my area, my plan is to get my market research and create charts so it helps me to review my video on what i could've improved on etc.
    The link for my video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6XUVVciM58
    on the 15th i got 9 responses from the survey of my video this is really worrying for me as i had a minimum target of 15 responses and its coming up to the half term holidays and i doubt ill get anymore but if i don't im going to have to work with what I've got

    Tuesday, 4 December 2012

    Unit 62; pre-production considerations

    The things we need to consider for the pre-production of this project will consists of the following;
    • Finance
    • Timescale
    • Personnel
    • Facilities
    • Materials
    • Contribuitors
    • Locations
    • Codes of practice
    Finance

    Finance in this specific project doesn't necessary means how much we are paying actors etc. to feature in our video, matter of fact it doesn't mean that at all. it means the budget we have available to us for the usage of renting out equipment etc.

    In our case we do not have a budget for finance as all the equipment we need are available for free, as Bluecoat have all the required equipment we need for example the video cameras for the recording of our video, the only process we need to follow is the booking process where we need to book the equipment a week before as other classes may have booked the equipment before us.

    Timescale


    Our pre-production will last for 15 days, we started on the Mon 26//11/12 and are expected to finish at Friday 14/12/12. The pre-production consists of; market research, risk assesments, initial client briefs etc

    The next phase is the production of the video this will begin on the Friday 25/1/12 and should be finished by Monday 25/2/12.

    The post-production will start on the Friday 15/2/13 and should be finished Thursday 28/3/12
    on the Tuesday 19/3/12 will be the final presentation to the client of the final video.


    The consequences of me not meeting the deadlines could lead to me losing valuable marks which could also lead to me failing units as well as falling behind on work. This is probably one of the main reasons why deadlines are incurred. If we look at it in real life work we would receive warnings to remind us and then possibly getting sacked in the end if it continues.

    Personnel
    For the production of the video we will need a group of children of both genders possibly enduring an Physical Education lesson but aswell as enjoying the lesson. i personally feel we need a group of chilfrens from different backgrounds and culture aswell as including disabled children so students from the learning support unit will have some sort of involvement in the production. We, me and my partner Deniz will be controlling the equiptment as we have had previous experience from our previous project. Possibly have the involvement of a teacher teaching the Physical Education lesson we can possibly ask MR. DH to play that specific role. We would possibly ask ST from our class to give us a hand with the video editing as he has a lot of experience with this.

    Contribuitors

    This section is kind of linked with the personnel of this project, but we will most likely use students from the school to be the contribuitors as they are from the school and we are trying to promote within the school.

    Facilities
    As the video is going to be based around raising the profile of sport for Bluecoat academy within school but prodominately outside of school. promoting the ethos and visions of  the schools sport and PE for future generations, so therefore we want to use the school as the main scene to convey the message to the target audience. The sports equiptment will be free to use as there schools equpment so therefore ill just need to enquire to the PE head office about the booking of the equipment needed.

    No specific costumesare needed as they jsut need to be wearning the bluecoat PE kit so the audience knows what school it is thats promoting this media production. everything will be school based so theres free of charge for pretty much everything but if they were to be charges i wouldve compared different stores around nottingham and go with the best deal.


    Materials 
    We will most likely stick with the 'personnel' of the project and not use any external contributors with members of the public etc.Although we could have an interview with a high profiled local sportsmen for example a Former Bluecoat student who is now playing for a professional football club.

    Locations
    We did a recce of possible locations where we will record our video, we did the reccee within school becasue the video will be based around school we took pictures of different locations aswell as creative angles.

    For the locations we considered if it would suit our [urpose of the video for example; it wouldnt make sense if we were to do a sport based video in an art room. Also the location itself needs to have right amount of space, lighting so that the video can come out clear etc.The plus side of recording the video within school is that theres no cost of a fee but we just need to notify teachers that we would be using a specific location for our video.

    We will need to consider the healthand safety of the contributors and personnel. Making sure that they are not in danger of getting hurt and if so is it avoidable? another thing that is positive for us videoing within the school is that every location is health and safety checked.

    Codes of practice

    • The following codes of practice are related to the making of videos. 


    • OFCOM- This is a company who helps providers on how to handle complaints from consumers. The Code of Practice provides consistency in standards and gives Ofcom powers to take enforcement action against those providers who do not treat complainants fairly. The Code requires providers to ensure the fair and timely resolution of complaints, and have procedures that are transparent and accessible so that consumers can easily find out how to make a complaint.

    • BECTU- BECTU is the independent trade union for those working in broadcasting, film, theatre, entertainment, leisure, interactive media and allied areas. The union represents staff and contract and freelance workers who are based primarily in the United Kingdom. they provide a wide range of services heres a list of the many;
    • Negotiating pay, conditions and contracts with employers
    • Personal advice and representation for individual members
    • Advice and representation on health and safety
    • Benefits and servicesfor BECTU members
    • A union journal, Stage Screen and Radio published eight times a year.
    • A website designed to improve access to the union's advice and support.

    • PACT- Pact is a UK trade association representing and promoting the commercial interests of independent feature film, television, digital, children's and animation media companies. They offer a comprehensive support service for there members in terms of legal and business affairs advice. This includes access to a library of contracts and advice documents which will help you do business.



    Tuesday, 13 November 2012

    Unit 19; The Theory Of Digital Media Graphics




    06/11/2012 - 16/11/2012
    my next task is to describe the theories behind digital graphics, i am going to do this by looking at websites that use digital graphics frequently but are related to the P.E department.
    The websites i will be viewing are;
    As you can see this website has a navigation bar as does most if not every website has a navigation bar, as you can see it highlights a bar if you put the mouse over it and if it is clicked on, it goes to that specific titled page. This is the use of a navigation bar.









    As you can see this is a background of the ‘ttsonline’ website, a background is an originally product for a website or a piece of work. Its main purpose is to help people navigate the website as the background has bright colours to capture the eye.






    This picture has picture elements, the screen is divided up into pixels and the amount of pixels that can be displayed on the screen is dependent on the resolution,  resolution is often reffered to as DPI or PPI, these abbreviations stand for dots per inch and pixels per inch.






    The picture can be improved by the intensity of the pixels. The intensity refers to the brightness and the hue of the pixels.



    The image resolution on this website is considerably high; Image resolution is an umbrella term that describes the detail an image holds. The term applies to raster digital images, film images, and other types of images. Higher resolution means more image detail.


    (referring to the same picture) Raster image- a raster graphics image, or bitmap, is a dot matrix data structure representing a generally rectangular grid of pixels or points of color, viewable via a monitor, paper, or other display medium. This is very useful as in serif you could use the cut out tool to edit one of the pixels to your needs which is a big advantage

    (referring to the same picture) Many websites consists of pictures as does this one, to save space and data the person who created the website would use some sort of compression there are two types of compression, Lossy and Lossless compression. Lossy compression is in information technology, "Lossy" compression is a data encoding method that compresses data by discarding (losing) some of it. Lossless compression. Lossless data compression is a class of data compression algorithms that allows the exact original data to be reconstructed from the compressed data.



    This is the logo of the website which is used throughout the website; this is a quite strong logo as it uses bright colours to catch the eye of the viewer.



    (referring to the same picture) Vector graphics,  is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygons, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics. Vector graphics are based on images made up of vectors which lead through locations called control points.

    (referring to the same picture)As you could see, these pictures are logo graphics, logo graphics are a graphic mark or a emblem that are used by commercial enterprises and organisations which is most likely linked to their website. They really attract the viewer because dependent on the logo itself it could have strong colours to draw the attention of the viewer towards their website.



    A good example of a good logo is the ‘coca cola’ as it has a different font which attracts the viewer with the white colour and the strong red background. this will help customers to view the product and they will know who it will belong to because it is also well know the consumer public does not pay particular attention to the characteristics of the product or service which is hugely beneficial

    This is a bad example of a logo as it has three letters, but who would know what they would represent? And the bad usage of dull colours doesn’t attract viewers at all, it could also cause public outrage as if you rotate the logo 90 degrees it shows a disturbing image.


     colour space

    Uses

    Definition

    RGB (Red, green and Blue)

    Photography, television and personal computers

    The RGB color model is an additive color model in which red, green, and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colours

    HSV (hue, saturation and value)

    Hue- is one of the main properties of a color


    -

    HSL and HSV are the two most common cylindrical-coordinate representations of points in an RGB color model.

    YUV (luminance and chrominance)

     -

    YUV is a color space typically used as part of a color image pipeline. It encodes a color image or video taking human perception into account


    YUV (luminance and chrominance)

    RGB (red, green and blue)

    HSV (hue, saturation and value)


    An animated GIF file comprises a number of frames that are displayed in succession, each introduced by its own GCE, which gives the time delay to wait after the frame is drawn. This attracts the users towards the website by including sharp and bright color’s whilst having the movements of the GIFs. The advantages of GIFs are is that they are a considerably small size in file especially when compared against other animated files they are also easily supported as you don’t need any special plug in to view the animated gif. The disadvantages of animated GIFs are ; They technically require a license per image use because they fall under a royalty license that CompuServe has and will continue to enforce they also They can't be edited once they are encoded as an animated gif. If you do edit the gif, you will lose the animation sequence on Save.


    Good example of an animated gif;
       
    This is a good example because its bright and strong so therefore it keeps the viewer interested and entertained, keeping the focus on the website.
      

    Bad example of an animated gif;




    This is a bad example because it has the usage of bad colour schemes, it is also slow in changing to different frames, it just doesn’t look appealing to the viewer so it does not have a positive effect on the viewer.