Evaluation: Factual & Social

Evaluation

For our last two assignments of the year we were asked to produce a 1 minute and 30 second factual programme and a 30 second social action and community film in groups of three. Knowing that we had to produce not one but two films and also complete all the pre-production work for both within four weeks was a little daunting but I was confident in completing both assignments by the deadlines given to us. 

During our first week of starting the assignment we were put into our groups, mine consisting of Jack Waddup and Ben Hammond. In our group we had decided on using Ben’s idea of doing our factual documentary on Facebook and how it effects the lives of students socially and educationally.  We thought this was a good idea as Facebook is popular amongst students and does effect our lives more then we realise. It would also give us a chance to see the view on facebook from a teachers side so we would gain an understanding from both students and teachers.

We also decided to use my idea of doing a short, stop motion animation along with a narrative from a poem based on depression for our social action and community documentary. My group liked this idea as it was different to what we have done previously and none of us had ever tried to do stop motion animation before so we thought this would be an interesting task to take on.

Since we were using a poem by an author this proposed a problem of copyright. To solve this I emailed the site where the poem had been posted. Shortly after my email I received a reply stating that they had forwarded my enquiry to the author herself who in return sent me an email giving me her permission to use excerpts of her poem for our social action and community film.

During the pre-production stage of our assignment I felt like I had the most responsibility in our group as I had taken on most and completed most of the tasks on our production schedules. This was due to numerous reasons as for a couple of days during pre-production Jack was absent and so me and Ben had to complete some of his tasks so that we could book a camera and start filming the following day. Unfortunately Jack was still absent the next day when me and Ben began to film for our factual documentary. However as the weather was disagreeable and persistently rained throughout the day we could only film the majority of our documentary inside only venturing out when the rain had subsided. After we had managed to film the majority of our documentary I converted the footage on the college computer using the AVS video converter. Being the first time I had used the programme I did need a little help from some of my classmates as I was still uncertain with some of the printed instructions for the programme.

On the Tuesday of our third week on the assignment we were supposed to film the shots we couldn’t get on the previous Friday, when it had been raining. The camera was also due to be given back at four pm that same day. However Ben, who had taken the camera home with him had forgotten to bring the camera back which meant we couldn’t film the rest of the shots we needed to that morning. Although we did manage to complete the rest of our pre production work and I was also able to organize our group folder containing all of our work, which proved to be a little stressful.

When Ben remembered to bring in the camera we immediately gave it back to Phil before booking another camera for the Tuesday of the following week so that we could commence filming and get the final shots needed for the factual programme. However on this Tuesday we were no longer allowed to film during class time. To get around this we decided to film the last shots we needed during our twenty minute break, however when the break started my group members disappeared. Disappointed with my group I then asked if we could leave the class for twenty minutes to film our remaining shots to which our teacher kindly agreed. After collecting all of our shots I converted the footage once again using the AVS programme on the college computers before being able to begin the editing process.

Once I had arranged the footage on the timeline and chose the parts I wanted to keep and delete from the documentary I could then proceed to add in my voiceovers, which I recorded using Garageband. I also used the Snapz Pro X application to film screen shots of Facebook as when we tried to film the computer screen with the camera the picture was extremely bad.

At the same time of all of this I had spent my spare time at home creating the drawings and text for our social action and community film. I did this by using Photoshop to create the text for each page of the animation before drawing the cartoon figure and other objects such as a balloon and clouds. I then scanned the drawings onto my laptop where I edited them in Photoshop. The process took longer than I thought it would and I had to pay a lot of attention to the details such as positioning the cartoon character in exactly the same place for certain frames. The stop motion process was very tedious but I enjoyed making the animation pages and after printing out all 80 pages, taking still images of the pages and putting the images back into Photoshop where I could edit them more I still enjoyed the experience. 

Editing the images in Adobe Premiere was harder than I thought it would be. After I opened the programme I imported my social action files (file>import). I then began to arrange the files on the timeline in the order they should appear in before editing the time for each frame.  However as I was editing I came across numerous problems, such as the files turning black on the timeline. To overcome this problem I could only save my work before shutting down and restarting the programme which I had to do on a few occasions throughout editing. After I had arranged the files in the correct order and edited the time for each frame I then played back the sequence which left me disappointed. The video was disjointed in places and even skipped parts of the animation completely.  To get around this problem I decided to edit the footage in Final Cut Pro. During the process of editing in Final Cut Pro I encountered only a few problems, some of which couldn’t be helped. At times some frames in the animation appeared to run too fast whereas when I slowed those parts down they wouldn’t run as smoothly as before. Another problem I encountered was with the audio for the film. Final Cut Pro wouldn’t let me import the music I had chosen for the film as it was being imported from Itunes and was protected. To get around this problem I exported my finished film from Final Cut Pro as a quicktime movie file. I then imported this file into IMovie where I then was able to add the song of my choice. However I still had problems as the excerpt of the song I wanted to use was now too short for my film. To overcome this problem I imported the song into Garageband where I split the song at the parts I wanted before copying and pasting the final 5 seconds of the song twice so that it would make the part I wanted long enough for my film. I then exported the file in an AVI format.

I found making these two films to be valuable experience and even though stressful at times, enjoyable. I worked well within in my team and felt comfortable sharing ideas and asking questions although at times my group members did frustrate me when some hadn’t completed work or disappeared when we needed to film on that rare occasion. I enjoyed using Premiere once again and loved using Photoshop to produce the animation images. Although it was a long and tedious process I felt extremely proud when watching my social action and community film back as it was my first time attempting stop motion animation. 

Looking back if I had the chance to redo the assignments I would try to do a better job at filming the actual footage for the factual programme. Even though it was raining at the time I felt that if we had been more organised and Ben hadn’t forgot the camera we could have filmed a lot more footage and would have had more freedom when editing as we would have had more options to choose from in terms of footage.  However I am still happy with the outcome of both assignments and feel proud of the work I have produced.

DVD Menu: Factual and social

Today I created a simple 3 page dvd menu using photoshop. I created buttons (+) and rollovers (=1) before importing the menu into encore. I then placed the menu pages onto the flowchart in encore before linking eacb button to the correct page. I then imported my film files into encore before also linking them to the correct buttons.

Factual Programme; Editing

Today I continued to edit the footage for my factual programme documentary about facebook and the effect it has on students. I organized each shot onto the timeline in the order I thought was best before taking out the parts of the footage I wanted and deleted the parts I didn't.

I also imported a couple of quicktime movies that I filmed at home using the Snapz Pro X which I downloaded using a free trial. To use this programme I held down shift+3+command to get the snapz pro menu to appear before choosing the seetings to either 'follow curser' or 'smooth pan' before enter. I then filmed the facebook pages I wanted before pressing shift+3+command to end the filming. Once this was done a new menu appears where I clicked save file.

Social action & Community; FINAL EDIT

Today I looked over my first edit of my social action and community film and decided to slow down the parts in the film that seemed to be going too fast. I went through each frame again on Final Cut Pro before changing the times of the middle frames so that there is now enough time for the text in the film to be read before it disappears. By doing I changed the length of the film from 32 seconds to 45.9 seconds and because of the this the excerpt I'm using from a song is now too short. To get around this problem I decided to edit the song so that I could control the part of the song I wanted to use for the film.

To edit the song I opened the Garageband program on my laptop. I then created a new file where I dragged the song I'll be using onto the timeline.

I then found the place in the song where I wanted it to end for the film before splitting it (command+T) and deleting the part I no longer wanted. 

I then added the song a second time to a new timeline underneath the original song. I then repeated the step of splitting the song at the part I wanted and deleting the part I didn't.

I then moved the part I wanted onto the original timeline before copying and pasting the same part so that it would then repeat again making the the part of the song I wanted to be longer.

After I had done this I sent the song to Itunes before importing my social and action film I had made previously on Final Cut Pro into IMovie (File>import>movie) before dragging the film onto the timeline and adding my edited version of the song onto the timeline. I then exported the film from IMovie in an AVI format.

FINISHED PRODUCT;

I'm really happy with the final product although because I had to slow down some parts of the animation the movement of the ballon in some parts is a little disjointed then it was before but still playing well. You can also hear where I edited the song towards the end, but unless you're listening closely I don't think it will be too noticeable. 

Social & factual editing;

Today we started to edit both our social and factual documentaries using Adobe Premiere. After I opened the programme I imported my social action files (file>import). I then began to arrange the files on the timeline in the order they should appear in before editing the time for each frame.  However as I was editing I came across numerous problems, such as the files turning black on the timeline. To overcome this problem I could only save my work before shutting down and restarting the programme which I had to do on a few occasions throughout editing. After I had arranged the files in the correct order and edited the time for each frame I then played back the sequence which left me disappointed. The video was disjointed in places and even skipped parts of the animation completely.

When I got home I immediately opened Final Cut Pro on my laptop before importing my social action files (File>import>folder).

I then began to arrange the files on the timeline in the correct order before editing the time for each frame (right click>duration). 

After I had finished editing the time for each frame and putting the frames in the correct order I then rendered the sequence (Sequence>render only>need render). I then tried to add a music track to my sequence however as the music was being imported from Itunes, Final Cut would not accept it as the music is protected. To get around this I then exported the video (File>export> using Quicktime conversion) before selecting Quicktime movie as the file format. 

After I had exported the video onto my desktop I then opened IMovie where I then imported the video (File>import>movie). I then dragged the file onto the timeline before clicking the music icon in the bottom right hand side of the IMovie window where I selected the song I wanted before dragging it onto the sequence. I then changed the settings of the song so that it would fade in and out at the beginning and end of the video. 

After I had done this I exported the video to my desktop (Share> export using Quicktime) I then chose to export the video in an AVI format .

Overall I am quite happy with how the video has turned out as it is the first time I have tried to do stop motion although it isn't perfect as some parts appear to be a little too fast. However I might make a 2nd draft of the video where I'll try to slow down those parts whilst trying to keep with the flow of the animation. Unfortunately I used copyrighted music although if this was done professional I would research into the ownership of the song I used and seek permission to use it before adding it to the film.


1st draft:

Copyright 'The Mask' poem;

For our social action and community documentary we used numerous lines from a poem that had been posted on www.familyfriendpoems.com. To make sure we could use the poem I filled out a contact form asking if the poem could be used in which I got a reply stating that they would forward my email to the author of the poem so that she could personally get back to me on the subject.

A short while later i received an email from the author, Kasi. 

'Hi!

I just got an e-mail from Family Friend poems that said that you wanted to use my poem.

Of course you can use it. Don't worry about all that legal mumbo jumbo, i'm just honored you want to use it.

I hope you do well on your project! (sorry that this is a few days late, i usually don't check my e-mail)

- Kasi '

Social action pictures;

Today I used my own camera (Canon DC210) to capture the images we are using for our stop motion animation for our social action and community documentary. I then put the images captured into photoshop where I changed the contrast and brightness to enhance the images. I also cropped the images so that you could only see the paper with the cartoon character and the text. I then continued to mess around and try out different things until I got the images to appear how I wanted them to.

Group work & filming;

Today I organised all our group work into our group folder and printed any work that was missing. I also did some research into facebook to put into our group folder as well. As Ben left the camera at home we weren't able to film much today although he did leave to get the camera so that we could film our last shots that we need.

Social Action & Community Documentary; Preparation

Today I started to draw the animation for our social action and community documentary. I first typed up all the text that is going to be in the documentary using photoshop before drawing numerous versions of the cartoon character and other things such as the balloon and the clouds and rain that appear further into the animation. I then scanned the images into photoshop. After I scanned the images I used the ruler tool to make sure each image was accurate with the placement of the cartoon figure.

Before I printed all the images I wanted to make sure that the animation flowed properly and that I hadn't missed anything out, to check this I imported the photoshopped images into IMovie where I made a rough draft of the animation. 

To get my cartoon character to walk I first ran a little test to make sure that everything flowed smoothly so that when I come to draw it up neatly everything would be fine. I first drew three templates of the character in three different positions before drawing each step the character makes on each piece of paper and repeated this technique to get the movement of the rain and balloon.

I then took photos of each drawing before importing them into IMovie where I changed the speed and arranged them in order.

Stop Motion Animation 'walking' Test;

Group work & Filming;

Today me and Ben finished all the group work we had been assigned and also the documents we needed completed to be able to start filming. After we had our work checked by Andy we then went and got a camera, which we have booked out until Tuesday 14th June, before starting to film.

Taking the camera around college we interviewed numerous people including teachers and students to get their view on Facebook asking how it effects their lives and the way a student works in a classrom. We also filmed in open access and in our own class to gets shots of students actually using the computers in college. As it was raining we had to limit what we could film and only managed to film inside because of this we plan to finish filming the rest of the scenes for the documentary on Tuesday and to also begin filming our social action documentary as well.

Group work; UPDATE

Today I finished the shooting script, resources & budget, storyboard and shooting schedule for our Social Action and Community Documentary. I also completed the shooting script and a basic outline for a script for our Factual Programme Documentary as well as the techniques document. Now that we have the main documents we need to start filming completed we can now book the cameras and hopefully start filming sometime next week.  

I think it will be fairly easy getting the shots we need and the interviews of students for the factual documentary although on the other hand for our social action documentary we are going to attempt stop motion animation which I am a little nervous about doing as we've never done anything like this before. To get around this I plan on creating the drawings and text for the animation by hopefully using Photoshop, although if this doesn't work out I'll be drawing the animations by hand which we will then take still images of using the Sony Handycam which we'll be using to film both documentaries. Something to consider is that if we are unable to take still images with the camera we will have to film the still shots and these may come out to be slightly blurred during the editing process when we import the footage into Adobe Premiere Pro or Adobe Encore. 

Script & shooting script, resources & minutes;

Today I finished writing the script for for our social action and community idea and also started the shooting script. I'm also half way through writing the resources and budget for the project.

I found out that to hire a Sony HDR XR550 for a week would cost £100 from www.camerarent.co.uk, and for 3 days would be £40. The hire of a tripod would also be £25 for 3 days and £80 for a week.

http://www.camerent.co.uk/services/

Script:

I also typed up the minutes from our group meeting we had on Tuesday.

Group meeting + production schedules;

Today we had group meeting to discuss our ideas and figure out which one we were gonna use for the factual programme and the social community projects.

For the fact programme we decided on using Ben Hammonds idea of doing a programme about facebook, I thought this was a good idea as the majority of people have facebook and it's become really popular over the years. I also think that there are a lot of angles that we can take in creating the short documentary. Jack Waddups idea was based on fashion and brands such as Hollister I thought this was a good idea as we could approach the public with questions regarding fashion e.g their favourtie brand/ highstreet shops and we could also do something about getting student discount. My idea was then to do a feature about what people have done since they left school, if they went to college, taken a gap year and how it worked out for them.

For the social community project we dicided on using my idea which is to create a stop motion animation feature accompanied with a poem that fits with the theme, which is depression. Both Ben and Jack had the same idea of doing a feature about uni fees I thought this was a good idea as it has been a big topic that has been debated since the rise in uni fees this year, however we also thought that this idea would be popular and that many people would choose this topic so we thought we'd like to do something different.

After discussing our ideas and choosing the ones we wanted to take forward we then talked about the different jobs we were goning to take on and reallocated certain jobs.

Factual:

Social:

Similar & existing products;

Today I finished working on the similar and existing products document for social and action community. I looked at a range of adverts and short films to see what kind of elements they shared in terms of techniques used. 

Looking at similar and existing products I noticed that the majority of them, most of which were based on supporting or highlighting a serious cause, shared similar traits between them. The adverts that I watched relating to serious causes such as highlighting the problems of anorexia and child abuse all seemed to use dark lighting, sombre moods and long shots accompanied by saddening music or voiceovers.

The advert below for the Looking Glass Foundation which offers support for people suffering with eating disorders, uses a lot of close up shots throughout which makes the viewer focus on the things that you may miss if shot from a further distance e.g the close up of the scales as this is a key moment in the advert. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjwZhEnSWvg&feature=related

Another advert I looked at which also highlights the problems with eating disorders also used close up shots so that the audience could get a clear view of the girls face, doing this helps to set the mood of the advert as it lets the audience see the pain the girl is going through.  The next advert looks at child abuse and continues to use a sombre mood throughout keeping the lighting dark, however when the viewer is introduced to a new child on the screen the shot is then freeze framed and accompanied by a question that challenges the viewer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8pYjWiFmpA

I then looked at adverts that were supporting charities such as cancer research uk and an advert for Great Ormond Street Hospital. These two adverts amongst others where entirely different from the previous adverts I looked at as they focused on the good and not the bad. Using brighter lighting, light hearted and upbeat music and positive footage to gain the viewers attention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38aYyJsTkTY

The majority of the adverts I looked at also used voice over’s to narrate facts and figures or to narrate what was happening in the advert, as many NSPCC adverts do, and also included websites and help lines that viewers could use to get more information about the subject of the advert.

Legal & ethical considerations;

During the process of creating our factual programme we will need to be aware of any legal or ethical issues that could effect production and follow the guidelines set out by the regulatory bodies and codes of practise.

One of the main legal issues we will have to consider during production is copyright. We will need to make sure that any material we use for the programme is not subject to copyright, although if we do use any copyrighted material we will need to get first hand permission to use the material by its original owner. We will also need to consider if any of the material used or portrayed in the programme is slanderous in anyway or if anything used can be deemed as unfair or portrayed in bad faith. Discrimination will also need to be thought about, making sure that anything we use or say in the programme does not discriminate against anyone in terms of sex, age, race or disability.

Health and safety will also need to be looked at, taking in to consideration any hazards that may arise that could harm anyone involved with the project. To help with this issue we will be undertaking a risk assessment of all locations and equipment that will be used during production so that all risks will be minimised.  

We will also need to consider any ethical issues that may arise during production of our factual programme such as morality (what is right or wrong), exploitation, sensationalism or any material that can be seen as offensive as well as any representational issues. We will also need to be aware of peoples privacy, making sure that those who agree to being filmed sign a release form or state before the camera that they are willing for the footage that features them to be shown.