Anyone with youtube accounts could you please rate and comment.
Thanks!
Friday, 18 December 2009
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Review Feedback
We have shown our draft Review to a number of people, and made an evaluation of this review, from here it has allowed us to make a few changes to our review, to make it appear more realistic.
- We Removed the second page, as the review appeared more like a poster.
- We closed up the gaps between the text.
- We changed the fonts on the review, as the main title of the review used the title for the film (the logo), which would not be used in a film review.
- The review text itself was inported, as before it was just the Quark "Jabber" to show where the text would be.
- Added star ratings.
Poster Feedback
After looking at our poster we have concluded some key areas we need to change for our poster to look more real, and help project the image of the film we are wanting the audience to decode.
The things we need to change are:
- Font change; as the current font is seen as looking slightly comical, so it will help if we give the title a more gritty, edgy font to create a serious feel to the film.
- Give larger gaps between the title, as our title doesn't leave much space around itself.
- Change the film company logo's, as we currently have corporations such as paramount and new line cinema, which wouldn't be producing a short film.
- Correct the production text as it is slightly unsymmetrical and uneven.
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Group Discussion 3
After our group discussion, we have concluded that these areas of work are what we need to do to complete our project.
Need to refilm most of the scenes
Some are usable but need editing
Lighting in particular needs work
Need to create call sheets
Do a voiceover pointing out why we are changing the footage
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Rushes Filming
This is a rush draft of our short film. We have identified a few problems which require is to re film.
Learner Feedback Sheet
Here is the feedback sheet i have got, this will give me an idea on what i can improve on.
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Independent Film Festival Reaserch
After reading through the treatment i realised it may be advantagous to research some independant film festivals that our product could be shown at.
http://www.leedsfilm.com/
http://www.filmstock.co.uk/home.html
http://www.londonindependent.org/
Group Discussion 14/10/09
Group discussion
Today we talked about the various camera shots and angles that we were going to use for different parts of our short film, the story board and possible locations.
Story board
After completing the story board we are going to scan the pictures, cut them out using photo-shop and then produce an anima tic, after making some changes to the story board we are also going to be altering the screen play in order to match the story board.
Possible locations
We discussed possible locations to film certain scenes for our short film
Scene
1. House at night with woods near by – Andrew’s house or Joe’s house
2. View from eye’s of the stalker – same locations as above.
3. Transaction.
4. Arm of stalker with watch – on a street near college – Moorgate road.
5. Tilt up to see prey – same location as above.
6. Zoom closer to the prey – same location as above.
7. Pan left to follow the prey – same location but as the “prey” moves we walk around the corner of Moorgate road.
8. Medium shot of prey getting on the bus – Moorgate road so we can show it’s the same road but next to a bus stop.
9. Transaction.
10. establishing shot of the house – Andrew’s or Joe’s house
11. the front door - same house
12. plant pot on floor – same house
13. transaction
14. key being placed behind the pot – same house
15. close up of key – same house
16. transaction
17. shot of stalker picking up the key – same house
18. tilt to the door – same house
19. close up of key being used – same house
20. track back and forward into dark room – room in college, Andrew or Joe’s house
21. Shot of stalker seeing paper faces and weapons – Andrew’s garage.
22. Close up of mans foot after blow – same garage floor.
23. camera picked up – same garage
24. transaction
25. shot of stalker trapped – same garage
26. close up of face – same garage
27. insert shot of paper faces – same garage
28. medium shot of stalker shouting help – same garage
29. transaction
30. Credits.
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Treatment
Treatment
Synopsis: A Stalker follows a killer and gets his comeuppance.
Details of target audience:
18-40 years old.
Predominately male, but some female.
They both going out to the cinema, and take interest in niche sub cultures, such as independent films.
They will also be involved with online interaction and online culture.
Plot Summary
A stalker regularly follows a normal community figure. The stalking has been going on for sometime so the stalker knows where the prey will be each time of day. However on the 6th of June 2006 something goes terribly wrong for the stalker. The stalker decides to break in to the preys house where his carefully planned scheme goes horribly wrong.
Shortly after entering the garage the stalker is shocked to see what lies within; knifes, hammers and chains, along with pictures of people with eyes cut out on the picture, these are not what someone would expect to find within the garage of such a person, but before the stalker can escape, he is knocked unconscious.
He awakes to find himself belted to a chair, where he looks up and sees his own image with the eyes cut out, like many of the other pictures he witnessed when entering the garage, the scream then acts as a sound barrier into both the theme song, and sound effects that play over the credits rolling.
Characters:
Stalker - Unseen until the later sections of the film, aiming to look quite menacing.
Murderer - Appearing as a friendly community figure. Dressed Casually.
Extras - Richard Taylor, Ruby Harman, George Brailsford and Chris Beevers will all be dressed casuals as background characters.
Recce
Health and safety notes: Health and safety will be taken into account; the nearest first aider in collage is Maxine In room reception.
The main health and safety issues will be wires/ camera’s and some setting up some props for the mise en scene such as the angle grinder and knife.
Friday, 9 October 2009
Pre Filming Research
We did some pre-filming research on camera angles/shot types/soundtracks etc, using this example text.
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Group Idea Progression
- Dispute in the group between using either Saw music or Classical music. Asked in the questionnaire to solve it.
- Saw music was decided after receiving 60% of votes
Location discussion to which street to use for the street sequence, and to either use a garage or a basement. - Decided on Garage.
- Prop list slowly developed over time. Ideas of lists published.
- Story Line basically solved from beginning. Adding additional twist e.g eyes cut out.
Exchange ideas. Film Festivals, YouTube, any other short film website. Possibility of online viral. - Type of weather, day/night and time the film will take place.
- Which extras will be best to use and how many needed.
- How the murder is going to appear to the stalker.
Costumes which maybe used during production. - What angles would be best for a particular shot.
what type of camera will be used. Either handheld or still. poster and double page spread layout. - Pictures that need to be taken for the poster and double page spread.
The theme of the film. choosing between horror, thriller and slasher. - The types of lighting which may be used. Low key, natural and high key.
Friday, 2 October 2009
Evaluation of our presentation
In evaluation to our presentation i found it useful as the questionnaire has helped us finalise our descision of making a horror themed short film, and also decided the soundtrack; we where choosing between either the Saw theme or a classical piece, the result being the Saw theme, here are the results for the questionnaire presented in a pie chart, 
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Monday, 28 September 2009
KTA2: Content analysis
For an example of video text, I have chosen a short film called the “the black hole”, the clip is especially short, even for a short film, only being roughly 2 minutes long. I have chosen this because it follows media conventions which may be applicable to the short film I hope to make for my project.
Due to the film being a short film, it does not have a clear genre distinction, which could make it difficult to compare with other similar conventions, but it does use many techniques which are found in other more mainstream conventional genre’s.
The mise en scene throughout the clip works well to create verisimilitude in the digesis, and we can expect this for any short film, what is interesting about the clip is that the lighting used in the clip helps create a dark and lonely feel, which works well in conjunction with the narrative (the character being on his own and attempting to steal money), this type of lighting is also found a lot in horror films (which our group hope to produce), and helps make a character appear evil or cold hearted.
In relation to the generic conventions of horror films, the sound used in the clip also works in horror films too; when the man puts his hand inside the black hole a strange sound is used, and could be used anywhere in sci-fi or horror, this sound again works towards an uneasy feeling on the audience, and creates a surreal affect on whatever the character is doing at that particular moment.
The special effects used in the clip work well towards making the clip creepy and appear real, they are not especially difficult to create, they are low budget, but would probably require quite a lot of skill to produce.
Like most sci-fi/horror films, the acting is not particularly amazing, but simply does the job, as the clip would not be impaired if the acting was bad, as the special affects and narrative are what create the films impact.
The narrative follows a conventional plot style for a short 5 minutes and under online film, as it only involves one character, one prop and one twist to the story line, leaving the audience with lots of questions; what is the black hole? how does it work? Does he get caught? Does he get out? Etc, this could all be used in our groups project of a short film.
Friday, 18 September 2009
Documentary analysis
Documentary Textual Analysis
The clip I have chosen to textually analyse is a clip from the documentary “Hidden Lives - The man who’s arms exploded”, the story of Greg Valentino and fellow bodybuilders who pushed steroid abuse to disgusting levels.
The clip begins with both zooms in and out of Valentino showing his arms, before a narrator comes in, this clip is used first most likely to shock the audience to make them want to watch more, and show how extreme the content of the documentary, also by showing Valentino from a video camera’s video this helps create a secured feeling to the audience that what they are witnessing is reality, as it would be less likely to be hoaxed if it was filmed on what we presume is a hand held camera (this is indicated by the date in the bottom right hand corner of the screen).
A narrator is then introduced with non digetic music, the narration helps explain what the content of the documentary will be and the music is tense which creates a dark feel, possibly due to the documentary being about freak body morphing and the scary side effects that can take place.
As the characters are introduced fade’s are used whilst the music plays, so the music not only works towards creating a dark feeling, but as a sound bridge, so the audience knows that as these different characters associated with the world of steroids are only being introduced and not begging their own section of the documentary.
Along with music, and commentary from not only the narrator, but those who use, have used and plan on using steroids, sound effects are also used in conjunction with the juxtaposed males on the screen, these sound effects can be the bubbling of blood in a needle to the shaking of tablets that are in a bottle, thus all creating verisimilitude and an understanding of what drugs these men are associated with.
The clip represents gender too, as these characters are introduced, not only are they all male, but also juxtaposed with one another on their masculinity, Valentino being introduced first announcing himself as having the biggest arms in the world, thus in an extremely hegemonic masculine fashion of boasting, this concept of masculinity being linked into muscle size links in with the theme of male body modification and the changing in male body image over time, which the documentary is about.
The choice of props and set (Mise en scene) work well with what he is proposing when boasting, having him being filmed in a gym, surrounded by weights and wearing a gym t-shirt all help work towards his image of being a muscle freak.
Close ups are used quite frequently in the clip of the documentary I have chosen, the close ups generally of the interviewees face, to show emotion and possibly even to make the character look bigger, when looking at the topic of the documentary.
A feature of editing used throughout the clip is using a transition which uses a sound bridge also and quickly showing images of drugs, this helps cut from one clip to another and create the uneasy feel that surrounds the topic of interest.
The later interview with Valentino at what we presume is in his house has possibly had the setting purposely set out the way it has been (Mediated), in the background clothes are left messily with weights on the floor, almost in the style of what a teenage boys (I.e. the one featured earlier in the clip who aspires to be like Greg) would be; this could be to help represent Greg as a typical hegemonic male, who’s interests would be mainly focused on male things (muscles in this case) and not on whether or not his house is tidy.
Before the 5 minute section of the clip I have chosen ends a second bodybuilder is introduced who talks about his training regime, the use of the narrator and anchorage helps us understand that he is a bodybuilder and how intense his lifestyle is, as the audience may not know without this due to him wearing a tracksuit which covers most of his body, a location is used, due to it being a documentary a set obviously cant be used.
Overall, I think the clip represents 2 things quite critically and extreme; the first being the sport of bodybuilding which is presented to the audience as a very intense lifestyle, rather than a sport, and also that competitors are seemingly unable to compete without the help of performance enhancing drugs, and the second thing being masculinity and the body image that comes with it; that muscles are crucial to being male and gaining the respect of other males.
Music Video Analysis
Textual Analysis of a Music Video.
The Music video I have chosen to semiotically analyse is “White and Nerdy” Weird Al Yankovic because it features multiple stereotypes for both ethnic identity and genres of music as it is a parody of chamillionaire’s “Ridin’”.
This text appeals to a wide audience due to the fact it is humorous, it will appeal to people who listened to the original song and therefore will find it funny to juxtapose this video to the original and also people who can relate to the main character in the video a while middle aged male.
The Media Text’s audience will already have assumptions of the video due to the title of the video. The audience will most likely view the text on the internet as I did, this is probably because the artist is not featured on television a lot and also due to it being comical people are more likely to paste links of the video to people they know, this also affects the age of the audience to some degree, as generally the older a person is the less likely they are to go searching around on you tube for videos and showing them to their friends.
I will now look at how components create this representation, i.e. a text that has a meaning encoded by the creator of the text (In this case Weird Al) for the viewer to decode (Stuart Hall 1980).
Mise En Scene plays a large role in creating representation for both the “Gangster” and “Nerd” stereotypes featured, clothing such as tucked in polo shirts, loud colours and glasses connote both intelligence and in some cases social deprivation which can be juxtaposed very quickly with Dark Colours, “Bling” and baseball hats.
A good example to use within the video of how much mise en scene can show these stereotypes is how the white male clearly presented as the nerd but weird al is presented as the gangster figure because of his clothing despite he is still a white middle aged male.
The props used throughout the clip help connote a stereotype also such as cars and alcohol being associated with the gangsters.
Throughout the video non verbal connotations also appear to help explain what is happening, such as facial expression and positional communication.
Sound in the clip is the most prominent feature, due to it being a music video, this is relevant to the narrative, because the music itself is rap - music popular with the gangster image portrayed in parts of the clip, but the lyrics are all about nerdy interests, such as dungeons and dragons, maths, star wars and a lack of sporting ability.
The editing throughout the clip is used predominately to aid the understanding of the lyrics due to the speed they are sung, so most of the time images are shown in the background behind the singer so that the audience can work out what the song is about, also the transitions are quick, this helps aid the music that is relatively fast, and give a quick general representation of “nerd” culture in a 3 minute video.
A fade is used at the end of the video to clearly show the end, where Yankovic uses a “Vulcan Salute” a hand gesture commonly associated with star trek.
The camera angles featured did not play a particularly connoting role in the music video apart from scenes where the nerd character was positioned higher than the gangsters, to make him appear bigger than him; this is used due to link in with the narrative of the gangsters being scared away because of his geeky mannerisms.
in music video’s non verbal connotations run throughout the video, in the form of gesture and facial expression, this can help reveal the narrative as there is no speaking in the video and therefore would be difficult to work out what is happening between the characters if not, in the case of a music video these are usually exaggerated considerably to make sure this is possible, such as when the gangsters flip him off there expressions are probably quite different to if they had done the same action in a television show or film.
Overall I find the clips representation of ethnicity is quite inaccurate, due to the music video being a parody the representations have to work on stereotypes and for us to recognise these stereotypes mediation must take place.
Friday, 26 June 2009
Evaluation So Far, Need of completion
Evaluation:
In evaluation to my preliminary task I will look at the 5 following questions I have been asked:
1) What shots have you used? Why have you used them? What meaning do they create?
I have used a number of shots, the first being the establishing shot, to help show the audience the world, and create a verisimilitude within the digesis.
The following shot is a medium shot, this helps us introduce the character and begin to use Representation (Stuart Hall).
From the point of introduction of the character, up to any action taking place, medium close ups are used; once the ball is dropped within the scene different shot types are used to help create the sense that the ball has been dropped and is moving.
An eye line match of the ball being dropped, then followed by an extreme close up of the reaction to the ball being dropped helps create this.
Throughout the clip occasional close ups are used to help outline importance to what the close up is of, and finally a series of two shots are used to show the finalised deal of giving the ball back.
2) What is good about your video, and why do you think it is good?
I think our video is good because it uses a variety of shot types and that the transitions are very smooth and follow on well from one another despite the change in camera location.
I think this is good because it makes the clip appear much more professional and keeps the audience interested; instead of keeping the camera in one spot for a shot.
3) What is bad about your video, and why do you think it is bad?
The faults with the video are
Objective Review
I completed the objectives today of finishing the editing, and the film will be uploaded onto the blog shortly
Thursday, 25 June 2009
Objectives Feedback
I did not reach todays objectives because of a fault with windows movie maker on the computer, therefore editing could not take place.
Instead i have done the first few questions of my evaluation, and tomorow i will start my editing.
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Thursday, 18 June 2009
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
"Return of the Ball" Screenplay
1
EXT. FIELD DAY
Damien is holding his ball, when he suddenly drops it,
Damien: *Gasp*
to his surprise the ball rolls away from his presence to strike Johnson on the foot.
Johnson: *Mumble* Huh?
Johnson picks up the ball up and holds it by his side, to see Damien running towards him yelling and screaming in terror.
Damien: AGRGARGRGRGAGARGARG Grab My ball!! Help! Please!
Johnson Turns to see Damien who looks nervous and hands him the ball
Damien: Thank you! I am forever in your debt!
Damien smiles in relief at the return of his ball.
Johnson: Anytime, I love balls.
Monday, 15 June 2009
Objectives for 15/05/09
I have completed the storyboard, and are yet to complete the screenplay, which will be done shortly.
Introduction to unit G324: Advanced Portfolio - Lesson Objectives
1) Complete a screenplay for my introduction to Unit G324: Advanced portfolio video task.
2)Complete a storyboard for my introduction to unit G324: Advanced portfolio video task.
Introduction to unit G324 Advanced Portfolio - Asssessment Objectives
The purpose of this unit is firstly to assess your ability to plan and construct media products using appropriate technical and creative skills (AO3); secondly to assess your ability to apply knowledge and understanding in evaluating your own work, showing how meanings and responses are created (AO2); and finally to assess your ability to undertake, apply and present appropriate research (AO4).
The unit requires you to engage with contemporary media technologies, giving you the opportunity to develop your own skills in these technologies. It also enables you to develop the skills of presentation that are required for further study at higher levels and in the workplace.
Monday, 11 May 2009
Emma Says..
It won't let me comment on anything so I'm doing it this way. I really like your final contents page! It fits the genre of your magazine really well. You've included all the typical conventions of a contents page, like subscriptions and an editors note. It also follows the house style of your front cover and looks really nice. Well done!
Importance of audience feedback
Audience feedback was helpful in the development of my product, as it allowed me to see what an audeince would think of my work, and also and helped shape the way i would make my final product.
I also asked for verbal feedback from peers, which was helpful, and i think my end product was more proffesional than my prelim task.
Saturday, 9 May 2009
Evaluation
My Evaluation has got images on it, but have not been able to be uploaded onto the blog yet, i will upload the text, until i can find out how to get the images on here.
Evaluation
In What Ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
For My Magazine I have chosen to make a niche magazine, called acid. Through examining and researching into magazine that are predominately mainstream, I have challenged generic features of them by creating my product.
The first area of my magazine I researched into, to help me with producing my own work was the masthead. Firstly I looked at several magazine covers, these which would influence my project
These where:
(4 Photo's)
From here I researched into the titles of magazines and their meaning, for example The title of the magazine “Q” is significant, as the letter “Q” has the same sound as the piece of musical terminology “Cue”, which in the sense music could mean cueing up a record, getting the record ready to play.
This title may also be relevant to the genre of music featured, which is generally Indie and older bands, a mixture of new upcoming bands which will be successful, and looking at those who are now successful but where once in a similar position to those up comers, due to this vast array of times regarding music lots of artists will probably be featured in the magazine, and therefore in relation to the Masthead, lots of these artists are Cued up.
Therefore from here I chose “Acid” to be my title, due to its connotations and meanings, these being Acid has a drug connotation to the narcotic substance LSD, a psychedelic drug which is heavily associated with the time period (1960's where these genre's emerged and still influence today) , and due to the genre's of music which feature strange irregular sounds and timings, this association would seem appropriate, and the drug connotation give a very underground feel hopefully establishing the magazine as niche.
Acid (in its literal form) also Distorts metals (Metal a genre of music too which can be combined with genre's featured i.e. acid metal), which also reflects how the new effects of the time period (such as distortion, and other distorting affects) where featured for the first time in this genre of music which still influences today.
After selecting my title and making it on Photoshop, the next stage was to look into cover images, and I challenged this by using my favourite elements found in the four magazine covers above, and applying rules which make a suitable magazine front cover image.
These rules where to be focused and unblurred, to not have too much background, to look comfortable and natural, to have to missing body parts and not to have a busy background.
Taking the picture of Matt Bellamy from Kerrang, I liked the pose and the fact his instrument was on the picture, but in contrast, I wanted to challenge this by using the style of photo for the image of Jarvis Cocker on “The Word”.
(2 Photo's)
I now took this image, which I have mediated to be appropriate.
(1 photo)
For the text I viewed several fonts on the website dafont.cpom
I looked at the fonts on the site, but due to difficulty importing the fonts and the website not featuring sufficient fonts which have a retro 60's/70's look I decided to use the font which is already on Quark.
The font I chose was BellBottom.Laser
excluding this one font I chose to list page numbers on the pictures featured on the contents page, all the other fonts used for the text where in Arial a sans Serif font.
This was for the contents page/double page spread, and by looking at fonts used in magazine contents such as “Metal Hammer”, and how they where appropriate to the genre, I thought that I would do the same, but for a rock/ psychedelic magazine
Here is an image of the contents page from “Metal Hammer”
(2 Photo's)
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The Images Used, Bands Chosen To feature, and article content Relies heavily on stereotypes and the way stereotypes are represented for them to recognised.
I have used a few stereotypes to help target the niche audience, as stereotypes are even more so important in niche magazines.
I have used two stereotypes for the audience, one being a middle aged progressive rock fan, who probably was in a youth subculture such as being a “Hippie” when he (or she, more likely he though) was younger, or another more modern association to the genre’s of music and the associations of it, being that of the “Stoner” a younger audience who would be associated with cannabis use, even if in some cases isn’t to do with it.
The features of this stereotype would be laid back, who would listen to the genres of music featured in the magazine and find interest in the hedonistic lifestyle of rock stars of this time period.
This links with mediation as the images I have used have been mediated to fit this preferred reading, for example the image used on my front cover is of someone who fits the age group of the first stereotype mentioned, and because of his status in the image (e.g. presenting the 50 best solo’s ever) the character also acts as either a archetype or a ideal self for the reader. The image has been mediated only to fit into being a good front cover image, e.g. background, clarity, lighting etc.
Other images featured in the contents page etc, also fall into the second stereotype.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
When looking at what type of company would distribute my magazine, I think due to the size of audience the magazine targets, the company would be an independent producer (unlike conglomerates such as IPC or Bauer, but this would not limit the circulation of the magazine.
When again looking at stereotypes of the readers, Internet access is associated with them, so I think that the magazine would be both promoted and distributed from the internet, this would allow a much larger circulation and ease of access (as the magazine is a niche, it may be hard to obtain in most newsagents).
The initial promotion would not be online though, as if a small independent media company are producing the magazine then it would be very difficult for them to afford large online advertising as it can be very expensive, I think using as many means of promotion would be the best way to set up advertising the magazine, and whilst doing so, heavily endorsing the magazine’s website would be very advantageous.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The Target audience of my product would be predominately older, male audience. 35-65, but also be able to feature bands which could appeal to a younger audience as sub-genre's have emerged such as Neo-psychadelia which seems to be popular amongst younger people, which could also open the audience to people of all ages.
The audience would statistically look somewhat like this:
Male: 79% Female: 21%
Average Age: 35 (but only due to most readers being in the 45-65 range, and having a cult following of people at much younger ages, e.g. teens and university students)
Working: 75% Studying:25%
• Spend under £100 a year on clothing
• Over £500 On audio equipment per year
• Would not be followers of newer films, and would rarely if ever go to the cinema, they would probably spend about £50 a year on DVD’s which would have a cult following.
• 95% of the readers would have internet access and younger readers would be frequent users, older readers would be more likely to just use the internet for information they want quickly and not do much “surfing”.
• Pretty much no older readers would ever play any console or computer games, well over half of younger readers would be quite frequent players.
• The Type of people who would read “Acid” would agree that…
“Music in the charts is poor, mass produced rubbish” – 85%
“Designer clothing shows you are self obsessed” – 68%
“It would be worth paying over £100 to see a band they really liked” – 72%
How did you attract/address your audience?
The mode of address I have chosen is teacher to pupil, examples of this would be:
(1 Photo)
This is because the magazine is telling you what the 50 best solo’s are, and therefore informing the viewer of what they should listen to.
Another example of where I have used teacher to pupil is on the contents page where is says:
(1 Photo)
Again this is information, and telling you what is and isn’t good.
Again with the teacher to pupil mode of address, this is also enforced with having a section for the fans, allowing them their own set space where they can talk, similar to a teacher asking if there are any questions in a lesson.
(1 Photo)
Also with this fans section mentioned in the contents page there is also a juxtaposed image to show one of the pictures of the fans section, this tells the readers (in this case younger readers) what they are meant to look like.
(1 Photo)
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
When making my product I have also learned many skills which could be used in other areas.
The first technology I used was the blog system, where I learned how to a blog, upload my work/pictures/video’s onto the blog, and also follow other people’s so we could compare work, which helped me in my production.
Photoshop was the second piece of software I used, and was crucial to the production of my product, this allowed me to put my front cover together the first time in the draft, and then follow that up by having the draft saved and being able to make my actual product from the draft.
Photoshop also enabled me to edit photographs, so I could remove backgrounds so the picture was more suitable, e.g. front cover image, and it also allowed any problems with the picture to be removed, e.g. if there was any undesired logo’s on t shirts, lighting reflecting etc. I used a majority of the tools, I found the most useful tool I found when editing was the magic wand tool, which I used to separate my characters from the backgrounds, which allowed me to create not only my own backgrounds, but remove the character in the image to be put on another background, or a transparent background.
I felt that the strengths of using adobe Photoshop where
• It is very accurate and precise in the sense that anything can be zoomed up even if it is a lower resolution picture.
• It has a vast array of features which allow photo’s to be smoothly edited, and multiple filters which can be used to modify an image as much as can possibly be done on any software.
The weaknesses or problems I encountered with Photoshop where:
• Despite having the layer system allows specific things to be edited, I found it quite confusing, and sometimes possible to have two items on the same layer, which made moving one of the items very difficult.
• The magic wand or lasso tool can be remarkably hard to use if the background is similar to the subject, and in some cases can be frustrating if someone has cut around something very carefully and then the tool slips they would have to start again.
The last piece of software I used was Quark Express, this piece of software was used for my double page spread and contents page, and in this I used all of the standard tools to make both of the pieces of work.
The strengths of quark where:
• It is much more simple to use than Photoshop with making the actual product, e.g. making picture and juxtaposing text boxes was a very quick and easy task.
• The optional boarders, margins and measurements where very accurate, and allowed a very precise and accurate layout.
The weaknesses of Quark where:
• The layout was slightly confusing, and a lot of shortcuts did not follow the conventional straight forward scheme used by windows.
• Exporting the files to be a jpeg format was ok once I had learned how to do so, but for new users this would have taken a lot of time to work out how to do.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Since starting on the preliminary task, I feel I have learnt how to properly use the software needed to produce my product, I feel that initially I was unsure with some procedures I carried out, but through making the prelim task, and then a draft magazine afterwards I was able to learn how to properly use all aspects of Adobe Photoshop and Quark.
Not only did I find that my knowledge improved from making a draft, but I also feel that drafting allowed me to experiment and helped me into finding what would look good when it came to making my product, e.g. for my draft the person was not looking at the camera, but the picture was very good, so when I came to make my real product, I copied some elements of the draft, but remembered to ask the person in the photo to look at the camera.
Feedback from others was also very helpful, getting feedback from the draft allowed me to know where to improve when it came to making my own product, although it would have been more helpful if the feedback I got would have been posted onto the blog I used, instead of just asking people to look at my work.
Friday, 8 May 2009
What i need to do today (deadline)
Finish My Evaluation
Take a photo for my double page spread and put it behind the work i have done for it.
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Double Page Spread Pictures
I recently took a few photographs, for either my contents page or double page spread.
One of the images taken in the shoot was used in my contents page, but i am now looking over at the group of three people i chose to photograph that could be used for my double page spread.
I Am Not using this photo as the background is too busy, the photo is featured in the contents page, and the quality of the photo would not be of a high enough quality as it was taken on my older phone with a timer i set up.
I am not using this photo due to hair being in one of the peoples eyes.What I now Need to do
I now need to wait for feedback on my work to determine if i should further edit my front page and contents page.
From here i am now left with the task of finishing my double page spread which i have only a photo to take and import in, and doing the rest of my evaluation which i have partially done.
Contents Page
This is my contents page, i am putting it onto the blog for some feedback and i may change this again in the next few days, if i dont change it this will be my final front cover.
Front Cover
This is my front cover, i am putting it onto the blog for some feedback and i may change this again in the next few days, if i dont change it this will be my final front cover.
Final Front Cover Image
This is my front cover image, which i have finally done, after being photoshopped to be appropriate
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
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