Throughout the construction, research, planning and evaluation of the music video and ancillary texts, I and my group have used a number of technologies in order to produce the optimum possible outcomes.
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During the filming process of the music video, a lot of technological equipment was required. Luckily enough we were privileged enough to be able to use these in the production of our music video. We as a group have used a lot of technological equipment which include the following:
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“Three 16GB SD cards” – The memory cards allowed us to save all the footage, in which we recorded. It also allowed us to save all the pictures that were taken.
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| Memory card |
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| Camcorder |
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In our music video the lighting was manipulated in specific ways to create a mysterious and eerie perception of the artist “Ayo”.
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| Lighting kit |
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“The tripod”, by the way I have acknowledged that this is not part of the technological equipment used, although it is a fundamental piece of equipment which had been used in the production of the music video. The main function of the tripod is to hold the camera still and prevent it from any unwanted movements.
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| Tripod |
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This year in A2, I have gained a lot of knowledge and have now developed the skills in order to use the camera and tripod to their optimum use.
I have learnt how to handle the camera in more effective ways, and have become better at altering the focus of the lens in association to the scene. For instance, using non-focus and focused shots in appropriate scenes. For example there are many shots our music video, in which we have blurred out the background, to draw the audience’s attention to what is actually going on. I have also understood that the tripod does not need to be used every single time that we are filming. I have also now learnt how to do panning shots freehand without the use of a tripod. In comparison to the last academic year, when I was recording my thriller, I have certainly understood more about when it is necessary to use the tripod.
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Final Cut Pro: Throughout the production of our music video, final cut pro played an essential role. The programme allowed us to cut out bits of our recorded footage and storyline and put it all together in our preferable order into a simple timeline.
We also used final cut pro to edit some of the clips. For instance we reversed a shot, in order for it to move in time with the beat. This is another form of convention. Carole Vernallis once said “the camera may move in time with the beat”. This shot in reverse is shown below:
Final cut pro also allowed me to switch from one shot to another smoothly. This was done by the use of an effect called "cross dissolve".
Final cut pro has also allowed us to lip sync the clips that we recorded with the original track. This was done by placing markers on each clip at the same point, so it could easily be matched and in sync.
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| Final Cut Pro Logo |
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LiveType: We used the LiveType programme in order to add subtitles on the music video. For example, we used Japanese texts throughout the music video.
However we as a group decided not to use too much text. This is because it could take away the audiences attention from the most important aspects of the music video. For example, if we used a lot of text throughout the music video, the audience may not pay close attention to the mise-en-scene and also the storyline of the music video.
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| LiveType Logo |
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Photoshop: Throughout the production of my ancillary products, Photoshop played an essential role. There are many tools in which can be used within the programme. These have allowed me to produce my ancillary products, and helped me make them the best I possibly could.
An essential tool in which I used very often was the "crop tool". The crop tool allowed me to resize any images to my desirable size.
I also used the "Rectangle Tool" in order to separate certain bits of detail from each other. For example on the front panel of my digipak, I used a grey rectangle to separate the image from the title.
I also used the “Magic Wand Tool” which allowed me to select an area of an image based on its colour. The “Magic Wand Tool” usually works better when the colour you are trying to select is different to the rest of the image. For example if I was dealing with a picture of a person – It would be easier to select the surrounding colours if they were a different colour the person and what they are wearing.
In the options bar it is also very important to select the right level of “Tolerance value” (0 to 255). This determines how closely to match colours – the higher tolerance means the larger area selected.
I usually use the “Magic Wand Tool” when there is a picture of a person and I am trying to get rid of the background. This is done by selecting the whole unwanted background area, and then clicking “Shift+Ctrl+L” all together, and then pressing "back space" to ultimately rid of the background. “Shift+Ctrl+L” is an alternative way of locating the “inverse” button.
Lastly I also used the "Horizontal Type Tool" to enter all of the text on my ancillary products. I decided to use the Horizontal type tool as a substitute to "Quark Express". Quark Express is a programme which our teachers had advised us to use. Quark express is particularly made for adding texts to a piece of work.
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| Photoshop Logo |
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The Internet: Throughout the process of planning, production and evaluation, the internet has certainly played an essential role. This is because it has allowed me to use many fundamental sites such as YouTube, Google images and Blogger.
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YouTube: This is the main site which has allowed me to research music videos of the “dubstep”, “pop” and “dub-pop” genre. This is done by typing artist’s names into the search engine. Researching these videos and then watching them allowed me to identify and use the conventions amongst many of these videos and implement them into mine. This may sometimes be referred to as intertextuality.
Watching these videos over and over again has certainly given me an insight onto how a music video of the “dub-pop” genre should ideally look. I researched any artists which included “James Blunt”, “James Woon” and also the main artist in which has song is being used for our music video – “James Blake”.
We also used YouTube to create our shortlist of songs that we took under consideration and may have used. We also used YouTube to embed the music video directly onto the blogger so that the video can be watched on the blog itself. This was done by pressing embed and then copying the code onto the “Edit HTML” of the blogger. The width and length of the video had to be changed on many occasions. This is because the original size used for YouTube was fair too big when transferred onto blogger.
In order to get the official version of the music video we chose we used YouTube. We used YouTube to download the track and import it into Final Cut Pro to use in the production on our music video.
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Google images: This is the main site which has allowed me to research all areas of my ancillary products of the “dubstep”, “pop” and “dub-pop” genre. This is done by typing artist’s names into the search engine alongside with the words “Digipak” or “Magazine advertisement”. By typing in the name of the chosen artist, within seconds I had access to thousands of images of digipak’s and magazine advertisements.
Looking at as well as analysing many of these I have been able to identify and use the conventions amongst many of these ancillary products and implement them into mine. This may sometimes be referred to as intertextuality. I paid particular attention to the positioning of the artists and also the colour schemes.
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Blogger: This the main site in which I used to update my progress on any media work or my own interest. In other words it has allowed to blog progress of all stages of this unit so that fellow group members and teachers can read about what I have been up to. They can simply do this by locating my blog which is in “group 28” and go to “Ayub Ali” on the section of Labels.
Blogger as a site is a convergence centre allowing me to incorporate videos, images, slideshows and audio recordings all into one place. This allows me showcase my A2 media blog and demonstrate it in an effective manner.
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