A2 MEDIA STUDIES -

EVALUATION POST 4

By Damian
Zlotorzynski
During my pre production stages of the foundation media
studies course, I have conducted a lot of research into
different Horror film openings. I have achieved this by
watching multiple Horror film openings on the YouTube
platform and by doing a timeline opening of the horror film
Evil Dead (2013), the frame by frame timeline analysis
allowed me to understand the generic conventions of an
Horror film opening along with the appearance of texts and
choice of music through the different opening stages of the
film. I used websites such as Art of the title to carry this kind
of research and to develop my understanding of the structure
of the opening of a Horror film.
The YouTube platform was notably very resourceful and
useful for both the foundation and advanced portfolio
during my research tasks. The site provided many Horror
film openings and worked as a video database during my
pre production stages. In order to carry out the research
Ive used various devices, I had access to desktop
computers, Chrome books and iMacs at the school facility.
This meant I was able to carry out research both at home
and at school. The research carried out in my foundation
media studies course seemed very successful and effective
which meant I used similar concepts for the advanced
portfolio, for which I had to carry out research into the Hip
Hop music genre.
For the advanced portfolio I had to focus on
research of the Hip Hop music genre after
selecting Hip Hop for the genre that our group
will be developing a media product for. I used
similar research and methodology techniques
that I previously used in my foundation
portfolio. However I used the google image
search engine in order to develop my
understanding of existing real media products
of digipaks and magazine posters for the
ancillary tasks, using google images allowed
me to look into successful media products. An
example that I looked into with a lot of detail
was 50 Cents digipak and magazine poster
for the album get rich or die tryin.
In regards to my audience research task, I figured that the best way
of carrying out the research was by creating a VOX POP. I had to use
recording equipment in order to capture the footage, this included a
video camera and a tripod to make sure the footage recorded was
stable and of a high quality. I carried out an interview to capture the
people's thoughts, once this was carried out I was able to merge the
clips together on a video based editing software iMovie. From there I
was able to add in some effects in order to bring the sound volume up
and stabilize the footage for it to come across as professional and of a
good standard. Furthermore, I have implemented the use of VOX POP
in my Advanced portfolio after a successful experience of using it with
my foundation coursework. I used the same format of asking open
questions in order to make sure its not biased and I also recorded it
with the same equipment previously used.
Alternatively In my advanced portfolio I decided to introduce another form
of audience research due to the fact of believing my audience research
was to basic and didn't really give me any data or patterns to analyse in
my foundation portfolio. This meant I had improved my audience research
task by carrying out a questionnaire in order to obtain quantitative data,
this allowed me to use graphs and provide stats from the data that I
collected. I used a sample size of 50 members of the public which gave
me enough data to work with in order to analyse and visually represent
the data. The data that I obtained from my questionnaire was inputted into
a table on Microsoft excel, from there I was able to collect all the results
and tally them. Microsoft Excel has allowed me to create graphs and
charts that I was able to analyse, this allowed me to comment on the
trend of the data and any patterns that I was able to notice. Furthermore I
was able to present the data on a PowerPoint presentation where it proved
to be very successfully as I was able to offer a much more detailed
analysis of the audience research task through a representation of graphs
and bar charts. This information I was then able to analyse and use as
very useful audience research in preparation for the music video.
PRODUCTION - INSTITUTION LOGO
AND ANCILLARY TASKS
In my production stages of my foundation portfolio as a group we had to
come up with a logo for the institution, I took this task on as I had the most
experience with photo editing software's. I used Adobe Photoshop on the
Apple (iMac) platform in order to develop and design the logo. The institution
name Untold Productions was created in a creative format coming across
professional with the use of different blood effects and a clever swap of letter
for images in the logos writing. I have also included a hand that appeared to
be coming out of the ground which made it easily identifiable that the
institution was of an Horror origin. I have generated this image by simply
using a template found on the internet, I was able to copy and paste it into a
separate layer on to Photoshop to be able to work on it and add design
implements to make it appear the way I want. During the creation of the logo
I experienced no difficulties on the iMac platform, it was very quick and
responsive making it very easy to operate around.
Adobe Photoshop offered a great range of tools and different effects, this
gave me loads of freedom and capability to play around with the features
trying out different concepts in order to develop the perfect logo.
Furthermore, due to the success and development of my skills with Adobe
Photoshop from the foundation portfolio to the advanced portfolio. I decided
to stick to it for the production of my ancillary tasks in the advanced
portfolio, there was no point me using any alternative graphic based
application as I believe Photoshop worked very well and allowed me to
utilize my skills and developed understanding of the software in the
advanced portfolio. The same procedure was also used in order to develop
the production logo for the advanced portfolio, I was able to use Photoshop
in order to design a logo for our institution UVR (Universal Vibe Records).
PRODUCTION - FILM OPENING AND MUSIC VIDEO
In relevance to my film opening for my foundation portfolio I
used a standard Samsung recording camera provided by the
school. I used this camera to record my footage for the film
opening. It was a standard camera and at the time appeared
to be perfect offering everything we needed it to do. The vast
majority of our footage was captured in darker environments
meaning we had to use artificial lighting to get a better shot
and adjust some of the camera settings such the brightness
and contrasts levels for the shots to gain more visibility. The
quality of the camera was high-definition (1920 x 1080 pixel
resolution), this at first appeared to be enough but after
rendering the finished product we realised some of the
footage appeared blurred and out of focus. This was due to
the lower quality of the camera and the fact that it was being
recorded at 30FPS (Frames per second) this meant some of
the frames where dropping making it appear to become
blurry.
This is something that weve taken into consideration with the advanced
portfolio, learning from our mistakes made in the foundation portfolio. We
used an android operating smartphone which provided an ultra-high-
definition (3840 x 2160 pixel resolution) that recorded at a constant 60FPS
meaning the footage was very smooth and vibrant in colours. We
considered using a digital camera that one of our members in the group
owned, but after comparing it to the smartphone device it did not offer a
higher standard level of professionalism. The smartphone device also
offered more capability to adjustments, allowing me to change different
brightness levels and other multiples such as the exposure level to fit the
environment of shot. This allowed us to optimize the settings increasing
the clarity of the footage making it clear and visible. In regards to the
advanced portfolio the music video was not going to be recorded in poor
lighting conditions or during the night meaning lightning would not be a
problem.
The use of the preliminary task which was recorded
in the foundation portfolio developed my
understanding of the different camera shots and
angles that can be implemented into my foundation
film opening. I used this knowledge by
implementing the shots in the production of my
advanced portfolio, I used the match on action
shot and the shot reverse shot as seen in the
finished product. The implication of technology was
clearly developed over the duration of my media
course, whilst my understanding and development
of technology used has widely advanced over the
duration of the course. I was able to use and apply
the experience and understanding from my
foundation portfolio to the advanced portfolio,
preventing me from making the same mistakes.
 POST-PRODUCTION - FILM OPENING
AND MUSIC VIDEO
Throughout the post production stages of my foundation portfolio I had to edit the
footage putting a horror film opening together. In order to edit and achieve this I
used iMacs iMovie editing software. This editing software offered a high
standard of professionalism along with a range of different tools and effects
allowing me to take full advantage of it helping me produce the highest standard
of a film opening. The software worked really well with the resolution we recorded
in (1920 x 1080 pixel resolution). I was already quite familiar with the editing
software having previously used it within the preliminary task, which meant I
knew how to operate the program and do some complex effects such as overlap
footage and do all the necessary colour corrections in order for the footage to
appear more lively and vibrant. The editing software was a great choice for the
foundation task as it offered a large selection of different non diegetic sounds
that can be used throughout the different stages of the film opening. The large
selection of copyright free samples was really helpful as it saved me time by not
having to look online for free to use samples that fit into my film opening. I was
able find a good choice of sound effects that fit the Horror convention, this helped
the music video come across as spooky and created the right tension for a
Horror film opening. This helped the film opening be recognisable as a horror.
In the advanced media portfolio I attempted to use the same editing
software after previously finding success with it and gaining a lot of
experience. This however proved to be the wrong decision as we
come across a couple problems when trying to render the footage,
due to us using a higher resolution level (3840 x 2160 pixel
resolution) the iMac could not handle it having crashed on us on
multiple occasions. This was due to a not sufficient amount of RAM
(The iMac computers we were using were slightly outdated, coming
with only 4GB of RAM) Thus meant we had to switch computer
systems going from the Apple operating system to a windows
computer. This also meant we had to use a different editing software
as iMovie is exclusively offered for iMac users and not compatible on
the windows operating system. This didn't prove to be a problem as
Ive had previous experience with Adobe After Effects and I was able
to use that editing program as an alternative. This editing software
offered excellent performance and a variety of different tools for my
music video. However during the exportation process of the product,
Ive had come across a similar hardware problem that I encountered
previously. I figured that using a computer system with double the
amount of RAM from the previous system would be enough but this
seemed to still be a insufficient amount of memory RAM. I
understood my music video had a very complex structure due to the
very high FPS as well as the high resolution. This meant that I had to
installed an extra 8GB of RAM in my computer which resulted in the
exportation of myproduct successfully in the end.
POST-PRODUCTION -
EVALUATION(S) IN RELATION
TO PRESENTATION
When presenting my work in my foundation portfolio I
decided to use a blogging platform Blogger, this platform
seemed to be a great choice as blogs tend to provide a very
clear structure. The simplicity of the website made it very
easy to understand after no previous experience with any
type of blogs, It didn't take much time for me to get an
understanding of how to use the site. I was able to edit the
theme and background of my work along with the
presentation methods of each post. The site was accessible
and viewable from a variety of different platforms, I was
able to update my blog and upload new posts while still
working on them, once completed I was able to release it
live onto the blog. I uploaded most of my posts from a
computing system or a Chromebook, blogger saved any
draft and unfinished work which made it very convenient
The blogging platform Blogger offered a
variety of different ways to upload my research
and planning tasks onto the blog, I was able to
embed content into my posts which made
them displayable on the blog. In regards to
embedding my work to the blog, It had to be
displayed in an online platform in order to be
viewable. To achieve this I used a site known
as SlideShare, this site enabled me to convert
the document to a presentable format. Sites
such as SlideShare allow users to upload
finished pieces of their work and make it
presentable as an online document.
Furthermore, after uploading the finished
product I was able to simply copy and paste
the HTML code into my blog converting the
post from a written code into a visual
document. Due to success in the foundation
portfolio of blogger and SlideShare, it's
In regards to my video based production, I used the
YouTube platform in order to upload my previous
ancillary task along with the finished products of the
film opening and music video. This was a easy choice
to make as YouTube has never disappointed me and
been very easy to use, all the videos were uploaded
and stored on the online internal storage. The videos
were very easily accessible and viewable on the
blogging platform as I was able to embed them onto
the blog as done previously by copying and pasting
the HTML code to make it viewable. I also
implemented the use of Prezi to present my work as
an alternative to SlideShare, it was very effective as it
was a good way of presenting a lot of information and
break it down to make it easier to understand. I was
also able to add links and photographs to the Prezi
making it a very interactive format of presenting my
work. I used Prezi for both my foundation and
advanced portfolio tasks.