Production progress

Recently I have finished the filming process of the production. Overall, the filming process was successful although slow at times. The first couple of sessions of filming were quite spread out and didn't work well in the terms of time management. However the third session and so on were done in quick and efficient succession meaning the shots would all work well within my production.


I am now moving onto putting all the focus on editing. I have been editing the main footage together roughly whilst I was filming however it was not done precisely and no effort was put towards the sound. The plan is to first edit the footage so that it is in the right order and at the appropriate length. After this, I will move onto adding the video effects such as a special transition when the pendant is used and implementing the colour corrections. Once this is done sound, whether it be diegetic or non-diegetic, will be the main focus. I will need to add foley sound to start off with, such as footsteps and ambience sounds and then move onto adding appropriate music to fit the feel of the production. However, it will probably not be that simple as I learnt from my AS piece. While editing my AS piece I came across problems that weren't necessarily there to begin with. One example would be sound being out of sync or lack of continuity which was noticed at the time. I feel that I have taken care of this not happening while filming and will keep this cautious attitude whilst editing to make sure there is no serious problems there either.

Another focus that needs to be considered is the evaluation questions which will evaluate my media piece and the ancillary texts that go with it, however I will go into more detail of these questions and how to answer them on a separate blog post.    

Last day of filming

The last session of filming was by far the biggest and longest session so far. In this session, we filmed both the part where the main character comes across the remains of the old man as well as the pendant and the final shots where the main character has been driven crazy by the pendant where he then became nothing but remains too.

The shots for the character finding the pendant went fairly well. I wanted it to seem that the pendant was alive and looking at the character. This can be seen from the first shot where the camera is placed behind it to give the viewer the viewpoint of the pendant. The other shots used are used the show what the character is feeling and thinking, below are a few of those shots. 

Moving on from this, the shots for the final part of the film were some of the most important to show that whoever uses the pendant is driven mad. This was done by using the same shots that were used for the old man except it is done with the main character. This makes it seem that the main character has reached the same fate as the original character and also disappears leaving the pendant to take another victim. Below are a few of these shots. 

  

Sixth day of filming

Soon after the last filming session, me and the main actor filmed the shots that bridge the gap between the character using the pendant accidentally for the first time and the montage of him using it to commit crimes. These shots would consist of mostly close up's and mid shots, some of which being high angle. These shots have to show that the character has realised the potential of this device. To do this, the close up will show his facial expression and he will then quickly change into a darker outfit to represent the dark actions he about to undertake. Below is a few shots of this session.

  

Fifth day filming

Earlier this week, I completed the shots needed to make up the montage of the character committing crimes using the pendant. The shot that was needed was a continuous long shot of the character rummaging through possessions within the house and then stealing a phone and a laptop, and he would do this whilst two people are sat right in front of him however they'll be frozen. This shot would then be cut down making the audience get the idea of what he is doing whilst making sure the shot does not stretch out for too long. This session was fairly quick however it did take a couple of takes due to interruptions during this thirty second shot. Below is a screen grab of this shot.

   

Fourth Day Filming

With filming now well under way, me and my main actor went out again to film some of the more crucial shots of the film. These shots are going to make up a montage that displays the character both taking advantage of the new ability he's discovers as well as him going ever more insane. The most important thing to consider for this was what were the best things the character could take advantage of. I decided that the best things he could do is steal from a shop, then a house and eventually a bank. This list is consists of both petty and serious crimes and depending on which they are send him more insane. Some ideas I may implement to show him growing further away from sanity is going into a women's changing room. When we went out filming, we managed to capture a lot of these scenes including the bank and the shop. Next time we go out we will finish up this montage by recording the house scene. Below are a few shots from this session.

    

Third Day of Filming

A couple of days ago, Me and my main actor went out to film the stage at which he walks towards the point where he first discovers he can stop time using the pendant. Initially the filming did not go according to plan as we had two dogs with us rather than the one which is needed. This meant that I had to hold one dog whilst trying to record which equalled in a shaky shot. Therefore we took the other dog home making the filming process a lot easier. The shots I filmed was a close up of both the main actor and the dog, a mid shot of the actor walking down the street and a pan of the actor crossing the street. Even though these shots are quite basic they are needed to fill out the films between the action and the story. Below are a few screenshots of the filming.

Making an item glow

Within my piece, I want to make a certain item glow to show it's significance that it has magical effects to it. The item in question is the pendant that can enable the user to stop time. After filming the initial shots I realised it wasn't clear that the pendant was the cause for time stopping so there needed to be some significant visual to emphasise that this is the item causing it. I've researched the best program to use to do this and it seemed that Adobe After Effects will work well. I do have some experience with this program as I used it to create the motion tracked titles in my AS piece There are also many tutorials online showing how to do nearly everything on After Effects including making things glow. Below is the tutorial that I plan on using when it comes to that stage in my editing.

Media in the online age: The Internet

On the theory side of media, we have moved on to looking at media in the online age, specifically media associated with the internet. We have covered very important issues such as the history and then what is available at the moment.

In this current age, the world relies on the internet to carry out the basic tasks needed such as communicating and banking. The most amazing thing about the internet is that it’s still fairly knew, with it only being initially developed in 1957. It was created by Tim Bernes-Lee who had the aim to distribute it completely free of charge. At that time it could only work on one item at a time using batch processing. This was overall ineffective as it took too long to process anything. As time went on however more connections were developed, such as the Arpanet network in 1966. This added a selection of different networks designed for specific purposes, which were commercial, scientific and military. These were set up so that gateways didn’t have as much traffic as they did previously. It then slowly developed from phones servers to an integrated net of connection in 1990, otherwise known as the internet. As mentioned, the internet was intended to be free for all users however there were people out there who saw this as a huge investment opportunity, such as Bill Gates. Gates is the founder of Windows and essentially made it for a computer to operate, windows would have to be installed, thus creating a massive income.  

As mentioned, the internet is an essential pillar of society as nearly all aspects of life are associated with it. One of these aspects is TV. Before the internet became so big, programmes could only be watched as it was happening on TV with some being able to record a limited amount. However the internet has changed this as it now provided on demand features. This allows users to choose to watch programmes on catch up websites such as iPlayer and 4OD. There are also subscription based websites that provide a wide variety of films and TV shows, some of which are exclusive to that streaming service. Similar to this YouTube has revolutionised how digital media can be distributed and consumed. YouTube lets users upload their own videos as well as allowing people to follow channels. It has around 1 billion viewers a month. An important aspect of this is citizen journalism. Before this was available, the media was dominated by news channels who could miss out key features and censor things their viewers would not like. However with pictures and video being available anywhere through the use of mobiles, things can be seen as they really are with nobody trying to censor it.  Another key aspect of Web 2.0 is social media. There are many social media websites available, the leading ones being Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Twitter arguably contributes the most innovation to the internet as it provides many things that were never available. It lets uses live talk about whatever they’d like wit a character limit of 250. This live feed means that if an event or a news story is dominating the media you can hear people’s opinions about it. It also breaks the barrier between celebrities and their fans. The fans can easily contact the celebrity and vice versa which introduces a more three dimensional take on fame.

A way in which we have learnt about the impact the web has had is through a documentary called 'The Virtual Revolution.' This documentary investigates how far the world has developed in the few years that the internet has been widely available and looks at the positives and negatives that it has had on culture society.