Moderator Note

Dear Moderator,

Here is my blog presenting the posts I have made throughout the course of the year for both 'Research and Planning' and 'Production' stages. I have tried to make my blog as easy to read and navigate through as possible, the navigation bar can be found on the left. I have enjoyed working with my team members Aisha Khatun-Ali and Paige Artus despite the setbacks that may have occurred. I hope my blog is an enjoyable read for you.

Stephanie Whitehead

Ancillary Tasks and Finished Trailer

Finished Trailer: Final Feedback

After uploading the finished trailer to my Youtube channel I posted a link to Facebook and Instagram which are my most used social media platforms.
From there we all shared the link to other friends and family members.

Along with the link to the trailer I added our snyopsis from the beginning of the project.

This the feedback we recieved:

We had some incredibly in depth feedback from Anthony in the Youtube comments

(Text)

(Snapchat)

Evaluation Question 4 How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evaluation: Question 3 What ways have you learned from your audience?

The first part of Question 3 involved seeing what I had learnt from my audience in terms of my poster. I recorded two videos since the first one over ran.

I also got some extra feedback on my finished poster from 2 different audience members and learnt my strengths within the poster



In context with my magazine I learned a lot from my audience through feedback from social media, text and through survey monkey



I also got some final feedback from 2 different audience members on my finished magazine so I learnt  my strengths from this short interviews.





In regards to our trailer we included information gained from the audience questionnaire videos at the start of the year in relation to the social realism genre. I evaluated this and for the group explained which ideas and contributions we would be taking forward.
Half way through produced our trailer we asked for some feedback and any improvements to make which the two girls wrote down notes for.
Finally after completing the trailer we asked a different audience memberto give us all new feedback on the finished product and chose the same audience member we did first time round to comment on the progress we made as a group.

This video was filmed via Iphone edited in Premiere Pro and uploaded through Youtube.

Evaluation: Question 2 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

Here is the emaze presenatation I made in regards to question 2 of the evaluation





Here are my analysis videos of the combination of my ancillary tasks and main product.
I used Tiny Take to record them and then uploaded to Youtube.

Evaluation: Question 1 In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Production: Finished Trailer

Production: Premiere Pro editing: Theatre (Reverse)

As a group we wanted to make the trailer a full circle so we used the scene of our character placing his hands on the piano and reversed the clip by selecting the speed and duration tab and selecting reverse. This kept the same speed but showed our character taking his hands off the keys. This will be synced with the music stopping.

Production: Premiere Pro Editing: Theatre

This Ishowu video is a short clip of the editing sequence accumulating the scenes taking place in theatre.
I didn't add any cross dissolves or fades to the clips since I used an action match to show a passing of time there was no need to use fades because there was no change in setting. I cut the original clips which were around 10-20 seconds long each into smaller chunks which would flow nicely and fit to the voiceover we have paired with the scene.

Production: Theatre Original Takes

The theatre is the crucial point of the storyline. Will he fail or succeed?
We wanted to open the shot by tracking his feet, so we got the tripod as low as we could to keep the camera table then I moved the camera and tracked his feet whilst walking over to the piano.
The tracking of feet is meant to be shot as a action match so it speeds up the scene whilst still looking continous.
In the last scene Dan places his hands on the keys and plays the first note, that moment is where the music (his audition) will start to play and play throughout the rest of the trailer.

Research & Planning: Theatre Props and Costume

Props:

Keyboard

 Foot Pedal

Sheet Music

Costume:

Simple suit, nothing extravagant. For an audition he needs to look smart especially since he's auditioning for a prestigious university.

In order for us to get the wide shots and be able to get enough height to fit all of Rob's 6ft 3inches frame into shot, we had to extend the tripod vertically as much as possible and raise the feet up to the tallest it could be without toppling over. This proved quite a task since our groups average height is aorund 5ft. 

Research & Planning: Shot List Theatre scene

Research & Planning: Location Recce & Risk Assessment: Theatre

Research & Planning: Theatre Booking

Aisha contacted the head of the Perfoming Arts Department about booking the theatre for an hour session at a lunch time, the email is below.
The theatre was the scene that brought the trailer together starting and finishing the storyline. However we shot this last because we had a lot of trouble trying to book the theatre out because of other lessons/performances that took priority over our project. 

Production: Vlog Original Takes

The start of this scene is to show Dan's physical appearance and personality. This scene is his attempt at being confident and outgoing although this does not come naturally to him as the shaking leg displays.
This is his audition piece all about the music not what he is wearing.

Research & Planning: Vlog Props and Costume

For this scene Dan is in college and setting up a camera to record his audition tape. This scene begins the trailer on a personal level.
His costume for this scene is relaxed and very casual.
So he is wearing a simple hoodie, grey tracksuit bottoms and casual trainers.
We wanted him to wear this outfit because it shows he has more pressing matters on his mind than what he is wearing, the video is all about the music and not about himself.

The props for this scene are:
Keyboard
Camera
Tripod

The room is very plain and simple and all he needs is his instrument to perform on for his audition.
Since the trailer is based at the present time we wanted to show the use of technology and the media. Nowadays people are uploading covers and their own music to Youtube on a daily basis so this is the case with our character. This recording for his audition would also be something he would upload to his very small Youtube channel for feedback. This is his attempt at getting himself out there into the media and trying to make a name for himself.

Because our actor is over 6ft tall we had to improvise and use a chair aswell as a tripod in order to get him when stood up in shot as well as having the keyboard in the background to give some context.

Research & Planning: Shot List Music classroom/vlog scene

Research & Planning: Location Recce & Risk Assessment: Music Classroom/Vlog

Production: Train Original Takes

These shorter scenes were my idea to film since I travel on the train to and from college every day.
These scenes were to show how our character travels on his own accord, and to imply that he is on his way to his audition and interview since the scene that follows is the interview.
The first clip I filmed handheld as a moving train went past to show speed and passing of time.
The rest of the clips are me filming next to the door window which doesn't show as much of a reflection. I needed no reflection of my face or clothing since I look nothing like Rob.
A figure shape is fine because no detail is shown of my face so it could look like Rob was filming the scene himself.
My train journey varies from small town to villages, this is also apparant on a long train journey since main train lines do travel through the countryside at fast pace.
My train journey goes through Ashton, Stalybridge, Mossley and Greenfield.

Research & Planning: Shot List Trains

Research & Planning: Location Recce & Risk Assessment: Trains

Production: Premiere Pro editing: Park

This short clip is to show how I've put together four different clips from different angles. After cutting them to the size I wanted I joined them together and decided not to add any transitions between shots. We decided not to use any transitions because there is no change in overall location. The continuous blue tones in the scenes make the sequence flow together really well on it's own. We added a dip to black at the end once the bottle has been kicked at the camera to 1) show a difference in location and 2) to mimic the camera breaking and running out of battery.

Research & Planning: Pet Dog

This is Jenson Rob's pet dog. 

When we first discussed the idea of the trailer we knew we wanted our character to be very solitary and independent however the idea of a pet did crop up in conversation and we didn't think it would be possible since none of us in the group had pets that could travel long distance. 

Fortunately Rob has his dog Jenson which was perfect. 

Jenson is very well-behaved and gets along with Rob very well meaning the bond between them was already apparent, we wanted to emphasise this though by including him in the trailer as Rob's best friend and companion. 

Even when Rob gets angry Jenson will carry on running after him to keep his mind sane and show that he has someone who cares about him.

Production: Park Original Takes

The aim of these scenes combined are to tell the main portion of the story, so we filmed a lot of the same scenes to make sure they were just right. We had to travel to Hyde Park over the half term holiday, so we allocated a 2 hour slot to film just around this area, so we made sure to use the full amount of time. In this time we also decided to use the ideas from the alleyway scene by taking his anger out on litter around the area and use a walkway round the little stream at the bottom of Hyde Park to kick around litter.
For these scenes we had the help of Rob's dog, the initial idea was for our character to have a pet, but we thought we might have to adapt that since we were filming around college, but since we were going to Hyde Park we were allowed to use Rob's dog as his loving companion.

Research & Planning: Forest Props and Costume

Costume:

The same costume as the park scene as it was shot on the same day and meant to be seen as a continous shot but at different areas of the park. 

Props:

The main prop here was the bottle, a lot of litter was scattered about the place as it was but nothing big enough for our character to kick at the camera to distort the shot. 

So I brought various items to the park to place down in front of the camera which would be placed on the floor

Research & Planning: Park Props & Costume

Costume:

The costume included casual clothing. A grey hoodie which does have branding but nothing overly pricey especially since it is a very old style of hoodie. Plain black boots and distressed jeans showing that they have been worn quite a lot, they are also a looser fit meaning he is trying to look after his appearance but isn't overly bothered by it. 

The main prop for this scene is a small letter from our main characters father.
The note reads:
Dan
Happy 18th birthday son!
The past couple of years have been incredibly tough on you, ever since I got my diagnosis your mother hasn't coped well...
You're our rock so stay strong and keep your head held high!
Never the less I am so amazingly proud of you and all you have achieved. I know you will continue to impress me even when I'm no longer around.
I love you with all my heart
Dad

This note is significant to our story because his father has recently died from cancer and his mother has resorted to alcoholism. He has had minimal support from his mother and hardly any from his father because of his cancer, so Dan has tried to make his life the best he can by proving to himself he can still reach his goals.
As a result of his parents being very absent his anger has developed because he has no one to confide in except himself, so this note was once a cherished memory but as his frustration grows his sense of self begins to deteriorate resulting in him throwing away the note and leaving it behind as he attempts to move forward.