Continuing our edit…

Well we had our rough cut; all we had to do was import the music. Aleicia and I began listening to some CD’s to get some inspiration and to try and find something that would set the right mood. When listening through we found one track called ‘Heavy Heart’ that sounded perfect for the opening and end scenes, but unfortunately as we haven’t got permission from the published we were unable to use it, which was really disappointing but at least it gave us an idea of what style of music we wanted.
We then began listening to royalty free music on the Internet. We came across a sample track that sounded very dark, that would suit our film. But we were unable to download it, because Weston College had blocked it.
So we had to create our own music. When we listened through the audio samples on ‘Garage Band’ and ‘Soundtrack Pro’ we couldn’t find anything that would work. So Sacha had a look through, and created some audio that worked well with our film’s theme.


Our film ‘Escape’ is musical driven, and contains very little dialogue. The quality of our dialogue was quite poor, because some of it sounded very distorted, because the boom mic was too close, an error made when filming.
Once the main bulk of the music was in place, we began working on the titles in ‘LiveType’. We chose to have our production name ‘K.A. Productions’ in pink to fit with the pink logo on the paper work.
In the assignment brief, it requires us to put the bars and tones at the beginning of the film, as well as a count down clock. So we added the bars and tones from ‘Final Cut Pro’ and created a counter clock in ‘Flash’. In my opinion adding these final touches made our film look a little more professional.
Once we were both happy with the final film, we exported it as a ‘QuickTime Movie’.

WHO WE WERE TO WHO WE ARE NOW!

As I have mentioned in previous blog entries, when we first started our group projects there was three group members. So using the initials of our first names we came up with the production company name K.A.S Productions. However after some discussions Aleicia and I have made the decision to scrap the ‘S’, as we can’t really decide on what it could now stand for.
There were some suggestions it could stand for ‘Sexy’, ‘Sensible’, ‘Sound’, ‘Stylish’ but done of these really had any relevant meaning. So a group decision was we scrap the ‘S’ and be re-name ourselves K.A. Productions. The letter ‘K’ stands for Keely and the letter ‘A’ stands for Aleicia.

The Start of our Group Edit.

Today we began editing our project. As Aleicia’s train was delayed, I carried on by logging and capturing all of the footage we had filmed over the two filming days. This didn’t take too long, so once we had our rushes I began looking through them, selecting some of the best content that would be usable within the edit.
As our short film contains flashback scenes, I decided to get started by editing some of these scenes. Once I had the content in the right order, and I was happy with it. I added a video effect called ‘Tint’ over the top of the images. This gave the moving images a black and white effect, creating a flashback feel. The reason I chose to do this was because a couple of members on the pitching panel had suggested it to us, to make it clearer and more understandable for the viewers watching.
When Aleicia arrived, we began editing the ‘studio footage’. Personally I thought these scenes were some of the most difficult to edit; because some of the lighting was quite poor in some shots but also we didn’t to get the cuts right so the film’s continuity was correct.
When editing our film, we did encounter a few problems with the computer as it kept crashing on us. The first time it crashed, was a bit gutting as we did loose some of our work we had already done. But this was our fault, as we should have kept saving it. However once this had happened we learnt our lesson and we began saving the edit after every 5 minutes to ensure we didn’t loose too much work.
Today we got our rough cut done, but after watching it back we felt that the flashback scenes didn’t look quite right, something was missing. We both decided that we should alter the speed of the clip by slowing them down, this worked well. One of the shots I thought looked effective after adding the effect and altering the speed was the opening birthday shot. I feel it’s a good opening scene as it sets the mood for the rest of the film. Once we had the content in story order, we decided to call it a day and continue the editing tomorrow.

GROUP PROJECT - FILMING

Well to get to the production stage has been quite difficult, especially as one group member has just disappeared and decided not to make any contact with the rest of the group, although the rest of the group has tried and tried to make contact with me him via telephone which just goes to an answer phone (which tells you not too leave a message). We have also tried contacting him through e-mail, which was a little successful to begin with, but not so much now!
But to be honest I thought that this might sort of happen, because I have worked with this group member previously on another project, and then I found it quite difficult to make arrangements to get things done.
Throughout this whole project it’s Aleicia and me who have done all of the work, we did ask him to do some storyboards ready for the pitch, but again he failed to turn up on time, a little concerned we rang him, to find out where he was and the reply both of us got was he woke up late. When he finally arrived, he did have some storyboards with him, but to be honest I believe he just rushed them whilst he was on the bus! As they were very rough on a lined notepad, it looked very unprofessional. At this point I felt very annoyed and frustrated because I felt he didn’t want too contribute and wanted Aleicia and I to do all the work.
Aleicia and I decided it wasn’t fair and decided to continue the project without him. Together we made some adjustments to our script and treatment, trying to make the story slightly clearer and a little less complicated.

Below is a flow diagram of the process we took from the pre-production stage to the production stage.




Holland, P. (1997) the television handbook. London: Routledge P. 40

At the beginning of the pre-production stage we advertised for actors and actresses to act in our short production. Within a couple of days two people had responded to the advertisements and were both willing to contribute. But unfortunately when it came to the filming days one of them decided not too show up. This didn’t cause too much of a problem because one of my friends who has previous acting experience was willing to participate to help us out, it just put I slightly behind schedule.

The other actress ‘Nikki’ has loads of acting experience as she has worked on T.V programmes such as ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Casualty’.

In the studio

When filming in the studio, the hardest thing I found was trying to get the lighting right. We did have a few problems with some of the shots, and because some of the studio lights were not working it did make it slightly harder but I think we both overcome this problem.
Unfortunately when we were filming some of the final studio shots of one of the characters taped to the chair. The fire alarm went off, so we had to undo all of the tape.

Filming day 2

The second filming day we were filming the running scenes and the flashback scenes. When we went to collect the camera though from the technician someone had taken the camera we had booked out to use, but luckily one of the Canons were available for the morning.

The morning of each filming day I went to the supermarket to get the props needed. These included:

- Knife
- Birthday Cake
- Birthday Candles
- Cuddly Toy
- Birthday Card
- Gift bag
- Tape
- Diary

When we were filming in the studio, my role was mainly sound and lighting, although I did film some of the final shots.
The second day of filming Aleicha filmed the flashback scenes, and I filmed the running scenes.

Below is the process we took from Production – Post Production:




Holland, P. (1997) the television handbook. London: Routledge P. 41


Personally so far, I think Aleicia and I have worked well as a team. We have both made contributions to the project and communicated well with each other.

Writing for Broadcast Media – The News Story

Writing for Broadcast Media – The News Story

The first news story I wrote was a result of my press release ‘Skydiving for The Blind’. This is the story I published for a web audience. However I did also write another news story – ‘Exam’s Increase Childline Calls by 50%’
The reason I chose this subject area, is because it’s that time of year again when exams are taking place.

Exams increase Childline Calls by 50%.

Young people taking their exams hope to achieve good results to get into further education and well-paid careers. But with strong expectations from the government setting ‘impossible targets’ and competitive league tables, schools are now pressuring young people to take their G.C.S.E’s early. But is it worth the stress?

Young people already have plenty to deal with like puberty, where they’re often confused about changes they are experiencing; and with so many distressing cases of young people committing suicide due to exam stress like Tina Dziki. Schools should be supporting young people, rather than rushing them through their exams, causing them depression.

A&E wards show that one in five young people aged fifteen to nineteen attempt suicide every year, along side the growing increase in the amount of anti-depressants prescribed to adolescences. Childline have now received a 50% increase in calls relating to exam stress. Most of the callers aged between twelve and sixteen.

Childline Counsellor, Kate said:

“Childline are trying to help children realise exams aren’t the only way to succeed in life”

The government should learn from Childline, and support young people rather that fast-tracking them through their education!

Related links to this story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3758359.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/uk/newsid_3756000/3756615.stm
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jun2004/dep-j25.shtml

NEWS STORY - BC1004

SKYDIVING FOR THE BLIND!



Saturday 17th September, Karen Jones from Weston-Super-Mare will skydive out of an aeroplane 10,000 feet up in the air at Salisbury, Wiltshire. She will be strapped to a professional skydiver from The British Parachute Association; together they will freefall 5000ft at around a speed of 120mph.

Karen is taking part in this amazing event to mark her 21st birthday, as well as help fundraise for The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. Karen is aiming to raise at least £1000.

All moneys raised will help support the guide dogs through their training, working environment and their retirement. The Guide Dog Association are committed to every one of their dogs for life, each dog costing on average £35,000 to support.

Karen said:
“My family has always and still is involved with the Guide Dogs Association volunteering as puppy walkers. So to mark my 21st birthday I wanted to do something really challenging but at the same time hopefully raise a fair bit of money to help The Association.
I am nervous but everything should be fine as I am strapped to a professional, so I’m in safe hands. I’m hoping it will be a brilliant experience.”

http://www.bpa.org.uk/
http://www.guidedogs.org.uk/index.php?id=home
http://www.guidedogs.org.uk/index.php?id=1587

Representation

All types of media forms are re-presentations of reality. But the producers and editors of them censor them in way that they want the audience to perceive them, one reason for doing this is to create interest and to get their audience talking, drawing more attention to the media source. An example of this is ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ broadcast on Channel 4 back in January 2007.


The producers and editors of the programme edited some of the contestants in an unlikable light, causing a massive stir outside the house resulting in a race row. All though the programme was being portrayed in a bad light, the media’s attention was all on Big Brother, and people were still watching the programme because they wanted to find out what was going to happen next!
The constants that were represented badly were quickly voted out and left to face an angry public and debates about their inappropriate behavior. After the programme came to an end, OFCOM had received over 45,000 complaints. This resulted in a huge investigation and according to BBC News article (May 2007)

“Channel 4 had made some serious editorial misjudgment:’


The article also states:

“Channel 4 will have to broadcast Ofcom's findings ahead of three of its programmes - the first show of the new Big Brother series on 30 May, the first re-versioned show the following morning and the first eviction show”

One of the contestants made this statement in another BBC News article (February 2007)

“The whole thing has been so unfair and so cruel," she added. "I've not been portrayed as the person I really am." – Jo O’Meara


The majority of the time the audience has their own perception on most subjects but by the producers censoring the media forms this can influence and change the audiences’ opinion on that particular subject or issue.

T.V. Soaps are re-presenting real-life issues using fictional characters. The soaps re-presenting today’s society of the issues and cultures which we all experience such as marriage, adoption, abortion, still birth, death, eating disorders etc.







































The fictional families represent the types of family’s in today’s society e.g.)
‘Nuclear Family’ (The Webster Family in Coronation Street.)
‘Extended Family’ (The Slater Family in Eastenders)
‘Gay Couple’ (Jonny Foster and Paul Lambert in Emmerdale)
‘Step-Family’ (Steve McDonald and Michelle Connor in Coronation Street.)














Representation is an important part of today’s media. In many ways it helps us to understand different things.