Advanced portfolio evaluation

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Film posters

Weekly record of progress

Digital technology

1. So far I have used a camcorder and film editing software (Adobe Premiere Elements) to do a small task which required me to produce a short clip of someone eating and drinking with a group of people. The task required us to film the person eating from different angles then edit the clip to cut it down to 20 seconds.

2. It has enabled me to be more creative as it wasn't just one long, continuous shot of someone eating, we had to try and make it look more interesting by changing the angles etc.

3. It was also the fist time I had ever used film editing software, so it is a skill I have slightly developed. The film didn't come out perfect but it enabled the group to try and play around with the footage we had so that we could learn how it worked.

Research and Planning

1. I have researched some secondary sources such as going on Google and finding film posters to try and see how they are constructed. I tried to look for posters that had surreal or superhero type storylines as this is the type of short film I will be creating. I analysed and compared two of the best ones that I found. I have also looked on youtube for some stop frame animations to see the different things I may be able to do in my own work (such as making people appear as though they are flying etc). Other than this, I have tried to look for images of film reviews to see what they look like, how they are laid out and what questions (if any) may be on their.

2. I chose the sources that I did because they will be the types of products I will be creating so I wanted to see what types of conventions there are for each. As I will be craeting a mini film, film poster and magazine review, I wanted to see what types of these already existed.

3. Researching these have helped me come up with creating a storyboard as one of the stop frame animations that I watched helped me to come up with a part of the story.

Weekly record of progress

In the first week, I have been trying to find some stop frame animations so that I can get some ideas for my own product. Originally, I wanted to have the surroundings drawn in like on the "Strawberry Swing" video, but this would take too much time so I have decided to just edit the film when I have made it so that it will look more cartoony and surreal. I found a particular stop frame animation on youtube that I thought was really effective and there were parts where the characters were floating in the air. I would like to be able to infiltrate this in my own moving image but in a slightly different way as it would fit the "super hero" story I want to create. I may use this effect to make it appear as though the character is flying throught the air. This idea of surrealism links in with the theory of Roland Barthes who believes that narrative codes are able to create an impression of reality. As the idea of super hero characters is surreal but will use real people rather than an actual cartoon in a sense this creates an impression of reality in a similar way.

Coursework task

For my piece of coursework, I have decided to do a mini complete movie. I would like to try to do it in the form of a stop-frame animation. I saw this done in the music video for Coldplay - Strawberry Swing and it looked very effective so I want to try and achieve something along the lines of that if possible. With this, I will also create a radio trailer and a poster for the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYtk1Z0UUuE&channel=coldplaytv

Digital Technologies Skills

Desktop Publishing
· Create text boxes
· Change size of text box
· Insert text
· Change size / colour of text
· Change order of objects
· Rotate objects
· Insert / create images

Photoshop
· Add / delete backgrounds
· Change opacity
· Layer images
· Edit images (e.g. colour, crop, select, filters, blur / sharpen etc)
· Create shapes
· Change order of layers
· Insert text
· Edit size / colour of text
· Enhance images
· Add effects to images
· Use a variety of tools available (e.g. magic wand, magnetic lasso, cookie cutter etc)
· Superimpose images
· Merge layers

Using a camcorder
· Load tape
· Zoom
· Record
· Play back

Using a camera
· Capture image
· In camera edit
· Load images on to a computer
· Zoom
· Macro lens

Other image editing software
· Upload images
· Edit images (e.g. colour, crop, select, filters, blur / sharpen etc)
· Insert text
· Edit size / colour of text
· Add effects to the images
· Enhance images

I think my skills need to be developed so that i can fully use a camcorder and other film software efficiently, although I think I am able to use photo editing software to a good enough standard. I will need to learn how to use the film editing software as the coursework will consist of a moving image that i need to create myself and I will need to know how to edit and change it. For the same reason, I think my skills for using the camcorder could also be improved.