Unit 29: Music Video Production

9th May

Today me and Ben worked on a 10 minute powerpoint for the band Weezer, it went well enough even though there was a lot of errors in communication. We then went out filming at lunchtime with Matty and Alice, which went well even if it did take a fair while and we ended up over shooting on the time limit, we ran out of time so this means that we need to film on other days.

12th – 16th May

This week was off timetable, which allowed us to come in and leave whenever we wanted to, Ben used this time to edit and film whereas I was busy being filmed for other Matty and Sams production, as well as going to Sandown to be filmed by Ellis, which didn’t go that well, as an idea she had couldn’t be executed the way she wanted. I felt bad for leaving Ben to do the editing during this week, but it’s just not something i’m good at, and I feel like if I was there then I would have just been a nuisance of some kind, or just not helpful in anyway. It continued like this through the entire week.

20th May

Not much was done today as we couldn’t film the rest of our Narrative, so we will have to do it tomorrow on the 21st. I managed to get my portfolio up to date with Bens and then did this production diary, however there may still be more to write in this later.

Evaluation of Operational Role

To begin with I was placed on camera duty, I was assigned to Camera A and my job was to make sure I did what the Director (Sam), told me to do, but it was mostly two shots of who we’ll call team 2, and then a three shot of team 1 and the presenter (Ben). However, after a few rehearsals of the show, we decided that someone else would be better suited to doing the presenter job, and then that role fell to me. I felt like I did an okay job, I asked my other group members their opinions and Anna (Floor Manager) told me that I was very quite confident infront of the camera and had good chemistry with the contestants, and then when we had a minor technical difficulty with the autocue, I handled it well apart from a minor outburst. As well as being on the camera and presenting, I also helped set up the studio along with the other members of our group and come up with the questions. Since we all contributed to this task, I find it slightly difficult to comment on my individual performance, but if I was made to say for the sake of this evaluation, I would say I did a good job and worked effectively.

All in all, I felt like I was working at an effective level within my group as well as with my other jobs that were given to me. There were a few set backs when it came to swapping from working as a Cameraman on Camera A, as I found myself having to change the script from the one that Ben had previously written, which while being easy enough to handle, it still hampered progress slightly. The we needed to come up with new questions as the ones we were going to be using were needed for the rehearsal, as we had run out of questions to ask them. So again I was tasked with more writing, and since we were going to be recording our multi-camera production later on that day, I got straight on with the questions while the rest of the group set up our studio.

I was unsure about how well I worked as part of the team, as I felt like I couldn’t just go off of my own opinion, because I would have said that I did a good job, but like I said, I don’t see how I could go off of my own opinion, so I asked Anna and Jenni in my group, and they gave me their honest opinions. Anna said that I worked well when the opportunity arose to become presenter and took it when nobody else wanted to do it, and then when I got told I had to redo the script I went ahead and did it. Then following that and asking Jenni, when I asked her she told me that; while I was easily distracted by other members of the class, when I was presented with something to do, I went ahead and got on with it and when I did assert myself then my work was typically very good. So with their opinions as well, I felt like I could have done better with my group as to not be so distracted by outside sources, and focus more on a task that I knew I needed to do, instead of having to be told by a member of my group. Jenni, for example.

As I said before, my contribution to the group could have been better by staying focused and getting on with things without needing to be told. So in that respect, I believe that’s how I could have made a better contribution to my team, I could have been more focused and more independent than having to wait around to be told what to do.

Based on the words and opinions of myself that I have put into this evaluation, as well as the words a few others from my group, I believe that I achieved the M3 criteria. I officially performed two operational roles in this production, presenter and Camera A for a few run throughs, where as unofficially I also help set up the studio and equipment. As the M3 criteria states, I did everything to a good technical standard seeing as everything worked out perfectly for our production in the end, and I did require assistance from time to time for other members of my group.

 

Unit 23: Multi-Camera Production Diary

Unit 23: Multi-Camera Production –

Wednesday 26th February:

Up to this day,we have mostly just been planning our production. We decided that it was to be a game show, consisting of two teams of two people. It’s four rounds with five to ten questions each, with the rounds being; Films, History and Music. The final round will be a General Knowledge, and the winning team will be given a prize.

We had previous ideas that were similar, but this is the idea we went for. Up until this point we had mainly been sorting out crew and jobs between ourselves. (Me, Anna, Jenni, Sam, Kris and Ben.)

Thursday 27th Feb:

Work began on the Power point.

Friday 28th Feb:

Power point was finished.

Tuesday 4th March:

We began to work on the floor plans, and got two done.

Wednesday 5th Mar:

As a group, we designed a third floor plan and decided that this was the one that we were going to be using for our main production when the time comes. We then set up the studio as the plan said to see if it worked, which it did.  A few group members came up with rehearsal questions while we did this.

Thursday 6th Mar:

We decided a date which we would record our quiz show on and then the group decided on a schedule type thing. Afterwards we all got on with our own tasks type of thing. Anna and Jenni did story boards and I worked on designing the question cards, which Jenni went ahead and redid anyway, and Ben did a script. We did a rehearsal later on in the day and found then worked out the issues we found we had.

Friday 7th Mar:

We changed around the rounds a bit to make the program work better, the original idea was to have one team leave and the winning team turn on each other, but we decided to just make it a normal round for the losing group to grab points. We also decided on the prizes, which would be friendship bracelets.

Tuesday 11th Mar:

Rehearsed the quiz twice, and then went back and improved the script among other things. However, there were still the matter of questions to be sorted out as well, some of them just didn’t work or just make sense. We fixed those as best as we could and began our second run through, this time we swapped mine and Ben’s roles to see how they worked. So I was to become presenter and Ben was to work on Camera A. After the second rehearsal was done, we discussed a few things and then went home.

Wednesday 12th Mar:

We did another run through with me as presenter and I think this one went the best. Not to sound vain. However, I did get a bit confused about the script as some of the things I meant to change I had accidentally left in, and so after the rehearsal I changed them around quickly and made everything correct.

Tuesday 18th Mar:

Today we filmed and I think it went great apart from a little messy patch at the end when the auto cue went wrong and I had no idea what to do. Jenni was ill so she wasn’t in the studio and swapped jobs with Jamie, so we had Jamie on Camera C and Jenni was keeping score and working the VT’s. In preparation before we filmed, me and Jenni made the question cards with the help of Anna, Ben finished off the VT’s and Kris and Sam set up the studio with other members of the class.

Then later on we did a rehearsal and then made sure everything was working and then got on with the actual quiz show recording.

Wednesday 19th Mar:

The entire class just did their production folders.

Unit 23: Multi-Camera Techniques

1) How does Multi Camera production differ from Single Camera, what constraints are faced by Multi-Camera productions and what benefits does Multi-Camera production offer?

Multi camera is widely different from singe camera productions. First off to state the obvious, multi camera productions generally have more cameras involved and are usually set in studios, due to it possibly being easier to set up and film, than taking heavy loads of expensive equipment out of safety and outdoors to film off location. The other thing that is different is that due to it the larger amounts of equipment that needs handling, there would be a larger crew involved than with a single camera production, there would also need to be more preperation during set up as well, like; all the cameras need to make sure they are in the right place and that the things they wish to film are central etc. secondly is the lighting, the lights need to be set up in a way suitable to the cameras, as to cover all the changes between the various shots for what they want to film.

Constraint wise in multi camera productions come in a few ways, for example, having to work in a studio a lot of the time is one. In a studio there might not always the space you think you would need to film, meaning that you won’t always get everything on camera that you need to. Also, being based in a studio means that you would be stuck with the same sets week after week, this could grow extremely boring. I know after many times of watching programmes that the sets which held me at first got extremely dull fairly soon. Another thing that is a constraint is that the director doesn’t have as much control over how the footage will turn out, because if something is messed up, it would possibly take a fair bit longer to redo the shoot. Also, if something were to be filmed live, a game show for example or any type of programme that has a live audience, you need to factor in the audience as a thing that can cause something to go wrong, because audiences are wildly unpredictable and not at all easy to control.

However, as opposed to all the constraints, multi camera productions have their benefits. For example, through using multi camera, less editing is used. Multi camera allows you to edit things together as you go along with your production, you can cover multiple angles in a single shot, meaning that as opposed to single camera, the scene doesn’t need to be redone just because another might look better, and there’s not need to worry about confusing continuity errors. Back to what I said about multiple angles, multiple angles allows for the easier capture of reactions, emotions and even body language on the subject being filmed. And another perk to using multi camera is that it due to the range of angles it covers, there’s less redo’s, meaning that it is less expensive and doesn’t take up as much time as using just a single camera.

2) Discuss the use of Multi Camera techniques in a range of different productions.

Multi Camera is mainly used in the production of every live event that has or would be filmed, as there is just too big of a risk in missing something to not use multiple cameras. (These productions include things like sports, public events or concerts.) Live events always have a lot of things going on, especially in sports or a concert, and there is always a risk that something is going to be missed and so the event uses multiple cameras to cover all the live action and reactions involved.

Using multiple cameras is also common practice in studio events too, such as game or chat shows. Again, too cover all angles and get reactions from participants, even the audience if that particular programme has them. For example, Nevermind the Buzzcocks is a programme that uses multiple cameras as to watch the two teams and the presenter at the same time, and as it’s a game show with comedic elements, a lot of the time someone has a reaction to something and without the use of multiple cameras we wouldn’t be able to see that.

3) Discuss why Multi Camera techniques are employed in the formats you have identified.

Multi camera techniques are used for a wide range of reasons, but in my opinion, it’s main use it to cover the entire set as to not miss any of the action should something. If there wasn’t enough cameras then a lot of the live footage and things that happened would be missed or skipped over, and they won’t happen again. The multiple cameras are their to capture every possible thing in a production. And in doing this makes for a brilliant TV show, people want to see all the reactions and everything that’s happening, the different shots help keep things intresting for the viewer as well, nobody wants to be stuck staring at the same shot for a long amount of time.

With the mention of time, that brings me to another reason why multiple cameras are used in produtions, and once again, this goes back to covering everything. Through covering everything, they save time, a lot of time through not having to redo things. Another thing on time, programmes such as game shows and sports are weekly, meaning that they have a week to film the programme, get it edited etc. and have it done by the deadline. Sure, game shows and football matches are filmed in a day, but what about the actual programmes? Scrubs for example, they were weekly episodes and has dealines. So with taking into account messed up lines or wrong scenes etc. through the coverage of more than one angle, the filming would have had to of been faster than if all of that was done with a single camera. And through the coverage of action that using multiple cameras gets you, while already being expensive to use and hire the people to use them, it saves money on the actual production by being quick with the filming, and having to pay people less through not needing them as long.

Multi camera can also be used to convey meaning and involve the audience, through the use of various shots or angles, visual styling and even how they cut between scenes. With things like quiz, game or talk shows, they could cut from the subjects to the live audience if one is present to make you feel involved, as the audience could have had the same kind of reaction as the viewers watching at home. Another thing that would invoke reaction in the audience is through visual styling as said earlier, now that is done through the use of lighting. Certain lighting can create a certain mood in the scene, and for those watching, some might find themselves feeling things that are strangely relateable to their own lives, on screen.

4) Analyse a 5 minute section from one studio based and one live event based Multi Camera production and discuss the techniques employed in each.

Studio Based

The 5 minute piece that I decided to analyse for the studio based multi camera production was from Nevermind the Buzzcocks, quite a well known scene when singer Huey Morgan smashes a mug.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JwT8Y4E3cs

Nevermind the Buzzcocks is filmed with what I can only guess from counting as around eight cameras. There was one positioned in the center on the audience looking down on the studio from their perspective, then under that one, out of shot was another camera which focused on the presenter(s). After that there appear to be three cameras each side of that one, the farthest right and left cameras seem to focus on the teams tables if something occurs on them, apart from that they don’t really do anything else, then the second farthers cameras seem to focus on the shots of the presenters and the team closest to them. And lastly the cameras closes to the middle, focus on each team across from them, to film them from the front. From watching this segment that is how I can guess the studio is set up.

The cameras are constantly jumping quick between Rizzle Kicks who are presenting the show and the contestants, especially Huey Morgan as he creates conflict within the game and eventually smashes a mug. In my opinion they manage to cover everything really well, and it’s apparent that they have good coverage across the entire studio. The studio had good lighting and allowed for the audience and the viewers to see everything very well. The audience can be heard non-diegetically from behind the cameras laughing and clapping.

Live Event Based

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBIa0o36pPo

For my just under five minute live event I chose to do Motorhead Live, as usually during concerts or live events with music, multiple cameras are needeed for the crowd and the band. Watching it through once I have determined that there are roughly eight or nine cameras. Two of the cameras film the crowd from in front and just above, another seems to be mounted on a crane in the middle of the crowd and another just below, two focus on Lemmy Kilmeister and Phil Campbell. There’s also two mounted cameras on stage to film drummer Mikkey Dee. And I think one camera is just being walked around by a camera man.

The cameras jump around and skip wildly from Motorhead to the crowd to catch the crowds reaction. I think that the constant jumping goes well with the music, it allows us to see everything but never misses what I feel would an important thing, like Phil and Lemmy riffing and Mikkey on the drums. The angles they pull over the crowd are quite wild aswell, as it’s mounted on a crane is flips around a fair bit, as to show over the entire crowd. The overall coverage for the event is amazing, during the one song I felt like nothing went unnoticed. Even at the end when the song stopped and they were just introducing the band members.

The lighting was awesome in my opinion, and offered up the climax as the song started and slowly rose, as did the lights until the whole thing came together. The editing was really well done too, the camera held some notes and gave them a flash of colour, and then later on there were three-sixty shots of Phil and Lemmy, slightly offering themselves up to the crowd it seemed. And then lastly the non/diegetic sound of the audience really made this what it was and offered it up like you were there at that live event. It wasn’t enough to drown out the band which is good, but it was enough to show support. Which is the ideal situation for a live concert.

 

 

 

Production Diary (Short Films)

This past week we were given a task sheet which explained our latest project to us for this term. The project is Short Films, which when made are going to be around five to ten minutes long. For this project, we are to make a script and cast actors to star in them.

As of today, Friday 10th, we have come up with the main plot of our short film, and titled it ‘On Edge’, this may change later on.

The plot is as follows:

Man standing on a rooftop, (Which we have changed to a cliff edge.) starts looking back on his life and how he got here. He has a series of flash backs to when he was in an apparent happy relationship with his girlfriend and about to become a father. His girlfriend gets kicked out of her parents house after they discover that she is pregnant, and she then moves in with him. The two begin to argue due to the stress of having a baby. After childbirth the man begins to suffer from post natal depression, which causes the girlfriend to leave him. He thinks about jumping to his death, then the happier flashbacks begin and thoughts about the future. Due to the feeling of responsibility and love for his child and its mother, he steps back from the edge and goes to win her back.

As for the characters, we are simply going to have; The Guy, the Guys Girlfriend, The Girlfriends parents, a baby and perhaps a toddler.

Location is obviously going to be a cliff edge.

Casting would be actors from the performing arts.

Our production schedule is TBC.

Related films are Limitless and various others.

Role wise we have Jazmine Holley as the Producer, Me as the Director, Sam as the Assistant Director/Sound man, Ash as the Editor and Anna as the camera woman.

Friday: 24th of January.

This week I have written a paragraph in our script, which was then later finished yesterday by Sam and Ash. To be done now, is to draw out our story board.

Interview Purposes and Techniques

Interview Styles

Hard News Style: A hard news style interview is one of the most common styles you would see. It is serious and gets straight to the point, there is never usually any entertainment to be had from this interview style. This style is usually seen on News programmes, such as; News at 10, Channel 4 News etc.) the questions in this interview are asked to find out things that the public/audience wish to know.

Investigative: This style of interview is designed to find out information about a particular subject. This style is very versatile and can be used to interview people from politicians to criminals or celebrities. Generally anybody who has information that people would like to know.

Light Hearted: This interview style is conducted in a non-serious way. However, this doesn’t mean the interview isn’t played out serious way for the audience, or isn’t about a serious topic. It is instead about how the interviewer and the interviewee go about the interview, the back and forth between the two is kept fun, and doesn’t become too serious.

Combative: Combative style interviews are fairly common in this day and age. This style is interview is used when the interviwer/reporter is interviewing someone, but the interviewee doesn’t want to give out the information that they are being asked for. An example of this would be if a reporter was following someone, asking questions, and continuing to do so, even after being refused an answer. It is combative, because the interviewee is resisting against the reporter, and not giving out the information asked of them.

Promotional: This style of interview is based around promotion of a product, event or something that other people want to know about. It promotes them, hence the name, ‘Promotional’. This can involve an actor promoting a film, or an author promoting their new book. The interviewer/reporters job in this style of interview is to ask the interviewee open questions, so that they can talk and promote their book/film more in as much detail as they feel is needed.

Interview Questions

Open: An open question is a question that requires a more indepth answer than a simple yes or no. These are often used in promotional interviews, as it gives the interviewee a chance to go into more detail about what they’re talking about. An example of this type of question would be: “What else can you tell us about this?”

Closed: A closed question is a question that can be answered with a simple yes or no, or any other one worded way. These can often be in the form of multiple choice or perhaps in a scale format, giving a number as an answer, or an A-D type answer. Examples of these would be, “Did you eat breakfast this morning?” “On a scale of 1-10, how was it?” “Out of these cereals which would would you rather have? A – Coco pops. B – Cheerios. C – Cornflakes. D – Golden Nuggets.”

Single: A single question is a question that simply requires one answer. This can tie in with closed questions in the sense of scale formats and multiple choice.

Multiple: A multiple question is a question that has two or more parts to it. So for example, the interviewer/reporter would ask the interviewee a question, then depending on their answer, the second part of the question would follow.

Direct: A direct question is a question the normal question that we would ask someone. Simply directed at the interviewee, a regular question. For example, “Tell us about the game?”

Leading: A leading question is a question that would lead the interviewee to a specific answer. These questions can also be known as Suggestive Interrogation. They often suggest particular answers that the interviewer/reporter is trying to get confirmed by the interviewee.

Evolution over the years of Television interview techniques

Through the many years of film making, interviews have changed along with the productions found on the screen. Whether they changed due to the change in productions or the other way around, is debatable. The first ever interview was filmed in 1935, and showed a woman sitting in a chair, simply talking to us and responding to the questions being asked. It was all very straightforward and straight faced. In another word, basic and raw.  However, from there, the invention from the first interview, it could could only develop and get better. To see for yourself how much interviews have changed over the years, you only need to watch TV shows nowadays. Like the news or Jonathan Ross.

Interviews and types of questions in my production

The interviews in my production, Ale of Wight, would be investigative and light hearted. It would be investigative in the sense that we are trying to gather information about the businesses, whose workers we are interviewing, Chris/Ash Coleman at Island Ales etc. During that interview, we are trying to find out about their positions there, as well as about competition and distribution. Our interviews will also light hearted, as in we would never pressure our interviewee’s for information, we will ask them the question and they would, hopefully, answer as best as they could. We would never make anything too serious and it will hopefully pay off. We would get the information we needed and our interviewees would never feel pressured.

Our questions will be a mix of open and multiple. Open questions would be the best for these interviews as they would enabled us to get the best answers from our interviewee’s. It allows them go into as much detail as they need or want to, with the subject. The multiple questions would come out when there might things we could ask them, if a second question came to mind after their answer.

Unit 21: Understand Video Technology (Glossary)

Analogue and Digital Camera Technology.

Analogue Camera Technology: An Analogue Camera is what used to be the standard technology for photography/filming. One of the differences between a digital camera and an analogue, is how their photographs and film are stored. Analogue camera store their footage/photographs on film rolls, as opposed to things like SD Cards and hard drives. The quality on an analogue camera, while not as sharp as digital, it captures more detail in the picture or footage. So while the overall quality is somewhat shifty, it has a more natural look.

Digital Camera Technology: Like the Analogue Camera, the Digital Camera is its modern day equivalent in the way of photography and filming. As stated earlier, a difference between the two is how they are stored. The digital camera using SD cards and hard drives to store the photographs and footage, as opposed to now outdated film rolls. Now down to the quality side of things. The piece of film or photography, captured using a digital camera, would have a higher resolution. Meaning that the picture would be clearer and sharper than if caught on film.

Camera Functions

White Balance: White balance is a camera function that adjusts the lighting coming into the camera, in order to make white object appear white on camera. This can actually be difficult, because of the fact that light cast from different sources (Reflections etc.) can be different colours. The white balance setting is there to prevent a white wall being coloured as blue, due to a lamp shade. For example.

Focus: Focus is a camera function that allows the adjusting of the distance between the camera lens and subject to form a much clearer and sharper portrayal of the subject.

Exposure: Exposure is a camera function that allows you to change the total amount of light which is allowed into the camera when filming or taking a photograph. The two main controls that the camera uses to control exposure is Shutter Speed (Which we’ll go into more detail on later.) and Aperture.

Gain: Gain is a measurement which means the ratio of a systems signal output to the signal input of the same system. It makes the image brighter without using the exposure, while useful, it can make the image grainy and suffer from a loss of sharpness.

Shutter Speed: Shutter speed is a camera function which determines how long the cameras shutter remains open for as a picture is taken. The slower the shutter speed, the longer the exposure time is. Together, the shutter speed and Aperture control how much light comes into the camera lense.

Amatuer and Professional recording formats

Tape based: A method of recording format which instead of using magnetic technology, uses electronic.  Tapes store the footage.

Disc: A disc is a method of storage which is circular and made of plastic. You can use it to store footage, photographs, music and other such things. It’s a simple way to store and pass along digital media.

Card Based: By card based, I mean something like an SD card. An SD card is a piece of plastic which is small and can often be used in compatibility with many modern cameras, computers and general electronics which typically hold data. Small and light weight, but more often than not, have a large storing capacity. Just like the disc, it can be used to store footage, photographs and music.

Analogue and Digital formats: These include things like; tapes, CDs, SD cards and film rolls.

Television Standards

PAL: Phase Alternating Line is mainly used in the UK, Australia, South America, as well as in North and South Africa. However, it is used in a lot of other countries around the world. It is a colour encoded system for analogue television which is used in broadcasting television systems, in most countries broadcasting at 567i. PAL has 567 lines as opposed to NTSC’s 480. Meaning it has a 20% resolution increase.

NTSC: NTSC is the analogue television system that is used in most of the America, apart from in some places in the south. The first NTSC standard was developed in 1941, then later on in 1953 a modified version of the standard was adopted, which allowed for colour television to be broadcasted. As opposed to having 20% less resolution than PAL, NTSC receivers have a tint control for automatic colour correction.

SECAM: It is an analogue colour television system first used in France. SECAM is an early attempt at compatible colour television which tries to resolve a NTSC problem with hue. It does this applying another method to colour transmission.

Aspect Ratios

To start with, Aspect ratio is the width of the shape to its height, when the width is larger than the height of said shape.

4:3 : Used for some, but not all monitors from the 20th Century.

16:9 : The ratio used for a widescreen TV.

1.85:1 : US and UK widescreen standard for theatrical film.

2.39:1 : The current ratio of wide-screen theatrical viewings.

Video Signals

DVI: DVI stands for Digital Visual Interface. It is a video display developed to connect a video source to a display, such as a TV or monitor. It was made with the idea that it would be an industry standard for the transfer of digital video content. The interface is made to transmit uncompressed digital video, which would be configurable to support various different modes, such as; DVI-D (Digital), DVI-A (Analogue) and DVI-I (Both.)

HDMI: HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface. It is a small audio/video interface for transferring uncompressed data (Video) and compressed or uncompressed digital audio files from a HDMI-compliant source to a compatible monitor, projector, digital TV, or digital audio device.HDMI is the digital replacement of existing analogue video standards.

HD: HD stands for High Definition, high definition is used in reference to when a video has a higher resolution than standard. HD video shows film and picture in more and greater detail than if it were SD.

Broadcasting systems

Terrestrial: Terrestrial TV is a type of broadcasting that doesn’t involve satellites transmissions or cables. It instead uses signal towers place around the land, which allow for quick broadcasting.

Digital: Digital TV is the transmission of audio and video by digitally processed signal, as opposed to the completely analogue and split channel signals used by analogue television.

Internet: Internet Television is the distribution of television through the use of the internet. It uses video streaming technology to do so, and is generally used by many television broadcasters.

Domestic, professional and broadcast differences?

Domestic: Domestic technology is tech developed for consumers and the like to use at home.

Professional: This is equipment to be used in a professional environment. This equipment can often be quite expensive and require more than one person to handle.

Broadcast: As you can guess, this equipment is made for broadcasting purposes. While it can cost a lot of money, it is light weight and easy to use. And worth the price.

Audio Equipment

Radio Mics: Radio mics are tiny microphones which are powered by batteries, it is usually attatched to the subject using a clip, placed on the collar of a shirt or somewhere out of sight by close to the subjects mouth. The mic can be placed on an individual person so that their voice becomes the main focus, even in a crowd. They can be used in interviews and vox pops. Some would choose the radio mic over a boom mic for example, if they were in a small space.

Directional Mics: A Directional Mic is a mic that only points in one direction, due to the fact it only points in one direction, means it eliminates sound coming in from any other, and it is able to focus solely on what is infront of it without getting any interference or cut across. However, you can get omnidirectional microphones, which enable you to pick up sound from all around, if that is what you need.

Voiceover Mics: A Voiceover Microphone, is slightly similar to the Radio mic, in the fact is elimates any interference from the outside. Voiceover microphones are meant to be mounted above the subject to it can be angled downwards for the subject to talk into. These mics don’t need a pop shield.

Audio Levels: A decent audio level is necessary for anything when filming. If the audio level is higher than it should be, it can sometimes overload the input and cause a distortion in the audio.However, if audio levels are lacking, the sound kind of deteriorates.

Export Formats

AVI: AVI was a multimedia containter format that was introduced in 1992 by Microsoft. AVI files have both audio and video data in the file, and it allows playback with audio and visual simultaneously. AVI files can also support multiple streaming audio and video, but these features are rarely ever used.

DVD: Commonly called a Digital Video Dics, is a way to hold large quantities of high quality files.

H.264: This format stores small sized files that are high in quality, making it popular among consumers.

MPEG: This is a multimedia file that can store both audio and video, it still contains the original quality of an uncompressed video.

Transfer of footage to Edit Suite

Firewire: Firewire is a wire which can connect to your camera due to a firewire port, if one is built in, to your computer in a small amount of time. From there, the computer and camera connect, and are able to share files with eachother. A quick and simple way to transfer footage, which is why this is a very popular method, favored by many people.

SD Card: An SD Card goes into the camera and that is where the footage you filmed is stored. The method to this is to simply put the SD card into the computer. A lot of modern day computers have SD card points already built in, if not, there are Card Readers available, which you plug into your computer, and then plug the SD card into them. Either way, this connects the two pieces of technology and allows file transfer in a fast and efficient manner.

Bibliography

http://www.ehow.com/facts_7271828_analog-camera-technology.html

http://www.howstuffworks.com/cameras-photography/digital/digital-camera.htm

http://www.fi.edu/pieces/myers/vocab.html

http://www.linnrecords.com/linn-formats.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio

http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/guide/microphone-guide

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTSC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SECAM

http://www.howstuffworks.com/firewire.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital

Codes and Conventions. (Media Essay)

Isle of Wight College. Media Production. Year 1 Level 3.

What is factual programming?

Factual programming is a genre of non-fiction television, documenting real-time or previous events in time, as well as people. Using video technology to do so. A factual programme is often used to convey information to the general public about a certain topic or situation happening at present date, or previously in history. This can be expressed in many different ways, in the form of; a documentary, docudramas, reality TV or the News. Although this type of programme has been around since the start of television, the term, Factual Programming or Factual Television, has only been around since the 1990’s. Examples of factual programmes are: BBC News, Supersize Me and other such programmes.

Types of Documentaries and how they can be defined.

There are three types of Documentaries:

Observational: An Observational Documentary emphasizes the film makers engagement in observing a subjects daily life and the circumstances involved. The equipment used is often small, so it isn’t noticeable or cause any distractions, often light in weight, if the need to move quickly arises. It also gives access to more places than a large camera would. A modern day example of an Observational Documentary is Jackass, a popular film and TV show, which follows the lives of a group of people (The Subjects) and the situations they put themselves in.

Expository: An Expository Documentary would be the most common or familiar documentary to the audience, as it tends to be seen on TV rather than the documentaries which are made into films. This type of documentary would use camera equipment from a large camera, to a smaller one. Anything that would be best for the situation when needed. An Expository Documentary would more often than not, have a voice over or narration, talking about the images and film used, explaining to the audience the significance of the piece, in a direct way of speaking. As in, this documentary speaks straight to the audience. The aim of an Expository Documentary is often to inform the audience about the subject. Such as an event, place or person. Sometimes, the documentary could have an argument to it, however, it is not objective.

Participatory: Unlike in an Observational Documentary, in a Participatory styled Documentary, the film maker is instead the main focus of the film, and filming the situations and subjects from their perspective. The film maker, is often the main focus point in the film, and a lot of the emphasis is on their interactions and reactions to the subject, situations and people involved. Most commonly, the techniques involved would include some kind of voice over or video log and informal interviews, as opposed to, sitting someone down over a table with a glass of water and asking them questions. The equipment used would most likely just be a simple hand held camera. 

Codes and Conventions of Documentaries

There are codes and conventions used in Documentary making, such as:

Voice over – A voice over in a documentary can sometimes be quite authorative, this can sometimes make the audience feel as if they have some kind of knowledge, insight or the ‘Right Opinions’ about whatever the documentary is about.

Archives (Footage, Newspapers, Pictures, etc.) – A lot of documentaries, while supposed to be non-fiction, are seen as otherwise in the eyes of some audience members, however, as documentaries are meant to be perceived as real to the audience, the use of archive material can set the audience back to seeing the documentary as real, and not a work of fiction.

Interviews –  Interviews are used to support or challenge the views shown in the documentary, the film maker might often someway to disprove the interviewee, who would go against the views shown. The use of experts and their opinions can also be very helpful to the documentary and its message/subject.

Text/Titles – Text and titles that annotate images with things like, time stamps or dates, while simple, tend to be very effective as they are more often than not, believe to be true without question. They are also a good way to convey information quickly and cleanly.

Sound – The use of music and non-diagetic sound are very useful when it comes to a documentary, as they can affect the audience in a range of different ways. Sound can also be a good bridge in between scenes.

Reconstructions – Reconstructions can be used on a documentary, to bring the audience back to what it was like at the time of the event in question. And to carefully study and gain information from it. It can also be used to explain it further detail, something that might have been difficult to explain without it.

My Production.

In my own documentary, ‘Ale of Wight.’ which I believe would be considered an Expository Documentary, due to the fact that it isn’t observing anything, and nobody in our production team is participating, we are simply trying to spread information to the audience, via a documentary. During this documentary, we would use the following codes and conventions:

Interviews: We would use interviews to gain information about our subject and show that we have done research, while staying unbiased and objective.

Sound: We plan to use music as a bridge between scenes or parts of the documentary to keep things interested, as well as possibly invoke some sort of reaction if there is need.

Voice over: Our documentary will have a voice over to convey our message to the audience, and make things a little easier to understand.