Workshop evaluation

When re-dubbing the spoken word content of the scene from The Office, I found it quite challenging. Attempting to get my words completely in synch with the actor on screen was not easy as trying to speak at the exact same pace was not easy. Initially I tried to record myself using the built in laptop microphone but I was then unable to hear the words being spoken so my timing was off. I decided to use my earphones with a built in microphone instead. The result was that I was able to speak in time with the actor on screen however this was at the cost of audio quality as breathing could be heard in the mic and it was too sensitive. If I was to do this again I will try and use the laptop mic whilst listening to the scene through my earphones.

The second workshop I did was adding music to a scene from a movie. For this I chose the opening credits from the film "Zombieland" as I really liked the slow motion zombie chase scenes. In order to contrast the dramatic nature of the situation and add to the comedy aspect I decided that the Red Hot Chilli Peppers cover of "Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder would be a good choice. This is because the funk influences in the song would help emphasise the comedic aspect but the metal guitar riffs would contrast the slow motion sequences.

My final workshop involved adding sound effects to a scene. For this workshop I chose to add the rain sound effect from a scene in The Notebook. I wanted to make the scene out of entirely foley sound effects as I wanted to be sure I ended up with a final product I was happy with, after initially browsing for library sounds the majority of them included thunder and strong winds which would have negatively effected the mood and meaning of the scene. Before recording, I experimented using different techniques to make the foley sound effects. These methods included rapidly tapping my nails on a table and ruffling a plastic bag. In the end I decided I wasn't pleased with these methods and decided to try using rice and other small grains to make the effect, similar to a rain stick. Using GarageBand on my iPad to record, I placed the grains in a bowl and recorded the sounds made from mixing, stirring and pouring then overlapped them in an attempt to make it more realistic. To create the wind in the background I placed the iPad near the back of my fridge freezer to record the electrical buzzing sounds. Once it was all played together I was happy with the final effect so I cut it down to a manageable length then looped it to match the duration of the video.

Film: White Chicks

Scene: Car Scene

Duration: 1:48

Genre: comedy

Client: Keenen Ivory Wayans

The sound effects needed in this scene will include a mix of foley and Library sounds. The foley sounds recorded will need to be produced in the studio in order to not get background interference and library sounds will be obtained from freesound.org. There should not be any copyright or licensing complications with the sound effects, as they will be recorded by myself and the foley sounds are free for people to use.

The music used in the scene will be a "Ain't no sunshine" by Dr. Saxlove and "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton which are both copyrighted material by Lovesax Records and A&M records respectively. "Ain't no sunshine" will be non diegetic, jazz with the intension of emphasising the romantic mood the character Latrell is trying to create. However "thousand miles" will be diegetic, as the character Latrell will be singing along with it for comedic effect. When sourcing the music there will be some copyright and licensing issues as both songs are copyrighted material.

The dialogue used will be naturalistic as there is a conversation between the two characters Latrell and Marcus however one part will include the character Latrell singing. The dialogue will be lip synched by my voice actor and they the script will be recorded twice (once for each character), this is to help ensure that there is no out of synch dialogue whilst trying to stay in time with both characters at once. It will be recorded in the studio and edited with GarageBand.

Other than myself the only other personnel required will be the studio voice actor, Chris Backway. He will also be used as a studio foley artist to assist with the dog bark.

Locations: studio

Equipment: laptop, Apple Mac, microphone

Software: GarageBand

Limitations: some background may be heard from outside the studio.

Film: The Hunger Games

Scene: Cornucopia Bloodbath

Duration: 2:20

Genre: Teen drama, action, science fiction

Client: Gary Ross

The sound effects needed in the scene will include solely foley sounds. The foley sounds recorded will need to be produced outside in order to achieve authenticity and sound more believable. The countdown at the beginning of the scene will be shot inside in the studio in order to reduce the chances of their being any background audio. There will not be any copyright or licensing complications with the sound effects, as they will be recorded by myself.

The music used in the scene will be the "cornucopia bloodbath score" by James Newton Howard and it will be non-diegetic, with the intension of emphasising the intense and emotional nature of the scene. When sourcing the music there should be no difficulty as the music was made specifically for this scene in the movie.

There will be no dialogue in this scene so a voice actor will not be required. However all editing will take place studio using GarageBand.

There will be no other personnel other than myself, as I will take the roles of foley recording artist and studio technician. 

Locations: studio, outside on grass/gravel

Equipment: laptop, Apple Mac, microphone

Software: GarageBand

Limitations: some background may be heard from outside the studio.

Evaluation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E-lefSA-7g


The first scene I chose was the car scene from the 2004 film White Chicks. The scene includes mostly spoken word in the form of naturalistic dialogue. I found this aspect of the scene to be particularly challenging because not all of the dialogue could be easily synched in with the visuals because sometimes their faces couldn't be seen whilst they were talking. The diegetic music that was played in the scene proved to be more challenging than originally anticipated as I didn't realise in the beginning that the song had verses cut. This meant that trying to synch the song with original required painstaking and tedious editing. I was unable to find the original non-diegetic jazz music that was used in the scene so I instead opted to find my own music that I also felt was fitting. There was also a small usage of foley sounds as I recorded the voice actor doing a growl for the dog but for the most part I used sourced material.

Overall I am pleased with the outcome as the reception it received from my peers suggested that both the humorous mood and meaning in the scene are effectively communicated. The practical work in this scene is also met my intensions and I didn't need to change anything during the editing and recording process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PM1DOScM4Q


The second scene chosen was the Cornucopia bloodbath from the first instalment of the Hunger Games trilogy in 2012. The scene contains no dialogue and is made up of almost entirely non-diegetic music which was part of the score for the movie. There was some use of sound effects in the scene which I made sure was entirely foley.

I recorded myself tapping on a table to replace the countdown at the beginning of the scene and I used an equaliser to distort the sound to help create an atmosphere and mood for the scene. I also took a microphone outside and recorded the sound of my stepping, running, jumping and dragging my foot across both gravel and grass to create different sounds. It was not my original intention to record record myself on gravel and grass for the foley sound effects but after watching a documentary about the making of the audio for the Hunger Games I discovered that the original sound production team actually used the same technique for the film so I came to the conclusion that it would be the best option moving forward.

I am not as happy with this scene in comparison to the other one I chose but I still believe I was able to show the mood effectively. If I was to rerecord the scene again I would probably include things such as footsteps and breathing by the main character to slightly change the scenes mood.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Train Scene

The ice being formed on the glass window of the train would be an example synchronous sounds but the train tracks at 2:50 would be non-synchronous as you can not actually see the train moving along the tracks.

"Theres something moving out there" is a line spoken by the character Ron Weasley 0:59. This line is an example of functional dialogue however the large majority of dialogue in the scene is naturalistic.

A number of the sounds heard as the dementor enters the carriage the main characters are in could be considered hyper real. The rat's squeak was unnaturally loud, this was used to highlight the fact that even the animals were afraid of the creature too. Another example is the woman that can be heard screaming "Harry" its so distorted the transition from the scream to the steam engine sound is almost indistinguishable.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Boggart Scene

This scene uses both non-diegetic and diegetic music throughout to create two different effects.

The boggart scene consists of virtually all naturalistic dialogue. Professor Lupin explains to the class about the creature they're about to encounter. This would be exposition as the audience is learning just like the students.

The diegetic music in the scene is upbeat and lighthearted, this is because the character, Professor Lupin wanted to create a good mood for the students in the class.

The non-diegetic music on the other hand completely contrasts this. There is a glimpse of a dementor roaming the fields surrounding the castle just before we cut to the classroom. The music played is low pitched, and works as a sound bridge into the next scene (the classroom) but unlike the music used in the previous clip it lacks the fast paced string instruments as the characters are not in imminent danger. The first thing you see in the next scene is the cupboard, this is because Alfonso Cuaron wants to direct the audience's anxiety associated with the dementor onto the cupboard. The cupboard is violently shaking and something inside can be heard rattling inside which suggests that a dementor may also be inside trying to escape.

Unlike the music played previously, the non-diegetic music that begins at 2:13 initially starts out in a similar way to before but 10 seconds in high tempo string instruments start playing to represent neville's increasing heart rate. These string instruments could be considered to be a sound motif as the they are is very similar to the ones heard earlier so the viewer has learned to associate them with the dementors.

Some of the skills, personal qualities and previous experiences I have that could be valuable to a potential employer include:

can work well with others
communication skills
leadership capabilities
independence

Some of the concerns I have about my management of an interview situation include:

Nervousness when given an unexpected question
potty mouth
uncomfortable being centre of attention so interviews put me under pressure
can become forgetful

A common weakness I observed in interviewees performances included talking about our weaknesses, I think when it comes to a question asking us about weaknesses we should find a way to tackle it.

8 thinks an interviewer looks for in an interviewee include:
presentation
punctuality
formal
well spoken
enthusiastic
personable
confidence

Film Industry

some jobs in this media sector include directors, sound engineers, runners, producers, production designers, cinematographer, director of photography, costume designer, make up artist and hair stylists.

The jobs I'm most interested in are production design and directing.
These jobs are not entry level.

In production design there is an emphasis on who you know rather than what qualifications you hold although art and film based degrees such as film production are very important.

This is because you get to meet other people going into the industry and also develop the skills required for this job.

As the head of the largest department on a film crew, you must have extensive experience gained over a number of years. You would usually start as a Junior Draughtsman, moving on to Draughtsman, Assistant Art Director and Art Director.

If you graduate in film and theatre design, you will need to gain experience working on short films before progressing to junior roles on feature films.

The job involves working in a freelance basis.

Production Designers are major heads of department on film crews, and are responsible for the entire art department.

They help Directors to define and achieve the look and feel of a film. 

Production Designers deliver their design sketches (showing mood, atmosphere, lighting, composition, colour and texture) to Art Directors who oversee the production of technical drawings and models, which are used by the Construction Department to build the sets and adapt locations. Props Buyers and Set Decorators source props and organise the manufacture of specialist items. 

Although Game of Thrones is a TV series, it is one of biggest shows on television at the moment and has a lot of emphasis on production design.
Game of Thrones Season 5: Artisan Piece #2 – Set Design (HBO)
Game of Thrones Craft: Set, Costumes, Hair, and Makeup

I hope to increase awareness towards mental health illnesses whilst asking the question if the pressures of school/college are a significant catalyst amongst teens in the United Kingdom. As it's a sensitive issue there will need to be some ethical considerations taken to ensure that no one finds the video triggering.

Contractual brief

A contractual brief is a brief/contract with specific guidelines set by the client that the media company they've employed must follow. If the media company fails to follow the brief exactly it can result in a breach of contract resulting in legal actions.

One of the benefits of a contractual brief include the media company having the ability to have full knowledge of what the client is asking for as the brief has non negotiable specifics and is also highly detailed.

A possible disadvantage is that a media company could end up having a bad reputation if the requirements listed in the brief are not met exactly. If theres any difficulty within the brief the contractor can take legal action against the production company.

Cooperative Brief

This brief is when two or more companies work together to complete a project. It is usually done when one company isn't capable of individually completing the work given.

An advantage of this type of brief is that there is flexibility in the contract so that the companies can negotiate together in order to make sure they can both successfully meet the requirements. A disadvantage however is that negotiations can waste time and delay the production of the project.

Formal Brief

This type of brief is very open and theres only enough information to allow the media company to produce the project. Any issues or misunderstandings can be looked at during negotiations in the beginning.

Clients who give this type brief are open to many ideas allowing the media company to be creative in their work.

One possible disadvantage is that a client can be too vague and give little direction to the media company making it difficult for them to know what to do. If the client ends up unsatisfied with their work it could lead to them having a bad reputation.

Informal Brief

These briefs are non-documented and the specifications in this style of brief is usually made and agreed upon verbally.

An advantage is that the client is able to get a wide range of ideas for their product and chose to work with the company which has suggested the best option.

A disadvantage is that it can be hard for the companies turned down to find replacement work if they have already booked that project into their schedule.

Competition Brief

These briefs are open to the public which allows for a a wide variety of talented people to create a product based on the brief for free.

Due to it being a competition, the prize/reward will only be granted to the winner which means theres loads of ideas to chose from and the cost of the product is reduced.

an example would be the BFX Competition Briefs where teams of 5 people provide a product based on a wide range of briefs provided.
http://www.bfxfestival.com/competition/competition-briefs/

Tender

Theres some noticeable similarities between the last two briefs as they both involve outside companies pitching their ideas to clients in order to receive the job. Once the client has seen all the briefs, the best is selected and the chance to work for the client by developing their product and ideas.
http://www.tendersdirect.co.uk/ is known for their range of tender briefs available.

Paying attention when reading a brief is important because you need to be able to stick to it. Doing this gives you the ability to come up with ideas and being able to actually work on the project. Other than those points, reading a brief allows you to work out final dates, your timescale and what the specific requirements are.
Besides from the money, the longterm results from sticking to a brief include building your portfolio, gaining contacts, self development, experience and more.

What is social action and community media? 

Social Action Media

Social action media is media that's produced in a creative way to both raise awareness to a cause and educate the viewer in an attempt to invoke social action. Its goal is to analyse social issues and problems whilst getting the public to focus their attention on it and take action.

Community media 

A community is a group of people with a shared interest, similar characteristics or who live in the same area.

The goal of community media is to provide an alternative to the corporate media which focuses on profits. They are driven by social objectives which can empower the community by providing local knowledge. It's common to find community media focusing on topics such as social justice, human rights and environmental issues where they provide a voice for causes and people who otherwise wouldn't necessarily have them.

The Cannibal Warlords of Liberia - Vice
The 53 minute documentary by the magazine company Vice is about life in Liberia after the civil war in the 90s. The journalist visits a small handful of ex generals/warlords and asks them about their role in the civil war and also how they spend their life now. The purpose of the video is to raise awareness to the situation in Liberia as like most cases once the initial fighting is over the media forgets what happened and moves on to more current things. 
Shock tactics are used throughout the video to keep the viewers attention. An example of this would be where it shows old footage of a child soldier holding up a bloody, dirty human heart shouting to the reporter and those around him that he intends on eat the heart. Another scene shortly after shows the torture of the then leader of Liberia by rebel forces where he can be seen covered in blood and screaming "enough!". Footage like this is used to set the tone for the rest of the video, so throughout the documentary you can't forget how barbaric some of these people were/are.



'An Evil Scheme': Milonov Attacks Homosexuality - Channel 4

Jon Snow interviewed prolific Russian Homophobe Vitaly Milonov for channel 4. The intent of this video was to demonstrate how homophobic Vitaly is and raise awareness about the national issue which was Russia's anti-gay laws. An example of this was getting him to admit that he believed homosexuality and pedophilia go hand in hand. He asked closed, blunt questions to get precise answers from Vitaly without him having an opportunity to preach hate to the audience watching. Jon didn't ask developmental questions to make Vitaly feel at ease because of the nature of the interview. If Jon appeared to be soft on Vitaly there would be a chance that there would be a large amount of backlash from the interview including complaints to Ofcom. Jon tried to antagonise Vitaly by wearing a rainbow striped tie as rainbows are associated with the LGBT flag and LGBT pride/support. This made it obvious from the beginning of the video that he had no intentions of forming a rapport with Vitaly.

Food for Thought - Covent Garden

An example of local community action media would be the documentary "food for thought" which focuses on a lady called Vanessa Garrett who owns a vegetarian restaurant in Covent Garden. the purpose of the documentary is to "focus on one small story of London in the 21st century to tell a bigger, more threatening one". Throughout the documentary Vanessa discusses the heyday of her business and how its now closing due to the gentrification of her local area making the rent for her business unaffordable. The use of slow melodramatic music helps set the tone of the video and make the viewer feel sympathetic for the people effected. The purpose of the video is to raise awareness of gentrification.

I'm a creative young man who is familiar with youth culture and therefore able to know what the younger generation wants. Having grown up using computers I am more than familiar with how to use them, being competent with most softwares commonly found on laptops or computers. Although I am not capable of building my own website I would be able to quickly develop the skills required to do so and my creativity skills would be a benefit once I am capable of building a website.

Petitions about mental health and CAMHS

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/114608

http://e-activist.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1705&ea.campaign.id=38752&ea.tracking.id=q8gicnu4

https://www.change.org/p/stop-cuts-children-mental-health-services

The Canibal Warlords of Liberia - Vice
The 53 minute documentary by the magazine company Vice is about life in Liberia after the civil war in the 90s. The journalist visits a small handful of ex generals/warlords and asks them about their role in the civil war and also how they spend their life now.

For the most part, the video is filmed in Liberia, the reporter visits one of the worlds worst slums and other prominent locations during the war and a few churches. However, some of it shows the journalist back at his normal office narrating what happened there.

Shock tactics are used throughout the video to keep the viewers attention. An example of this would be where it shows old footage of a child soldier holding up a bloody, dirty human heart shouting to the reporter and those around him that he intents to eat the heart. Footage like this is used to set the tone for the rest of the video, so throughout the documentary you can't forget how barbaric some of these people were/are.

General Butt Naked, the main person interviewed in the documentary discusses the reasons behind why he got his name. During the war, he used to make his child soldiers go into combat naked, telling them that when they don't wear clothes bullets cannot harm them. This would have been after ceremoniously sacrificing an innocent child by cutting out their heart alive and feeding the pieces of the heart to the other children. They would then all drink the child's blood and consume cocaine amongst other drugs.

Jon Snow Interviewing Vitaly Milonov (super homophobe)

Interviewer: Jon Snow

Context: Channel 4 interview on prolific Russian Homophobe Vitaly Milonov

Purpose: Demonstrate to the British Public how homophobic Vitaly is.

Question Types: Closed questions. Persisting the interviewer stays on topic.

Structure: No developmental questions, gets straight to the point. Jon Snow is purposefully wearing a rainbow tie as a blatant way to antagonise Vitaly. No confidence building, for obvious reasons.

Communication Skills: Very blunt, no attempt at building a rapport between himself and the interviewee.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy Interviews Richard Ayoade (comedian/actor/author and other stuff)

Interviewer: Krishnan Guru-Murthy

Context: The interviewee, Richard Ayoade is brought on the show to promote his new book.

Purpose: Promoting/Not promoting Richard Ayoade's book.

Question Types: Krishnan asked closed questions with the hopes of getting in depth answers. An example of this would be

Structure: Developmental questions were asked.

Communication Skills: Krishnan clearly lacked communication skills in this interview as he consistently failed to attain real answers to his questions. Richard, throughout the interview, gave facetious answers to every question he was asked by Krishnan leading him to reply with "I get that. But give me something in return…" in an attempt to get at least some valuable information from Richard.

In Depth Analysis

Jon Snow interviewed prolific Russian Homophobe Vitaly Milonov for channel 4. The intent of this video was to demonstrate how homophobic Vitaly is. An example of this was getting him to admit that he believed homosexuality and pedophilia go hand in hand. He asked closed, blunt questions to get precise answers from Vitaly without him having an opportunity to preach hate to the audience watching. Jon didn't ask developmental questions to make Vitaly feel at ease because of the nature of the interview. If Jon appeared to be soft on Vitaly there would be a chance that there would be a large amount of backlash from the interview including complaints to Ofcom. Jon tried to antagonise Vitaly by wearing a rainbow striped tie as rainbows are associated with the LGBT flag and LGBT pride/support. This made it obvious from the beginning of the video that he had no intentions of forming a rapport with Vitaly.

THE PURPOSE OF SOCIAL ACTION AND COMMUNITY MEDIA

• to bring about local, national and global change
• to change attitudes
• to raise awareness
• to create access to media production for non-traditional groups
• to challenge dominant representations and agendas
• to create or strengthen community ties
• to provide information
• to campaign (work in an organised environment and active way towards a goal)
• to change voting behaviour
• to infiltrate mainstream media
• to build relationships with subjects

Clip 1- Homelessness

1. Which of the list of purposes apply? Changing attitudes, bringing about national change, infiltrating mainstream media and raising awareness are the purposes that apply to this video. 
2. What is this media form trying to tell us/make us do? let us know about the causes of homelessness and how they are helping to change the lives of those effected by it.
3. What emotional techniques do you think they have used and why? Upbeat music is used to encourage positive thinking and real life stories from homeless people on how they ended up in that situation is sued to encourage empathy. They also use somewhat inspirational quotes by various people to help incite hope.

Clip 2- Food for Thought

1. Which of the list of purposes apply? Brining about local change, changing attitudes, challenging dominant agendas and campaigning are purposes that apply to this video.
2. What is this media form trying to tell us/make us do? The purpose of this video was to encourage local and national change by challenging the social norms where big companies take away the sense of community in small towns through greed.
3. What emotional techniques do you think they have used and why? Soft music in the background was very solum. it created a dark tone to pull on the viewers heartstrings.

Clip 3- The controller

1. Which of the list of purposes apply? Raising awareness is what I believe this video is about although I'm not entirely sure.
2. What is this media form trying to tell us/make us do? Its trying to raise awareness to abuse both physical and verbal at school and at home.
3. What emotional techniques do you think they have used and why? Sad music is played to incite emotion. Having the boy sobbing on the floor after abuse from his father and school bullied in public was used to encourage pity.

KONY 2012

I remember back in 2012 when my entire school started talking about Kony. I first heard about it from my form tutor one morning when she asked the class if we had seen the video being shared on Facebook. Initially I didn’t watch the video for a while as I just ignorantly brushed it off as an extra bit of homework, which I wasn’t particularly interested in doing. It wasn’t until I started overhearing conversations in class about the video, and my friends starting to tell me about little bits of facts they had heard through watching the video or word of mouth that I decided to watch it. I wanted to know why everyone felt so strongly about what was happening in Uganda in comparison to everything else happening in the world.

I was aware for a while that there was trouble in Uganda but I never really paid much attention to it. Watching the news every other weekday began to take away the shock factor when it came to finding out about horrific crimes across the world as it happens so often, I became desensitised. This is why I was so thrown off when I watched the video. I was expecting it to be like just any other news report, where its mostly just facts being released and lacking any real emotional content.

Jason Russell’s 30 minute documentary was very effective at encouraging me to feel some empathy towards the civilians living in Uganda. I believe one of the main reasons I felt so moved by it was the fact that Jason constantly spoke about how we could get involved and help the situation. When Jason discuses the impact social media can have on western politics it made me feel empowered. When I discussed this with my friends at school we all agreed this was something we all felt whilst watching it. It’s what encouraged us to share the video. We believed sharing the video online would help let more and more people know about what was happening and encourage more people to take action. Being around 14/15 at the time the video released a lot of my peers, including myself felt like we had no influence in the world as we were still children unable to do things such as vote.