Time Based Media Review

Compared to the other assignments, this video assignment is the most difficult. Film editing is not my strongest point, so I conducted research into time based media clips, such as Go Pro. Defining the different shots, such as aerial view and so on, was the most essential 1^st task after reading the brief.

When hearing the words, time based media, I immediately thought of Go Pro videos. These videos show a timed based event that was summarised into 1-2 minutes. A mixture of car scenes were reviewed to help get inspirations in terms of camera perspective and movement

In order to create the most effective concepts, I categorised the ideas into 3 groups, 10, 20 and 30 minutes. I thought the event taking 30 minutes would be the best solution. With a long event, I was able to list over 30 things to present in the video.

An activity taken indoors was the most appropriate idea for many reason. The bad weather and obtaining the permission outside of a café were factors that influenced me to not film a task involving me traveling to the shop.

To get inspiration for sound, I went of Vimeo for no diegetic sounds.

Storyboard

Before I started with my general storyboards, I developed a couple of summary movie boards for each story. I was able to conclude the Audio recording had the most shots, therefore it made sense to develop an idea that I could visualise the most.

The next stage of development was to produced detailed storyboard. This documentation had a minim of 30 boxes represent a scene each. A brief description was provided for each scene. To explore the feel and other ideas, I created storyboards for alternative endings and moods. With a combinations good quality images and low fidelity documentation, it gave me a clearer picture.

Overall the next stage of the storyboard was hard. I developed an idea where I should draw big. This method was chosen because of my peers suggested when they are scaled down, they would look extra crisp. To increase the fidelity, I used blue were the camera is going to focus and orange for the highlights. To make this professional, I included the types of camera, sound and detailed content about the scenes.  Overall this enabled me to developed my skills in creating story boards.

Some suggestions from the presentation applied that I needed to delete some scenes and add more talking scenes to allow the video to make sense. I used the relevant scenes and applied new ones. Live trace in Illustrator was the best tool for making the storyboards look more professional.

Applying digital pictures of the film were the next step of increasing fidelity. This was the clearest story board, demonstrating that I have taken lots of time over these storyboards.

Positive

Overall, the project enabled me to improve my sketching boards. Putting the concept onto the paper without using stick men was a great achievement. The discovering a logical process is another accomplishment. Attending a workshop will enable me to pitch to professional standards.

Overall I do feel that the project was step up due to the time constraints. However, taking my own leisure time to work on the production was a decision that had to be prioritised.  I am now able to develop my initiative skills.

This time I was able to use my reflection skills to see whether the video made sense if I saw for the first time. When I got the feedback, I developed another set of storyboards with the new sequence. This will help me out in future projects. 

Negative

The most frustrating process of the entire video assignment was the planning. I categories many ideas into groups but most of them were unachievable due to the factors involved. I concluded to use the voice over for documentary idea because it did not require me to film outside. 

Although I have really improved,  I find easier to draw the entire landscape. The blue line is t he area where the camera will focused the most and where it will be positioned. I feel that the storyboard with more detail would make sense to me.  

Time management

When we were given the brief, the initial thought of creating a 20 second clip with 30 edits was impossible. A schedule was developed to ensure I do not get stuck in too much in a particular aspect of the design process. In the first week, both research and the basic ideas were completed. Developing the ideas took about 2 weeks. This was problematic because the presentation was within week 3. I used my own personal time to get a wide range of inspiration and develop rough storyboards. 

From the presentation onwards, I had to priortise my work a bit. Due to my computer being sent for repairs, there was no choice but to use Final Cut Pro 7. This version of the software was only available at the college. I filmed the shots in the first weekend after the presentation. This was to ensure there was enough time allotted to converting the videos and the post production stage.

Improvements

Overall there is always a room for improvements. However, I would say that I just want to use peers rather than tutors as this course goes along. There is a case where I should have researched the terms first. Before the next project starts, conducting a report on user experience and usability will develop my lexicon on the responsive website and IPAD apps field.