Micro Essay - Digital Tech

Describe how you developed your skills in digital technology for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to your creative decision-making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how your skills developed over time.

Since the beginning of this course my skills and knowledge of digital technology have improved rapidly.

From the very start of AS we were taught to utilise the online blogging website – www.blogger.com. This helped me to organize all my planning and production materials. Blogger is an example of web 2.0 as it has opportunities for the audience to become interactive with comments and alterations.

We started simple with iMovie and Garageband to get use to timeline editing, transitions between shots, and how to layer audio over images.

 We then used social networking sites such as www.facebook.com to perform research into audience as well as gain audience feedback.

When it came to constructing our AS Thriller used a Canon mini DV camera. Through using this equipment I learned how to White Balance, and frame shots.

To upload we used a mini DV and Firewire cable to capture our footage on to the computer. We did not rewind the tape as this would have wiped the 8-digit timecode, which was necessary when editing.

In A2 we continued to use Blogger to organise our research and planning. However we did change and upgrade many digital technologies, one being the Sony HD1000p HD Digital Camera. Through this we learned how to manually set exposure and focus, which was adjusted automatically on the mini DV camera. We really explored the depths of Final Cut Pro. Instead of using this industry standard software, Justas a timeline editor, we also used a lot of its features such as the Video Effects bin and the Video transmissions Bin for effects such as fade and Bad Film. This allowed us to alter our footage to suit our genre. As well as this I also learned about Adobe Fireworks Photo Editor as I had to edit photos for my Digipak. I learned  how to manipulate photos taken on an SLR camera with tools such as Tint, Overlay, Contrast, Brushes and how to merger layers. I also used this programme to edit photos for my Website that was created on www.wix.com, an online website creator.

Mock Essay

I think that digital distribution has greatly affected the marketing and consumption of musicians and songs in the music industry. The use of web 2.0 and the subsequent rise in music piracy has resulted in a great shift in the way music is marketed and sold to an audience.

Beck is an artist that has broken all the rules in the book in terms of producing, marketing and distributing music. Instead of producing an album in the the standard way he has instead chosen to target a niche audience of musicians. He has done this by writing his music down in book and has asked his audience to create and interpret his music in their own style and then post their versions up online for people to see. This shows Beck has a clear understanding of the current state of the music industry and has chosen the route of prosumers to distribute his work online, a route which is only an option with then invention of web 2.0.

X-Factor is slightly different due to the fact it distributes it's music in a more conventional way. It targets a mainstream audience although it does not sell through the use of prosumers, it does rely on a participatory audience. However due to the fact it is marketing on the Television it focuses more on the image of the artist than the actual content of the music. This is due to the rise in piracy which has forced record companies to create a 360 degree deal with their artists which means the record company gets a cut of everything the artists make. The reason for this being that now the audience are getting the actual music for free they are making their money for concert and gig tickets and so they need to focus on trying to sell their image as someone fans would want to see live and in person.

Danger-mouse is an artist in the form of something called a prosumer. This means that he is an audience member who has decided to create his own work in the form of a mash-up from existing material, in this case the Beatles White album and Jay-Z's Black album. Before the invention of web 2.0 this style of music would have been very hard to make as an amateur artist. Not only that but it would have been nearly impossible to market of distribute to a mainstream audience. However by harnessing the new technology he has been able to do all of this successfully and start the demise of a conglomerate record company.

EMI were one of 4 conglomerate record labels up until the early 2000's. They refused to adapt to the changing and digitalisation of the music industry and instead focused on trying to sue artists such as Danger-mouse for the illegal use of their music. However EMI soon collapsed as they refused to evolve and the fall of a company that huge, proved the scale on which digital distribution has affected our consumption of artists and songs in the music industry

Digital distribution has broken down the barrier between consumer and producer, created a

Wreck -It Ralph - 1st 6 mins - Stylistic and Historical Aspects of Postmodernism

Retro / Nostalgia - The beginning Disney titles are made with 8-bit pixilation to create a feeling of nostalgia for an older audience as this brings back fond memories of their childhood. At the same time this animation is considered 'Retro' for a younger audience - "Which makes us Retro. I think that means old but cool" - Wreck-It Ralph. Modernism strived for new ideas whereas this uses is a simulacrum of an old idea and therefore goes against Modern ideals making it Postmodern

Breaks Convention. - A Modern film would strictly have the protagonist as the 'good guy'. However this film sides the audience with 'the bad guy'. It also breaks genre conventions as their is 'Bad-Anon' meaning that the bad guys attending the meeting don't want to be bad, they are just programmed that way. Modernism had strict rules and classifications when it came to genre.

Intertextuality - This films main ingredient is intertextuality which means referencing other media texts (in this case video games). Again Modernism strived for new ideas so it would have never referenced past ones.

Pastiche - There is an element of pastiche as the Dance machine girl calls out to the rest of the arcade "All clear, the arcade's closed". This is paying homage to Toy Story as this was a huge influence on the film. Again no Modern film would have paid homage to an influence as they wanted all ideas to be considered original.

Half term HomeWork

1.  What does Post Modernism suggest about the value of high art (eg opera) and popular culture (eg TV)?
Post Modernism suggests that all pieces of art and all pieces of high culture are of the same worth and should be given equal opportunity to be viewed.

2.    What does Post Modernism suggest about the ideas of truth or reality - how is this linked the Media?

 It suggests that what we know as reality is really just the media's representation of reality and therefore their is no actually truths as mThe edia sits in between us and reality (mediation)

3. Who were the two big thinkers and what did their theories share?

Jean-Francois Lyotard: ‘Grand narratives’ – the idea of truth being deconstructed so we can challenge dominant ideas that people claim as truth.
Jean Baudrillard: “Truth is what we should rid ourselves as fast as possible and pass it onto somebody else. As with illnesses, it’s the only way to be cured of it. He who hands onto the truth has lost.”

6. How is our understanding of the events of 9/11 hyper-real?

Due to the fact that the 9/11 attacks were presented in a real-time montage of various camera angles, commentary and mixed political reactions, the global media event turned hyper-real. This electronic and almost filmic style of delivery ensured the deactualisation of the event, transforming it into a visual and semiotic product for consumtion. Baudrillard described the attacks as 'the absolute event'

7.    What is significant about the Matrix as an example of Baudrillards ideas of simulation & hyper-reality?The Matrix is a perfect example of Baudrillard's ideas. Not only is it's plot reflective of said ideas but it is presented in a way that harnesses and physicallises his ideas. It plays on the idea that Humans are constantly plugged into machines and depend on them to keep them in a blissful simulated reality and the 'chosen few' are ripped ungraciously from the machine's grasp to see the dark, dank and desolate existence that is 'pure' reality. This is a dystopian prediction that highlights Baudrillard's ideas of simulacra/simulacrum.8.    What are Post-modern elements of The Mighty Boosh ?

- eclectic mix of genres
- bricolage
- parody
- hyper reality
- deliberately messes with it's TV Program status

  What are Post-modern elements of Extras ?
Extras Postmodern elements:
- Self-reflective approach
- Crucially, the way they parody the conventions of genre
- Cultural awareness of genre/humor
- Deconstructs itself
-  Pastiche


10. Why is Grand Theft Auto Post-modern?
- Online experience – You have a second life and an Avatar of yourself
- Hyperreality
- Virtual reality
- Flow and Immersion
- Blurring of reality

 11. Why is the Cadburys Gorilla ad Post-modern?

The advert bears no visible connection the chocolate or sale of it but instead presents it in a hyper-real and comedic way. However some have argued that the advert is extremely clever as it shows us that guilty pleasures are a good thing (Man in a gorilla suit playing drums) as well as reminding us what sets Cadbury apart from other chocolate companies, quality and taste (Quality of the drumming and taste in music).


What does FLOW and IMMERSION mean?
 
Flow: a state whereby an activity demands incrementally harder, but increasingly pleasurable and achievable challenges, while providing regular feedback (a loop) on degrees of success.
 
Immersion: describes how the gamer invests imagination in the game and is then absorbed into the game world.



Case Study - Monty Python (and the Holy Grail.)
Monty Python is a comedy group that revolutionised the way in which we see comedy today. They were mainly about in the 70's and 80's and their comedy divided opinion as some realised the genius disguised behind the silliness whereas others scoffed at this ridiculousness of the group. Their second film and first actual feature presentation (their first being a compilation of sketches) was titled: Monty Python and the Holy Grail. This is one of the richest films in content of Postmodernism. First of all it is clearly a parody of the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. From the opening scene, we see that the film is highly referential of itself. King Arthur, supposedly the most important man in Britain, is seen air riding a pretend horse with his servant banging two coconuts together for the sound effect and showing it's B-role as this is a well known trick for any Foley department. As well as this it deconstructs itself greatly as towards the end, the knights are running away from a cartoon monster showing their eclectic mix of genres. They manage to get away from the monster as we see the artist drawing the monster have a sudden heart attack and die. The film also parodies many Grand Narrative's such as Christianity, the Black plague, the Medieval Witch hunts and the French invasion. Throughout the film we see gilmpses of the, then, modern day (1975) with scene's such as a TV Historian, looking into King Arthur and his Knights, when suddenly one of the Knights he is researching runs past and stabs him showing us the awareness the writers have of culture and genre.

Editing Evidence

To begin with I uploaded our footage onto the editing timeline program Final Cut Pro. This program allowed me to manipulate my footage into the final version that can be seen on Youtube.

One of the many techniques I used across the editing process, was a newly learned one, the art of green screening. This allowed me to project my already shot footage onto a Television within a shot.

 The Timeline editor allowed me to crop, cut and stick shots together in the way I chose and just over half to 3/4 the raw footage was edited by me as Connie did about 3/4 of the camera work.

 

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Here is an example of what the beat editing I did looks like on the time line. For these examples, each line is a shot last under half a second, and I have lined each shot to flash up in time with the a beat in the drum roll.

Another technique I used involved layering 2 of the same frames, one on top of the other and moving one slightly out of time to give this drunken movement to the piece.I did this by using the Overlay tool.

Digipak Evidence

First of all, for the 2nd inside panel of the Digipak, I took an image of Alice's eye (that we already used for another panel of our Digipak) and zoomed in on her eye.



I then took a screen capture of the Ghost's face during the cloud/mystical sequence to reference the video and to recreate the effect we had on the shoot day as the smoke machine was no longer available.

 I then cut out the ghosts face and merged the two pictures together. To do this I used Adobe Fireworks to cut out the part of the ghosts face and rotate and free transform, and finally fade the picture until it took on the effect of being a reflection in her eye.

For the CD I cut out a circle from my inside panel of my digipak so that when the CD was put in the case the images would fit together. I did this as this follows conventions of artwork for my post-hardcore Digipak.

To edit the circles I used the Ellipse tool on Adobe Photoshop.

To get the text to align around the edge of the CD I went back to Fireworks and drew my line where I wanted my text to go and used the attach to path function that can be seen here.






Some images in this post are courtesy of Google images due to the fact some screen captures I took of my work could not be uploaded due to technical difficulties.

Some i