Technologies used during planning and construction
Again, Blogger was used throughout this aspect of my project. It was primarily used during the planning of my music video as a way of keeping track of my plans once published onto my site. From this, I was able to scroll through my posts to see what I had and had not planned whilst referencing a checklist. By doing this, the planning of the video was in every single detail and I believe that this is portrayed through the quality of the music video. Furthermore, the use of Blogger as a diary during planning was particularly useful. As shown to the right, I made a large number of construction posts. These posts all explain the stage of work I was at during the publishing date and so progression was easy to track. What made Blogger most useful for construction was its capability to include explanations of the work I was constructing. So, for example, I was able to note changes that I would be making to my digipak front cover and justify the reasons why. By doing this. the planning and construction of my project has been thorough and tracked well through the use of blogger.
Lumix GH4 - This was one of the most valued throughout the filming of the music video. Whilst other cameras can offer similar qualities, I believe that this camera was a main part of the quality of the overall project. Most notably, the camera offers the capabilities of filming in 4K. Moreover, last year I had used a different camera which had a very short battery life, disabling filming on location for periods of time. Contrastingly, the GH4 offered a much longer battery life that enabled me to film for much longer periods of time. As a result of this, there was no rush to get shots right immediately and instead film in an assured and relaxed manner. This quality provides a rich picture with depth of field that adds another dimension to the overall video. By using this camera, I feel that the music video looks extremely professional. On reflection, I think that the video, as a result of the camera, does not look like a typical A Level Music Video with a poor quality camera. As a result, the use of this camera was extremely valuable.
Adobe Premiere Pro - The decision to use this editing software over IMovie was taken very early on in the stage of my project. There are several benefits of using Premiere Pro over IMovie. First of all, Premiere Pro allows you to edit clips to the nearest 1000th of a second. By having this to use, the editing process of the video was made extremely easy. The ability to edit to such a precise time meant that I was able to combine clips at the exact time that I wanted. This, therefore, allowed me to use a range of clips in quick succession throughout the video. I feel that this reflects well in the music video because the video has a consistent pace throughout the video. Furthermore, Premiere Pro allows you to layer clips on top of each other. This was most effective during the editing process when deciding where certain clips would cut. So, being able to layer multiple clips on top of one another resulted in appropriate selection of order for the clips. Finally, Premiere Pro proved to of use during post-production when editing because of the huge variation in tools that I could use to adjust images that may be too dim or require enhancing. For example, at times during filming in the boxing gym, the sun died down meaning lower key lighting. To tackle this, I used colour correction to make the shots lighter and more in line with other shots in the music video. As a result, the video followed a consistent pattern in terms of mise en scene. The use of Premiere Pro was most important throughout our editing as a way of making the music video to the highest quality possible,
Media Encoder - One disadvantage of Premiere Pro was that it was unable to directly deal with the 4K footage. To counter this, we needed to encode the footage so that we could edit without any lag during the editing. This was accomplished through the use of Media Encoder whereby the original footage was duplicated and encoded into a lower quality of footage, 720p. From this, we were able to edit the footage at the same frame rate as we filmed in, without any major jumps in the clips. When the full video was finally completed, we then encoded the Premiere Pro project back to the 4K quality we had previously filmed in. As a result of this, we were able to edit with ease yet still be able to publish our video to YouTube in the highest possible quality, The one drawback of this was that it took many hours to encode the footage both from 4K and back to 4K at the end of editing. However, i believe that this was worth taking the time on in order to keep the footage at 4K quality,
Steadicam - This piece of equipment was used extensively throughout the filming of the music video. Most importantly, this was used in order to create an intimate and immersive atmosphere between the characters within the video and the audience. At first, the steadicam proved very difficult to use - i.e. balancing weights evenly to avoid camera shake. However, this problem was tackled by doing test filming to become familiar with the use of this equipment. Moreover, the steadicam was used to offer a different perspective of certain shots. For example, it was used during the narrative when the boxer was running to show him travelling at a pace. Although this would most often be filmed with higher quality equipment at professional level, I believe that the camerawork evident during the music video was of a very high standard.
Tripod - We used this piece of technology less than any of the aforementioned objects. However, it did prove extremely useful for the project overall. Whilst use of the steadicam took precedence, As previously described, this was during flexibility in use with the steadicam. Nevertheless, the tripod was used during parts of the narrative and performance of the music video. Most notably, it was used during the performance to film lip syncing of the lead singer. This avoided any shaking throughout the clips, making the footage as clear as pozsslibe. Although I didn't use this very much, it still proved helpful when looking at the music video overall.
Adobe Photoshop - I used this software for my ancillary tasks (digipak and digipak poster) to construct my final products. This proved very helpful for the construction of both my digipak and digipak poster. This is because the software allows pictures to be edited and manipulated to large details. For example, I used the software in order to manipulate the pictures on my digipak - adjusting the brightness/contrast hue/saturation and black and white levels. As a result, I feel that the software has allowed me to produce products that are engaging for my intended audiences and are also identifiable to as an indie rock genre through the use of an array of colour palettes. Furthermore, the ability to superimpose backgrounds from elsewhere onto my picture has proved useful. The ability to change the background and foregrounds meant that all the pictures taken prior to use of this software did not need to be the highest quality - having the versatility to be adjusted on Photoshop.
