Ideas for Research Portfolio

  

The subject statement for my research plan is ‘how different editing software’s have evolved in time’ where I will research and talk about the similarities and differences but also the positives and negatives of each of the main editing software’s.

My aim for the choice of this title is that I can find out which editing software has the most advantages and also which editing software is mainly used in the film and television industry nowadays. The results will help aid me from now to the future and also help me find out about all of the editing software’s as I would like to become an editor in the future so this will then give me a head start. I am also interested in researching about the editing sortware’s as editing is the job role I would like to go into in the future. Finding out about these different editing software’s will help me widen my knowledge and thoughts about each one of them.

At the end of the research process I hope to achieve at least basic knowledge of the similarities and differences between each of the software’s and hope to learn which software would be best to suit my ability. I am going to interview different people who have used a variety of different editing software’s and find out which software other editors prefer, which might effect my point of view towards different editing software’s. I hope to find out how the different types of software’s have evolved over time and what has changed since then and now and how it affects the other software’s marketing.

The main benefits I can gain by undertaking this assignment would be that I could hopefully get in touch and interview an editor, trying to build on my list of contacts. It will also broaden my knowledge of the different types of editing software’s and most likely learn new techniques and different information about the different software’s.

The main editing software’s I will be talking about are Adobe Premier Pro, Avid Media Composer and Final Cut, as these are the main professional editing software’s that the film and television industry uses most nowadays.

Adobe Premiere Pro is a part of the Adobe Creative Suite, a suite of graphic design, video editing and web development programs. It was released around 1996 when it was called just Premiere in the early days of non-linear editing only about 5 minutes at a time; so longer projects were edited in chunks and recorded to analogue tape linearly. It changed its name from ‘Premiere’ to ‘Premiere Pro’ in 2003 and then the first version to be released to ship with Adobe Encore CS3 and Adobe OnLocation in 2007 and the newest up to date Adobe Premiere Pro was released in Jun 2013, which is now called Premiere Pro CC.

Avid Media Composer is a professional video editing software that is edited offline and non-linear. Since the first Avid Media Composer was released in 1989, the application features have increased to allow for film editing, uncompressed standard definition, video and high definition editing and finishing. The first Avid Media Composer was released in 1989. In 1999 the first Media Composer released on Windows. In February 2003 the first version to support Mac OS X. The latest Avid Media Composer is compatible with Windows 7/8 and Mac OS X 10.7, 10.8.

Final Cut Pro is another professional video production editing software for Mac OS X from Apple and also a direct competitor to Avid Media Composer in the high-end movie production industry. It is now only available to purchase through Apple online or in the Apple stores. In April 2005, Apple replaced Production Suite with Final Cut Studio, which includes new versions of Final Cut Pro, DVD Studio Pro and Motion. The first Final Cut Pro was released in 1999 with different versions released since then and the latest released in July 2011, which was the Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, Compressor 4.

The sources I will be potentially using will be a variety of different books, Internet sources and some secondary and primary research where I will either interview a few people or give out questionnaires for them to fill out.

·      http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/premiere.html

·      http://www.avid.com/US/categories/Professional-Video-Editing-Finishing

·      http://www.apple.com/uk/finalcutpro/

·      Film Art – An Introduction by David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson. ·      The Technique of Film & Video Editing History Theory & Practice by Ken Dancyger. ·      Avid Editing: A Guide for Beginning and Intermediate Users by Sam Kauffmann and Ashley Kennedy.

Analysing Britney Spears' 'Everytime' Music Video.

'Everytime' is a song by the famous recording artist Britney Spears and there is a lot of meaning and a story behind this music video as I will explain in much detail, firstly, what happens in the music video is that she arrives at her hotel that she is staying at with Stephen Dorff, who plays her boyfriend in the video and they get greeted by a big group of paparazzi's and enters the hotel after being hit on the head with a camera and arguing with her 'boyfriend' then she goes to take a bath and realising she has a bleeding pretty badly on the back of her head, which then she drowns in the bath, fading to white where Britney Spears is running down a hospital corridor and seeing herself whilst the doctors are trying to resuscitate her. The majority of the music video is filmed and edited in a slight slow motion to exaggerate it a little bit and make it more dramatic.

In the opening sequence it shows establishing shots of Las Vagas first with a helicopter shot of the City with the helicopter noise to emphasise the fact that they are looking for someone then cutting to a shot with a massive billboard sign of Britney herself and then cutting to them inside the back of the limousine, when she starts to sing:

"Notice me. Take my hand. Why are we strangers when our love is strong?" (Spears, 2004)

this shot shows the audience that obviously that they are a couple who have just had an argument as she taps him and he gives her the finger with a negative response and also their body language shows this. Then it cuts to a close up shot of Britney's face, which shows her reaction of her shaking her head, this instantly makes the audience side with Britney, feeling as though her boyfriend is in the wrong. These lyrics reflect them both as she is trying to say why he treats her like a stranger when their love is strong maybe because they are in public with loads of paparazzi's around. When Britney and her boyfriend exit the limousine she gets bombarded with paparazzi's with loads of flashing lights to make it clear to the audience. The paparazzi's are all dressed in black to show the audience that the paparazzi's are bad people in the video. 

Once they get into the hotel lobby, her boyfriend grabs some of the magazines of Britney and throws them at the paparazzi and starts a fight with one of them but security manages to drag him away and take the two of them through the hotel towards their hotel room, arguing with each other, kicking boxes and pushing each other. Entering their hotel room, her boyfriend tries to apologise for fighting with the paparazzi but she pushed him away so her boyfriend gets angry and throws a vase against the wall and it smashes into pieces. Britney storms off and gets into the bath, as she touches her back of her head and she sees that her hand is covered in blood, the viewers remember that she got hit on the back of her head with a camera by one of the paparazzi's and then she drowns herself whilst the screen fades to white, to represent that her soul has left her body. The high angle shot of her looking down at her whilst she is in the bath creates the effect of her being really vulnerable and innocent.

After the white screen was shown, it shows Britney Spears running towards the camera through the corridor wearing all white everything and cuts to her staring at herself on the hospital bed with doctors trying to resuscitate her lifeless body and then walking on further shows a woman giving birth to a baby, this might mean that she is being reincarnated into the world again, starting a new life and avoiding all the paparazzi's. After the hospital scene it cuts back to her in the bath and her boyfriend jumps into the bath trying to save her, as she was clearly unconscious and then the paramedics carry her body out of the hotel and into the ambulance with the paparazzi's still trying to take photos of her this portrays the fact that the paparazzi's have 'killed' Britney's privacy as well as her physical form. The video ends with a cliff hanger as we do not know what really happened to her as she got up from the bath smiling and laughing to herself.

"The original treatment would have had Spears killing herself from a drug overdose, but the pot was removed after it received criticism by organisations such as Kidscape, who perceived it as a glamorisation of suicide."1

1) Britney Spears - Everytime. Available: http://vibesradio.dm/content/britney-spears-everytime/. Last accessed 10th November 2013.

Music video exercise

This years first exercise we got given by our tutor Roddy, was to create a music video from a song in the album, 'Now That's What I Call Music! 85' and our crew decided to choose PJ & Duncan's - Let's Get Ready To Rumble. We chose a happy and upbeat song to match the footage that we filmed, because the brief said that at least one of us had to perform and lip sync in it, so we decided that we should all take part and split the lyrics between the 4 of us.

Before we started with the filming, we had to plan out ideas of what and how we are going to film and after a lot of thinking and planning we had decided what we wanted to do. Watching One Direction's Kiss You music video inspired us to create a video similar to theirs with the use of green screening and different types of props.

We used studio B in University as it was easy to just carry the kit to the next room, we filmed using the XDCAM for the main scenes of the video and then used mine and Jess Remnant's DSLR's to film behind the scenes footage, which we added in to video to show the audience that we were actually having fun whilst creating the music video because it is a fun song. For the music video all of us had to learn the dance for the chorus and also learn our individual lyrics for each of our parts, this was difficult because the dance was difficult once it was sped up. The dance consisted a lot of spinning around and jumping, a couple of us couldn't do it properly and one of the crew members had also had a major operation on their leg, so they couldn't proper go for it but in the end we managed to make the dance work out. As it was our first time using the green screen in the studio, we had to get the technicians to help us rig the lights in the room, making sure that there was no shadow on the green screen, as this will effect the outcome if there was. We filmed using the XDCAM as it is much easier to transcode the footage format through Avid Media Composer.

Our first time using Avid Media Composer to edit our music video, this gave us the chance to play around with Avid with the knowledge we had from the tutorial in the lectures with Catalin Brylla, not only did we have do a basic edit but we also had to learn how to chroma key in the green screen, luckily we had Charles, one of the technicians there to help us if we were really in need of help.

Next time when we have to work with a green screen or Avid, I think we can minimise the problems we encountered for the first time round, like they say practice makes perfect!

Idea for Deconstruction

For my deconstruction component I am going to compare the two films, ‘North By Northwest’ directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1959 and ‘Source Code’ directed by Duncan Jones in 2011. These two movies share many differences and many similarities; they share the genres of mystery, thriller and action. They also share similar narratives as both films start with a disequilibrium narrative and the include theme of identity within the films.

In ‘North By Northwest’ Cary Grant played the main character Roger O. Thornhill, a New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent (George Kaplan) by a group of foreign spies and is then chased across the country while he looks for a way to survive.

The 5-minute scene I have chosen to deconstruct in ‘North By Northwest’ is the first 5 minutes of the film, showing establishing shots of the busy New York City and Roger O. Thornhill goes to meet three men, on his way to send a telegram and then gets stopped by two men that kidnaps him thinking he is George Kaplan, dragging him into an unknown car.

In ‘Source Code’ Jake Gyllenhaal played the main character Captain Colter Stevens, a soldier who wakes up in a body of an unknown man (Sean Fentress) and discovers he is part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.

The 5-minute scene I have chosen to deconstruct in ‘Source Code’ is two minutes into the film, as he is woken up on a train all astonished and shocked to find out that he has woken up as an unfamiliar man from seeing his reflection in the window, so he goes into the toilets to double check. After leaving the toilet the bomb in the train goes off and then he finds himself strapped inside a small dome, which then Air Force Captain Colleen Goodwin explains to him through a computer screen that he is trying to complete a mission using the Source Code, which allows him to take over someone else’s body as a re-enactment of the last eight minutes of their lives.

I chose to deconstruct ‘North By Northwest’ and ‘Source Code’ because of their similar narratives and ideas within the film, as they both have identity crisis but their identities are explored in two different ways. In ‘North By Northwest’ Roger O. Thornhill identity was mistaken where as in ‘Source Code’ Captain Colter Steven’s identity was assigned for him already. Both films follow Vladimir Propp’s narrative theory as the characters in the films are recognised as certain types that Propp learnt in fairy tales. I chose the first 5 minutes of the two films because I noticed that they both establish the whole story line within this time. Tzvetan Todorov’s narrative theory within the film often starts with a equilibrium where there is balance and harmony, however ‘North By Northwest’ and ‘Source Code’ both start with a disequilibrium, when the balance is disrupted by something or someone and the equilibrium is stored towards the end.

The purpose within these two 5-minute sequences is just to let the audience know the main narrative but also not giving away too much information to spoil the ending. This gives the audience an idea of what the film will be about, creating many enigmas for the viewers so that it keeps them drawn to the film as they want to find out how the film ends. Starting with a disequilibrium also helps building enigmas in the film, keeping the audience thinking and asking questions. In the first 5 minutes of both of the films we find out who both of our heroes are and in ‘North By Northwest’ we find out who the villains are but not in ‘Source Code’ but instead we find out who the helper is.

I have a few potential books and websites that I might use in my deconstruction assignment. The main website I am going to use is IMDB as it is a reliable website which provides me most of the information about the two films.

·      Cinematography Theory and Practice: Image Making for Cinematographers and Directors. By Blaine Brown.

·      Practical Cinematography. By Paul Wheeler.

·      Picture Composition. By Peter Ward.

·      Film Art: An Introduction. By David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson.

·      http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053125/

·      http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0945513/

Camera Operating Skills

Yesterday I had a XDCAM tutorial in the studio with Pete, so that we could book it out from the loan store and to use it to film our music video exercise as one of our projects for University. 

During this tutorial I learnt how to use and handle an XDCAM, although this camera tutorial is similar to the HM100 camera and JVC 750 camera tutorials there are also many differences as they are obviously different cameras. They work in different ways with different settings and record on different formats. The XDCAM records onto XDCAM disks which then has to be exported using an XDCAM Professional Disc Drive Unit onto Avid whereas HM100's and JVC 750's use SD cards and imports using a SD card reader. 

An advantage of using the XDCAM is that the XDCAM disc is bigger than the SD card so it would be easier to keep hold of and look after, as the SD cards are pretty small and it is easy to misplace them. Although XDCAMs have excellent quality, it is a struggle to use as handheld on your shoulder because it is fairly front heavy. Also carrying to various locations is a struggle as you would have to carry the camera and the tripod wherever you are shooting but Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras (DSLRs) are lighter and easier to film with, the only problem is that you might not get the same quality.

First Year of University

Moving to London for University was a big step for me, as I was educated in a small Town called Colchester in Essex. Growing up in Essex, having all my friends and family here and adapting to the place itself, then suddenly moving to the big City of London, where I knew no one, was hard but I knew I had to get into the real world sooner or later, so I choose sooner. 

Coming to University taught me to be independent in my learning, as College teachers chase you up on your work and literally spoon feed everyone, where as University lectures give you deadlines and briefs to let you get on with your own research and if you don't do it on time then your mark gets capped at the lowest possible score. The teaching styles in University are also different as the class sizes vary, depending on the course and modules you decide to choose. Now that I am living in London I have to be very careful with my spending as I have to pay rent, bills, travel and food and I can not rely on my parents anymore. I chose to do the course BA Film and Television Production at first as I was not aware that there was a Technical Arts course and half way through the course I decided would be more suited in the Technical Arts course. I have no regrets changing courses, as both courses were great but prefer editing and being on camera to producing and directing.

Once results day came, I was pretty nervous but I suppose that's natural right? Overall I did not do too bad receiving 2:1 in two modules and 2:2 in the other two modules, it was the essays that brought me down as I got an overall 2:1 for the practice portfolio. After coming back to University we got feedback some feed back from our lecturers, my downfalls in my essays are that I don't cross reference enough and lacking on types of different research sources such as books and newspapers instead of relying on the internet for sources. I am more of a practical person than I am writing essays, this benefits me as the course is 100% coursework. I also find it very hard to concentrate from a young age and I always struggle on how to structure and write an essay. 

To help me improve this year on my essay writing I am going to get help and advice from the Learner Developer Unit and also plan out what I am going to write, giving me plenty of time to research and complete the essays. We did a debate back in the first year and I got a 2:2 for it, being the unconfident person that I am, I bit my tongue and got on with it as everyone else had to do it as well. We were put into teams of two to help us debate against the other team but unfortunately my team member was not feeling very well, so I had to do my debate on my own but I managed to work though it even though I had a weak argument. 

Workflow of Iron Man 3

Introduction:

Iron Man 3, directed by Shane Black in 2013 is a very successful franchise film based on the Marvel magazines and cartoons. Iron Man is an American super hero film trying to save the world, defeat the evil villains and protecting the ones who are closest to him.

I decided to research the workflow of Iron Man 3 as I grew up to Marvel cartoons as a child and loved the Marvel films as well. Researching the visual effects in Iron Man fascinated me and made me realise how much hard work and effort has been put in by everyone to create this film. 

'A total of three hours and 15 minutes of footage were shot before editing, where it was brought down to 130 minutes (119 without the credits)'1

This marks the longest stand-alone Iron Man film out of the 3. 

Canon EOS C300:

Engineered to deliver 1920 x 1080 HD images, the EOS C300 Cinema camera integrates Canon’s Super 35mm CMOS sensor, which is modeled on the Super 35mm motion picture film standard. This, combined with Canon’s Digic DV III Image Processor, and a 50 Mbps 4:2:2 MPEG-2 codec, provides image capture even in low-light environments. In addition, the EOS C300 camera body weighs 3 lbs.

The Canon EOS C300 plays a big part in post-production in Iron Man as the visual effects supervisor (VFX), Christopher Townsend and his visual effects team created some scenes by superimposing computer graphic imagery onto live action stunt footage. They used six of these cameras as "witness cameras" for accurate close-up tracking of stunt actors' movements. "The Canon EOS C300 cameras gave us the main things we needed. Which were detail, sharpness and resolution," said Townsend. 

Sources:

1. http://www.gameh9.com/399/