Media Studies 2009 - 2011

The 30 second sequence involving Mr Manix and Mr Marshall demonstrates the basic values of what is to be required from the preliminary exercise. Mistakes have purposly been placed into this piece of footage for our own benefit. This is so that we can identity and learn from mistakes that could happen and how we can avoid doing them.

The key elements required for the preliminary exercise were:

• 30 second piece of footage.
• A character walking through a door.
• A character sitting down in the required room.
• A character pulls up a chair and sits oposite the other character.
• The characters exchange words.
• An item is exchanged between the characters.

The three key rules required for the preliminary exercise were:

Match on action - The same action is copied in two shots to create continuity

Shot reverse shot - Conversation showing oposite shots for dialogue and reaction

180 degree rule - Used to show that characters are facing at each other.

The preliminary exercise created by Mr Manix and Mr Marshall demonstrates all of the above requirements. The footage is around 30 seconds and envloves Mr Manix walking through a door, picking up a chair and sitting down oposite Mr Marshall who is sat at a table. Once Mr Manix has sat down he exchanges a briefcase as the required item to exchange with Mr Marshall. Once the item is handed over the characters interact with dialogue and the footage ends on a resolution. Therefore the footage follows the key elements for the preliminary exercise.

Around half way through the footage Mr Manix moves into a room, the shot then changes to a close up as he picks up a chair and then goes back to the original shot showing him moving with the chair. This demonstrates a match on action. Secondly, at the end of the footage a shot reverse shot is used when the dialogue begins between the characters. However when the shot reverse shot was used it broke the 180 degree rule as the camera is behind the wrong side of Mr Manix. So overall it follows only two of the three key rules.

Though the preliminary exercise follows the key elements required the quality of the sound is very low due to the sound volume being turned to the highest. This makes the characters dialogue distorted and slightly difficult to understand. Another problem with the piece is the continuity of the piece, some of the shots make the footage very jumpy when the character is making his way through the door and towards the other character. Headroom is also an issue with some of the shots in the piece of footage and some shots could of been made a little bit tighter, when the character first sits down half of the shot is empty. However these are minor points to raise as the footage complies with the brief.

The preliminary exercise is a task dedicated to groups of four to produce a short video showing what they have learnt so far throughout the media course. This exercise takes a look into the filming and editing aspects to making a quality piece of film footage. The preliminary exercise is for the foundation portfolio which is worth around 60% of marks, so if tests cause problems this exercise is a great way to pick up marks.

The important aspects to this piece is the use of camera work, holding a camera steady and using the correct shots at the appropriate time. Quality is also a must and it is vital that aspects such as getting  sound sounding natural and crisp and lighting as natural as possible without making the footage look dark.

There are four different stages of production that are going to be used when creating the short footage.

1. Groups - Groups of four are used for this piece of coursework.

2. Ideas - The group of four will brainstorm how each shot out of the twelve be used and if any story is going to be inputted into their short film.

3. Storyboard - Once the idea has been shown, the different shots will be drawn in showing dialogue and movement in specific shots. Two pages of storyboarding will be used. Each page shows six shots equaling a maximum of twelve different shots to be used.

4. Dialogue - Once the object is handed over the characters acting in the short film must interact and communicate with each other.

The preliminary task involves and must include a character opening and walking through a door. Once this has occured the character must then cross the room and sit down in a chair facing opposite the other character. Once sat down the character will hand over or exchange the object and dialogue must be used at this point.

There are two types of camera actions that are to be used and also a single rule. The two types of the camera actions are match on action and shot reverse shot, these will be explained momentarily. The rule is used and will be emphasised when dialogue is spoken using a shot reverse shot and is called the 180 degree rule.

Match On Action - Match on action is repeating the same type of action in two shots. The type of action can be anything from placing an object down to running.

Shot Reverse Shot - Shot reverse shot is used commonly in sitcoms due to the comedy coming from dialogue. A shot reverse shot envolves the camera swapping back and forth on two people having a conversation to see what each person is saying and to also show the reactions to what is being said.

180 Degree Rule - This rule keeps the user from ruining their footage and confusing the audience. The rule means that the camera should not move out of 180 degrees of the character. This means that it will be clear that the characters are facing each other even if the other character isn’t in that specific shot. Going out of the 180 degree rule will cause both characters to face the same way when talking confusing the audience.

The toolbox contains common tools to edit the footage that’s been placed into the timeline. With a majority of software as you click onto a new tool the mouse pointer icon will change to the apperance of the tool selected. Many tools have a modifier key such as shift, using a a modifier key will change the way the tool behaves.

Selection Tool - The first and most basic tool is the selection tool. This tool is used for common tasks and is the default tool in Adobe Premiere. This button is selected from the toolbox or by pressing the key “v”. The shift key can be used to modify the selection tools behaviour. Pressing and holding the shift key will allow the user to select more than one object at a time. As well as selecting more than one object, specific items can be selected by using the key “alt”. This key will allow the user to select only the video or audio that has been imported.

Track Select Tool - The track select tool is used to select all clips that have been inputted into the timeline from a chosen point. Once the track select tool has been selected simply move the mouse to which specific clips you wish to use and click. If the whole entire footage is needed to be selected position the mouse at the begining of the timeline. Just like the selection tool more than one piece of footage can be selected by pressing the shift key.

Ripple Editing Tool - The ripple edit tool is used to move an edit point which causes the timeline to move equally to compensate. Once the ripple tool has been selected, position the mouse over which specific piece of footage that needs changing, then click and drag left or right to increase or decrease the length of the timeline.

Rolling Edit Tool - The rolling edit tool is used to move an edit point just like the ripple editing tool, however the timeline doesn’t alter verses with the ripple editing the timeline changed equally with the edit point which has been selected and moved. Once the rolling edit tool has been selected drag left or right the edit point just as the ripple editing tool.

Rate Stretch - The rate stetch tool is used to alter the the duration of a specific clip making it shorter or longer. When the duration has been altered on a clip the speed is changed equally to compinsate. If a clip is made shorter its speed will increase and vice versa. A rate stretch should be used carefully in the footage that is being editted with as sometimes it can improve the quality of the piece and other times it can ruin the quality.

Razor Tool - The razer tool is used to cut a specific piece of footage that has been placed into the timeline into two pieces. Once the tool has been selected, select the piece of clip you wish to cut into two pieces and simply click.

Slip Tool - The slip edit tool is used to adjust the in and out points of the clip simultaneously by an equal amount in the same given direction. However the duration of the clip does not alter after the slip edit tool has been used to a clip. To use the slip tool, select the tool from the tool panel. Once this has been done, position the mouse over the specific piece of clip that has been imported into the timeline, click and drag either left or right.

Slide Edit - The slide edit tool is used to move a clip that has been inported into the timeline to the left or right. Simultaneously, the other clips will adjust to compensate with the changes that have been made from the slide edit. The duration of the clip that has been changed will stay the same, the duration of the other clips are automatically increased or decreased depending on the situation. To use the slide edit tool, first select the slide edit tool from the toolbar. Once selected, select the specific clip that has been imported into the timeline, click and drag either left or right depending on the situation.

Hand Tool - The hand tool is used to ove the viewing area in the timeline to the left or to the right. To use the hand tool, first click select the hand tool from the toolbar. Once selected click and drag to the left or right depending on the situation.

Zoom Tool - The zoom tool is used to zoom in or out depending on the situation in the timeline viewing area. Zooming in on the timeline can help the user edit their footage more easily if media such as film, audio are effects are short or tight in the timeline. The zoom tool can also be used to select a rectanglar area to magnify.

Adobe premiere is divided up into many different panels to help keep your working enviroment simple and easy to work in.

Project Panel - The project panel holds the material you have recorded which can be music, video, images, titles etc. When you import items that are going to be used they will automatically appear io the project panel. The project panel also holds sequences which shows all the information stored into the timeline.

Monitor Panel - The monitor panel displays the footage that is being edited there are two different monitors. The left monitor is called the source monitor which allows priviews of each clip and make adjustements before they are added into the timeline. The screen on the right hand side displays the active timeline and is called the program monitor. In the top right corner of the monitor panel there is a menu which will allow you to access of a number of viewing options.

Timeline Panel - The timeline panel is where everything is placed into to create the video. The desired material is dragged from the project panel or source monitor and dropped into the timeline, this method is most commonly used in the different editing softwares on the market. The timeline allows you to manipulate your footage in several different ways such as changing the length of each clip, creating mulitple layers of audio and video and adding in the transitions, special effects and filters.

Info Panel - The info panel in Adobe shows detailed information about the currently selected material. The information is divided up into it’s type such as movie, length of the video or audio that has been added in, video size and FPS (frames per second), audio showing what bit and hertz, what specific time the audio or film comes into and finshes and finally the cursor.

History Panel - The history panel displays in a list the actions or tools you’ve used to manipulate and edit your footage. This will allow you to go back and correct a mistake that has been made without having to constantly press undo removing all the other processes that you actually need.

Audio Mixer - The audio mixer is used to edit the different levels of audio that have been added. The audio is made to be a visual representation of a real sound mixer. The mixer will allow you to change the level of each specific track, use different effects, pan tracks, create submixes, solo and mute each the individual tracks of audio, control the playback of the timeline and record the different audios added into a track.

Effects Panel - The effects panel allows you to customise and create a more intrested film by putting effects into the clips and transitions of both audio and film. The desired effect is dragged from the folder and placed into the timeline. The effects control is then used to modify each effect to it’s desired need.

Reference Monitor - Finally the reference monitor, this is used for advanced users to give percise information about each video clip that is being used. The reference monitor can be used to compare the different frames of each sequence in the film. However the reference monitor isn’t really used for editing footage.

Adobe Premiere is a computer software used to edit video and audio footage to create a desired film or music track. Adobe Premiere is very flexible and is great use for people just starting out using editing software and for professionals who have great experiance with editing material.

The software is used by importing the required video or audio from a source such as a disk or tape onto the hard drive of a computer, this is commonly used with all types of other software used to edit footage such as Windows Movie Maker or Camtasia. The software then allows you to manipulate the desired footage by changing different sections of the footage such as time or adding in effects. Once the film or audio has been created it can then be exported onto a specific medium such as a disk.

Adobe Premiere, with the amount of features that can be used to create quality pieces of work in film is a very good and popular choice for all different ranges of skill people have with editing. However Adobe is rarely used with the top level of TV and film productions. Premiere also has a sleek and clean finish to its interface allowing anybody to be able to use the software with ease.

Even though Adobe is a high quality piece of software used for editing it does have some have a few minor flaws, these all being about how advanced Adobe is. The first flaw is the built in title maker isn’t as advanced for a top end user, although it works fine for a majority of tiles. Secondly even though has good quality audio mixing and effects, for serious editing for top end users it is recommended to use specialistic software such as Adobe Audition or Soundbooth. The final flaw for the top end users is the range of transitions and special effects used are only average in terms of standards

Adobe Premiere is a mid priced piece of software. If cost is an issue for editers there are much cheaper pieces of software on the market such as Camtasia Studios. However on the reverse side if money isn’t an issue and you can really afford top end software for editing such as Sony Vegas. Adobe Premiere though fits the needs for any editor and so spending high amount of money for top end software really isn’t needed.

Editing is the process of taking the footage that has been recorded and manipulating it to create a quality piece. Editing is considered to be one part of the post production process.

The first thing to work on when editing is trimming bits of unwanted footage. Secondly, selecting the most quality pieces of film is done, loads more footage is recorded than needed to be so it’s important to select the best bits. The story should then be made so it flows smoothly prividing the story and information at its logical times. The next part is to make the picture stand out from just being a flow of different shots, effects, graphics and music are all added in here. The style and pace of the movie is altered then to create the correct mode and so the audience can feel the emotions each character does. Finally the angle is added in to give the story a viewpoint or impart a message. A lot of Japanese anime imparts a message in some shape or form to the viewer for them to take away.

There are several different ways to edit a video. Typically a lot of editors tend to go for a digital non - linear style for editing the work.

Film Splicing - Usually a film is edited by cutting different sections and moving them or even removing them to create the story. Film splicing involves the film footage to be lined up and held in place whilst it is cut.

Tape to Tape (Linear) - Before computers were used to edit film this method was used to edit video tapes. This method involves the video being selectively copied from one tape to another, requiring at least two video machines connected together. The first thing that happends is that the video that is going to be edited is placed onto the source machine and have a blank tape in the recorder. Then just press play on the source machine and record on the recorder. Tape to tape is a linear type of editing as it starts with the first shot and finishes with the last shot.

Digital / Computer - Digital / computer editing involves recording the video footage onto a computer hard drive then edited with software such as Sony Vegas or Camtasia. This method is a lot easier and flexible to use as it allows you to edit any point at any time, meaning you can work in a none linear way. However editing a film using this method can sometimes be complicated due to the amount of features the type of software can have.

Live editing - Live television shows will use this method and it involves using multiple cameras and other types of media are routed through a central mixing console and edited in real time.

Video Editing Terminology

Capture device - A device used to convert an anolgue video to a digital video.

Compressers and Codecs - Software or firmware used to create the file into a smaller size.

Editing - The process of manipulating the footage taken. Also used to create transitions between clips.

Encording - Converting digital video into a particular format.

Layering - Adding several layers of superimposed video.

Linear editing - Footage being copied from one tape to another in a specific order.

None linear editing - Using computer software to edit a film.

Transition - The way a shot changed into another.

Post production - Everything that happends to the film after all the footage has been recorded.