Section 1(a) - Post Production

Describe how you developed your post production skills for media production and evaluate how these skills informed your creative media practice. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time.

I think that my development from AS to A2, is clearly visible as I have became more confident with the equipment used and now I know how to use certain programmes (such as Final Cut Pro) correctly, it was easier to create interesting and unique techniques within my work. At AS, my brief was to create an opening sequence to a horror film and my brief in A2, was to create a music promotion, involving a music video, a digi pak and an advert in a media of your choice (poster, trailer etc.). I will present my answer chronologically and will mention a range of key points in AS and A2 in how I was creative in post production and the evaluation.

To begin with, in AS I created a logo for a film production (mine being, 'Dark Forest Studios') in Adobe Photoshop CS4. This didn't appear difficult to me as I am a photography student and have already had some experience with this programme. I added a few techniques, such as changing the contrast of the image I wanted to use and cropping it. The only thing I think may have been difficult about this programme is that it is hard to erase anything accurately. I still find this hard and can say that this does take time to get used to.

To finish the logo, I created the producer's name 'Dark Forest Studios' in Live Type. This was my first time using this programme and I found it quite easy to use. I found an appropriate title that would work well with the opening sequence and changed the colour to give a distressed looking font. This type of programme was also created for the type of software I wanted to edit my sequence on, which really helped. I also made the title of the film on here since i knew that this would show a good consistency throughout the horror sequence.

I created a flashback in my opening sequence through using IMovie. Although I wanted to use Final Cut Pro as much as possible, they did not have the type of technique I wanted to possess. Whilst on IMovie I found it incredibly easy to add effects and so forth however I began to have trouble when converting it back to Final Cut Pro. Eventually I got my opening sequence back onto Final Cut and although it looked effective, I think I would try to find an alternative if I had to re-do this as one effect took up a lot of post production time. I had seen flashbacks occasionally in horror films and therefore decided to challenge this theory by adding something new to the genre.

After I had created the flashback, I wanted to make this clear to the audience. To do this I therefore made the rest of the sequence in black and white. This shows some signs of creativity as the black and white part of the sequence creates an eerie and curious mood.

Whilst in Final Cut Pro, I also made a lot of the shots jumpy and jerky looking as I had some footage from a hand held position. This mainly came into action when I had found some music to add to the shots, as I knew that this could possibly shock the audience or make their heart beat faster than usual. I added close ups to angled shots to give a distorted image. This would hopefully make the audience realise how much attention they must pay to the video.

When the majority of this video was complete, I decided to download some sound effects from the internet and uploaded them to ITunes. This was a really organised way to keep all of my tracks together and I found it easier to know which soundtracks I had already used.

I then used final cut for a third time and added the sound in. The asynchronous sounds added, help create tension throughout the opening sequence. For example, at the beginning of the sequence a crow sound is added as the main character is outside. I added this bird in particular as this bird is known for death and given that this sequence is for a horror film, I found it appropriate. By adding sounds in so much detail, this reflects how creative I have been to come up with these sounds. Although I think that I was creative in AS, I feel that I was more creative in my A2 brief.
Since I already knew how to create logos in Adobe Photoshop CS5, I found it easier than last year as the software had improved and I have also gained more confidence in the programme. I decided to call the record label, 'Time Records', in which the logo would appear at the end of the music video. As I have gained more confidence in this programme, my development is clear that I have used this creatively as I have a better understanding since I have made this logo from scratch.
I also created the digi pak and advert in Photoshop. I wanted to keep all of the colours the same as well as the fonts to show the same font throughout. This shows fluidity through the promotional pieces. As this was all my own work, Images included, this shows my creative flair and how consistency doesn't have to appear boring and bland. This shows that my creative decisions have been more thought out and have been developed from my AS work.
I think that out of all of my work from AS, my editing skills in Final Cut Pro, are the most improved. At A2, I had to lip sync the video to make sure that the male singer sang at the same pace. This did prove to be difficult at first, however, after hours of editing , it was finally achieved. This has been done creatively as the voice in which was lip synced to the male performer, wasn't his own voice. Before doing this, I had to make sure that this voice would match his original voice so it looked believable( not a female with a man's voice).
I also used programmes such as Adobe Premiere Pro and Twixtor to create one of my effects. These two programmes helped me create effects, in which slowed something down. For example, the boiling of the water or the flame on the match. I captured these small clips and then used the programmes on them to make the fast actions appear more slowly. This shows my creativity as I equipped myself with the programmes and created something that was unique and that worked well as they were connotations of how stress may be seen( water boiling- people say that there blood's boiling, a flame-someone has sparked a fuse etc.).
Throughout the production, I decided also to add some film burns in which I found off the internet. I decided to add these as I thought it may come across as slightly spontaneous and given that a flame on a match was apparent in the video, it could also link back to that. This represents another area of my creativity in this brief as I was inspired from a music video I had researched and thought that this type of effect wasn't seen as much as I would have wanted it to be in music videos in general.
OnceI had footage of the singer singing in half speed, I decided to speed it up to make it sound like the original in Final Cut Pro. After doing this I took the sound out and I had therefore created the effect that the singer was on edge and was fidgeting in this area of the video. This went with the tempo of the song, as well as the chorus. This also shows development in Final Cut Pro as this technique is not something that you can find in the effects column, but you have to create within Final Cut Pro. This represents creativity in the fact that I have sped the video up and also slowed the video down. My final thing I did in Final Cut Pro was putting the logo that I had created in as it was important to have that in. I put this at the end of the video as I didn't want it to attract a lot of attention. I have developed in my creative decision when looking back at this as I now know when the logo is appropriate, however my research from AS did suggest that the logo used there was better at the beginning.
When I look back at my evaluation from AS, I realised that I had used Prezi to present a lot of my work. I found this way of presenting my work a much more interactional method, therefore, I understood everything in which I was creating more. This also showed my creativity in AS as I had to create the Prezi from scratch, choosing which images and what texts where appropriate for my work. I also presented the remaining parts of my work on Blogger. I liked this method as I could improve this at home or anywhere, that had a computer with internet access. This shows my creativity as I adjusted settings to suit my genre and gave the overall blog, a more personal feel.
Looking back at the evaluation of both briefs, I can certainly say that it is clear in how much I have improved in A2. At A2, I used Slideshare to add calendars onto my blog to remind me what I should do on certain days. This helped me to prioritise my lessons on what needed the most attention of my work. I didn't do this in AS, however I think that if I did then this would have kept me more organised. Slideshare helped show my creativity as it was work in which I had created in my own time, using all primary sources. My blog was also much more organised in A2. I think the main reason for this is because I was more aware of the software I was using, and knew how creative you can actually be on Blogger.
I also added extra videos to all of our evaluation questions as this showed that I was confident with the equipment I was using. I uploaded these videos on YouTube and then put them onto my blog. This shows how much my creativity has developed as I have thought what should happen in these videos, as well as writing scripts beforehand. I decided to create one of these videos with Screenr also as this was another technique in what could make the video much more interesting to watch. This also helped show my creativity as I made an original video, but put a twist within it, to make the viewing more interesting.
I conclude that over the past two years, it is apparent as to what I have learnt and that I am now confident in using particular programmes as well as equipment.