ALD 6.0 - Practice Story

For our profile story project, we chose our interviewee with a random "person selector" and we did it twice, later landing on the same person which was Derek. For settling what roles were assigned to who we did the process of elimination. Derek couldn't be the interviewer so he became the produce, interviewee and the writer. Then Michael wanted to say "This is Michael for Warrior News Network" so we decided to make him the editor, reporter, and voiceover. Later leaving the director, camera, and audio to me. A day after we decided roles we changed the whole profile story and directed it towards Michael and him playing tennis also on how it changed him for the better. This decision helped us because we chose to do a more grabbing story. We also added another teammate to our team, Jason. His addition to the team really adds to the creativity and brainstorming for the B-Roll. There was a lot that changed at the beginning of our first profile story, but we compromised and worked together as much as we could to produce our vision of the video.

During production, safety is a number one priority because making sure everyone can produce a nice shot with the highest of caution will benefit not just the person, but the whole team. Three safety concerns my team should be aware of while filming is to keep watch on surrounding areas when moving and not look through just the camera to get that perfect shot, do risk assessments, including looking around the area to see if something could go wrong and come up with ways to avoid that and still get a good shot, and lastly using the strap which isn't less important than the other safety concerns. Using the strap will always stop the risk of a dropped camera. Our results came out great. Looking at our results I agree with what we need to work on and I will be aware of it in our next project. The three largest words for improvement is nat sounds, exposure and cut on movement.The "nat sounds" or natural sounds could have improved and to do so we could have added a ball hitting the racket to match the action. To improve the exposure I could have move the tripod and keep checking the shot. We could have improved our cut on movement by having a different sequence of shots. To create a more compelling story visually we would be keeping the sequencing of wide, medium, and close. Written wise we would use a thesaurus to see which words to be replace or be used.

TAGS:

ALD 6.1: Anticipate potential health and wellness concerns while operating computing devices in order to enhance workplace safety.

ALD 5.0 - Interview Composition

Best interview shot

Having a face of the video whether being the host or the interviewee is key, there are two shots to know the difference between. That is a host and an interview shot. The difference is a host shot is when a person is talking directly into the camera or directly to the audience whereas an interview shot is a shot that shows who is telling the story and they're looking toward an interviewer not the camera. The background for a host shot is a clear sense of place and is placed where they would logically be. For an interview shot the background needs to show space in between interviewee and the background objects, later being compressed to a blur. Placing interviewees against a flat object or surface causes a shadow behind the person so this should never be done. Another good tip would be having "look room" which is the space from the eye level of the person being interviewed and the end of the frame. This makes the proportions of the video even and professional. To avoid a profile shot the cameraman would set up "The Line", which is the line from the lens to the subject and the interviewer would be slightly to the right or left of that line.

The most important part of shooting a successful interview is making the interviewee comfortable. To me this is the most important part of an interview because they are the face of the story having them as relaxed as possible is key. Doing this will add to the story by having them tell you their story in a natural tone. To make this possible having small talk before the interview can make it go smoother. Also having a checklist of what needs to be done and how it is going to happen so everyone is on the same page. First, on the checklist would be going to a location that is comfortable for the interviewee, not a stone bench for example. To add to that the background would need something that relates to the story itself. For example, an interview of the band director would have either instruments in the background or the band room itself with some percussion instruments.

Too much look room and too much body in shot.

Interviewee is looking at the camera.

Not professional and more of a behind the scenes.

TAGS:
ALD 5.1 Design a targeted digital media message or concept that addresses the needs of a client.
ALD 5.2 Plan and construct a digital media product from budgeted resources that addresses client needs.
ALD 5.3 Assess the collaborative process for its impact on the design, planning, and production of a digital media product.

ALD 4.0 - Editing Practice

All footage and tutorials used in this Editing Practice video provided by Hawaii Creative Media.

Using editing techniques keeps the audience intrigued with the story, it adds to the overall story because it can show urgency or terror or any other feeling depending on the story. For editing and adding in cuts in some cases they, yes smoothly transition from one scene to the next, but in the case of smash cuts no because the intent of a smash cut is to surprise or change a mood. For a filmmaker, they must have the audience's feelings in mind. To make the audience feel a type of suspense or anxiety a filmmaker and or an editor would add music to build on the suspense of the actor, for example, is about to open an unknown door or box. Another way would be using invisible transitions from black to something jumping out at that character. The sound is a huge part of a story, having natural sounds adds to the "realness" of the story. Having the creaking of the wood boards under a persons' footsteps adds to the story by giving the audience a feel of how old the house is and a feel of the anxiety of "who is that?" or "whom might it be?".



TAGS:
ALD 4.1: Evaluate diverse processes of forming and conveying a targeted message.
ALD 4.2: Compare and contrast how various audiences perceive digital media to anticipate desired reactions and responses.

ALD 2.0 - Public Service Announcement

A powerful PSA could affect what an audience chooses to do with a future decision on a specific topic. I think a strong enough PSA could persuade a person to act or think differently, it adds a new look on their opinion. In my teams PSA we want to inform the audience on how drinking affects not just the driver, but also the car. The problem we're trying to solve is the prevention of drinking and driving accidents. Though drinking and driving have been done in many PSA's our PSA may show a different point of view. So the driver could put a little more thought into a decision.

The organization that is hosting the PSA video contest for our topic is the State of Hawaii, Department of Health. The Department of Health is a very informational organization that has data on how certain decisions affect a lot and not just one person. A couple of rules that shouldn't be overlooked is the PSA has to be 15-25 seconds long and using a message related to traffic safety. These rules need to be followed because it should represent the organization to the best of our ability to be chosen as one of the winners. And to do that following the rules would be the best start. In this contest or any other contests, I believe Media students earn awards scholarships, and prize money because technology is a part of the new age and for messages to be executed successfully it goes through the media. In a contest, I think the students benefit the most because they learn new skills and have opportunities to push their media career.

Our PSA went through a lot of trimming and re-doing, but we are satisfied with how it turned out. Before our rough cut we had a typical scene by scene PSA, but after our rough cut we came out with a more unique way to give show our message. From our rough cut, we needed to re-do our voiceover so it sounded more natural as we spoke. To fully shoot this successfully Hii'lei as well as myself went over the script acting out how we would speak for the voiceover. We also needed to shoot another scene with the "good" or "healthy" driver which I did the day of rough cuts. Later we added the "dramatic" soundtrack on which we edited on Garage Band. These changes help boost the quality of the PSA itself. Our best scores were in "Overall Message" and I agree with the results because considering team struggles we pulled through and we at least made an impact on others. The best compliment of the critique was a person saying that "The idea of the talking cars is really interesting and unique." They also said that the video was comprehensible for the audience.

TAGS:
ALD 2.1 Assess the evolution of digital media as it affects and is affected by society.
ALD 2.2 Assess changes in technology and markets as it affects digital media designs.