Digital Technology

“Digital technology turns media consumers into producers”. In your experience, how has your creativity developed through using digital technology to complete your coursework productions? [25]"

Throughout my Foundation and Advanced Portfolios, I have worked with different elements of digital technology, in order to give myself the best possible chance to create a good project. Digital technology is the term given to all new media devices and software, from cameras to video-sharing websites.

There were a few constants in both portfolios. We used iMovie '09 to edit the footage we shot together in a professional and concise manner. It was a relatively simple editing package, but did a very effective job in creating the projects we did. We used very basic editing techniques in the thriller opening, like a sepia filter over the footage, which gave it an aged look. This was as extensive our techniques went, as the brief and actual product didn't need a lot of work. The music video, however, needed a lot more advanced methods, like colourisation, beat marking, video stabilisation, cropping and ken burns, to name a few. Each tool added more depth to our video, and allowed us to do things we wouldn't have been able to otherwise. We were unaware to some tools, like video stabilisation and ken burns, until we uploaded our footage to the Macs, and pop-up windows appeared making suggestions and giving tips. Had this not occurred, we wouldn't have been aware of these techniques, adn thus wouldn't have sued them.

We also kept to using the Canon miniDV205 digital camcorder to shoot our footage. Although it was low-quality, and still used cassette tape, it was very functional, easy to use, and also we were used to it by the time we created our Advanced Portfolio, so this gave us an upper hand on those who had changed cameras.

30 MINUTES INCLUDING PLAN

Planning and Research

For the Foundation Portfolio, Naomi and I created an opening to a thriller film. As we worked together, it took a lot of planning to ensure we organised our time efficiently. We chose times and dates to film that fitted with our schedules, and also planned these dates in advance to make sure that there was nothing else going on. It worked very well, and we had very few issues with clashing dates. These were easily sorted, as we just chose other dates. This gave us less time to edit, as we still were shooting footage, but we managed to complete the project successfully, and on time.

We kept the same process for the Advanced Portfolio too, in which we made a music video. We chose dates that fitted other commitments, and stuck to them. However, this time, we also chose some 'reserve dates', in case we needed to film more footage, or swap days for other reasons. Thankfully, we didn't have to use these dates, but it gave us more options if we needed it.

The Foundation Portfolio was relatively simple to organise. We had storyboarded the idea of a man being killed in an office, set back in the 1940's. Seeing as we were in an old school, complete with old offices, we decided it would be a lot easier to use one of these rooms. Our actor was in our Media class, and we agreed to be in his video, providing he was in ours. This was extremely effective, as the three of us managed to get all filming done very quickly by using alternate lessons and days to film the openings.

The Advanced Portfolio was a little trickier, though. We had chosen three actors - one main, and two who had minimal parts in the storyboard. Come the day of filming, two of the three pulled out, and this meant that Naomi and I had to step in, to stop us losing a day's worth of filming. This led to issues over who filmed what, and what we could do to be creative. The settings were relatively easy to choose, as again, we used the facilities available at school for the performance sections, and a park down the road for the narrative sections. This was all built upon the skills we learnt from the thriller opening, as we made quicker decisions and used different options available to us to use the time properly.

Both portfolios had very little dialogue. The thriller opening had one line, which was all it needed to give suspense and also leave the storyline open. The music video had no dialogue, as we used lip-syncing instead. Both did have storyboards - the foundation was very simple, with minimal detail, whereas the advanced was long, listed every shot and gave information on lighting, directions, props and transitions. This gave us a guide on what shots we were to shoot, and when.

However, for the Advanced Portfolio, we storyboarded several times. We did a final draft storyboard, just before filming, and then completed another storyboard after filming, so we had a visual representation of the shots we had available to us, and in what order we wanted them. This was something we struggled with in the thriller opening, so having an editing storyboard as well helped us massively.

Our target audience research was crucial into how we market our film. For the Foundation Portfolio, our research was to look at other thriller films released in the year. This wasn't sufficient enough, and so, in the Advanced Portfolio, we made an assumption, then had feedback from this assumption, before researching other videos and looking at ways we can meet this criteria. It was a lot more work, but gave us a better idea of what to create and who to aim it at.

Finally, we did a lot of investigation and research into similar media products for both portfolios. The Foundation Portfolio included looking and watching a number of thriller openings, to gain some background knowledge and to adapt them into our own ideas. This was really helpful, as we were able to come up with more complex potential storylines for our thriller. We chose to do even more research for our Advanced Portfolio, and look at different music video genres, which then narrowed down to our music genre, and we did a lot of qualitative research into different elements of each video. This all came from the skills we learnt from the thriller opening, but we were able to further our research by looking deeper into the theories and ideas behind the music video.

Creativity

There are many different theories and definitions of creativity that all have separate elements and ideas. The first is that of Jones, back in 1993, and he said 'a process needed for problem solving... not a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability possessed by many people'. In essence, this means that we can all be creative, and we can all use creativity to solve the problems we face. Over the four projects, we have certainly encountered problems. Within the thriller opening, Naomi and I had issues with the camera and the lighting, but we managed to overcome these using some very simple brightness editing techniques on the Macs. The same occurred throughout the music video, but we overcame this by turning the footage that was an issue into black and white, giving us more opportunities to use the footage that would have otherwise had to be re-shot.

A second theory is that from Isaksen and Treffinger, also in 1993, noting 'novel associations which are useful'. This is attempting to make the links that are new, and to challenge the conventions presented to your genre. The thriller project was more of a murder mystery, as it began with the death in the opening, leaving the plot open to several potential storylines, and the capability to ensure a gripping film. With our music video, however, we chose to challenge conventions keeping our video to one basis, and created a narrative and a performance based video. This helped add depth and give the audience more reason to be interested.

The third theory we have studied was 'the making of the new and the rearranging of the old', from Bentley in 1997. Simply, this says that creativity is taking something there already, and making it your own. We used this theory in our ancillary tasks - we chose to shoot our magazine advert and digipak cover, but then recycled these images and used them within the digipak too. This helped convey our theme of separation by the techniques we used.