Here I will be evaluating the entire process of the media product we have created - such as the methods and programs used in the process of filming and editing used, and feedback from audiences we have learned from.
In what ways do my media product use, develop or challenges forms and conventions of real media products?
In order to result in a good product it was important to analyse real professional media and its advertisements to promote its products in regard to the four important aspects of convincing and notable filming: camera shots, editing, sound and mise-en-scene. By subscribing to and using forms of real media products we were able to make a much more convincing and less amateur documentary film, and this is very important in order for our product to be more convincing and effective in its intent to satisfy our target audience.
As the base time for our documentary is limited to 5 minutes, showing just a brief fragment of a supposed entire documentary, it is therefore our aim to convey both a storyline, setting and characters while entrancing our audience, showing them a lot while showing them a little.
Our documentary begins with an establishing shot to identify that it is Brighton. We decided the pier would be a good introduction to show this as it is a famous landmark of the city, subsequently followed with other various clips to establish. It is typical of documentaries to use such an introduction to set the setting of their film and intended plot or idea; this is coupled and overlapped with the voice-over, another feat of real documentaries to further emphasise a point, conveying that it is in fact Brighton we are seeing, while explaining what has happened to the city.
Other notable production techniques we used also found in real media products include the use of text, intended to define. We used this during the introduction of the main character, Alice Crane, and what her role was, as well as during the steps of infection scene to set up what is to happen; this is triply overlapped as we have the voice-over explaining what is happening, the text, and the scene itself acting out the process.
We also used many fade and blur effects between the scenes of zombie transformation phases and reconstructions to highlight their separation from each other, while still maintaining the voice-over and continuing non-diegetic music.
Most of our camera shots were purposely taken handheld, something that would be used in these kinds of mockumentaries. The mostly ubiquity use of this technique allows for a constant sense of unsteadiness and suspense, subscribing to the conventions of such a documentary intended to present such feelings. Perhaps another convention we unconsciously followed is the fact that we did not use over-the-shoulder shots for the interview, but rather an off-camera interviewer whose voice we hear - therefore focusing on Alice Crane.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?
The title 'The Dead City' implies two dark concepts both true of our documentary: the upcoming absence of human life - the fact that people are dead within the city; and, as a city is supposed to be populated, it also implies the city is filled with those who are not alive, i.e. the undead. Through the various shots we used we were able to display both these concepts in our documentary, as follows:
The absence of life evident in the empty buildings and streets:
The upcoming overtake of zombies:
For the documentary and my ancillary tasks to be effective in directly complementing each other to present 'The Dead City', I enlaced the concept explained above of the ambiguity of the title of the documentary with my poster. The DVD and BD front cover for the television series 'The Walking Dead' below was helpful and an influence in my completed poster as they present a lone survivor entering a city overrun by 'Walkers', and I too wanted to create this effect.
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My ancillary poster:
As this is made to be an advertising poster it was important to replicate the use of intended advertising to an audience, that is, to draw attention and persuade. The poster suggests something has happened within Brighton as evident in the broken glass or degraded font used for the masthead and title of our documentary, 'The Dead City', and the sub heading displaying the day and time the documentary will be shown. The colours red and black were a must due to their fusion of darkness and blood connotations which further elicit thoughts that something has happened within the city, without giving too much away. As our documentary would be shown on Channel 4 it was important to include their logo as they do on all of their programmes. I edited the contrast of the logo to fit the colouring of the fog.
Building on my experience of using Photoshop at AS, I used various effects to affect. The main effects used were intended to darken the buildings to create a feeling of eeriness and, coupled with the word 'Dead' in the title, macabre. The following links were also helpful in the production of my poster:
The fog used was to create a sense of the supernatural and otherworldliness, again without giving too much away, in order to attract the audience, while still directly telling them that something is coming. I was able to create the fog effect thanks to this very easy to follow and very well explained video:
My ancillary double page spread:
I produced the double-page spread in Microsoft Publisher, and used the following sizes from this very helpful article in order to produce the double-page spread layout:
http://www.scrappersguide.com/tips_ps/double-page-layout-ps/
The photograph I took was edited in Photoshop once again using the fog effect for a sense of otherworldliness and a sense of the uncanny. While using some of the effects which I learned while producing my ancillary poster and making some other alterations - wanting to darken the sky to continue the horror element to represent a dead city, I used this helpful guide for that task and ended up creating my own effect:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1510924/creating_a_dark_blue_sky_in_photoshop/
One very important aspect of both my poster and my double page spread is the use of relevant fonts: I used various fonts within my double-page spread to keep with a constant sense of threat and violence, and this coupled with the wording which would be read by audiences would ensure not to detach from this sense, keeping them engaged with the genre so as not to derail into a tangent of irrelevance. As with the majority of magazines and double-page spreads they often begin a sentence with an enlarged letter, and I downloaded and installed the following font to follow that convention, using a blood-dripping 'A':
http://www.dafont.com/cold-night-for-alligators.font
The quote overlapping the photograph of my double-page spread reads "We knew we would have to go through the city soon, but...", and I used this font:
http://www.dafont.com/i-still-know.font
I decided to use this pull quote from the documentary said by our protagonist Alice Crane to once again emphasise that feeling of the unknown in order to have readers wanting to know what it is that has happened in this city.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
We uploaded our documentary onto the popular video-sharing website YouTube where videos can be uploaded, shared and viewed - and commented on; by taking advantage of this, we were able to receive some feedback and criticism from people, allowing us to learn from our mistakes, and what could have been done instead.
We uploaded our documentary onto the popular video-sharing website YouTube where videos can be uploaded, shared and viewed - and commented on; by taking advantage of this, we were able to receive some feedback and criticism from people, allowing us to learn from our mistakes, and what could have been done instead.
While receiving positive praise for our production...
... we also came across some helpful criticism, such as:
From this feedback, it is identifiable that at the time within the video around 4:00-4:46, the non-diegetic music used began to overwhelm the voice-over explaining the steps of infection and symptoms of turning into a zombie, particularly at the specific times of 4:23 and 4:46. During editing we manipulated the volume of both the voice-over and various non-diegetic soundtracks used to try and prevent the unbalance of their sounds as we too identified this happening sometimes, such as during the fence grabbing scene at 0:59-1:00. Here is the documentary video again if you would like to check these times:
Another piece of criticism we received was from a teacher who suggested it might have been a good idea to use a different clip at 0:24-0:29 because the clip used does not align with the dialogue which states at 0:24-0:25, "As the infection ravaged the city..." He said that we should have shown something that displayed 'ravaging' in lieu of the clip used, such as the stock footage from 2:15-2:35, or something entirely different. While I agree with this statement to some extent, I personally see the clip used as being very usable due to the graffiti of the acronym 'DNA' on the wall (as seen to the right), suggesting that the infection has, in fact, 'ravaged' the city in taking over the DNA of humans to genetically mutate them into zombies.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
The documentary was constructed on a MAC by using the Apple software iMovie, into which we uploaded the camera footage for the editing of effects, such as the flash cuts between various scenes, and sound: this includes the voice-overs which we were to cut up to fit into each appropriate scene and align with the footage, as with the steps of infection and "Dr. Brovich's" voice; and also the various non-diegetic soundtracks used. By using this software we were able to place together scenes at our pleasure, discussing amongst each other about changing scenes which we were all happy with, taking into account each other's opinions through our course to the final product.
I did some research into what is the framework and heart of the documentary - zombies and, surprisingly, documentaries in general - and for me the internet was the driving force in media technology to discover these things. I have various websites within some of my blog posts linking to some of the sources to which I used within the construction, research and planning of the documentary. The YouTube film making group "videomaker" (click here for their channel) are an extremely helpful group of people (whose ideas I have taken into account and have some of their videos embedded in my blog posts) by creating videos dedicated to video production skills, creating immensely relevant videos such as this:
... we also came across some helpful criticism, such as:
From this feedback, it is identifiable that at the time within the video around 4:00-4:46, the non-diegetic music used began to overwhelm the voice-over explaining the steps of infection and symptoms of turning into a zombie, particularly at the specific times of 4:23 and 4:46. During editing we manipulated the volume of both the voice-over and various non-diegetic soundtracks used to try and prevent the unbalance of their sounds as we too identified this happening sometimes, such as during the fence grabbing scene at 0:59-1:00. Here is the documentary video again if you would like to check these times:
Another piece of criticism we received was from a teacher who suggested it might have been a good idea to use a different clip at 0:24-0:29 because the clip used does not align with the dialogue which states at 0:24-0:25, "As the infection ravaged the city..." He said that we should have shown something that displayed 'ravaging' in lieu of the clip used, such as the stock footage from 2:15-2:35, or something entirely different. While I agree with this statement to some extent, I personally see the clip used as being very usable due to the graffiti of the acronym 'DNA' on the wall (as seen to the right), suggesting that the infection has, in fact, 'ravaged' the city in taking over the DNA of humans to genetically mutate them into zombies.The documentary was constructed on a MAC by using the Apple software iMovie, into which we uploaded the camera footage for the editing of effects, such as the flash cuts between various scenes, and sound: this includes the voice-overs which we were to cut up to fit into each appropriate scene and align with the footage, as with the steps of infection and "Dr. Brovich's" voice; and also the various non-diegetic soundtracks used. By using this software we were able to place together scenes at our pleasure, discussing amongst each other about changing scenes which we were all happy with, taking into account each other's opinions through our course to the final product.
I did some research into what is the framework and heart of the documentary - zombies and, surprisingly, documentaries in general - and for me the internet was the driving force in media technology to discover these things. I have various websites within some of my blog posts linking to some of the sources to which I used within the construction, research and planning of the documentary. The YouTube film making group "videomaker" (click here for their channel) are an extremely helpful group of people (whose ideas I have taken into account and have some of their videos embedded in my blog posts) by creating videos dedicated to video production skills, creating immensely relevant videos such as this:
My ancillary tasks were made through the use of Photoshop CS5, an extremely useful and detailed editing and manipulation software with which I was able to construct a portrayal of 'The Dead City'. In addition, the following websites were helpful in obtaining tips for Photoshop in creating my ancillary tasks, especially the first one:
http://psd.tutsplus.com/
http://www.creativepro.com/
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