Creative Media Practice - Problems When Filming My Final Project.

For my final project I wanted to merge the split screen that I experimented with and the creative side of the youtube annotations. 

I decided to approach a band or musician to let me make a video with there song, a duet would work well but anything with backing vocals could work. I decided to use a musician called Catherine Hardman that I had worked with in the past, just because I felt her song suitcase would work well with this process. 

My idea was to have her and an actor walking each side of the screen, she would sing the lead initially and the actor would sing backing, then after each verse the audience would choose who sang the next bit, then the pair would eventually meet up together. 

After two days of filming last week (Tuesday and Wednesday) I met up with both the actor and the artist today before editing and wanted to look over what we had shot. 

To my disappointment the footage that I shot on both days was corrupt and would only read on the camera so editing was impossible, I later found out that it was due to the fact that I had used poor cards for the filming and to say it's a lesson learnt is an understatement. 

So we quickly did a re-shoot as shown below and we plan on reshooting it properly this weekend to get it the way we wanted. 

I feel this worked but I'm very disappointed that I lost footage and I know it'll work better now I've seen this version. 

Creative Media Practice - Using YouTube Annotations To Be Creative

Before researching youtube annotations I never thought about using it for a creative purpose. I just thought it was a way. Annotations can be used for linking to social media, links to other channels, links and also to link to subscriptions to channels. 

Through researching annotations I found out it was a way in which the producer could involve the audience in the outcome of the video, giving the audience involvement and more interactivity through the video. 

The video above shows annotations can be used in gaming. 

I think the use of youtube annotations may be something I use in my final piece. It could bring my initial idea of a split screen music video to life more, allowing the audience to chose parts of the song. 

Creative Media Practice - The Art Of Pop (Fact Cinema)

When researching for this project it reminded me of art exhibition I went to a few months ago in FACT called the Art of Pop. The Art of Pop had more than 100 video clips telling the story of music videos running constantly on numerous screens and projections through the gallery.

The use of different screens throughout the gallery worked really well and gave the audience an chance to see certain videos in different ways, how the appear along side other styles ect. 

Creative Media Practice - Second Screen

While looking into second screen I tested out QR codes. QR codes are a pixilated image (example shown below) that when scanned on a smart phone or tablet links to a website, video or image. I find QR codes interesting and I think they do serve a purpose but I think the audience is minimal. I think it's a case of a good idea but has a limited reach. 

QR Code linking to our website

I much prefer a different type of second screen a piece of software called Layar. Layar works on a similar basis to QR codes but feels a lot more user friendly and I think it's a lot more interesting for the consumer. 

Instead of scanning a a barcode you scan an image and then that image can link you to anything from a video to a website. This allows the producer to be a lot more creative. 

I first came across Layar around a year ago when I began creating video's for a magazine called LowDown in Liverpool. Layar was built into the magazine so that when you scanned an image in the mag the person would come to life and talk to you about each article. 

I've recently started working with a company called Wray Brothers. Wray Brothers sell cleaning and clothing products all around the country and through my idea of bringing Layar to there catalog every  issue from 2015 will contain a video to match each item of clothing.

I think Layar is something that could and should become a far more popular use of technology, I really like the way in which it is used in the video below. Taking popular scenes from films and brining them to life when you at the location of the film. 

Creative Media Practice - Isadora

For this part of the project I experimented with the software Isadora. This software allows the producer to manipulate realtime and prerecorded media. One of the positives I found about the software was how the producer could import different media files and then allow Isadora to randomise the different files and create a unique end product. I liked the fact it gave the producer the ability to be the consumer to an extent.

I wasn't very impressed with the layout of the software, the features and look felt dated, also the effects felt rather dated too. It's gave me inspiration for in the future to create sections of films or music videos with a sort 80's style effect in parts.

In the video above I like the way the technique is used, I think the way the video would be improved to do experiment the use of colour more, I think the dot's work perfectly and this style could look really interesting if the shapes were sharper, and changed more in size. This technique could then be used really effectively in a Pop Art video piece. I'd like to explore this style for a music video of some sort.  

In conclusion I think this software could work well but to create something that's contemporary and substantial it would need to integrated into other pieces of software such as after affects or final cut. 

Creative Media Practice - My Use Of Youtube Annotations

Although I've only just discovered how YouTube Annotations can be creative I've used them professionally for over a year now. 

As you can see in the video above this is the end screen to all our sessions at CCTV. It provides a chance for us to let our viewers continue to watch more videos, we can add similar videos of people's interests, link to play lists, link to Facebook, twitter, our website and allow people to subscribe to our channel. 

The still above shows the analytics from youtube of views and estimated minutes watched we've gained from annotations. Over 22 months we've gained an extra 534 views and an estimated 1,509 minutes. It's not a lot in comparison to the amount of views we've gained over all in that time but it's worth the extra time to put them in.  

Creative Media Practice - Music Triptych

After researching Triptychs and Diptychs I wanted to explore how it would work in something I do a lot which is filming bands perform live songs.

As we only had a day to complete this I think it works well but if I was to re-do it I think it needs tidying up at points.