Connor Final Evaluation

Connor Crawford
Media Evaluation
DEAD RINGER

Monday, 16 April 2012

Dead Ringer Project
The Dead Ringer Project is an idea originally
thought of and created by me, and my partner.
This w thought of for a task given to us for
as
our Easter holiday Media homework.
The task itself w strictly Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre; we
as
had to think of our own idea relating to this
genre with a fitting story that would achieve
popularity as a television series for teenagers
(Our age preference).
I had to adapt the idea we had into a realistic
and achiev able enough story, for example the
year set which would affect which locations
are accessible and/or the locations which are
not within our reach.
We eventually decided to set our film in the past
which allowed us to simply use effects on our
modern videos to manipulate them and the
audience in order to make the video look old.

Comparison
with real media
products


Below displays a series of different key
frames selected by me, each one of these
key frames will ha an explanation of
ve
things such as the narrative or
construction of characters, costumes.

This is the very first clip displayed in my
title sequence, this clip is the key part
of our sequence for the narration; it
clearly states the point of the story
“Recently achieved the ability to
clone another human being” - this sets
the viewer’s mind on cloning so they
understand the rest of the sequence
as some of it could be unclear.


One of our key objectives w to display an evil
as
character with his face covered by the shade
and fur of his hood, this character w named
as
the ‘Evil Mastermind’. Another character
displayed w the scientist in the laboratory, the
as
only other character shown in the sequence. we
decided to use only two characters as the
personalities and motives of both these people
clash as the scientist is working to create and
examine these clones, the mastermind is out to
capture and corrupt, this makes them enemies.
However we both decided to display only two
characters, this would allow us to alter the
possibilities of the characters actions and
personality later in the series.


This frame clearly displays a simple scientist
robe/costume with v arious props displayed
around the characters, the idea of this frame
w to present a scientific approach to the
as
supposed ‘cloning’- perhaps studying or even
working on the creation of a clone. The
costume itself w already manufactured; we
as
borrowed it from the Long-Road Sixth Form
science lab with permission and accessed a
quiet laboratory, the costume clearly
represents a working scientist.


The props were mainly designed by me, the
confidential document and scientific cells
displayed on paper were simply created on
Photoshop, the confidential letter w put
as
together with v arious different copies and
pasted items from Google creative
commons and so on, easily produced. I
didn’t w ant the letter to be random words
so I used clone terminology to display a
knowledgeable document within the
sequence, giving it a more realistic look to
it.

This prop w designed by
as
me to give the scientist
a label/uniform which would
certify the professionalism of the clip itself


The location isn’t specifically narrowed
down to a certain area however the
title sequence shows the viewer that
this series is based around New York
seeing as sky scrapers and the statue of
liberty is displayed which is an iconic
representation of New York. The stories
year is set in the past, around 1970’s so
the buildings are not out-dated or too
modern as these types of buildings
became more popular within these years.
I ensured the technology displayed in
the sequence w correct to the year
as
the story is set, not too modern - basic
equipment.


The effects were specifically used to create an old, rustic,
black and white effect to try and manipulate the modern
footage as much as possible, giving us a ‘footage from the
past’ effect. The fuzzy television effect when it fazes out is
simply done by increasing the ‘noise’ effect, this can also be
called a Fade-Out effect but with a different approach.
The effects used were ‘Add noise’ and ‘Tint’ to give it a fuzzy
sort of tone with a rustic overlay on top of the black and
white colours.

I also used simple effects and tools such
as key framing imaging to zoom in, or key
framing the video itself to give a zoom
effect, making the sequence more
interesting, more v ariety.


The font w designed for a rough
as
effect to match the old, rustic hint
to the video to blend in and give it
that same style and effect as the
video itself. The glitches and
unstable manner of the credits is
deliberate as I am trying to represent
the world’s stability at the time of
the filming. The order of credits is
shown partly by priority. here is the
order shown below:
Starring
Devised By We left the credits for the last two
Written By scenes as we w anted the audience to
focus on the characters dialogue in
Directed By
the last scene; this is a key point for
the sequence as it shows the evil
masterminds determination against
the clones.


The scientist shown in sequence is working in
a laboratory that researches and
discovers w ays to clone Human beings, in the
sequence the scientist is carrying out
experiments and using scientific technology/
equipment in v arious different ways, the
audience themsel ves don’t ha to
ve
understand this as the scene is not clear as
to what the character is doing. He wears a
long science cloak for protection with
goggles for protection, wearing goggles
implicates that the work he is doing isn’t
exactly safe. The angles we used were
mainly canted angles however we did do a
Mid-Shot following an over the shoulder
shot to give a good perspective of the area
and a clear view of the work he is
supposedly doing.
The character shown in the last scene is the evil
mastermind, we tried to cloak his face with the
shade of the hood and add the effect used
throughout the sequence, I chose a close-up and
personal shot of his face only as he states his
determination, this gives the audience a direct
insight to his personality and character.


The last scene w designed to try and make the audience
as
uncomfortable and/or excited about a storyline which
typically includes an evil and good perspective. The
heartbeat w added for an aura of suspense, excitement. Not
as
just for the audience but the heartbeat seemed fitting as the
shots were close-up and faded in and out between each shot.
The other shots were supposed to indulge the viewer into the
calm sequence with no violence or action shown, just facts
and discretion to keep it mysterious for the audience,
allowing us to ha an open end for the future of the
ve
storyline.

The sequence itself relates to title sequences
such as Dexter as it maintains that mysterious
feeling, showing only hints of the storyline
and the characters by the footage shown, the
audio slightly telling the beginning of the
story, not leading on into the story yet to
come, giving the audience the feeling to w atch
more and discover the genre and story for
themselves.


Construction
Process


What did I find most enjoyable
For me, the most enjoy able part of this project
w the editing as I enjoy learning how to use
as
new tools and feel that I am alw ays learning fast
when using an edit program. I find final cut quite
hard to use as it renders quite a lot which w astes
a lot of time, but I am quite patient when it comes
to editing video’s so this isn’t too much of a
problem, usually to work around this I do
another task while I w ait, such as prop creation.
For me the hardest part of the project w as
organising me and my partner so that we ha ve
everything ready for filming, we both share
similar attributes, forgetting items/props. We
managed to remember everything except
shooting the film with a clapper board; we
designed the template but didn’t take the clapper
board with us. After this we ensured we
remembered everything else by writing little
scrap check lists to tick off on the day, anything
forgotten could then be replaced in time.


Problems faced
The biggest problem we faced w trying to find the fitting footage for our idea,
as
the area we had w asn’t suitable for the date of the film and the idea, however we
worked around this with the old noise and tint effect, also recording the more
realistic buildings for that year. Another problem w the credits wouldn’t
as
export onto the video quick enough, lea ving us a very short amount of time to
add them to the sequence, we managed to do this but the credits and font were
not as expected, they still work with the video but we had to erase the white
from around the text even though it w sa as ved as a PNG file.

The red circle singles out the
problems
involving credits.


Working as a
team
For me I think I w generally worse off working with a partner as I found relying
as
on someone to do vital parts of the project is risky and sometimes doesn’t work
according to plan, I would’ve preferred to ha the amount of work for myself
ve
and go through the stages as an individual without a team’s view or their advice. I
would’ve found this more efficient and easier for me as I could do things my own
w and not worry if my partner/team has completed their task, lea
ay ving pressure
on us both – of course from my partners perspective it’s similar, I just prefer not
relying on a team. My fa vourite part of working as a team would ha to be the
ve
final piece where both of you can feel a sense of achievement and hopefully be
proud of your work. For example organisation w at its minimal tow
as ards the end
of the project as me and my partner had to upload the credits to the video in a
short amount of time, my partner had to be somewhere without fail an my only w ay
home w by his transport, therefore this created pressure for the two of us as I
as
felt rushed into editing this part of the video and he w uncomfortable at the time
as
it took, these sort of things need to be pre-organised, a failure on our part. Next
time I will plan ahead and make sure we don’t ha to do vital work in the last
ve
few hours of our project.


Legal and
Ethical consideration
In terms of legal and ethical consideration me and my partner didn’t need to
worry about this, the only thing that we had to arrange w supervision for
as
oursel ves in the laboratory, for safety measures and legal as we are under 18
and unsupervised in a dangerous laboratory. The actors within the sequence
are all over 18 years of age therefore no formal agreement to cooperate
needed to be signed.
The music itself w found on Google, a website giving creative commons
as
permission, it w an adapted version with raised speed allowing the person to
as
use this version for music.
I understand that Creative commons is a version or adaption of someone else’s
work v aried from music to art, the owner of this original piece of work has
allowed and/or given permission to the public or a certain person to use this
particular piece.


Skills Development
The main source of technology used within
filming and editing included a Flip Camera and
Final Cut Express, other programs such as
Photoshop were not so vital, and however this
did help the designing process.
From this project I ha learnt v
ve arious new
effects and tools that are simple and useful,
for example the ‘Add noise’ tool and ‘Tint’ for
effect w simple and effective, I learnt how to
as
adjust the noise and change the type of effect
you can do with that particular tool, such as a
fuzzy effect or a more streaked, old hint.


Skills Development
Key framing w of little knowledge to me however I had some experience
as
from previous little projects, my technique and skill involving this tool
improved during the sequence as I used it for zoom in effects and to position
my footage correctly.
I experimented with filters during the editing process and discovered many
new ones I had no knowledge of in the past such as the lens flare for a
blinding effect or the colour correction to single out a certain area of
colours or maximise the contrast, even giving the whole scene one tint of
colour. Transitions were not overused in this sequence as I found they didn’t
fit our genre or recording techniques, they are quite obvious and modern
which w asn’t required. Placing the footage w the easiest with Final Cut
as
Express as I just used the razor tool to cut up parts and place them
together, as well as the audio narration/voiceover which I collaborated
with different pieces of radio transitions to create a radio worldwide
announcement about this huge story and creation.


Skills Development
To create the text in Photoshop I created a typography sheet with
many different fonts from DaFont.com - these fonts were singled out
until me and my partner were satisfied with the effect the font had, I
chose Defused for our title font as it ga a very unsettled, glitch
ve
effect which is what I w aiming for, it suits all purposes especially for
as
our storyline. To import the fonts to Final Cut I had to export it as a
PNG without a background and then import media via Final Cut tool.


Quality of Final Product
Overall I think the project has been created as planned
regarding the target audience, The product itself is very suitable
for ages 13 onw ard, the title sequence itself contains no explicit
language, violence or sexual scenes - suitable for all ages.
The final product itself gives off a strong first impression, while
watching it friends and family ha all quoted that this sequence
ve
tells the reader what the basic story is about however it keeps
that sense of mysteriousness which draws the audience further in
to discover more about this series. The idea of the sequence w as
not to give the whole storyline aw and doesn’t show many
ay
characters so that the audience w ant to watch further and feel
they need to w atch the episodes to find out. However this
approach gives us a wider range of ideas for the storyline, for
example relating to the well-known series ‘Dexter’ which shows
the same sequence every episode but keeps it non-story based and
just hints at the personalities and the genre of the series, meaning
this sequence can be used throughout every episode.


Quality of Final Product
The weaknesses in this product would ha to be the locations for the sequence,
ve
the footage is quite varied as it displays some large, more modern buildings than
footage such as the old camera’s, however this couldn’t be a voided so we tried
to make the buildings as dated as possible using v arious effects, the found
footage and taken footage were very different but manipulated to be very
similar.
The final production finished quite close to our original idea, some idea’s had to
be changed such as the futuristic idea, set in 2087. We thought about this and how
we could possibly make this sequence look futuristic with the items we had,
instead we decided to change the date to the past and tell the story as if this is
what would’ve happened if clones were coming to fashion in the 90’s. Everything
else w close to our original idea in terms of the storyline and the characters;
as
costumes were simple and did not affect any of the year preferences.


CONCLUSION

Overall I am proud of my final project and I feel it kept
on the original guidelines of producing a sustainable
television series with a Sci-Fi/Fantasy drama. The
organisation went well in terms of recording however
our time management needed to be improved, the final
sequence w rushed as we didn’t plan our time
as
accordingly, lea ving a vital part of our project
rushed and sloppy.
However i feel this is one of my most successful
projects yet and met the criteria set by our tutor,
regarding pre-production and the final product


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