Thursday, November 30, 2017

Director: Structure of Video

General basic structure of video

  1. Island School Perspectives
  2. Title Sequence
  3. Voice-over with B-Roll
  4. Games B-roll
  5. Photos of causes
  6. Interviews
  7. Voice-over with B-roll
  8. Infographic - Graphs
  9. Voice-over B-roll
  10. Ending Sequence

Script
  1. Intro
  2. Health before and after technology
  3. 1980 Atari Space Invaders
  4. Current situation of lack of health due to technology in society
  5. Interviews
  6. Statistics
  7. Actions

Technology plays a crucial role in today’s society. It has proven beneficial in many ways, such as helping humans become a more advanced species. Despite this, our generation, from little kids to young adults, own a personal device, with many of us being addicted to it. In this documentary, we will look at how has the introduction of technology affected our exercise and health.

Prior the introduction of technology, children of the younger generation were forced to leave the comfort of their homes in search of entertainment, where they would often go outside with friends to indulge in physical activities such as sports and other games. As an easier alternative to fun was introduced in 1980, when the Atari was made by Nolan Bushnell, children were able to find entertainment from the comfort of their homes, encouraging laziness and causing a decline in exercise. 

Technology addiction is characterized by “excessive or poorly controlled preoccupations, urges or behaviors regarding computer use and internet access that lead to impairment or distress.” This can be due to the overuse of smartphones and laptops, which is the case with many students and young adults. Being addicted to these devices takes away time for sports and physical activity and could lead to health problems. Using too much technology can lead to bad eyesight, back and neck pain, sleeping problems, hear loss, etc. To get a real perspective of the reasons, we went to talk to a fitness coach.

*insert clips from interview*

We also went to Beacon Hill to educate and gather some opinion from Year 4 students. Everyone agreed with the idea of no technology day. One of the reasons why some year 4 wanted a day with no technology is because their older siblings ignore them and just want to go on their gadgets. The students remarkably do sports 3 times a week. They also don’t have their own personal smartphone, so they go on their parents' phone. The parents do tell students not to look on the phone as often due to eye injuries.

According to the survey we conducted, a shocking 78.6% of Island School students spend over 3 hours of their day using technology. With 35.7% of them spending over 4 hours using a technology device. Although a large proportion of students also plays at least 3 hours of sports a week, the interquartile is much wider, meaning there are more students also not doing as much as sports as others.

*insert infographic*

Finally, we have a solution to raise awareness of this issue. We propose a No Technology Day. Without our personal devices in school, it forces us to do something active or socialize and meet new friends. It also motivates us to go out and play sports, as even going on a walk counts as doing exercise.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Director: Outcome #1 - BHS

On the 3rd of November, my group and I presented in Beacon Hill School to kids ranging from year 3 to year 4. We presented to them what it's like in high school having the freedom to use our personal technology devices and we asked that what do they think about it. Some students liked the idea of no technology day as they said if they did it at home too it would influence their siblings to actually talk and play with them.

Doing the presentation helped us get an understanding of what younger kids think about technology and their siblings using it too often.

Presentation:



Script:
Slide 3:
The very first successful video game console was made by a arcade game company, Atari in 1980. It was the Atari 2600 home console which had a golden hit game called space invaders. Many consumers bought an Atari console so they could play Space Invaders at home.

Slide 4:
Our eyes will thank you the most. Most eyes will start to become nearsighted due to blue light that comes off computer screens. This same blue light will also make you not eager to sleep or will make you not sleep well. Also, our muscles will hurt.

Slide 5:
  • Organize some sports over the weekends with friends
  • Get involved in extracurricular activities
  • Take the stairs instead of the lift so you can have more exercise
  • Set an alarm if you are on technology or tell somebody to remind you to go out and take a short break to rest your eyes, while in that break you can take a short walk or take a jog or do something active and not just sit there and close your eyes because that counts as being not active
  • Play with your pets (if you have a pet) because that might keep you distracted from using your mobile/ electronic device
  • Do chores, that can help distract you for a while of not using your electronic devices

Slide 6:
  • Without our personal devices in school it forces us to do something active or socialise and meet new friends
  • Motivates us to go out and play sports (Even going on a walk counts as doing exercise)
  • We should go outside and feel the nature. Research shows that by looking at trees, we can reduce our stress level. We will sleep well and therefore will grow taller
  • Exercising and feeling the nature also helps with your creativity and focus, so all of you will give your teachers the best creative work and focus

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Director: Style and Genre

http://diydoco.nfsadl.com/style.htm

Types of Genres/ Themes

Genre

Genre is groups of films that use similar conventions
Documentary Convention = Styles of interviews, different narration and voice-over, different shooting techniques, achievable materials

Styles and Genre

  1. Observations
  2. Propaganda and Advocacy
  3. Personal Journey
  4. Using Archive
  5. Using Drama
  6. Social Issue
  7. Using Comedy
  8. Doco Essay

Observations
Fly on the wall

  • Location Shooting which uses hand-held camera
  • Direct sound recording
  • No voiceover - Using its original clip
  • No interviews
  • Director - Documentary maker = presence is hidden
  • Actors and subjects present they’re not being filmed

Example Documentary:
Saturday



Rats in the rank

0:09 - Set up the story with series of shots (places around the town inside the building)
0:40 - Text is used to show details of the story and background of the story
1:00 - Introducing the main characters by a phone call - Showing what happens inside
2:42 - Tension is built with two characters interrupting each other - arguing


Propaganda + Advocacy
  • Explicit purpose of influencing an audience to a particular point of view
  • Only shows one side of the story
  • Often commissioned by organizations to get their message across


Menace 
0:01 - Talks about good things about the country or place - Using shots of the place and people
0:36 - Narrator using positive stereotypes - Lots of smiling people shots

2:00 - Stereotypical negative insults - helps make narrators point


Personal Journey
  • About individual or group of people
  • Biographical or autobiographical story
  • Often features a specific event or an aspect of their life
  • May use archival footage and interviews with those who knew the subject


Using Archive
  • Story is developed through use of still photos, documents and footage from television, newsreel, and fictional films
  • Most of the material already exists
  • Music and sound used to set the atmosphere
  • Use of interviews and voiceover narration


Using Drama
  • Actors, sets, and props to recreate historical events 
  • Based on eyewitness accounts, historical evidence, transcripts, or even hearsay
  • Used when actual footage of the event is hard to find, expensive to use or simply doesn't exist
  • Critics debate the extent to which this blurs the boundaries of fact and fiction


Social Issue
  • Focuses on issues that are important within a local or global community
  • Filmmakers who are passionate about an issue believe their documentary could be a powerful tool to influence change


Using Comedy
  • Filmmaker makes their point using humor
  • They do this by using surprising characters, unusual locations, parodying other styles of documentary, or by using satire - often use humor to convey a serious message


Documentary Essay
  • Stylised film representing a filmmaker's strong point of view on an issue, problem, or argument
  • Presents a thesis, informs audience by putting forward developed arguments
  • Forms these arguments by research into a wide range of source material
  • Filmmaker may use narration or even be an active participant


Codes and Conventions
Voiceover
Voiceover usually must be clear, confident, and authoritative. Doing this will encourage the audience to listen and think about the video.


The style my group and I used was Documentary Essay and Social Issue. We thought that this was the best style for us to use and follow as we were trying to inform the viewers the social issue which was How has the introduction of technology affected our exercise and health?. We wanted to also pitch in some outcomes so others, the viewers can join in too which was a no technology day.

Sunday, October 8, 2017

Director: Video Project Monitoring

Group Project Monitoring

We used a google doc to track our progress every week.

Director: Group Project Plan

Plan



Advanced Editor: Visual Effects

Advanced Editor: Improving Video

Colour Correction


Colour correction is changing and altering shades, hues, channels, the contrast and the amount of colours to improve the quality of the video and image.
Many editors use it to add contrast to the highlights and shadows and mid-tones. Doing this helps make the video and image more vibrant and richer in colour - saturated. It can also be used to correct white balance and match the videos while editing that are taken in different angles by different cameras.