blog #11-reflection

1) With this first project in our class, we made a wiki page. As far as the final is concerned, I didn't really incorporate anything I learned from that project into this final. Again, with the PSA, I don't believe any of that newly learned information had anything to do with our final project. However, the remix helped tremendously. After learning all about mash up and remixes, I instantly started getting interested in that kind of music (such as Girl Talk and Pretty Lights), and now I love it. I think after hearing and being influenced by this new medium, I have a different perspective on music. After all, a famous musician once said, "a mind that is stretched to a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions." I agree completely and continue to say that I have a different perspective on the music I listen to, and how I interpret it. In addition, after taking this class as a whole, I feel more experienced in the world of media, and my part in it. Being the first semester of taking classes that actually pertained to my major was a fantastic journey. I learned such an incredible amount, and am so fascinated with the music and film scene. I look at movies differently now (instead of just viewing them, I relate and react to certain camera angles, and the lighting they use). With this new outlook on media as a whole, my final project's work shows that. For the final, our group decided to make a press kit for a newly emerging band called "The Formless." My specific job of the project was to create flyers, and help Robby shoot two live performances of the band. The flyers were difficult, but I managed to use photoshop and create some pretty cool pictures together, using images I thought the band would like. With this new attention to filming detail, I filmed this band with the most creativity possible. I captured some footage such as one member banging his head, another one with his guitar above his head, another one's fingers rhythmically strumming his instrument, and every close up and mid shot in between. I think that since the beginning of this class and semester, I have a different outlook on film(ing) thus, filmed a much cleaner and artistic video.

2) In the future, I could see myself with this exact job. I had an absolute blast filming this band. I wouldn't mind doing something in the music industry, maybe becoming a producer of some sort. While filming, I realized during some of the shots I was getting, I would say in my head, "wow, that's going to look really cool," or "wow, that was a good shot." I think I really have taken some sort of shape into a music producer or at least have an ear and eye for it. I recognized what shots were crucial, and which ones were garbage, and I worked in final cut pro this semester, learning to edit, so now I have a decent understanding on how to turn that filming into an actual video that I'm proud of. I'm going to continue to learn about camera's and final cut pro, in case this ever turns into something I seriously consider as a profession, I'll know exactly what I'm doing.

THREE PROMPTS
1) This project has showcased my growth as a media maker ten fold. I think since this final, I have an even deeper understanding of what it means to achieve high quality footage while filming, and recognize what is going to look good versus bad in a film while editing. This project challenged me a bit at first with the flyers. I didn't think I had the creativity to represent the band with a flyer I would create. Then, I started to really listen to their music and get into it. After I felt that I knew the music better, I met the band, filmed them, and saw who they were as people. From that point, I really put all my energy into finding images that represent their music and passion, and I believe I did. Robby was happy with the final two flyers we ended up using, and I was too, for I feel I did a superb job of recreating their image with a newer look. My proudest moment was with the filming I did of the band. I used filming technique I learned in class and adapted my own ideas, from what I thought would look cool, and compiled a pretty good amount of material. I wish I could keep filming music, though I probably will.

2) I'm not sure if I can locate the argument here. Maybe just the fact that we can take any person or band, use our creative skills, ideas and editing techniques, and turn their music into a well designed press kit that could put them on the map. We incorporated live footage, songs, flyers, a website and tee shirts to help these musicians get bigger audiences and more recognition that they deserve. We're their middle man almost, their messengers that can allow a larger amount of people to know about their music. I think the argument is that we can help people better themselves by working together, and using media to create. Our project is significant because it's unique. I had never filmed a band before this project. I had also never created flyers. I think our project is special because while I got to learn about all these new applications and mediums, I also got to help a band with their uprising. I also became heavily interested in this field. Therefore, I believe I helped a group while learning something new that I now enjoy.

3) This project couldn't be more interactive if it tried. We met the band, listened to their music, went to their shows, promoted their music, filmed their live sets, and communicated with them on everything (in terms of what flyers they liked the most, how they wanted to be filmed, and even how the website should look). Overall, we did everything we could to interact with these guys and help them, so they can interact with their audience. It's suited for interactive media production because we did just that. We used the power of media production to help introduce a band that will be interacting with their fan-base as they continue to grow in popularity. We hope that the audience will watch our video and enjoy it so much that they start listening to this band. In terms of the band, I hope their popularity continues to rise, which will lead to them interacting with a lot more people.

Entering a video project in various festivals

After you've completed making your movie, you're probably going to be a pretty happy camper knowing that you got it done. However, what happens if you want to go further with your project? Let's say you want to enter your video into a festival so a bigger amount of people can watch it. How do you necessarily go about entering your movie into any various festival? Step one is to look into festivals around the area you live. If you find a festival close, there's a better chance that the festival will allow you to enter your project, being a local. Go online, find and fill out the necessary submission for the specific festival you wish to enter. You then send that submission, along with your film to that festival. Usually, there is a due date, so you want to fill out these submissions right away.

Your next step, once you found your festival, is to look at that specific festival's requirements for entry, for some requirements are rather precise, that one needs to follow to a t. Your next step is to pay the required amount; festivals always have some form of required payment in order to submit your film. Some festivals cost anywhere from 25-50 dollars to submit your film. This cost is smart to add into your film budget, because 99 percent of the time, festivals will cost you money. Usually, there are parties you can attend as a filmmaker, meet other filmmakers, and promote your film. These parties are a great idea, and are completely free-which is the best and easiest way to promote. Finally, you may to edit down some material, as most festivals have a length requirement on videos. If your film doesn't get awarded first time around, don't get discouraged. Keep submitting to festivals and eventually, someone will like your stuff!

Festival Packaging

When putting together a festival package, the purpose you're trying to accomplish is to introduce an expert or band to some form of media. Festival packaging is important because it informs media (such as record labels or film festivals) what good emerging people are hitting the scene. It's an important element in today's world, because with the extreme amount of emerging artists/film makers/music directors, the package contains necessary tools that gives record labels or film festivals all the components they need to determine if they enjoy the artist. With sending that package in, it looks professional, and gives yourself a name if you present it in a stand-out fashion.

Contained in a press kit will be necessary information to the media form you're intending. A press kit will contain historical background information about the company or individual. It will also include fact sheets that includes statistics or features about the individual or group. In addition, a good package will contain biographies about the individual(s) with any coverage that the group had previous gotten (if any). Also, it's good to include pictures of the work (such as artists playing music, or film makers in the act creating film). A necessity is a DVD about the group or individual (such as a music video for a band, or a film for a director/producer). All in all, if put together well, the package is one of the most important elements an individual or company can use in today's ever growing world.

Blog #10-Final Project

Our final project, as talked about in class, is to make a press kit for an upcoming band "The Formless". Included in the press kit will be windshield flyers (which i've created), a few songs on a cd (which Robby is putting together), a music video (which we're creating together) a few t shirts, and a url for a website that Magen's creating. In terms of revisions, we all have our specific areas that we're working on, and I plan to focus on my flyers. For those revisions, I'm going to mess around with the script and text. To be honest, I really like the visuals I created; I think the pictures themselves are really cool, and I also believe the band will enjoy it as well, for the visuals are similar to their "style" as a group. However, with the text, I can change font, areas the text is located, and maybe even the color of the font. I know as a whole group, we're going to revise the music video. It's not yet completed, but I know Robby has a vision of how he wants to do it, so I may just be a second pair of eyes for him, in case I see anything apparent that needs editing. I know we have to continue working on the website, and the music video, however, we already have the songs we're going to use and the flyers are close to done. I'm currently reviewing a few of the workshop sheets I received from others in our class, and their feedback is limited. Most of the feedback just says, "I think that making a pr kit is a great idea" and "video is good nice and clear. Audio is nice" which of course is nice to hear, but there's not a lot of feedback to improve on. However, that's ok, because we as a group already know what we need to do to improve and finalize our project. I don't think we need any help in completing our revisions because Robby definitely has this vision for how this press kit is going to look, and with his professional insight, the project will get completed with a fine attention to detail and from a perfectionist's stand point. It's going to look really good when it's completed and I'm excited to present it to the world.

Licensing Music for Documentaries

When making a a film (or more specifically a documentary), many steps have to be taken in order to ensure that you're not doing anything illegal. One important aspect of documentaries is music, and as we may know, music is an important element when creating a film. However, one can't just take pre recorded music and put it in their film, as simple as that. There are a few things you must do first in order to obtain the rights to that music. You need to obtain two different licenses before you use someone else's music in your film. The first license you need to get is a "Synchronization License" (ascap.com). This license allows you to synchronize the music you wish to obtain with the visual images that you're creating in your film. You can usually obtain this license from the copyright owner of the music, who is usually the publisher. The other license that's important to get is the "Master Use License, which is the right to reproduce a specific recording of a song in your film" (ascap.com). The way you get this license is strictly through the record label that owns that specific recording that you would like to use in your film.

Usually, when making these calls to obtain licensing for music, there are a few things you want to include when requesting specific music. It's important to include the plot of the film and the budget for it as well. You'll always want to discuss when you'll be using the music, (what times in the film), how much of the song you'll play and how many times you'll use that piece of music in the whole film. Also include the intended audience for your film. For example, is it going to be a student film viewing with limited people seeing it, or is it getting entered into a film festival? Obviously, the more people that see it, the higher the fee will be to use the music. It's important to negotiate how much the fee will rise if the film becomes shown at bigger venues. It's very important to obtain these rights from the publishers and record labels, because otherwise, you could be sued by these people without using their consent.

Documentary Sound

When filming a documentary, there are many different techniques to use. One important aspect of documentary film is the sound. Of course, it would make sense that we need sound in everything we do (film wise), whether that be Hollywood cinema, documentary film, simple youtube posts, etc. In documentary film, we deal with many different types of sounds. One specific type of sound is voice overs. They are an important element of documentaries, because in between music and interviews, verbal sound should be presented, to sound more professional. With almost all documentaries, shots are taken of the area the presenters are covering and discussing. Usually, while covering that (literal) ground, voice over technique works really well in describing the area, so the audience is on the same page the presenters are as well. Another important aspect of documentary sound is the music. Unless you have written consent, it is illegal to present recorded mainstream music in a documentary. Therefore, usually the music shown is created by someone working on the project. Someone who is maybe playing random chords on piano or guitar works well, and it's created then and there for the intended use of the documentary. Another important aspect is the sound from the interview. That should be the most pristine sound quality possible, because the interview is one of the most important essentials to a documentary. Without audible interviews, the documentary is pointless.

An interesting thought is that documentary sound is different than cinematic sound. With cinematic sound, Hollywood for example, the sound is absolutely perfect. An example could be a song in the movie "The Hangover" When Stu (a lead character in the movie) sings a little one minute song, it sounds beyond perfect. The sound quality was unmatchable. However, later hearing his song on the Tonight Show and Ed Sullivan show, the sound quality was much worse, and at times, even hard to understand. I learned that Hollywood sound shoots for perfection. However, documentaries are much different. Sound isn't meant to be absolutely perfect and probably couldn't be if it tried. The reason is because the documentary is real. In the documentary world, locations are just locations, people stutter and say "um" and lighting might be difficult. With people sometimes being hard to even understand and location terrain being unpredictable, sound is a rather unstable element for a documentary. Cinematographers and editors will do the best they can with sound, but most of the time, they wont get close to as clear as Hollywood, because their movie is real. It deals with real people and locations and ideas; of course sound will be unclear at times.

B Roll

B Roll is a term used in film to describe the section of the film that wasn't necessary to the actual footage. B roll is additional footage that is worked into the main footage of a documentary or interview. An "A" deck refers to the tape containing the meat of the information, such the interviews and important material, whereas the B deck contains additional information such as possible interview commentary, questions or certain descriptions from the person that is being interviewed. B Roll can help to make your documentary stronger, with additional information you wouldn't have had otherwise.

B roll is often played around with by editors, to help improve the documentary. Often times, you will hear actors and actresses say "uh", cough, stutter or do along those lines. B Roll helps to find these imperfections, and eliminates them from the A Roll, and from being heard on the final version of the documentary. B Roll was adopted with the first linear based editing before non linear editing became widely used. The additional B Roll is used in documentaries and fiction for different purposes. It's used in documentaries to additional commentary, questions and anything that can interwork in the main purpose of the film. It's occasionally used in fiction to show flashbacks.