'Planet 51'

Took a small break away from PRP essay and went to the cinema - watched Planet 51

(accessed on 11 Dec 2009, http://www.impawards.com/2009/posters/planet_fifty_one.jpg)

And even when I was having a break, I could not get away from work!

I think product placement is something I have read soo much about in the past 3 months, I can't help but look for them in movies - it kind of ruined my life.

Even in a kids movie, I saw the typical American astronaut eat a Twix bar on a different planet; hippie aliens drove round in a hover Volkswagen, and our astronaut verbally mentioned facebook.

Commercials are creeping into our daily lives and you just don't know how much of it is out there - has it always been like this or have I just started noticing?

Scary.

'Branded Entertainment'

Another book done - ' Branded Entertainment - Product Placement and Brand Strategy in the Entertainment Business' by Jean-Marc Lehu

This book was very helpful - if gave me a brief outline on the origins and reasons for product placement (basically narrowed it down to source of finance) and its advantages. Eventually moving onto the adapting to a new world with PVR and tv online.

It has given me a very clear perspective of how and why it works.

On the other hand - I'm now past half way with the PRP paper I am writing. It is taking time, and a lot of loose end tidying. Currently under the description of proposed practice.

I believe that as long as I know my stuff good enough I will be just fine..so I'm going to keep reading now..

'The future of advertising' - Joe Cappo

i've just finished a booked titled 'The future of advertising' by Joe Cappo.

Overall, I found this book an enjoyable read (not to say I should never enjoy doing serious work) - it worked chronologically and had all the basic details about advertising tied in. I would say it is a recommended read for a newbie like myself.

The first couple of chapters were mainly about the history of advertising and how it has always been around and the earlier years of the industry. That gave me a crash course in the area of which before now I had no idea about.

The middle chapters were all about technology and its development - how the industry was going to keep up. It gave examples of how different companies (of different fields) have walked away from their re-invention made adaptable to new media successfully or just plunged straight to rock bottom.

The middle section also began to offer insights as to how advertising on television is no longer the main source, how prime time is no longer prime time and worst of all, how ad-zapping has been made available in the past decade and how this has affected the industry itself.

The end chapters were mainly about the future of advertising (as promised by the title) - the reinvention of new media and the way we communicate.

Overall, a good read and very useful in filling in gaps.

simulated client project - wrap!

ok, after a brief feedback session, it was agreed that minor changes should be made -
so here is the revised version.

20 Second advert...final

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJugfg5tW4U

20 Second advert...final

the Hive - 'Enterprise Extravaganza'

I had a very productive day in the talk series the Hive at Nottingham Trent University held.

Mike Southon, the die-hard Beatle fan (more commonly know as the Beermat enterpreneur), gave an inspiring speech in entrepreneurship. He changed my views on how to run a business yourself, like totally.

Alongside many other simple bits of truth such as be local and be reliable, he stressed that if you are good at a few things, pick one and stick with it - there is never any point in trying to do everything yourself.

The other group we had was BassToneSlap - very loud performance indeed. Definitely demonstrated how thinking outside of the box is often just what we need.

Research - phrase II

After much considerations here are the outlines of what I will be discussing in my paper

1/ establishing different ways of marketing within the audiovisual industry and how they work.

2/ the current issues and era we're in - e.g. advance of technology development, such as mobile tv, iphones and TiVo(sky+ boxes) etc...hence

3/ how and why they are developing and what effects they have on the industry looking esp into product placement (new ways developed?)

4/ moral grounds of advertising - upfront vs subversive vs sumbliminal - ethical?

5/ where will advertising go in the future within the industry - will product placement grown or die out? How and why.

the research is still on-going and still I'm reading more papers.

The latest additions are
'An Explorative Study of Testing the Effectiveness of Product Placement Compared to 30-Second Commercials' by Kristin Blonde and Irene Roozen, Vlekho-Business School Belgium

'Moviegoers' Response to Product Placement: A Mise-En-Scene Analysis' by Marco Nappolini and Chris Hackley, Royal Holloway University of London.

'Product Placement - A consultation on issues related to product placement' - Published by Ofcom

Too much reading is still never enough!

the aftermath - 20sec ad campaign

The shoot was sucessful and went really well - It look less time than expected (which was good) and everything went very smoothly, mainly due to a considerable amount of work being put into pre-production planning.

Every shot was thought out and planned out prior to the shoot which therefore now means that apart from ading visual effects and tidying up footage (which just takes time) there aren't many uncertainties in regards to the work.

20 second ad shoot

whens you dolmio day? today is the day!

after weeks (I say weeks, it's been just over a month) of planning and pre-production, I will now put all my hard work into action.

Checklisting items, I have all the props and paperwork (mug-shot height chart, laptops, spare cds, risk assessment, talent and location release, story board and a shooting log).

I will be having Jack Boyles and Danny Peachy on board to help with my filming.

Production stills will follow.

pirates in piracy ad

I was helping out with Jason Bickers' shoot yesterday, we had a good laugh but it certainly reminded me of why pre-production is so important.

the first scene was of the character walking down a hallway - being a halway, it wasn't very well lit. It was obvious that little considerations went into lighting design as I was running around trying to see where the lights could go would fit in with the scene.

I ended up having to put a light on the mid-levels of the stiars.

All in all it worked out really well and was very enjoyable. We all had a good laugh, what with all the pirate costumes and that.

Client Project - Simulated

Digital Piracy - what makes us think it's right?

it is weird to see how the world had adopted the idea of digital piracy so well -

Piracy first took off in the early 70s when cassettes became popular and people would copy tapes for their friends (Jewkes, 2006). Over the years, as internet development advanced, piracy had been spreading like wildfire and eventually spiralled out of control. Isn’t there something we can do to stop this once and for all?

In this project I will be producing a 20 second advert for broadcast on television - it will provide information on why it is illegal to share and distribute digital material without consent from the copyright owner.

Below is the storyboard - how i intend to spread the 20 seconds.

Im now in the process of casting - location is not such a big worry to me as I require different bedrooms and already have a vague idea which bedrooms I will be using - just to type up the risk assessments now

Product Placement Papers I

Evolving Views on Product Placement Effectiveness -
James A.Karrh, Kathy Brittain McKee, Carol J. Pardun

"What was once a sporadic barter arrangement for lowering film and television production costs is now a vehicle for multimillion-dollar integrated promotional campaigns. In the near future, product placement will likely become an important revenue source for broadcast television networks" (Schneider, 2002)

Questions raised in the paper includes 'Have practitioners changed their views concerning product placement?'

They began by explaining the product placement industry, stating that it is a 'paid, strategic marketing tool, began to receive greater attention...during the 1980s following the E.T. placement success'

They also began to view a trend whereby more recent product placements are relatively much larger than previously had been and the marketers are now moving in a much bolder manner looking for new ways to advertise within feature films.

It is also discussed that due to the mass injection of fund, it is no suprise that sponsor companies has, to an extent, a bigger control over the context/content in which their brand is presented - and because the producers and the marketers aims at different goals there are times whereby the marketers does not get what they want as final outcome of the feature always rest with the editor.
Audiences are also becoming increasingly aware of the blur between the informing and persuading aspects of mass media.

Surveys are also included as part of the study, results shows that 'practitioners are more confident about the future growth of placement...however, still maintain some reservation'

It is suggested by brand placement researchers that 'Practitioners...would be wise to commit quickly to research programs designed to explore, describe, and explain the relationships among brand prop exposure, audience reactions and interpretations, movieviewing contexts, and brand placement practices"
(DeLorme and Reid, 1999, P87)

They have also made predictions as to how product placement could (and sort of already has as this paper was written in 2003) take us in the future -

"In a near-future world of more interactive TV, the time lag between brand exposure and purchase opportunity could shrink to nearly zero; viewers will likely be able to 'point, click, and get more data on a product or purchasing clothing, housewares, or even a vacation right off the show'" (Ebenkamp, 2001)

PRP supporting research

For the personal research project I have been preparing myself prior to term start.

A list of all the papers I got -

Practitioners' Evolving Views on Prodcut Placement Effectiveness
by James A. Karrh(University of Arkansas at Little Rock), Kathy Brittain McKee (Berry College) and Carol J.Pardun (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

You Oughta Be In pictures: Product Placements in the Top-Grossing Films of 1991
Barry S. Sapolsky and Lance Kinney, Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida

Consumer reactions to product placement strategies in television sponsorship
Alain d'Astous and Nathalie Séguin, École des HEC, Montreal, Canada

Exploring Children's Choice: The Reminder Effect Of Product Placement
Susan Auty and Charlie Lewis, Lancaster University

How the Media is a Significant Promotional Tool to Deliver Marketing Messages to Audiences
Yoon C.Cho (KDI School of Public Policy And Management, South Korea), Jerome Agrusa (Hawaii Pacific University)

Beyond the Map: Issues in teh Design of a Virtual 3D Knowledge Space for Aboriginal Knowledge
Malcolm Pumpa, Australian CRC for Interaction Design (ACID), Queensland University of Technology, Australia

I hope to do an individual review on each paper to aid ease of access.

PRP - Personal Research Project

Phrase 1 - determinating the right question.

Since the end of my second year I have been considering what questions I would like to investigate.

Initially, this was going to be ' The relationshp between fashion and cinema', in the sense that they influence each other greatly and time over time certain styles have been brought back due to the movies' release. However, it soon became apparent that this was too vague but specific, and would mean I leave myself little space to futher expand on the question.

I then decided if I go the next level up and take it to the world of commerce vs cinema I may have a better chance of writing an interesting paper.

The keyword at the minute is product placement - I would like to investigate the consumerism and how it is affected by product placement within cinema and general broadcast on television.

A few of the relevant questions I have thought (that I think will greatly contribute towards the findings) are as follow...

1/ How cinema can affect ones way of thinking (control and change your state of mind) - e.g. propaganda and how its achieved

2/ The link between commercializing cinema and advertising, briefly investigating the history of propaganda and how it is linked subconsciously product placements' sucess)

3/ what is product placement and its come-about

4/ its development in the past decade(s)

5/ what are the general publics views on product placement? have they gotten used to it? do they feel like they're beign forced into it?

6/ has product placement lowered our standards on movies as it has been made so commercial? It is such an easy way to gain extra budget for movie production, has it changed the way movies and broadcasts are made and produced?

7/ different governments legislations (England Vs the States) why and how. Why the sudden change in legislation in the UK and how US went passed the legislation previously

8/ where will product placement take us next? couple of decades ago product placement was non-existent and now the government is boardering legalizing it, whats next?

9/ the general publics views on cinema, product placement and its pros and cons, also including statistics as to how influencial they think product placement in the cinema is. Effects on the community.

PhoenixPlus

Previously I had proposed to make my client project a video for a previous(current) employee of mine - PhoenixPlus

This time round, PhoenixPlus has got MC Jin, the first Asian American solo rapper to be signed to a major record label Ruff Ryders.

His visit was suppose to begin on the 13th Oct and I will be in charge of producing a video of the tour, from day 1 of him getting off the plane until he leaves.
Previously I was working with my client to produce promotional videos of the event.

However, as implications developed at the immigration, Jin was not allowed into the country and we were left with the supporting act Stevie Hoang to run the show.

Frankly it worked out rather well - he took the stage and all the girls heart - the task I'm left with now is editing a decent promotional video for PhoenixPlus out of footage on only one camera.

The war will begin soon enough, it has to -PhoenixPlus has another party coming up at the beginning of November!

wrapped up nice and pretty

Today calls for celebration - wrapping up close to 5 months worth of hard work.

Binding the evaluation, builing the dvd I had authored....seeing it all come together is definitely worth it.

Adobe Encore

prop

is probably one of the worst programmes I've ever used!

I kept getting error messages and just as I thought I'm all sorted

it won't build the dvd properly.

I have been stuck at the following screen for at least 10 times now..and still stuck.
no matter how many times i close it and try to change something and then start it again, it just does the same!

oh my...so close to the finishing...yet so far :(

chicken a la carte

this is a short film i stumbled across whilst surfing.

http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte

"This film is about the hunger and poverty brought about by Globalization. There are 10,000 people dying everyday due to hunger and malnutrition. This short film shows a forgotten portion of the society. The people who live on the refuse of men to survive. What is inspiring is the hope and spirituality that never left this people."
(direct quote from http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte)

I have never seen a short that has touched me in such a way - the way it has been portrayed etc. though I would say the only downfall is the sound, its a bit rubbish. But other than that, sincerely love it.

neave.com

interactivity - ultimately the question is how do we get the audience and the user to participate, therefore affecting the end result.

I found my answer, well, a very good example of the answers.

http://www.neave.com/

On this site, we have old school arcade games, and many applications involving the mic input. Playing music and seeing some pretty balls bounce up and down on your screen, blowing a dandelion with your mic, drawing in 3-d so we can find some constructive use for our lying around 3-d glasses...

When I first found this website, I felt like a kid in a playground once more, every link was a suprise and every suprise made me realise how much possibilities are left out there still.


I'm such a happy kid now.

BCS public relations / IUFT

After numerous redrafting and polishing, we're reached the 4th edit and hopefully the final edit.


I think this experience has been none the interesting as it has given me the opportunity to see for myself how things like such are done in the real world, working with a company as a actual client.

-----------------------------------------------

On the other hand, I had been speaking to the event manager of the International Ukranian Football Tournament I landed for the 17th-24th May 2009. This tournament will involve an opening and closing ceremony, with two matches each day kicking off at 6pm and 8pm. The semi-final will take place on the 23rd thus leading to the finals on the 24th. All expenses are covered and we're even getting paid (though not very much) and having a ticket going to the grand ball at the end with silver services!

I have never filmed a football tournament before and haven't been the biggest fan of football - but this will be such a golden opportunity for me to pick up another area of skill. I am very much looking forward to working on this project and working with my team again - Jack and Danny, but this time, we also have Ryan Boyle. Though I must point out, I am slightly worried by the fact that my deadline is smack in the middle of the proposed week - I'll just have to work twice as hard.

BCS Public Relations x Clippasafe

this is the first draft of the video shot for BCS Public Relations' client Clippasafe. Having just had the meeting with BCS they had informed me of changes they would like to see (client feedback session) and now we're in the process of completing the second edit.
thanks danny n jack :)

alas, shattered!

finally, the glass has been shattered.

It was a weird day, I had to have 3 cameras on set filming at different height.



at least it is all over now, I can finally edit with all the footage!

colour grading

After having found the Active Ingredient video (and watching all the way through even the credits), I suddenly realised in the past I have never known anything about colour grading. Scary thought to be honest, to think it is such an essential part in the world of cinema and I had never given it any thoughts.

I started reading up on it. I knew what color grading is, but not in details.

This is what color grading is:

• Reproduce accurately what was shot
• Compensate for variations in the material (i.e. film errors, white balance, varying lighting conditions)
• Optimize transfer for use of special effects
• Establish a desired 'look'
• Enhance and/or alter the mood of a scene — the visual equivalent to the musical accompaniment of a film.

(sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_grading, accessed 4th Apr 09)

Processes such as primary and secondary color grading, masks, mattes and Power Windows alongside motion tracking are all part of what is needed to achieve colour enhancement.

Very educating indeed. Learn something new everyday.

extras bits

I've always been a great believer in practice and opportunities.

Time to do a little review.

Towards the beginning of the term, I took part in filming for the Radiator Festival - that has certainly allowed me to gain further insights into the digital arts industry.

--------------------------

I then moved on to organising a shoot for a company named BCS who were based in Nottingham - initially they wanted somebody to go down to Bristol and film a 'promotional' video, looking to give potential clients confidence through the viewing of the video - in which we would interview existing clients.
However, the dates did not work out and that sort of blew over :S

----------------------------

Couple of weeks later, I find myself helping my lecturers run a buddying scheme for New College Nottingham.
These 'kids' signed up for a crash course in how to do Multimedia and were to produce a project by the end of the 4 3hours sessions we had. They were taught the desgin process and how a typical multimedia practitioner would go through with ideas developments. They also learnt how to do script writing, project management, photoshoping and best park of all, film editing.

Through teaching and helping them, I found myself learning things by teaching them. It was suprising not only did I enjoy it, I also walked away benefitting, from explaining to them concepts I had been taught and thought I understood.

-------------------------

Soon after that, I was put in touch with local digital media company Active Ingredient to 'act'. Not so much acting, more like pretending to get on a bus and commute to 'work'. I had to get on buses for one stop just to get off at the next stop. It made me understand how hard it is for actors to have to keep repeating what they do so many time. Sure made me realise why communication skills are so essential within the industry.
For those who has vimeo, this is the video - http://vimeo.com/3816484

--------------------------

I then had the luck to once again film for BCS public relations. We had a little trouble regarding the kit but soon after it was sorted me and my crew was on our way. Filming footage for a 'demo' of a product by now is relatively easy. With more than enough material and a simplistic video the client looks for, we now just have to go and draft up the first edit.

Overall, it's been a very productive term, I think.

pilot

40 seconds pilot

all is good, give all the documents a good old wrap and all should be well, ready for hand in on Friday.

"The Number 23"

the title sequence of "the Number 23" has got me thinking about my title sequence - on a much more sophisticated level.

the title sequence was based on sort of 'parchment' paper, with a typewriter font. The feel is eerie, bloody splash seeping through. The jumpiness makes audience feels unsteady and almost uneasy. The number 23 and its association of historical dates of tragedies has been clearly explained through title sequence - without a single spoken word. The music starts slow but gradually the pace picks up and gets stronger, suggesting the pace of the film itself wil start slow but things will get more and more intense too.

I then started thinking about my opening (and closing) sequence.

main menu scene would be the speckles of broken glass hitting surface and resting.
different shards of glass will then be a different 'clickable' menu.
upon clicking the link to view the movie,
(and here comes the opening sequence)
Blank screen - the word 'Shattered' fades on, followed by the definition of the word.
We then see the glass rose in freefall and freezes - we see the two characters sat at either end of the dining table. (first shot)

"shattered" - how to? part II

There is the trying to stick bits of already shattered glass into a glass rose look-alike...that sort of failed badly - for one, none of me or my mates are art sculturing students (in fact we're all audiovisual geeks)...and for two, it was(and still is...and will always be) a hard shape to mock. With the various layers of 'crystal' and the complexity as layers went on...it was impossible! All we had were superglue, hair dryer and well...many bits of shattered glasses...

We then tried using playdoh to mock the shape and make a mould. Again this was an embarassing failure. It should of occured to me much earlier prior to even trying. The shape is extremely complex and it was hard to make a mould that would fit together in the end to make a whole rose.

So after about an hour or two of gluing bits of glass (which was pretty fun) me and my beloved team just gave up!
Instead I've bought a rose online that looks similar to the real thing and I'm going to 'shatter' that instead.

It sure made me appreciate so much more the art of glass-gluing and glass sculturing. If only we had a glass melting torch gun thingeymajiggy (i know that's not a word, shut up y'all)

Conclusion - Was a good laugh and sure is a good sunday afternoon activity.

'shattered' - how to?

the last shot of the short film has not been shot yet...why?
there was no way in hell the glass was going to shatter properly!
so instead, a few solutions came to mind

-sugar glass
-substitute/re-modelling
-ice


sugarglass - most people will know, is not extremely hard to make but very hard to mould into specific shape

subsitute - the idea being i'll smash some random glass and pick up bits that looks like it could be part of the rose and glue them all together - then i let the real rose drop onto a cushion(obviously not filming the rose) then thru editing intercut it into the fake rose falling and hitting the floor.

ice - baking playdoh mould made frm pressing the rose into the playdoh, and making ice with the mould - so it shatters easily!

still contemplating between substitute and ice...but....shall experiment soon!

ready - set - shoot

24th Feb 2009 - the day I dreaded - my shooting day.

Prior to shoot, I prepared everything I possibly could - on set I had child release, schedule, productiong brief, the script, the shooting script, the storyboard(framforge), risk assessments...the list goes on!

The crew consisted of Danny Peachey(sound and general assistant), Adam Sumner(director), Jack Boyles(Director of photography) and Jason Bickers(Light) and myself, producing and doing production stills.

I had a really good day filming - early start and a little stressful, but everything went perfect and exactly how i imagined and planned - the schedule was really useful and fortunately we were able to stick to it extremely well - we were even ahead of schedule by 2 maybe 3 hours and wrapped everything up abotu 5pm (as suppose to 8pm in the original schedule).

I owe a big thank you to everybody who's helped me with this project - the editing war will begin soon enough.

now i'm realllllly shattered

days on end runing back and forth

I have all three locations 'sorted' - still awaiting for the person in charge of the park to get back to me regarding location release. Other than that, all I have left now is cast the few actors and book the hotel room for shoot, book the equipments and get the right forms signed, we're good to go!

hotel room - Hotel Ibis



Park - Victoria Park




Frameforge completed - awaiting park manager to sign my form - risk assessment completed - script completed - casting still in progress, one more actor to go and i'd have finished casting, meeting with make-up artist to discuss my needs. It's all good.

frameforge rendered avi - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtJ1W8OOvME

"Play Parade"

I went and gave a hand to a thrid year audiovisual student Bindni Karia.
She is currently doing her client project for her final year project - it sure is a lot of work - but she is very organised and we had a great half day with the kids.
her final year project is based on a company called Playworks - basically the company promotes the idea of 'play' - whilst growing up somewhere along the line we all forgot how once the world was just one big playgroud - children are then encouraged to play within this working shop, maximizing their imagination far beyond our imagination.

frameforge 3d studio

story goes, script goes, there's no better way to show what you're trying to make but a storyboard.

A good storyboard should contain all shots in prototype so whoever reads it should be able to visualise completely what it is the writer is trying to portraite.

In order to aid my storyboard, I've opted for a shooting script first - and now that it's done, all I'm doing now is frameforging the storyingboard.

Feels like I'm playing the Sims.

script polishing 1

Had a few feedbacks from a director and an actor -
the script is good, but the technicality gets increasingly complex. It is essential that I am able to divorce myself from the reality when continuing to polish the script as it's all to easy for me to write soemthing that I relate to and forgetting about the end audience.

I'm currently working on my character study - so I know how to develope the story better and give the character more detail.

I'm also going to start adding in series of questions and sub-script feelings in major scenes. It is becoming more and more apparent to me that since there is no sound, the narrative needs to be well delivered visually - to do that I need my actors to be able to know how to feel.

I'm working on the shooting script. I think it is essential that I don't give too much directions as to where the camera should go within the script as it is irrelevant to the actors. It will also help me straighten out exactly what I'm looking for visually, so to enable further visualizing in my small puny brain.