Production diary for multi camera

The role I took with this project was to edit all of the clips together, and make sure they were synced up to the audio.
The audio and some footage was from this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0DRp13umjQ with other footage being from here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JD8GtlrprE , here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBvrrWxGiSc , here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jvDSez2TAc , and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BVvJKXhMWE . The locations were different venues around the world: San Antonio Texas at Alamo City Music Hall, Toronto Canada at the Opera House, Atlanta Georgia at The Tabernacle, Sacramento California at The Ace Of Spades, and Amsterdam at The Melkweg.

There were quite a few risks when it cam to filming this project, the main risk being that the noise levels are severe at concerts. This was a risk to the crew, as seen on the risk assessment. The thing we did to reduce the risk was to use ear plugs that minimised the noise intake to make it less harmful on the crew's ears. Other risks shown below include strobe lights and night working.

Video installation production diary

Mood Board:














































For my video installation project I decided to project concert videos onto a box to try and create half of the atmosphere that all concert goers experience as it is something that I feel cannot be matched.
There were no copyright issues with this concept as they were my own concert videos, however I cut the audio out to see if it would be as powerful with no sound. The videos used were all of the same band; and over the same tour so it gave a sense of dedication (from the fans side) and growth (on the bands side)



This is a screenshot of one of the videos that was used, the videos were blurry but they were meant to look that way; I had no intentions of them looking professional because I wanted them to look grungy.

For the video, I cut many parts of videos out and put them together in a random order to get a mashup of the tour. The boxes the videos were projected onto were different sizes; this is a sketch of the set up:

Responding to media products

The genre I have chosen to analyse in regards to how people respond to media products is Teen Fiction. 

The Hypodermic needle theory was created in the 1920's by Harold Lasswell is the theory in which audience members are passive (do not question the media and are willing to accept the messages) rather than audience members being active (interact with the media, question the messages and form their own opinions). 
The hypodermic needle model was relied on greatly throughout the war to spread propaganda against the opposition- Walt Disney created a propaganda film for the US government on the bringing up of a Nazi soldier, which spread the idea that they were brainwashing the Nazi children from birth.

As relatable as the hypodermic needle theory was when compared to propaganda and the time of wars, the theory is said to be outdated now as content is not nearly as credible; people are more educated and have more ways of checking.

In relation to the hypodermic needle theory and the teen drama genre, I personally would believe that the majority of the target audience of teenagers aged 13-19 would be passive audience members, and would watch the media product whilst doing other things. 
On the other hand, a lot of media products create 'fandoms' which are made up of mainly teenagers, in which case would make them active audience members who partake in discussion and theories about the media. 

The Uses and Gratifications theory was created by Bulmer and Katz in 1974 and the theory had four basic needs that one could gain from media: 

• Personal identity- comparing own life with characters and situations and exploring individual problems and perspectives.

A teen drama media which could be used as personal identity is Divergent, a film about a society seperated into factions in which the main character doesn't fit into one particular faction. people could relate to the main character not fitting into her faction and wanting to break out of the main- this is a common theme in teen fiction as teenagers struggle to fit into society's norms and admire anyone who can escape from expectations.

• Information- finding out what is going on in the world.

The Fosters is an accurate depiction of foster families and has been praised for its representation of something which is not normally shown. This would be information as people have no idea how other people experience things. The issues that this show covers are same sex parents (and marriage), being a biological child in a fostering household, the american school system. It also covers real life experiences that a child in the foster system faces; such as estrangement from biological family, fitting into a new lifestyle, school and family home.

• Escapism/ entertainment- escaping from everyday pressures of life

Many teen drama medias are set in alternate realities so that they can be both relatable and help their audience to escape reality. Once Upon a Time shows fairytale characters like Snow White expressing real emotions such as anger, jealousy, hatred and love in a fantasy realm.

• Social interaction- sociability through discussion about TV with other people.

The Vampire Diaries is a teen drama show that allows a lot of social interaction. The show has a large fandom and holds a convention every year (Insurgence) which allows fans the chance to meet some of the actors, meet up with each other and become friends with the common interest of the show.

Within this genre there are several age ranges that could apply to the products: for example there are Disney Channel Original Movies and Disney Channel shows (such as Teen Beach Movie/ Girl Meets World) that are aimed at an audience aged from around 7 or 8 to 14+, compared to films and shows such as Pitch Perfect (rated by the motion picture association of america PG-13 for sexual material, language and drug references) and Pretty Little Liars (which is rated as tv-14) that are aimed towards an older audience, around 13+, but both contain content that younger viewers would potentially find distressing; such as death, and content that could inflict a want to copy the characters; such as underage drinking.

The media product of the teen drama genre that I am going to analyse is 13 Reasons why- the Netflix Original show; which is an adaptation of the book written by Jay Asher.

Genre characteristics of teen drama are teenage characters, teenage issues (such as romance, conflict with friends or family), status (popularity, money).The main teenage issues that this show focuses on are bullying and self harm. 
Other genre characteristics include jealousy, romance, non diegetic music, and shallow personalities.

The codes and conventions of Teen Drama that this show includes are as follows:

Settings-

• - High school: lockers, classrooms, and cafeterias
• -"Hang out spot"

Hannah's locker in the show.

The school corridor with sports banners, students with letterman jackets (jocks).

Monet's cafe is the "hang out spot" that everyone goes to.

• Stereotypes- Populars/ jocks being bullies, Un-populars/geeks being bullied by populars. 
• Issues-Status (popularity), bullying, depression, social isolation, death/grief, sexual abuse, relationships.
• Lighting- The scenes are lighter during the times when Hannah is happier, and darker when she is going through dark times.

• Characters- Teenagers with significant issues in their lives, different types of parents (concerned/strict, neglectful)
• Props- School books, backpacks, mobile phones, red cups at parties

Book as a prop

Red cups at parties are a common prop in teen dramas.

• Narrative and plot- The episodes are linear as they have a start and an end, although they include flashbacks.

Mise En Scene

The characters shown in this screen cap are Clay and Hannah. The outfits they are wearing are their work uniforms as they worked at the cinema together. Clays body is leaning towards Hannah as he listens to what she is saying, whereas Hannah is leaning away from Clay which shows that she is more closed off than he is, even though she is smiling at him. This is reflected in the chairs the pair are sat in- Clay is sat in a chair with no arms and looks very relaxed, however Hannah is in a chair with arms and looks very closed in on herself, which is reflective of her hiding her depression and other secrets.

The background is mostly blue, which is a reflection of cold, unfriendliness and lack of emotions. There is a small sun in the conrner of the background painting which reflects that the cinema job and clay are the only pieces of happiness in her life, however yellow is an emotional colour which is also reflective of depression and suicide.

(http://www.colour-affects.co.uk/psychological-properties-of-colours)
The background is a picture of the town which looks like it is being taken over by plants growing from the bottom. This is a pathetic fallacy as Hannah's life got taken over by her mental health and this is a flashback scene to when she was still alive. 

Representation in 13 Reasons Why has brought along a lot of controversy and split reactions- both good and bad. The tv show focuses a lot on common teen genre stereotypes such as:

• Mean 'jocks' that bullied the protagonist prior to her death.
• Mean cheerleaders who focused on rumour spreading.
• Quiet members of the class who were ignored and ridiculed.
• 'Nerdy' members of the class.

Throughout the series both genders were badly represented as the majority of male characters were seen as jocks that were bullies and the majority of female characters were seen as being bitchy towards their classmates. This can lead to viewers beginning to look at their friends differently in their own lives. 

Similarly to this was the representation of age, with this show painting most high schoolers (16/17/18 years old) in a bad light by saying that they contributed to the main protagonists suicide.

The representation factor which brought about the most controversy was the graphic depiction and representation of suicide. Despite the trigger warnings that appeared before the last few episodes, complaints still appeared online and letters were sent home to parents from schools, for example: 'One of the letters sent to parents of public school students based in Montclair, New Jersey read: “While the show is fictional, the series is extremely graphic, including several rape scenes, and raises significant concerns about the emotional safety of those watching it.“'

• READ MORE

13 Reasons Why: Does it really glamourise suicide?

(http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/13-reasons-why-netflix-drama-suicide-schools-letters-warning-parents-mental-health-groups-a7703016.html)


An interesting article that describes the shows producer Selena Gomez explaining the effects of showing the suicide scene and justifying why they chose to show it is on Time.com (http://time.com/4808916/selena-gomez-on-13-reasons-why/) in which she says: "This is happening every day, whether or not you wanted to see it, that’s what’s happening. The content is complicated. It’s dark and it has moments that are honestly very hard to swallow, and I understood that we were doing something that is difficult. But these kids today are so exposed to things that I would never even comprehend when I was 8. The team behind the show have said that there was never any question about whether they would show it or not- believing that it would help people to bring up conversations about mental health and understand more about it. All the questions that came up, and all the talk about it is valid and I understand it. That stuff is uncomfortable for people to talk about, but it is happening and hopefully, it opened the door for people to actually accept what’s happening and actually go and change it, talk about it." The gist of this extract says that whilst the team behind the show expected a bad reaction, they still wanted to show the graphic scenes because they think it is important to trigger a reaction about a tough subject because it is important that people realise it is happening and it's not going to stop while there is so much stigma and silence surrounding mental health issues and suicide. 

Multi Camera techniques

There are many different uses for multi-camera production and the purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast two different kinds of multi-camera production; of which I will be focusing on  live music events compared to live sports coverage.

Multi camera is used in live music events to get several perspectives. The different perspectives can include; but are not limited to:

• Audience views- looking on stage
• Views of the audience- facial expressions
• Close ups on individual members of the band/ artist
• Close ups of instruments

The following video of State Champs live shows how live music multi camera gets so many perspectives. As there are five members in the band, individual shots are more common as the shots would have to be long to include all band members in the same shot.

In the first forty seconds of the video, these are the shots which are achieved:

A long shot of the whole band



A shot from the back of the stage which shows the whole band and the crowd


A shot from within the crowd again, showing action on stage











An action shot focusing on three of the members at the front








A shot focusing on one of the guitarists and the bassist









An action shot of the bassist, showing the stage presence that the band possess.









A shot of the lead singer as he starts the song.

The production works because the viewers of the production feel like they are there, but also as if they had a better view than the people who were there. This type of production is usually used during festivals like Capital Summertime Ball or during sold out shows to be released as part of a special edition type of CD. 

For this type of multi camera production, there are typically around five or six camera operators positioned in different places around the venue and the types of cameras they will use will serve different purpose; for example a camera man using a GoPro for action shots of the crowd in case of rowdiness, and a camera man using a BlackMagic for shots of different band members when filming onstage.

The pros of this type of Multi camera production are that there is a demand to get as close to music artists as possible therefore it is a type of media which sells, in either online streaming tickets or live DVD versions of the show. 
The cons to this type of Multi camera production include fans that get angry about their view getting blocked or rowdiness in the audience which could lead to broken equipment (more likely in solely standing venues for music genres like punk or rock). 

Multi-camera filming of sports events can be similar to the filming of music events, in that the action is constant, but the equipment and filming style used is different. 
In contrast to filming concerts up close, it is best to film sports from as far away as possible so that the action does not get cut off when it is converted to a video. The reason for this is that when you are there it is 3d and your brain can process what is going on easier than when it is 2d, so filming a wide shot of all the action means that it is as simple as possible.
To film sports, similarly to concerts there would be around 5 camera men positioned around the main pitch/courts to get different views of each team. They would typically all have small, high budget cameras like blackmagic pocket cameras as they wouldn't be near the action and the cameras would not be at risk of damage (possibly with the exception of one or two camera men with go-pros near to the pitch).
The pros to this media are that it will sell, because people are always more willing to watch events at home than they are willing to pay for tickets for the event because it ends up cheaper for them. 
A con however, is that with all spectator events it would be a risk to block anyones view and make people angry- especially with passionate sports fans- it puts both you and your equipment at risk. 

  

Single Camera

In this assignment I am going to explain the techniques employed in the creation of drama using single camera production.

There are several formats in dramatic story telling, such as Serial, series, single drama, and soap opera.
A serial format is when a single story is broken into several episodes over a series, contrasted to a series format which has many storylines over the series, in different episodes. Thin Blue Line is a serial format, whereas Sherlock is a series format. 
Single drama is a format in which a single storyline is explored in a longer style episode, such as a 'made for tv' special. An example of this is Moorside, a drama about the so called abduction of Shannon Matthews.
Soap opera refers to TV shows such as Eastenders, Coronation Street, and Emmerdale, in which the storylines exaggerate negative 'real life' situations, such as murders, and other illegal activities.

The different narrative structures which can be used to carry the storyline are as followed:
Linear structures are chronological and usually have a beginning, middle and end to the production. Linear structures are easier to 
understand as they are less confusing and don't contain flashbacks or dreams.
In contrast, Non linear narrative structures can also be used, which would mean that the production contained flashbacks or dreams, and could be used to confuse the audience about a character's intentions, by revealing a backstory for them. This type of narrative structure does not strictly have a beginning, middle, and end.
Realism is a type of narrative structure which aims to convince the audience that what they're watching is real. Hand held camera could be used, as it is a more realistic filming method, and the storylines include real life situations that people can relate to. 
Alternatively, non realism is a type of narrative structure that the audience are not supposed to believe is real. This type of drama could be a sub genre of fantasy and include unrealistic characters, settings, or scenarios. 

The technical requirements which are applied to storytelling in order to build a story or scene 
include lighting, sound, editing and directorial style. 
Lighting can be used to create an atmosphere/ mood within a scene. An example of this would be dim lighting to show that something bad is about to happen or that an evil character is present. Realist narrative is more likely to try and use natural lighting to make the scene more believable. 
Sound can have an extreme impact on the audience, with the most known example being the shower scene in Hitchcocks' Psycho. At the beginning of the scene, the only sound is the diegetic sound of the shower running, until the shower curtain is pulled open and the murder begins, which introduces a high pitched siren like noise, which blends with sound effects of the woman screaming. There is also sound effects of the knife slashing which are synchronised with the siren noise. The sounds used would be effective as they enhance the implied violence.
Editing can be used to achieve a different response from the audience. The most commonly used form of editing is continuity editing, which is simple and means that all the clips flow together, and usually does not include flashbacks. Continuity editing is normally slow paced, and an alternative to that is flash cutting, which includes lots of short length shots together in a scene, which builds pace and can make the media more interesting and more tense for the viewer. 
Directorial style refers to the way in which two different directors would tackle the same type of film. For example: Edgar Wright tends to stick to fast paced, comedic films such as Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, whereas Steven Spielberg is more acquainted to big Hollywood blockbusters such as Jaws, and Saving Private Ryan. As a result of the two directorial styles, they would direct a completely different version of the same film/ same genre of film.