KEYHOLE

Shannon Slides

KEYHOLE MEDIAEVALUATION OF USES OF

NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY

What is New Media Technology?

The use of digital technology has transformed the media. The media used to simply be primarily based on print and analogue broadcast models. Now it is primarily digital. New media refers not only to the technology used but also to the ways of thinking this technology has engendered.

Definitions of New Media

• New media shows a paradigm shift, in what technology used to be (print products, radio, first televisions) and what it is now.

• New media is global, it can be accessed by everyone and anyone all over the world- Audiences are even wider, so you can reach more people than ever before.

• It defeats time and space, you can view it from anywhere that it can be accessed at any time (home, work, school)- We can access our blogs in school and at home to complete set tasks.

• It is now mainly driven from user generated content, as the audience now have more power than they ever have. Social networking websites such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook etc. allow us to construct a persona online that may not be what we are like in real life- We are representing ourselves as media students through our blog.

• It is interactive, digital, and collaborative. Now work can be put onto the internet, taken from the internet and shared- We are sharing our work with you.

Use of New Media forResearch

Advantages of Search Engines• Using search engines meant that it was

really easy and quick to research trailers, posters and magazine covers in our genre.

• We were already aware of how to use search engines as there have been many projects where we have had to do similar research.

• Using search engines meant that there was a large amount of information that was provided

• We were able to filter what we wanted to search

• Our research was very specific to our genre.

Use of Internet- Search Engines Disadvantages

Not all the content that came up in our search was relevant to what we wanted, and so we sometimes had to go through pages and pages to find what we wanted – if we did not change the search criteria.

As our genre was quite rare and didn’t bring up a lot of results, when we were first researching it a lot of pictures came up that did not match our search. So a lot of our time was consumed in finding the right content that we could use for inspiration.

New media does not have all the answers instantly to hand – sheer volume of info is a problem at times.

Search Engines - Disadvantages• One down side to new technology is that most content is user-generated. For

example, when we were looking for trailers on websites such as YouTube, you hade to be careful that you were watching the legitimate trailer and not a fan tribute video – we stumbled on the wrong version at times.

An example of this is this ‘trailer’ for Man of Steel 2.In the description box there is nothing to say thatit is a fan video, however when watching it you couldtell that it was not the official trailer.

Because of this we tried to look for trailers that had been uploaded by real production companies such as Sony, Warner Bros etc. as these were likely tobe the real one.

Finding Music• We used copyright free music from websites such as YouTube, freeplaymusic.com

and from the iTunes library that already had a variety of sounds and music on it.

The description box makes it clear to you whether the music is copyright free or not.

A lot of results are brought up,giving you a lot of options to choose from.

Shows you the length of the track, allowing you to see which one is appropriate for the length of your trailer.

Its free!

Free Play Music YouTube

Free Play Music and YouTube Disadvantages

• Found it difficult to find specific pieces that would suit our piece.

• There was a large amount of content to look through to try and find the right piece.

• Using Free Play Music is very time consuming.

• We had to download a whole track when we only needed to use a small amount of the track.

Free Play Music:

Free Play Music and YouTube Disadvantages

• It was difficult to find copyright free tracks.• We used the British National Anthem but we had to find a

copyright free version.• When we liked a track or a sound effect it usually said that it

was copyright so we were not able to use it.

YouTube Music:

Not everyone is so careful about copyright – a key consequence of new media’s sharing capacity has been the rise of piracy as copyright is so difficult to police and protect.

PlanningUse of New Media forPlanning

Animated StoryboardPhotos of the storyboard that we drew on post-it notes as imported into Final Cut Express

We cut all of the imported images so that they lasted the length that they would in the actual trailer.

This gave us an idea of how long our trailer would last once we filmed all the different shots and it also gave us an idea of how the trailer would look.

We added sound and music so that we got more of a feel as to what the real trailer would sound like.

Represents a mix of old (drawings) and new media – no reason why both can’t be used.

Animated Storyboard

• As we had rough drawings of what the shots would look like, it gave us more of an idea of how the overall trailer would look.

• It gave us assurance that our trailer corresponded with our genre which was very important at this stage.

• We were able to delete and move frames easily if we didn’t feel it fit.

Problems with the Animatic• Sometimes we didn’t know how long we wanted each individual shot to be, or

how long it would take to film so when it came to changing the lengths of time on each image on final cut we predicted how long they were going to take, making our trailer much shorter.

• When it came to filming the real trailer, the shots took much longer meaning that we had to cut out shots at the end.

As you can see here, thestill images we put intoour animatic were very shortand didn’t vary in length much.

New media needs to be used effectively it is to bring better work than old media. It is only as good as the user.

Presenting our Planning on Blogger

Presenting the Planning on Blogger

Allows you to see how accessedcertain posts are

Allows youto see howmany pageviews you geteach day

Shows how accessible Theblog is. Activity from the USA and other parts of theworld. Shows how easyit is to reach informationby using the internet.

Accessible

This really demonstrates the sharing capacity of new media and its global potential.

View other work

We were able to view other blogs through our school account and we could give other people feedback and they were able to give us feedback

New media is associated with the establishing of creative communities and this is a good example,

Combining Text and Images

We were able to combine text, images and videos together on Blogger.

This meant that we were able to present our work in different format on one post.

This kind of technological convergence is another feature associated with new media.

Work in ProgressBy using Blogger we were able to upload screenshots of our work in progress at every stage of creating the product. This showedour product developed and changed, allowing us to see how far we had come.

From this example,you can see the addition of a background and Blending of the mainCharacter’s face and thepig mask.

Planned use of Social Media

We were planning on using new media such as social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to make profiles for the main characters of our film for promotion but to also build a relationshipwith the audience. This may make people more likely to watch the film as in a way they can ‘interact’ with the audience.

Use of New Media forConstruction

Final Cut Express

Advantages of Final Cut Express

• We were both able to edit a version of our trailer on different computers and it can achieve a quality of work that is almost professional

• We were able to make copies and have different versions of our product

• It came with pre-packaged effects

The availability of this kind of technology makes us all into prosumers (Shapiro).

Manipulating SoundBy using the pen tool, we were able to make points on the pink line (indicating the level of volume)in order to make sound fade out smoothly by using the cursor tools to pull down and curve the line as much as we wanted or needed to.

If we made mistakes whilst filming that made our the sound very muffled or quiet (for example filming outside on a windy day) we were able to increase the volume of a whole clip instead of re-voicing the whole clip which takes up a bit of time.

We were able to add effects to our audio, by adding cross fades which allowed usto fade out any audio or non-diegetic music that was playing quickly, so that theaudio flowed in well with the next track, or to reduce filming noises (pressing of buttons, white noise etc.)

Layering Sound

Here is a snapshot of the first part of non-diegetic music played in our trailer. We layereda lot of different tracks in order to create a new sound that hadn't been created before,and also to add all the elements of sound we needed to set the atmosphere before thetrailer fully began.

Here you can see how we did this, by overlapping each track to make a more profound, tailored track to fit in perfectly with our trailer. By recycling other tracks and layering them we made our own sound that is unique.

Advantages of Sound (Final Cut)

• You are able to manipulate the volume and lower sounds by using the pen tool to lower and heighten the pitch where necessary.

• You can also add effects to make dialogue sound like it is coming from a radio, TV or from through a phone to increase the verisimilitude of the dialogue.

Disadvantages of Sound

• Sometimes the effects were not enough to remove all background noise and white noise and therefore we had to re-voice which took up a lot of time.

• Also, sometimes the cross fades were too short for our music especially if our music was loud, so there wasn’t a prolonged fade but rather a quick fade that was obvious and didn’t allow the music to flow into the next track.

Effects

We were able to use an effect that made the flashback look desaturated

By being able to layer we were able to add effects to different layers to build up an overall image.

Thinking in layers is one of the key changes in thinking brought about by new media technology.

Manipulating Material

We found we were able to be more experimental with our trailer as we were able to undo changes if we did not like them. This reversibility is one of the reasons new media is associated with creativity.

It allowed us to layer different materials to create different effects by combining filters.

We were able to re-order and cut without having to worry about not being able to reverse these changes.

Photoshop

Manipulating Images

We were able to extract Shauna’s face steadily using the magnetic lassoo tool and place her on different backgrounds to see which ones we preferred.

Manipulating Images

Extracting images can be problematic, so we extracted the full image twice as the original image was not long enough for the cover, so we placed a copy of the image underneath the photo we selected and pulled it lower than that image and then used the smudge tool in order to blend the two imaged together to make it look like one picture and to cover up the mistakes.

Disadvantages of Photoshop

Limitations with the programme:You could only use the tools provided and sometimes what you imagined you wanted a print product to look like couldn’t be carried out as the tools provided weren't sufficient.

New media is associated with what Manovitch calls “creativity of selection” – bit at the same time, you can only choose from what is on offer so that might be a limitation on creativity.

Use of New Media forEvaluation

Label Filter on Blogger

The label filter allowed us to see who hadposted what, keeping our work separateyet organised in one place.

Also if you clicked on your name, all of thepost you had uploaded would come upmaking accessing information very quickand easy.

Comments on Blog

Comments on blog allowed us to get outside feedback and improve our work.

Collaborative work and availability of feedback is another key element of new media that we took full advantage of.

Multimedia Format - Slideshow

Very good choice of technology for collaborative work – slides can be shared out and and amended between the group.

Encourages a good mix of text and image.

Encourages concise approach to what could be a very long topic!

Multimedia Format – Contact Sheets

A creative use of Photoshop to present an overview of work.

We like to think that overall genre and key themes / moods are discernible at a glance.

Allowed us to work together to produce contact sheet and then separately to evaluate in individual post.

Multimedia Format - Presentation

Was a good choice of format for a fuller discussion of more controversial subject.

Allowed us to present work together and feed off each other’s ideas.

LiveType and image annotations make it an easier format for the viewer, punctuating the discussion clearly and dividing into ‘chapters’.

Multimedia Format – YouTube Tutorial

Was a good choice of format for sharing a professional opinion and expertise.

Allowed us to use an established online trend of tutorials for the novice in key areas of the media.

Would work well on specialist film sites but also on a general site such as YouTube where we have found many tutorials ourselves.

• New media has so much potential to change the way we create – it makes you focus on a creativity of selection, work collaboratively and opens up a whole community of ‘experts’ for you to work with remotely.

• However, the skills of old media are still very valuable e.g. old-fashioned hand-drawn storyboards.

• New media has its issues – ownership, plagiarism, availability, cost and reach are key ones. How many people out there are actually working in these ways?

Summary of Evaluation