FMP - DVCAM Experimentation

To experiment for my FMP, I did a few test shoots using an old Sony PD170, in order to find out how easy it is to use and what results it gives. This is for usage of old style footage in my magazine advert, to provide a retro and stylised vibe to it. Here is an example of what I'm aiming to achieve by using a camera like this:

Shooting with the camera was fairly easy apart from it's weight, although this did help the shots be more stable. Something which was good about the camera was it's zoom and autofocus as it was very fast. Transferring the footage from tape to digital took a long time which was a negative of using the camera, however the footage looked unique and stylistic. Lastly the sound was high quality and sounded good, although if this wasn't the case it wouldn't be much of an issue.

Here is the footage I got when using the PD170:



After this I put some footage from the same shoot which I took on a DSLR with regular settings into After Effects and edited it to see if I could achieve an old, 90's style video effect. I adjusted the colour channels and added grain and some blur, and this is the result I got:


Overall I think that it will be easier to emulate a retro camera using effects for my FMP as opposed to using a real one. This is because it is expensive and time consuming to use tape as it all has to be transferred in real time, whereas I can specifically adjust the amount of distortion and noise etc when superimposing the effects myself. It's also a much quicker process doing it digitally myself.

FMP - Experimentation With ISO

During experimentation of my FMP I also tested the ISO settings to see what photographs are like when this is adjusted. I tried to keep the image looking the same so I could see what the ISO does. Here are the images I took:

As you can see from my test shoots, a small ISO provides a crisp, smooth image whereas a higher one gives a lot of grain. Additionally, the higher the ISO, the more sensitive the sensor is to light. From this test shoot I concluded that at most times I will use a low ISO to ensure minimal grain, however when I want grain for style reasons or in an emergency to let in more light, I'll use a higher ISO.

Image comparing ISO 100 (Left) and 6400 (Right)

FMP - Research Proposal

For the research section of my FMP I plan to carry out my research in two sections; Primary and Secondary. I have identified a range of areas and sources which I will use for research which are:

Primary
Survey (on magazine and advertisement) - This will help me get an idea of peoples preferred specifics relating to what's in a magazine and what's in an advert.

Reading similar magazines to mine and taking notes (Dazed & Confused, iD, Thrasher, grey, Free Skateboard Magazine) - I will read through these magazines looking for inspiration and conventions of the magazines which I can relate to mine. I will scan in parts of these magazines to show them in my blog.

Watching videos a similar style to my advert - Similar to looking at magazines, this will help me get inspiration and find film or editing techniques which I can incorporate into my project

Looking at magazine specifics - I will order samples of magazines with different bindings/papers so I can see what each one is like and decide on a paper weight, paper finish, and binding for my magazine.

Secondary
Look online to find information on design (colours and their connotations, type layout, photo editing techniques)

With this research I hope to get a clear understanding of how my final product will come out and knowledge to help me produce it to a high standard.

Experimentation

For my FMP I plan to learn and gain new experience in photography, film and design, which will involve some experimentation. Due to this, I created a spreadsheet to help me carry out experimentation during my FMP. It contains a column to list what I'm experimenting with, an overview of what I did, if it's usable and a conclusion.

This is just a template so far, as I hope to think of more things to experiment with
as I go on with my FMP. The image shows how I intend to fill out this document.

During the pre-production of my FMP I plan to experiment with:

-Camera settings (ISO & Aperture)

To experiment with these things I will take test shoots where the environment stays the same to identify how changing these affects the overall look of an image. From looking into these I can build my knowledge on camera settings and decide how I want specific images & videos look for my magazine and video advertisement.

-Different types of camera (DSLR, Film, DV Cam)

I will take test shoots with these to identify how the raw videos and pictures look on each of them. This will help me decide what styles I can incorporate into my magazine and advert.

-Design techniques (Colours, Type, Layout)

For this I will research complimentary colours and if certain colours look nice together or not & different styles of type and font. I will document my findings in a photoshop document. I will also look into photo and text layout to help me set out each page of my magazine. 

-Camera lenses (50mm, Fisheye)

I will take images using different lenses to compare and contrast how each of them look. This enables me to get an idea of which lens I should use at what time and what styles they portray.

For each of these experiments I will blog throughout to show what I'm doing and to document my findings. I will also fill in the spreadsheet I created to help the process go a lot more smoothly.

FMP - Experimentation with Aperture

To experiment with camera settings for my project I tested different apertures on the camera using a 50mm lens with an minimum f-stop of 1.8. This lens can give a very shallow depth of field. As the aperture increases numerically the depth of field gets deeper. This image below shows the different apertures I tested.

I concluded from this that a small aperture like f1.8 makes the background very blurred and soft, bringing focus to the foreground. This looks better for portraits in my opinion. With a large aperture like f22 the background and foreground are both in focus so this should be better for location photography. Below are two pictures comparing the smallest and largest aperture settings:

f-stop 1.8

f-stop 22

FMP - Pitch

For the FMP we need to pitch our project idea to our lecturers, so I made this slideshow in order to present my ideas effectively. It focuses on the main idea of the FMP, then stages of production and lastly gives a timescale with dates of production etc and resources I'll need. To help me present this well I've put important words in bold, added notes at the bottom of my presentation to help prompt me, added pictures & videos and made it fairly brief on screen.

FMP - Production Schedule

For my FMP I made a production schedule in order to keep up to date with my work and layout everything I need to do to keep up with my work:

Date:	20th-24th March		27th-31st March	3rd-7th April	HALF TERM	24th-28th April	1st-5th May
Proposed Tasks:	Magazine Plan	Test shoots	Shoot photos for magazine	Create magazine pages in photoshop		Finalise Magazine using InDesign	Edit Advertisement
	Storyboard	Research	Contact creators	Interview Creators		Re-shoot advert if needed	Reflect on project/feedback
	Moodboard	Shot list	Prepare for advert shoot	Shoot Advert		Finalize Brief	Print magazine
	Research	Styles	Film vlog	Film vlog		Film the next parts of the vlog	Edit the vlog
Stage of Production:	PRE PRODUCTION		PRODUCTION				POST PRODUCTION

In this schedule I'm using a RAG rule to show my progress, so as time goes on I will change the cell colour to amber and green accordingly. Here's a link to the spreadsheet which I will update regularly.

It's split up into 3 stages of production at the bottom, and the dates I have to complete them at the top. I think that this will help me be more organised as I go through this FMP project.

Creating a Brand/Logo

In Steve's lesson we had to create our own brand/logo in our sketchbooks and using the computers. We were originally told to create a mindmap showing what we're passionate about, what makes us unique, and what our strengths are. Then we had to create a short 6 word sentence describing what we do, to help us identify ourselves as a brand. 

Next we started drawing. We first started by creating a logo without taking the pen off the paper. I came up with some simple logos using my initials, and a visual logo featuring someone looking through a camera. I settled on the visual one because it looked better than initials in my opinion and stood out as a logo. 

After this we moved onto the computers and had to create a logo using Adobe Illustrator only using the Helvetica type family. I played around with strokes and effects and in the end came up with this logo which I thought looked impressive. I chose primary colours because they're bold and stand out.

Lastly we moved back to the sketchbooks and had to make a logo which had no text. I decided on the idea of a silhouette in front of a computer to connote post production and design work, then tried to further evaluate my idea and created a logo with a minimalistic figure in front of a camera, whose head acted as the camera lens.

Overall I thought that this task was helpful in me developing my drawing skills and presenting myself as a brand or company.

FMP - Mindmap & Initial Ideas

This week we were given the brief for our FMP's. I decided to do a mix of both publishing and moving image, by making a magazine and promotional video to go with it. This is a mindmap I made while thinking out ideas for what this magazine could be based on:

From the middle bubble I branched out into four different magazine themes - Fashion, Youth, Skateboarding & a magazine/lookbook for a brand.

For the theme of fashion I started to think out locations, brands and models. I chose to focus on streetwear brands like supreme, palace, bronze56k, converse etc. because these are the brands which I'm most interested in and know the most about. I also asked myself where I want to shoot my photos and went for urban locations such as Bristol and Bath, as well as countryside heavy rural area's where I could capture nice light and blue skies. I think these two locations contrast against each other and will look good together. Lastly I had the task of picking models. I decided that I wanted people who look different and/or interesting, in order to stand out. I will research further into this.
The theme of skateboarding was very appealing to me as well as it's something I'm very passionate about. From this theme I wanted it to have variety, because there's lots of skateboard magazines out already so mine would have to be different in order to stand out. I also wanted it to feature interviews with skateboarders from the local area and focus on skate culture. To do this I plan to research via platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to find individuals. The magazine would be fairly photo heavy so I jotted down some ideas of cameras I could use (digital/35mm film) and different editing techniques.
I chose not to create a clothing brand and do a magazine around that however, because I had already done a very similar project to this in previous publishing lessons and wanted to do something different. Also with this idea I'd be fairly limited in what I could write about and present in a magazine, and it would take a lot of time.

I found that it would be quite hard to make a full magazine just focused on a specific theme. Due to this I started leaning towards the theme of 'youth' because through this I would be able to incorporate all of the themes into one magazine. After making this decision, I made another mind map which focused on the youth theme and what I need to do in my magazine.

I decided that it should focus on youth culture, and contain pieces focusing on music, skating, fashion and youth. I came up with these four things because I asked myself what interests me. In this mindmap I also listed the technicalities of the magazine which I need to decide. In the end I chose to make a 210mm x 210mm magazine, in full colour which is 30 pages long (including the cover). The pages will be 170gsm and the cover 300gsm.
In pre production I will have to create a moodboard, plan of pages, contact people and create a storyboard and shot list for the advert. I will also do lots of research in this pre production period.