Week 8 - Audience + Stop animation experimenting

Dear Diary,

Today me and my classmates were introduced to a new unit where we focused strictly on Audience.

Below is some of the things that I had learned

Wether you are constructing a text or analyzing one, you will need to consider the destination of that text (i.e. its audience) and how that audience (or any other) will respond to that text.

Effects models, ie theoretical explanations of how humans ingest the information transmitted by media texts and how this might influence (or not) their behavior.

1. Hypodermic Needle Model (1950s) - Audiences passively receive information.

2. Users & Gratifications (1970s) - Far from being a passive mass, audiences were made up of individuals who actively consumed texts for different reasons in different ways.

Diversion - escape from everyday problems & routine.

Personal relationships - using the media for emotional and other interaction, eg) substituting soap operas for family life.

Personal identity - Finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behavior and values from texts.

Surveillance - Information which could be useful for living eg) weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains.

3. Reception Theory (19802-90s)

Gender, class, age and ethnicity are all involved and considered when looking at audience.

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Stop Start Animation - Experimenting

Later, On this day I was also introduced to a animation technique called stop animation. I was taken to the television studio along with my classmates and given the chance to experiment with props such as legos and clay. In this task I was put into a group of two.

Equipment used :

Tripod

Camera

Legos

Our activity was to experiment and make a simple story using our props, My story was about several guys who are wanted by a police officer, they think they have got away with it but consequently they get arrested, shot and put into jail.

This experiment was overall beneficial to do, as it helped prepped and prepare me for my next project which was to make an actual video using this technique rather than a experimenting.

Here is some clips of me and my partner in post production and production

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After shooting this experiment, editing was the next process. We had to edit our work indiviually and had the chance to add sound effects and music related to our work.

I wanted my work to be mostly cartoon themed so I browsed on youtube and searched for ''cartoon instrumentals'' and I found the perfect instrumental, in which i felt suited my work.

For sound effects, I yet again searched on youtube for ''cartoon gun sound effects'' and for the scream I searched ''cartooned screams'' I wanted to add sound effects and music that would be humurous and child-like so my video would be entertaining to watch.

Editing was quite easy to do in my opinion. all that I needed to do was to add sound effects, music and to speed the duration of the clips to make them flow and sync better.

We needed to drag the clips altogether in Premier pro, speed the duration and select the ripple effect, so there would be no random gaps in our work.

Some screenshots of the editing process.

Editing my work, speeding up the the duration of my clips to match the actual length.

Selecting the ripple edit so that they will be no gaps present in my work.

Here is the final edit of my experimenting work.

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The experiment was fun to do and I was pleased with the outcome, I did however see some problems with my work. I can assure that I will tackle these problems when it comes to making my actual piece.

The problems were that some of the scenes were shaky, despite being on a tripod. In order to prevent this from happening to my actual project, I would have to ensure that all of my work is filmed strictly on a tripod and that the camera is firmly fitted on the tripod plate.

Another problem that you can see in my video is the lighting. In the final edit, the lighting changes quite drastically thoughout the video. It starts of with high exposure, but then it gets really dark. When experimenting I did use studio lighting, however I do believe that because of me and my partner were moving our props they could have been a chance the lighting adjusted and turned dark.

In order to prevent this from happening and occuring in my actual project, I would have to make sure to place the lighting in a position where it cant pick up shadows.

An additonal thing that I could do is add more lighting so the scenes have a less chance of appearing darker.