FEED BACK..

I wanted to know what other people thought of my Final Major Project outcome, so I asked some of my friends. This is a summary..

Strengths:
* Good choice of model.. photogenic
* The stop motion works well.. makes it look interesting and cuts out random bits
* Good make up styling idea
* Clothing- mix match works well for a 12 year old boy

Weaknesses:
* The model's hair disappears in to the background
* The lighting changes throughout the filming
* Could have included dance in the video to make it clear what it was advertising


Overall, I think that the feedback was pretty good. However, as they were my friends that gave me the feedback, I think that they could have been a bit biased.

FINAL PIECE..

Click here to see Final Project

This is my final major project outcome. I am happy with the end result as it sets out what I aimed to. To create a viral add promoting a Contemporary Dance Performance featuring a boy who likes to dress in girls clothing and wear make-up. The video itself doesn't include or suggest any form of dance, however, I did this so the viewers would question what the video is for, and if successful they will google the name of the video and find out it is for a dance production. It also creates a sense of humour with the use of the man (most people would expect it to be a woman) over  exaggerated make up, clearly not doing it in a neat manner. The use of the song helps to create this with the upbeat rhythm and sad lyrics.

EDITING FOOTAGE..

Firstly, I was unaware as to how to use iMovie, so it took me a good 4hours to teach myself. I mainly used Youtube as a way to learn but they weren't much help, so most of it was just trial and area.
I then realised that I had iMove 6 which doesn't have many effects. I tried to download a better version but my mac was not compatible. So instead I used my friends mac who had the software, but the footage I had already edited wouldn't upload to this version of the software. All I wanted to do was speed up the last section of my video. I spent over half a day trying to this and failed miserably. Because of this I had to change my editing idea, and carry on with the stop motion effect, which I think might actually look better than my original idea, as it creates a coherency to the
I was amazed as to how long it actually took to edit out the footage I didn't want. It took me a whole day to get a 1.30 hours to just less than 3 minutes.

REFLECTION.. footage

I made notes to remind me of what order I needed to do things on the video. I found this really helped, as I often forgot what I wanted to do next as there a lot of steps in order to create the stop motion.
I also gave a copy of this to the model, so he could see where an when he had to do specific things. I also directed him through the film which I will edit out.


I think the filming went well and George was a great model and did everything I asked of him and put 100% in to it. He also gave me opinions along the way which great to have someone else's input during the filming process.
I had trouble with the lighting at the beginning, trying to get the correct amount of light on the model using two light sources. These had to be at the correct heights to light up his face and his chest.


Overall, I am really happy with the filming, however, I am not looking forward to the many hours of cutting out parts of the video I don't want. All together I think I filmed nearly 1.30hours which is a lot more than I expected. This will be beneficial as it will give me a wider choice of footage.


Looking back at the footage, I think I could have made the lighting better, as at some points during the footage there are lighter areas, and in other places there are darker areas. This does however help to create the idea that it is a homemade footage by a 12 year old boy.
I also noticed that a few times my shadows appears on the model's face. I am hoping I can edit all these out and not have to use any in my final edit.


I wanted to put the whole video up on here so everyone could see how I got the footage, unfortunately the file was too big as there was over 1hr 30mins of footage.

SCRIPT..

This is what I had my model saying as a voice over for the video. I will chose and edit from the script below to put on to the video.
I still wanted to create the idea that someone was asking him questions about how he feels when wearing make up and women's clothing, so these are all statements which answer questions. I had to make them sound like it was a 12year old replying, so I tried to keep it simple.

I feel alive
I can be somebody else
I can chose who I want to be
Its exciting
I feel myself, this is who I am
It's like dressing up but with girl's clothes
I can forget about everything else
No one recognises me and its great
I feel great
I I like make up and I like shoes and dresses
Who says I can't dress up and wear make up and dresses?
I feel myself
i love glitter
I lover sequins
I love flowers
I like the floatiness of the dress
I love the soft touch of the material on my skin
It's like a mask hiding me from the world, and its exciting
I feel free

IT'S PERSONAL..

Due to personal events I had to postpone the shooting of my film which lead to me not being able to use the cameraman nor the studio I booked out, which set me back quite badly. I also didn't have frequent use of the internet either so I felt I was really behind on my work, which I really started to panic about. Luckily I feel I have dedicated enough time so far since this to almost get myself back on track. Instead I will have to film the video myself as I am finding it hard to get hold of someone else to do it. This could be quite interesting and difficult as I have never used a video camera before. This has made me wish that I had previously learnt how to use a camera and test shot my footage before hand, in case I couldn't rely on someone else.
Not only did I lose my camera operator, and the studio, my chosen model couldn't  shoot until a few weeks later, meaning there being less time to edit my work.
Originally we planned to shoot  April 2nd, we have now booked a date April 20th and 21st.
As I am unable to get studio space, I have purchased a 5 metre by 3 metre black piece of material which I will pin to my living room wall, and use this as my studio. Luckily, I can get hold of a lighting kit and tripod from the university to take out.

STOP MOTION.. photography

This is me taking photos of myself putting on lipstick, when they are flicked through quickly it looks as though i am actually moving, when in fact they are image stills. Even though I am using this technique with moving image, I did this to help me understand more on how stop motion works. It was quite fun flicking through them and to see how easy it actually was to produce.