Evaluation

 For this project we were asked to create a BBC 2 Ident advert using original and creative ideas in groups.

To do this, Jordon, Sammy, Tisha, Danie and I had our own part to play. Unfortunately not everyone participated in their own parts to play. Jordon and I came in on a day that we were free from college and finished off the number 2 that we had to create ourselves, we came in on our only free day of the week so we could finish a job that wasn't even ours to start. The whole point of having a role to play in the group was to stick to it and unfortunately, not everyone did. We then came in on monday, a day where we are doing a completely different project, just so we could paint the 2 with 3 layers of paint on each side and face of the 2. this took us around two hours because we had to dry each layer using the hand dryer. Other participants of the group didn't offer to help they just sat and watched as Jordon and I carried on. Jordon's part to play in the group was editor and me the team leader and set designer, however, Jordon and I did sessions of filming on our own, we put a lot of effort into making this film and at times it seemed to be just us doing the work. 

 It was Sammy's job to be the prop designer which meant she had to create the 2, unfortunately she just recorded Jordon and I creating the 2. 

 When it came to filming the video, we used a small flip camera and cambo camera stand lights, a table, skittles, a cloth and of corse the number 2. We shot in the studio because it was the best place to do it, it gave the right amount of light that we needed and if we needed make a change, it was easier to do it in the studio rather than being on location.

 Our idea developed from week 1, we thought that by dropping the 2 into a pile of skittles would be interesting to see the multicoloured sweet fly off into all different directions. We experimented on different materials, different lighting, angles and what would look better, dropping the 2 onto a pile of skittles or just separating the colours and placing them around the 2 as template, this looked quite good but didn't look quite good enough to become an ident. 

 We encountered a few problems along the way, we didn't know where we were going to record the video, but we found out how. The first session we did, we used a cardboard box with a big sheet folded over so that the skittles would be more effective. We changed it from a box to a table with a cloth, the skittles then had more of a diameter to travel and gave a much better effect.

Comparing or advert to other adverts, it may not be as professional but to me, I am proud of what we have achieved. To make the Ident better, we would have used a different song, a better background and maybe more skittles to create an even better effect to what it is now. Overall, i am quite happy with the outcome but the group members could have put more of an effort into the group rather than just leaving the work to Jordon and I and just listening to youtube all the time!

editing the video

 Our editing of the video was a bit of a challenge. We opened up final cut pro but had to be closed and we attempted to re-open it and it wouldn't open so we had to use another computer. 

We imported two videos into final cut pro, experimenting with what we could do. 

In the end, me and Jordon spent an hour and a half playing around for ideas on what to do. We ended up reversing the video so it looked like the 2 was being lifted from the table rather than being dropped. To do this we went to modify - reverse. We also changed the speed so that it was in slow motion, we took it from 100% to half the speed of 50%. This improved how the video looked to us and others. Also we included another video at the end of a skittle shaped number 2. Before we did this we had to cut down the first video to the appropriate length. To do this we used the razor tool and selected where we wanted to delete it. Unfortunately I didn't know how to separate the video from the audio but I soon found out we go to Modify - Link, this allowed me to separate the video from the audio. 

We imported a song called "raindrops keep falling on my head" we downloaded this of a youtube converter called "www.youtube-mp3.org" it doesn't quite fit into the theme of the video but the beat was smooth which fits in well. 

When we did this we saved the project but I forgot to export the video which means we had to start from scratch meaning we had to cut the videos again, edit the length of the song, render it each time we changed something. We had to render it because if we didn't, then the video would not play and would not work so the project wouldn't have been able to be finished. 

Once we had finally edited the video we faded out the music towards the end.

Once we had done this, we exported the video into quicktime movie player and it played quite well. 

Here is our BBC2 Ident video:

Filming our ident

 When it came to filming our final idea, we used a cambo camera stand in the studio. This allowed us to place the camera at any height and any angle we could and we got the angle just right. When Jordon and I were shooting the video, we took it in turns for who was to record and who was to drop the 2 on the pile of skittles, this way we could change the angle of the camera and see who could land the 2 in a better position.

 We used the following equipment:

cambo camera stand

table

cloth

"2"

skittles

lighting

 We had to tweek the lighting due to the shadows that were being given off, once this had been done, we re-shot the video. We sorted the skittles into a neat pile, good enough so that when the 2 had been dropped, the skittles would fly out in all different directions. I was the one to drop the 2 and Jordon was was the one to record the action. The 2 dropped right into the center of the skittles, they flew out how we planned and looked different and extraordinary.

 When it came to playing around with editing, we realised that it would look better if we reversed the video and slowed it down. This makes it more interesting and intriguing to watch, creating a different and well organised advert.

Creating Our Number 2

When it came to creating the number 2, Jordon and I had to a lot of planning and sort out what to do, who was to do it out of the two of us. We were going to use cardboard to create the 2 but, the weight would not have been enough to give the effect we wanted, so instead of cardboard we used a foam board, this weighed more and would give a better effect once the layers had been piled up on top of one another.
Jordon and I took it in turns to cut out the shape of the 2, it was tricky to do because the knife was quite blunt and cutting out the round sides was difficult as the knife kept cutting off in another direction.
Materials used:
2 Foam boards
1 knife
1 ruler
1 back board (so the table doesn't get scratched or damaged)

We ended up cutting 9 layers of the shape "2" so that we could get the right weight and width to give the effect we wanted. Once each 2 had been cut out, we peeled back the paper and stuck each 2 on top of the other.

Once the 2's were all stuck together, the next step was to sand it all down to make the edges smoother and all in line with one another. To do this, Jordon and i went down to the 3D workshop and used sandpaper to sand it all down. Unfortunately for us, we had to go outside in the cold because the foam is extremely hard to get out of materials like carpet and the material used for the chairs. By going outside, the wind would blow away the foam and make less of a mess. It took Jordon and i around an hour and a half to sand all the sides down to en equal point.

Once the 2 had been sanded down, it came to the point where we had to paper mache it. It took is an hour to do the sides and one face of the object. We couldn't do both sides in one day so we had to come in on another day to do the other face of the 2. Unfortunately, when Jordon and I  came in on the friday, no one was available in the art department so we couldn't use their PVA glue or paint brushes so instead, we had to go and buy glue and paint brushes. We added water to the glue to make a paste and covered the 2 and left it to dry over the weekend.

On monday morning, we painted the 2 using white paint and paint brushes. Jordon and I knew that one layer was not going to be enough to cover up the newspaper printing, so once one layer was painted, we dried it under the hand dryer in the toilets allowing us to finish the job quicker but have the same outcome as it would by letting it dry by itself. We gave the to 2 three layers of paint so that we covered the newspaper up and gave a good effect.