Whilst editing, I have been thinking of what media encoder to use for our artefact video. When displaying videos in browsers, there are a number of encoders that can be used. These include:
Windows Media Player
Apple Quicktime
Realplayer
Adobe Flash Player
Depending on which one we use, it will affect the audience no matter what. There are two factors which affect this:
Computer Requirements
Quality of video
Students either have a Windows computer, or an Apple Mac computer. Windows Media Player is already installed on a Windows PC, and Apple Quicktime is already installed on an Apple Mac. If we decide to use Windows Media Player, then Apple Mac viewers will not be able to view the video, unless they download the Apple Mac plugin for Windows Media Player, and vice versa if we use Quicktime for Windows. This narrows down the option to either Realplayer and Adobe Flash Player, as it will not give any advantage to any viewer. Most websites allow you to choose the player you want to view the video in. The BBC used this service, but now due ever increasing use of Adobe Flash Player, they use that instead. Flash Player is simple to download, and I noticed when converting video to flash in the first lecture session, the quality was much better than any other media encoder. Most websites now use Adobe Flash Player for this reason. If the user does not have Adobe Flash Player, a link is provided to download. I think that the user should be given more than one choice when wanting to watch a video, because it should not be forced on the user to just use the default. If the user already has a player installed, then it shall be easier for them.
I conducted some research on this by creating a survey on www.SurveyMonkey.com. The two questions I asked 13 people were:
What do you use? A Windows PC or a Mac?
AND
What do you prefer to use when streaming media? - The options being, WMP, Quicktime, Realplayer and Flash.
The results for the first question ended up being 12 people using Windows PC's, and 1 person using a Mac. This doesn't determine every single student as I only asked 13 people, but it proves that certainly more people use Windows rather than Mac's, and maybe because Windows has always been the most popular. This study was not biased in any way and I did not know what computer's any of the users used.
The results for the second question ended up being 7 people using Windows Media Player, 1 person using Quicktime, and 4 people using Adobe Flash Player. These answers matched the first question, as the Apple Mac user probably would have chosen Quicktime, as it is already installed on the Mac's. Most of the Windows users would have chosen WMP, and the rest of the users chose Flash, because they had it downloaded on their computers. This proves that more people prefer using Windows Media Player, as it seems the default and common player. However, I was impressed that people chose Flash Player. I think as websites move from using Windows Media Player or Quicktime to Flash Player, then more people will prefer this. If people can see just how much difference in quality Flash Player produces, then I think they would certainly rather use that.
Regards to our video, in my opinion, Adobe Flash Player should be used, as the quality is much better. If users do not have the player, there will be a link for them to download it easily. It also means that our player is not biased towards Windows or Mac viewers, as it is not a default player. It is a popular choice, and so we shall stick with it. To get the flash player to work, we will need to install an FLV player on our server so the flash video can be played, but this will be simple to download. I think for our video, other media encoder links should be included, just incase users don't want to download Flash Player. I shall suggest these to the members in my group.
Friday, 12 December 2008
Monday, 8 December 2008
Filming the video
The previous friday, we booked out a camera for us to use for this filming session. We ordered:
- Camera (P100)
- Shotgun Microphone (required 1 AAA battery) - These type of microphones are good because they are the most highly directional, and used for professional recording
- Softie - This is useful as it stops the wind interrupting the audio when filming outside
We collected these on this monday, and set off to film. We went to Jon's house first to set up and test the camera equipment. When filming, the focus, and white balance must be checked. These can be controlled on the camera itself. To white balance the camera, means, you have to use pure white, instead of picking up other white's in view. To do this, a sheet of A4 paper, which is pure white, must be held up to the camera, focused on, and the white balance button must be pressed. Once this is done, we noticed the colour we saw through the camera greatly improved, and gave a better picture.
We decided since it was 2pm, we must make use of the light, so we decided to film the bottle bank scene first. We gathered the equipment, helped by Becky and Helen, and took it to the bottle bank on _______ road. Once we had chosen an appropriate angle to film at, and once Ed was prepared with his white lab coat, and waxed hair, we could film. We gave roles of Jon to direct, with me semi-directing and giving my opinion on what looks best. Because Ed was a TV and Film 3rd year student at the University, he was able to help us know what we were doing as well, since we hadn't filmed since year 1 of our course. A couple of practice runs, and Ed learning his lines, and we were able to film. Because Ed either got distracted or forgot his lines, we had to do many takes on getting the filming right. We also had distractions behind us, as it was now the time of day the school children finished, and they were gathering behind and shouting at us, asking what we were doing. Luckily, they didn't distract us too much, and soon moved on, thus allowing us to film the rest of the bottle bank scene. My other role whilst filming was to hold the microphone, which was plugged into the camera, with the softie on top, to avoid the wind affecting the audio. I had to hold the microphone, so it was just off screen, so that Ed (Dr Colm Beeny) could be heard clearly. I had to make sure the microphone was held as still as possible as any movements would make a noise and ruin the audio. We tried two different shots, a medium shot, for most of the scene, and when Dr Colm Beeny had to place a glass bottle in the bin, we used a close up shot, to show the bottle going in the hole in the bin. This looked effective. Although students should know how to recycle glass, this was just an extra scene we added, to prove that there were bottle banks around Portsmouth.
After filming, we packed up and headed back to Jon's house. We immediatly got to work to setting up the recyclable materials and non recylable materials that we had collected and brought to Jon's last week. After a short break, Ed was back in place, and we began filming his lines. Due to us not including every fact from the leaflets that we recieved in the script, we gave Ed the job of 'ad-libbing' his role as Dr Colm Beeny, as he seemed to do well at that, and was entertaining for us watching and filming him. This added to the cheesyness and entertainment value of our film, which is exactly what we wanted.
After a lot of takes, and getting lines right, we finished filming, and found it took just over 3 hours to film everything, which we were impressed with. We sat down, watched the tape back, and approved! All the scenes apart from one scene in the lounger were filmed, and we had a thought that this scene could be animated in flash to give a bit of diversity, and I said I wouldn't mind doing the task as I was good at using Flash. The other point that we didn't follow exactly to the script was not showing the wheelie bin and the recyclable materials going into the bin. We decided that Dr Colm Beeny should just throw down the materials in anger, as his role was a character on Community Service, which he was not meant to be happy with doing. We thought it was necessary to show the wheelie bin, so we will just animate this, so the materials appear in the bin. Now the filming was finished, editing could be started.
- Camera (P100)
- Shotgun Microphone (required 1 AAA battery) - These type of microphones are good because they are the most highly directional, and used for professional recording
- Softie - This is useful as it stops the wind interrupting the audio when filming outside
We collected these on this monday, and set off to film. We went to Jon's house first to set up and test the camera equipment. When filming, the focus, and white balance must be checked. These can be controlled on the camera itself. To white balance the camera, means, you have to use pure white, instead of picking up other white's in view. To do this, a sheet of A4 paper, which is pure white, must be held up to the camera, focused on, and the white balance button must be pressed. Once this is done, we noticed the colour we saw through the camera greatly improved, and gave a better picture.
We decided since it was 2pm, we must make use of the light, so we decided to film the bottle bank scene first. We gathered the equipment, helped by Becky and Helen, and took it to the bottle bank on _______ road. Once we had chosen an appropriate angle to film at, and once Ed was prepared with his white lab coat, and waxed hair, we could film. We gave roles of Jon to direct, with me semi-directing and giving my opinion on what looks best. Because Ed was a TV and Film 3rd year student at the University, he was able to help us know what we were doing as well, since we hadn't filmed since year 1 of our course. A couple of practice runs, and Ed learning his lines, and we were able to film. Because Ed either got distracted or forgot his lines, we had to do many takes on getting the filming right. We also had distractions behind us, as it was now the time of day the school children finished, and they were gathering behind and shouting at us, asking what we were doing. Luckily, they didn't distract us too much, and soon moved on, thus allowing us to film the rest of the bottle bank scene. My other role whilst filming was to hold the microphone, which was plugged into the camera, with the softie on top, to avoid the wind affecting the audio. I had to hold the microphone, so it was just off screen, so that Ed (Dr Colm Beeny) could be heard clearly. I had to make sure the microphone was held as still as possible as any movements would make a noise and ruin the audio. We tried two different shots, a medium shot, for most of the scene, and when Dr Colm Beeny had to place a glass bottle in the bin, we used a close up shot, to show the bottle going in the hole in the bin. This looked effective. Although students should know how to recycle glass, this was just an extra scene we added, to prove that there were bottle banks around Portsmouth.
After filming, we packed up and headed back to Jon's house. We immediatly got to work to setting up the recyclable materials and non recylable materials that we had collected and brought to Jon's last week. After a short break, Ed was back in place, and we began filming his lines. Due to us not including every fact from the leaflets that we recieved in the script, we gave Ed the job of 'ad-libbing' his role as Dr Colm Beeny, as he seemed to do well at that, and was entertaining for us watching and filming him. This added to the cheesyness and entertainment value of our film, which is exactly what we wanted.
After a lot of takes, and getting lines right, we finished filming, and found it took just over 3 hours to film everything, which we were impressed with. We sat down, watched the tape back, and approved! All the scenes apart from one scene in the lounger were filmed, and we had a thought that this scene could be animated in flash to give a bit of diversity, and I said I wouldn't mind doing the task as I was good at using Flash. The other point that we didn't follow exactly to the script was not showing the wheelie bin and the recyclable materials going into the bin. We decided that Dr Colm Beeny should just throw down the materials in anger, as his role was a character on Community Service, which he was not meant to be happy with doing. We thought it was necessary to show the wheelie bin, so we will just animate this, so the materials appear in the bin. Now the filming was finished, editing could be started.
Monday, 1 December 2008
Writing the script
On this monday, me and Jon met up, and went back to his house to write a script. Since we wanted to write a proper script set up professionally, we used professional script writing software, called Celtx, which we downloaded online from their website, for free. This allowed us to create a professionally written script, so we could easily follow it when it came to filming.
We used the leaflets given to us by the council, and part of my script to come up with the final script. Since we wanted the video to be slightly cheesy and funny as well, we decided to use Jon's housemate, Ed, as the presenter, as we knew he likes messing about and would make the perfect actor to play the role of our quirky presenter. Since Ed had a good sense of humour and thought of jokes, we got him to help us think of quirky, funny lines to add to our script, and this would make it better when coming to film, because he has written them out himself. We allowed Ed to think of how he'd like the character to be like, and we came up with the name of Dr Colm Beeny, a guy who is on his community service, being told to tell the students of Portsmouth how to recycle.
Ed knew how to use the script writing software, so taught me and Jon just how to create a script, and this benefited us, as we did not have to learn, and we could get on with writing the script as soon as possible. It took us a while to get to grips with the software but after practicing for a little, then we soon got the hang of it. It took a whole afternoon to write, but in the end, we agreed that it was an effective script, and we will now send the script to Helen and Becky to get their approval.
The script can be downloaded here:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/41dbd3/n/New_Final_Script_doc
We used the leaflets given to us by the council, and part of my script to come up with the final script. Since we wanted the video to be slightly cheesy and funny as well, we decided to use Jon's housemate, Ed, as the presenter, as we knew he likes messing about and would make the perfect actor to play the role of our quirky presenter. Since Ed had a good sense of humour and thought of jokes, we got him to help us think of quirky, funny lines to add to our script, and this would make it better when coming to film, because he has written them out himself. We allowed Ed to think of how he'd like the character to be like, and we came up with the name of Dr Colm Beeny, a guy who is on his community service, being told to tell the students of Portsmouth how to recycle.
Ed knew how to use the script writing software, so taught me and Jon just how to create a script, and this benefited us, as we did not have to learn, and we could get on with writing the script as soon as possible. It took us a while to get to grips with the software but after practicing for a little, then we soon got the hang of it. It took a whole afternoon to write, but in the end, we agreed that it was an effective script, and we will now send the script to Helen and Becky to get their approval.
The script can be downloaded here:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/41dbd3/n/New_Final_
Friday, 28 November 2008
Planning the video
Since we had the research from the leaflets, we can now plan the writing and filming of the video. This involved thinking of locations, actors, and of course writing the script. We decided that me and Jon will take on the role of this stage, and Becky and Helen will work on the website together. We will report back to each other, with each other's developments.
I originally had an idea to include two characters in the video, with one character as the presenter, and the 2nd character as a bad example of a student in Portsmouth. The bad example student would do everything wrong, and the presenter would tell him he's doing it wrong, and show him how to recycle and where to recycle. I created a script and sent this to Jon, Helen and Becky, to see what they thought of it, which they liked, but in the end we thought that sticking with one character may just be best, and we can still include all of the information I wrote in my script. I also created a storyboard, which I will scan in at a later date. The script can be downloaded here:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/2f258b/n/Script_doc
Planning the video, we decided on these options:
Character
Quirky presenter
Location
Student house (we will use Jon's house as it is closest to the Uni)
Bottle Bank (to show to recycle glass)
Props
Recyclable and non recyclable materials, recyling bin, lab coat for presenter
Sound Old style music (1950's etc) to match the style of the video
Time
Day
Titles
Using editing software - hence it will be graphics
Camera Angles
Mostly long and medium camera shots, few close ups
Other
A tripod will be used to keep the camera steady during filming
These may change in the future, but for now, we will base it using these decisions. Now the decisions were made, we could start writing the script to be used, using proper script software.
I originally had an idea to include two characters in the video, with one character as the presenter, and the 2nd character as a bad example of a student in Portsmouth. The bad example student would do everything wrong, and the presenter would tell him he's doing it wrong, and show him how to recycle and where to recycle. I created a script and sent this to Jon, Helen and Becky, to see what they thought of it, which they liked, but in the end we thought that sticking with one character may just be best, and we can still include all of the information I wrote in my script. I also created a storyboard, which I will scan in at a later date. The script can be downloaded here:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/2f258b/n/Script_doc
Planning the video, we decided on these options:
Character
Quirky presenter
Location
Student house (we will use Jon's house as it is closest to the Uni)
Bottle Bank (to show to recycle glass)
Props
Recyclable and non recyclable materials, recyling bin, lab coat for presenter
Sound Old style music (1950's etc) to match the style of the video
Time
Day
Titles
Using editing software - hence it will be graphics
Camera Angles
Mostly long and medium camera shots, few close ups
Other
A tripod will be used to keep the camera steady during filming
These may change in the future, but for now, we will base it using these decisions. Now the decisions were made, we could start writing the script to be used, using proper script software.
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Recycling Leaflets from Council
Leaflet OneThis leaflet describes how to recycle garden waste. Although it is recycling, we are more focused on the Portsmouth Recycling Scheme, and although it is not mentioned on our video, we have managed to research it. Also there is little time to cover everything recycled on the video, but it maybe should have been said at the end, as to what cannot be recycled from your home. We decided not to use garden waste, as you can recycle garden waste no matter what you want, and we are more focused on home recycling collection. This leaflet would still be benefitial to the people of Portsmouth, as it says where to take the garden waste, and when the composting centre is open. We also did not decide to use it, as student houses don't usually involve taking care of the garden, since time at the houses are limited.
Leaflet TwoThis leaflet was one of the most useful to us, because it describes the Pompey Recycling Scheme (the home delivery scheme) used to collect recycling from houses such as student houses. We used this leaflet, as well as the website, to find out just exactly what you can recycle from the house. This leaflet was also useful because it tells you where you can recycle other materials, such as furniture, fridges, electrical items, glass, books, and clothes. The only material useful to students would of course be glass, as glass is used all the time, for food and drink. This is why we have decided to include a scene in the video with where to take and recycle glass bottles and jars.
The other thing noticeable and very useful to us with this leaflet was the recycling facts at the bottom, as little things like these would help make our video quirky, in the style we wanted.
Leaflet ThreeThis leaflet described the process that happens after food and drink cans are recycled. This was interesting to know, as many people often wonder what happens after recycling has been collected. But since this was nothing to do with home collection, then the information was not needed for our video. What was useful about this leaflet though, was the little facts, which meant that they could be used on our video, to appear as quirky facts, and we would try turn these facts to make them funny and interesting.
Leaflet Four
This leaflet was similar to leaflet two, so didn't really benefit us in any major way, as it just describes what you can and can't recycle. It does mention other items that wern't mentioned in leaflet two, like not being able to recycle yoghurt pots. Since students will be eating yoghurts, this is essential information to them. The main good point about this leaflet is the quirky facts again, and this would be perfect for us to use. Since this leaflet is mostly based on tin cans, it describes facts about cans, which is useful, to students who want to recycle cans. We decided that we will not go into detail about each item recycled, but just mention them, and in that way, we hope that it will benefit students to an extent.
Leaflet Five
This leaflet we found pretty interesting because it described what kind of things you can and can't recycle at Christmas. Since Christmas was coming up, this would be great information for students. Although, there was no chance that we would be able to finish our work in time for Christmas, we had an idea to make a section on our website for Season Recycling. In this section, we could include this information, and students or people in Portsmouth will know what they can put in their recycling bins in the seasonal holidays. Although the seasonal items cannot be included in the home collection scheme, it is always good to know where to take these additional items, and this will be included on our website.
Leaflet Six
This is the other side of leaflet five, and again very useful for us in our Seasonal Recycling section on our website, as it will benefit students what to recycle in the seasonal holidays.
Leaflet SevenThis leaflet explains the importance of storing waste, and must follow the duty of care law to keep waste safe. I didn't really understand this leaflet, as I didn't know what the duty of care law is, but this could be useful to students, as they need to understand this law, and must abide by it. We wern't told about this law when we moved in, so it may be useful to make this point clear on our websites, as it is a pretty essential point to mention, as if the law is broken, then a fine will be charged.
These leaflets have been benefitial in some way to our artefact video and website, and we will use most of the information in the leaflets to inform students how to recycle, where, and when, so students can be aware of recycling, and know just what they can and can't recycle. Now the research has been done, we can now start on planning our video.
Monday, 24 November 2008
Artefact Production - Stage One
Once we knew our topic of creating a video to teach the students of Portsmouth about the Portsmouth Recycling Scheme, then the next stage was to plan it.
To be able to get information for the video, we would need to ask the council for leaflets, etc. Helen nominated herself to be the person to email them. After a couple of days, we recieved an email back from the council saying:
Dear Helen
Subject: Recycling
Thank you for contacting the City Helpdesk at Portsmouth City Council.
I have put a selection of leaflets in the post to you today. You might wish to also look at our website which has a lot of information, I have provided the following link for you. http://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/AtoZ/891.html
Should you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Regards
Customer Service Advisor HHS855
City Helpdesk
Within a week, Helen recieved the leaflets, and brought them to our first planning session, on Monday 24th November 2008. We benefited from these leaflets, because they contained information we did not know about the Portsmouth Recycling Scheme, and this would be brilliant information to use for our video. Even better, they contained quirky facts that would work well in our film. I will post a new blog describing and analysing these leaflets.
To be able to get information for the video, we would need to ask the council for leaflets, etc. Helen nominated herself to be the person to email them. After a couple of days, we recieved an email back from the council saying:
Dear Helen
Subject: Recycling
Thank you for contacting the City Helpdesk at Portsmouth City Council.
I have put a selection of leaflets in the post to you today. You might wish to also look at our website which has a lot of information, I have provided the following link for you. http://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/AtoZ/891.html
Should you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Regards
Customer Service Advisor HHS855
City Helpdesk
Within a week, Helen recieved the leaflets, and brought them to our first planning session, on Monday 24th November 2008. We benefited from these leaflets, because they contained information we did not know about the Portsmouth Recycling Scheme, and this would be brilliant information to use for our video. Even better, they contained quirky facts that would work well in our film. I will post a new blog describing and analysing these leaflets.
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Data Compression
Data compression is 'the process of encoding information using fewer bits'. This results in the file being compressed (or shrunk down) to a smaller size. This is useful as it reduces hard disk space, or bandwidth (if used online). The disadvantage of this is that the 'compressed file data must be decompressed to be view or heard,' and require extra processing. This means that to decompress a file, an expensive piece of software may have to be used to decompress data 'fast enough to be viewed'. There must be sufficient storage space for the decompressed video to be stored.
There are two types of compression, lossless and lossy compression. Lossless is where the file is kept exactly the same after compression, and lossy is where a tiny bit of data is changed but not noticed the the user. Lossless data is reversible as it is 100% exactly the same, so original data can be reconstructed but since a small change is made for lossy data then it makes the task of reconstructing original data much harder.
Lossless data is data is benefitial to businesses as their work in spreadsheets, text, programs etc cannot be changed even a single bit and must not be tolerated.
Lossy data can be used in digital cameras to increase their storage space, and keeping almost a perfect quality.
In the end, unless it is really necessary not to change the data for certain reasons, there is not much difference in the end. In my opinion, I would prefer to use Lossless data, as it is 100% exactly the same as original data, even though it may need more expensive software to do this. It is better in a sense, as it can converted back to the original data, if needed to, whilst lossy cannot do this, making it harder to work with. Although lossy data does produce data that is a smaller file size, as detail is removed, but if nobody notices it, then lossy data is successful.They are both benefital in their own ways.
SOURCE: Data Compression (hand-out). Retrieved 23rd November 2008.
There are two types of compression, lossless and lossy compression. Lossless is where the file is kept exactly the same after compression, and lossy is where a tiny bit of data is changed but not noticed the the user. Lossless data is reversible as it is 100% exactly the same, so original data can be reconstructed but since a small change is made for lossy data then it makes the task of reconstructing original data much harder.
Lossless data is data is benefitial to businesses as their work in spreadsheets, text, programs etc cannot be changed even a single bit and must not be tolerated.
Lossy data can be used in digital cameras to increase their storage space, and keeping almost a perfect quality.
In the end, unless it is really necessary not to change the data for certain reasons, there is not much difference in the end. In my opinion, I would prefer to use Lossless data, as it is 100% exactly the same as original data, even though it may need more expensive software to do this. It is better in a sense, as it can converted back to the original data, if needed to, whilst lossy cannot do this, making it harder to work with. Although lossy data does produce data that is a smaller file size, as detail is removed, but if nobody notices it, then lossy data is successful.They are both benefital in their own ways.
SOURCE: Data Compression (hand-out). Retrieved 23rd November 2008.
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