Video and Editing Techniques

In this assignment I am going to be talking about the purposes of editing, the development of editing over time and the conventions and techniques that are used in editing, alse I shall be talking about a few basic editing examples. 

Firstly I am going to talk about the development of editing.

Editing has been has been around for many years and as the years go by the technology gets better and faster as well as the software, but before technology was around there wasnt ways to edit via computers, in this assignment I am going to talk about how this happen and what the human race did to edit.. Also the way to show a film or small movie has been around for many years. There has been different machines to view these short films on, an example of this is the Zoopraxiscope.

The history of cinema: 



The history of cinema, links to Edweard Muybridges work. He influenced the idea of film making and animation. This was due to his interest in how animals and human beings move.  In 1872, he was hired by the former governor of California Leland Standford. He was hired to do a photographic study. A popular question during this era was "do all four feet of the horse leave the ground at the same time when trotting?". He was hired to take photographs for this study to see if this question was true, because the human eye couldn't break down the horses actions as quickly. Until this study was done, artist painted horses in galloping mode with one hoof on the ground. 

Here are the twelve images Muybridge took of the horse, he then placed these onto a disc to be used in a Zoopraxiscope or a Phenakistoscope, so Standford could see the results. 







Here are the results, which show all four of the horses hooves not touching the floor when he is in full gallop.

The first type of machine that was used to show movies or animated pictures was called the 'Wheel of Life' or "Zoopraxiscope". It was created by William  Lincoln in 1867. Images or drawings were watch through a slit in the Zoopraxiscope. 

To the left is as example of the Zoopraxiscope. These are used by: when they are spinning around the viewer will look through the slits that are around the Zoopraxiscope, and the images inside will appear to be moving. 



Edweard Muybridge, was the first human to make motion pictures by using the Zoopraxiscope. He also used a Phenakistoscope.

Here is an example of a Phenakisoscope. There are different methods on how these are used, this example is used by: when the viewer moves the handle round the disc with the images will spin twice as fast as the disc with the slits, so the images will appear to be moving. 








To the right is an example of Muybridges "People waltzing" disc. These discs would be placed on the Phenakistoscope, so the view can see them moving(shown below).



The first type of film cameras, where created in two different places, by different people around the same time in history. They worked by having a roll of film that would mechanically move past the shutter and lens system. One was created in France by the Lumiere Brothers and the other in America by Thomas Edison.

The Lumiere Brothers creation was called Cinematograph.

 Here is a front view of the Cinematograph, which shows the lens. But is also shows that it opens up.

Here is an inside view of the Cinematograph. Here we can see where the lens is from the inside, but also where the film would go.








The films the brothers created were around 50 seconds long. Each film was taking in one shot. This is called "Edited in Camera". Edited in camera, is where you add the sequence shot by shot. When you have filmed one section of your story you then film the next section and then put them together using an editing software, or back when there wasn't an editing software, these sections were cut up, and taped/glued in the order that the creator wants them in. 

What was interesting about the Lumiere Brothers camera, was that it also projected what the filmed. 

Thomas Edison, created the Kinetoscope (shown to the right) in October 17th 1888. He had a high interest in motion pictures before this time. But what stimulated him was when Muybridge came to his laboratory in West Orange, during February 1888. Muybridge had a proposal for Edison, which was to collaborate and combine the Zoopraxiscope with Edison's Phonograph. Although Edison was apparently intrigued, he turned down this offer, realizing that the Zoopraxiscope wasn't a very practical or efficient way of recording motion.  



Here is an example of Edison's first film. The person who is pretending to sneeze is one Edison's employee Fred Ott. A problem Edison had was good film for a motion picture wasn't available. So in 1893, Eastmen Kodak started to supply motion film stock, making it possible for Edison to reach the next level in motion pictures. He built a motion picture production studio in New Jersey, which had a roof that could be opened to let daylight in, it was also built so the building could move to stay in line with the sun. 

Edited in Camera:

As shown above I have mentioned Edited in Camera in the Lumiere Brothers. The earliest example of editing in camera was by an American Firefighter in 1902 (shown below).



Edited in Camera is still used today.



Here is an example of Edited in Camera, by using a single 8mm film cartridge.

Editing:

Editing in camera isn't always very good, as it is very difficult to assemble a finished film in cinema. Because it is too hard to judge where each shot should start and finish, early film makers needed to think of a way to "trim shoots" and to be able to alter the order of an shorter section of film, which is called "clips".

As I have previously mentioned "trim shoots" is done by cutting up film and taping/gluing them back together creating the clips.  Before mechanical editing decks were created this was done by hand which included a pair of scissors and a magnifying glass. Iwan Serrurier who was the founder of Moviola company, created the first mechanical editing deck, which cut up and reassembled movies in 1924.

To the left is Serruriers invention called Moviola. Which mechanically cut up and reassembled movies. This machine revolutionized editing, which allowed more sophisticated ways of cutting techniques to be developed.  This technique, done by hand or mechanically is called "Linear Editing".




From 1920 until the end of WW2, film editing was done on Moviola decks, until a German company called Steenback introduced their machine, which rapidly became the industry standard.  

Below is an example of someone using the Steenback.
 

Invention of Video Editing:

Recording to something was always done to video tape, but the idea of recording to something different was invented by the Ampex research team in 1951. The machine that Ampex created was called VR-1000 (shown to the right), even though it isn't the first Video Tape Recorder, it was the first practical broadcast quality recorder.  It recorded a black and white with an mono audio channel of an 2inch wide video tape. it ran at 15inches per second. The picture was recorded by  using four heads on a rotating drum which is also know as Quadruplex across the tape from top to bottom. 

If the VR-1000, was to be useful, it had t be edited as well as the tapes themselves. It could be spliced in the same way an audio tape could be spliced. It did require more care because you were both editing both the audio and video, and so the splice would play smoothly, without an breakup or rolling on screen, the splice had to be made at an very precise spot on the tape. To do the "prefect" splice you had to first develop the tape. This was done with the aid of an microscope so you could see where to make the cut. The developer is a solution which contained very fine metal particles that are attracted by magnetized areas of the tape. Then you use a guillotine knife to cut the tape. To complete the splice you would use 3M video splicing tape to join both ends. 


 
To stop doing this splicing by hand the Smith Splicer (shown to the left) was created. There was a slight problem with the Smith Splicer, the operator had to press the record button but half a second before the edit would take place, which would cause the smallest mistake causing the edit to be in the wrong spot, unfortunately there was no way to correct it.   

So because of the flaw from the Smith Splicer, the Editec MK 3 (shown above) was created by Ampex. This helped the editors because they could do accurate frame edits, the ability to do previews, and the ability to trim an edit, and we could still trim the external device - the audio tape machine. 

By this time video taping was missing one thing. This thing was a way to uniquely identify each frame. This is called Time Code. It is a an electronic signal that is added to the video tape, that identifies each frame. By using Time Code you could search for a certain frame, to do frame accuracy and repeatable edits, synchronise video with audio, and much more. 

EECO (Electronic Engineering Company of California) created the EECO-900 editor (shown to the right), which used there "On-Time" time code. 

The EECO-900 replaced the Ampex Editec, and gave the user(s) greater control and flexibility over the editing process. It was also  one of the most popular editors in the Hollywood post production market. 

The CMX-300 (shown left) was one of the first computer based editing systems. It allowed the users(s) to control the Video Tape Recorder, audio and the video switcher. It was the first editor to use Time Code for colour framing. 








The first feature film shot on video was Julie and Julia in 1987.



The first commercial movie shot in HD was Once Upon A Time in Mexico in 2004. 



Non-Linear Editing Systems (NLE):

The first attempts to create non-linear editing systems, was in the 1970's but no one was able to bring a commercial system to the market. Lucasfilm started to develop a system for this in the 1980's with their EditDroid, this also never turned into a commercial system. The EditFroid is a system that is based on laser disc technology. 

The first commercially successful, non-linear editing system, was created during 1989. This was when AVID launched the first  AVID 1 Media Composer editing system. It was a hardware and software system, which was based on Apple Computer Technology.

This was the first type of computer based system that would turn taped data into files. These files could then be moved around on the timeline of the editing system. One of the major developments that allowed this to happen was the creation of the digital video camera. The very first professional video camera was the Sony D1, which came onto the market in 1986.

Non Destructive Editing:

Non destructive editing, was created which allowed the change from linear to non-linear, that was on either film or video, that could be transformed into digital data, and that data could then be altered without destroying the original file. 

Once the data had been changed to digital, it was possible to alter and/or manipulate that data, in ways that was impossible by using Non-Linear Systems.   

Now I am going to be talking about the Purposes of editing. 

Story Telling:

No matter what the piece is, whether it is a drama, documentary or news, the purpose of editing is the same - which is effective storytelling.

This is done by controlling the audiences point of view. The shots that we need to decide to shoot during production need to be exactly what we would need to tell our story in the edit. 

Genre:

There are many types of  film genres, this because everyone has different tastes and interests, also it is how film is defined by either content or style.

Here are a few examples:

 Here we have '50 First Dates' made in 2004, which is a romance with a mix of comedy, therefore it is a Rom-Com. This can catch the viewers attention because of who the two main characters are - Adam Sandler and Drew Berrymore. But also the way it is set out, for example Drew plays a girl called Lucy who has short term memory loss so she can't remember what she did the day before, and lives each day as the day of her accident but doesn't remember the accident happening. But Adam who plays Henry, falls for Lucy, before knowing about her condition, but when he finds out he makes her fall in love with him each day. 

Here we have 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' created in 1975. This is a musical,which is shown with the many songs, but also we get the idea it is a musical because the opening scene is of a mouth singing 'Science Fiction/Double Feature'. What also makes it interesting is that that apart from being a musical, it has a twist which involves the change that is formed between the characters. For example Janet is  very traditional until she starts to sing 'Touch-a, touch-a, touch me' where she is beginning to find Frank-N-Furters world interesting, as her appearance changes from wearing white and lavender full cover suits/clothing, to red and black corsets and fishnet stockings. 

Here we have 'Underworld' created in 2003. This is a action, fantasy thriller. This is because, there is weaponry which shows the action part of the film, it has mythical creatures which makes up the fantasy part, and the thriller part, is because it has a lot of blood and death in it. It draws the viewers attention because of the war between the vampires and lycans, but also because romantic connection between Selene and Micheal.





Pace and Rhythm:

pace of cutting is used to control the tension in a scene. The more the cuts per minutes , the faster the pace is. 

Faster is an action film staring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. It is about Driver (Johnson) who has suffered a 10 year prison sentence because a mess up of a bank robbery, but because of this sentence he has enough time to plan to avenge the murder of is brother. Each time he kills someone who was involved with his brothers death, the same cop/hitman shows up trying to get to him. But here the tension is, who is going to die first, but no one does. Therefore the tension builds up because you don't know who is going to die out of the three. From the editing process, we can see the rhythm the editors where tying to get, which is quick camera motions between the characters. What breaks the tension is when Driver is shot in the back of the head at the end of the film, but what the cop forgets is the Driver has a metal plate in the back of his head, because when the bank robbery too place, the cop who was part of the crime shot  Driver in the back of the head, but the bullet passed through Drivers cheek, therefore only putting him down for a few minutes because the bullet did the same motion because of the plate. So here the tension is 'broken', so whilst cop is paying the hitman for attempting to do his job, Driver wakes up, and waits for the hitman to disappear, then takes his opportunity to take on cop. Cop then remembers the metal plate, but it is too late as Driver has killed him, then officially breaking the tension. 

50 First Dates is a rom-com, but mainly romance. Lucy has short term memory lose so she re-lives each day as her accident but doesn't remember the accident happening.  But when Henry comes into the cafe that Lucy has breakfast in, he is drawn to her, gives her a tip for her waffle house door that she was making, and ends up having breakfast with her, hey both plan to do the same thing the next day, but it doesn't all go to plan as Lucy doesn't remember who Henry is. So he plans on meeting her in different ways. Here the tension is, is it going to work, is she going to talk to him? Eventually Henry asks her to marry him, because he uses a video to help her to remember him everyday. She leaves him because she wants him to follow his dream of boating, which causing more tension, because he sees her in the park he works at and tries to get her attention because he loves her. Here the editors has created slow camera motions because it creates a romantic tension. The tension breaks in the end because she remembers who he is because she is constantly painting him in different ways and eventually marries him an has a baby girl with him.

The tension between both films are different because they are both different genres, but it breaks a the same time because with it breaking we know the films is coming to an end. Plus each is edited differently to make the tension in each film different, by changing the camera motion.

Combining shots into sequence to engage the viewer:

In any type of genre the shots of a sequence can help the viewer think about what is going to happen next and sometimes reveals what is going to happen next in the story. 

Here are a few examples:

Here we have a clip from The Wolfman (2010). He we know Laurence has been bitten by the wolf (who at the time he didn't know was his father). Here Laurence has been taking into a mental hospital because the doctors think he is "making it up" that he is a werewolf. They take him into a viewing room purposely when it is the full moon to prove that he isn't a wolf. This all goes terribly wrong.  

We already know Laurence is a wolf because we saw him get bitten and change into a wolf sometime after he got bitten. So we instantly know what is going to happen. The way Laurence looks shows he is angry and letting his wolf self take over. But as we know he has threaten all who was in that room saying 'I will kill you all!' even though we already know he is going kill them though. 

The shots that are shown in this sequence are all quite long up until the effects of the moon starts to take place. But also they begin to speed up when the gag is taken off. There is a mixture of close ups, mid shots and motion shots which makes the scene more intense and building up the tension. The transformation shots of Laurence changing into his wolf self, makes the viewers instantly know he is going to kill as soon as he has changed because the transformation will break the restraints. We know from the way the doctor treats him he is going to go for the doctors life. But before he attacks the doctor he rips out with his jaws, the person who tries to sedate him, one of his vital organs. The he sees the doctor trying to escape and he then goes for the doctor. Who is killed by being thrown out of the window landing on metal spikes of a fence by Laurence. 

 Here we have Jaws (1975). This scene is where we can see the build to the death of the boy Alex. We know Broady is tense because of the previous death, so being on the beach next to the sea is hard on him because Jaws could come back at any time. 

We instantly know when Jaws is going to show up because his theme tune (shown below), begins to take place.

The death of Alex is brutal and strikes fear into the eyes of those onto the beach and the viewers who is watching the film. Jaws is swimming around underneath those who are  swimming in te sea. 

With Jaws swimming around underneath everyone it is intense because his theme tune is beginning to take place, and as he becomes closer to the kill the theme speeds up. We know that he is become closer to the kill because of the way the theme tune speeds itself up. 

The boy is flung up into the air by Jaws, quite brutally and is eaten during the process, his rubber float that he is playing on is ripped to shreds. The audience can tell that Alex is to be killed as the camera focuses on him more than the other children in the scene. Also the audience can tell by the way Broady ay is tense that he is going to get everyone out of the water.  

Now I am going to be talking about conventions and techniques.

Shot-Reverse-Shot (180 Degree Rule):

Shot-reverse-shot is mainly used in an dialogue sequence. It is used in the way point of view moves are swaped between the person talking to the person who s/he is talking to.

Here we have an example of shot reverse shot from the film Labyrinth (1986). Here it where Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) is repeating her monologue it the start of the film, but here she is repeating it to Jareth the Goblin King (David Bowie) "Give me the child. Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the child that you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great..."  But here she can never remember the line she says after, which Jareth gets his oppertunity to stay what he wants to say, "I ask for so little. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave." Between these pieces of diallogue the camera filps between both charaters which includes over the shoulder shots and medium head shots. When she says the most important line is this dialogue which is "You have no power over me."  Which she says boldly and powerfully, which causes Jareth to collapse and Sarah to return to her home where Toby is sound asleep in his cot as if he was never taken away.

The shots keep the audience interested because the change from one person to the other and at times have both of them in shot.

Montage:

A montage is a sequence that shows the characters development thoughout time. An example of this is Harry Potter. Where at the start of the film he is just a poor young orphan who lives with his aunt and uncle and cousin, who treats him poorly, who is later told his mother and father was murdered by Lord Voldermort, who is the most feared wizard in the wizarding world. Harry ends up fighting him a few times throughout the saga, but ends up getting out of the place where Voldermort is. By the sixth film he finds out he needs to destory seven horcruxs to destroy Lord Voldermort, by this time he had already destroyed one and Dumbledore one, he doesnt know he is one where Voldermort needs to places the killing curse upon him.

Here we have an example of one of the horcruxes being destroyed which causes a build up for Ron, who loses his temper with his two friends and walks away but later returns to save Harry from drowning. Here he builds up the courage to destroy something, which is good because from the start of the saga he is a coward because he is afraid to stand up for him self. 





Here we  have Harry with his final battle with Lord Voldermort. Right at the start of the saga Harry wasn't able to destroy him fully because of the Horcruxes being alive. But here all of the horcruxes have been destroyed and it is the final battle between Harry and Voldermort, which shows the "only one will survive" which is mentioned from the fifth film.

Now I am going to be talking about a few basic ways of editing with Final Cut Pro. I have included screen casts on how to these basic ways of editing, also these screen casts have been created by myself.

The first one I am going to talk about is 'In and Out points'.

Firstly you need to open Final Cut Pro and either go to log and transfer or import for the clips you are going to use for your story. Now once you have selected these clips, you need to decipher them into groups - Whats good, whats okay and whats bad. The good and the okay will more than likely be used for your story but not all of these may or may not be used in your story. When you have decided these, you then need to decide which is going to be first, but before you have placed this onto the timeline you need to decide which section out of that clip you are going to use. to do this you need to place the 'in and out points'. Now you can put your points in, in two different ways.

1. Where you have stopped the clip right click and click place in point, and then do the same for when you have chosen where you want the clip to end but this time you click on place out point.


Or


2. You can use the keyboard. To do this you can have the clip running or you can stop where you want to place you points. To place a in point press 'I' on your keyboard and to place an outpoint press 'O'.


Now I am going to talk about how to place a disolve effect between clips.

Now again you are going to need to place your in and out points for the clip(s) your going to have a disolve effect between. Now again your going to drag the clips you want onto the timeline, and when you have done theat you then need to click between them which will make a small highlight between them both. Then you need to go to effects and click on video transitions, then go to disolve and choose which one you want.






Now I am going to talk about putting a wipe into an edit.

To do this its similar to placing a dislove but this time you click on wipe and choose which one you like and like watch it over to see if you like it or not.












Now I am going to talk about how to do a cut away in an interview.

To do this there are different sections on the timeline. select the scene you want to go with the interview and place it onto the section above where your interview is. Now you are more than likely going to want to have the dialogue from the interview to continue over this cut away so what you do is: going back to the timeline there is an audio section and the part where you small cut away clip is you need to click on the red line and bring it down all the way to cut off all the sound that was in that clip, so when your interview is playing it will cut bbetween both scenes but the interview dialogue will be the only dialogue that you can hear.


Now I am going to talk about how to put a music track in an edit.

Again you need to decide which shots you are going to use, which includes the in and out points. You need to place you music track into where you can select your clips from, then drag it onto the timeline. Then you have your music on your story. 

Codes and Conventions in Corporate and Promotional Programming

In this assignment I am going to be talking about the codes and conventions in corporate and promotional programming. I will also be talking about the legal and ethical issues when creating a production. 

When doing a corporate video you need to consider different codes and conventions. They are used to create the promotional video. It's role can be to promote a product to the audience or to inform the audience about something. With promoting a product to the audience the video needs to be entertaining and wanting. To inform the audience about something, it can be heart breaking for the viewer as it can make them want to do something about that situation.

There are different codes and conventions to consider. These are:

• Voice Over: Some promotional videos, have a voice over. This is done to get the audiences attention, and normally replaces the music. But a voice over can be used for those who are blind, as it can be informative for them, which is a good reason for a voice over. But also in a promotional video there can be small sections of voice over, which could keep the audience interested as the voice over can say small interesting facts.  
• Sound: Sound in a promotional video can be very important. Without sound in a video it can be very dull and hard to follow or to stay interested in. But the sound can also be people talking, trains going past, etc... 
• Music: Many promotional videos have music running though instead of sound or a voice over. It can be something really simple or something really elaborate. It can be used to keep the audience entertained. But some companies can use the sound track from a song for there promotional video, and by using that sound track it will be recognised by audience and keep them interested in the video.  
• Camera Angle: Different camera angles can make the video interesting  For example with having different types of angles, some moving some not it make the video very different and entertaining. 
• Camera Motion: Is the motion fast,slow, medium? Depending on what type of promotional video you are to create depends on the speed of the camera. Many promotional videos are slow and smooth. The cameras motion between clips and smooth, which makes it easier to edit.  
• Presenter: Is there going to be a presenter on the video? Is he/she going to be the voice over that is seen between clips? This can be interesting for the audience because some videos that show people in them it can be very interesting for them as it can draw there attention. 
• Company Logos: Many promotional videos from different companies  tend to show the companies logo at the start and at the end or mainly at the end. This can promote the video because, the audience might not see the whole video, so with having a logo on the video it can show that they have a new product out. Also it can bring popularity to that company. 
• Camera Distance: How far or close is the camera going to be to what you want to film?   Different distances can show a good effect to the video, as it can be appealing to the audience with having different distances can show different effects.  
• Mood: What is the mood for your promotional video? With you doing a promotional video your mood for it can be what ever you want, depending on the audience. If you where to do a video to promote lights, you might want to have the mood set quite romantic, for the lights so they would stand out more. 
• Text and Titles: This is mainly for your credits. But some promotional videos, have text throughout them. This can be naming who is speaking or for prices of an item etc...
• Research: Research is very important. This is to make sure no one has done a video like the one you want to do, as that can be copyright or plagiarism. 
• Editing: This is so you can cut out that wobbly camera shot or add in the best shots. Also when you are editing you can add in your text.

When you are doing your promotional video, you need to think of what equipment you are going to need. For example:

• Camera(s): This is the most obvious piece of equipment you are going to need. Without it how are you going to film your video? 
• Tripod: To make sure that your camera doesnt wobble, use a tripod. This is because, when editing it makes it easier because the shots arn't wobbling about, but also it makes you look profesional. 
• Boom mic: Are you filming outside? When filming outside it is best to use a boom mic. This is because the fur around the mic catchs any sound that isnt needed, for example: the wind.
• Microphone: Are you filming inside? To get the voices that you may require your better off using a microphone that works inside, because your in a enclosed space so there will be no wind to muffle your sound. 
• Computer: You would need this to upload your footage. Then with it being on the computer your ready to edit. 
• Editing software: There are different types of editing software you can use to create your promotional video. But with the software, you can make the shots sharper, colour grid them etc...

Now I am going to talk about four different promotional videos, explaining why they catch there target audiences attention, and what codes and conventions are used in them. 

  

Here is a promotional video from Apple, introducing Siri.  Siri is a voice on your phone that you can talk to to set reminders, check the weather, time in a different country etc... Why does this appeal to the target audience? One it targets the blind, because the blind can use Siri, to use there phone. I think this is a good idea because it can make them feel like everyone else by having a phone. Another reason is because when you are busy going for a jog or cooking with your kids, you can get Siri to set/book what you need. It has text and titles at the start and finish. This is to tell you what the product is, and shows you who it is from. There is a consistent voice over from the people who are shown in the video, this is to show what you can do with Siri. There is also a backing music to go with the voice overs. There are different camera distances, some are close ups and medium waist shots on the people in the video and there are close ups on the IPhones.   




This is a promotional video to help spread the effects of child abuse. The main audience for this is people who are against child abuse, but also it can be people who can't have children and want to help others. What the video shows is the children overhearing things there parents say, and shows the effects it can do. It has text and titles, which asks the audiences to do something about child abuse. It has the NSPCC's logo at the end to show who is doing the adverts. There is a voice over which is from the children, but it has no music which makes it more emotional with just having the children's voices. The camera angles are quite close up on the children, which can make the audience very emotional as it makes you want to do something.




The target audience for this video is those that are interested in games. It has people negotionating on which is better, the red or the blue. It has text all the way though in the bottom left hand corner which is the twitter hastag. There is a consent voice over from the people who are shown in the video, but there is also a quite backing track to go along with the video. What also makes the video interesting is that at the end it tells the views to vote on Facebook either red or blue as there are five of each colour console to be won, which makes the view want to vote as they then have a chance of winning one. 




One thing that instantly makes this video appealing is that it has Ant & Dec on it, which are two faces that everyone recognises.The video is both funny and informational, which gets the point across. It has text and titles in the video as it has the names of the people who the views wouldn't know on it, and it shows who the video is for at throughout and to ensure that the viewer knows who it from it has the Morrisons logo at the end. What also makes it appealing is that its backing track is from one of the most successful bands on the Earth - Take That. It also has a voice over, but in the voice overs it is fun to watch as they bring up things like the hair style the Mullet from the fish that Ant picks up, but also it shows Ant teasing Dec on the boat saying "he's a bit green around the gills" which makes the video funny as it has them both being them selves. 


When doing a promotional video you need to consider the legal and ethical issues. Some of these include: 

• Regional race: You need to ensure that you don't insult someone regional race. As this can get you in trouble, which could cause you to end up in a court of law.
• Violence: Many promotional videos have been banned from the TV as they show scenes of violence. 

Here is an example of a promotional video that was banned due to violence. Even though the woman is only head butting the man it is still a class of violence, children and even teenagers who drink 7Up see that video they might try to copy what they see. 

• Sexual content: If this was in a video Ofcom would also take this of the air. This can cause parents to complain if there children see a video that contains a sexual content, because they may be concerned that there children might copy it. For example Skittles, made a video a few years back, which involved a married couple on there wedding night, and all off a sudden the male starts spraying skittles into the woman's mouth. This was taken off because of the over the top sexual content. 
• Abuse: There are videos out there asking for help to stop abuse all over the world, but videos that contain abuse of any nature are instantly banned by OfCom, as it can cause the audience distress, and children could copy what they see.
• Legal acts: When creating a promotional video you need to follow the legal acts. Some of these include: Under 18's act - If you want to use children that are under the age of 18 in your video, you need written consent from the parent or guardian. If you don't get written consent and you just get it from the mouth, they can take you to court and say you didn't ask for there consent, even if you did. Because you need it on paper and them to sign it, so if they did try to take you to court and you have written consent you cannot get in trouble.   

Working to a brief in the Creative Media Sector

In the media industry clients can give briefs to companies  if they want something made. They can give these briefs in five different ways. 

These structures are:

•  Contractual - Is where you are under contract. The brief is given in an outlined contract. All of the clients requirements will be in this contract, for the employer to follow. This contract will be signed by the employer, stating that they will follow the requirements given for the client.

 This is an example of a contractual brief. On this all of the clients requirements of given on the brief for the employer to follow. If these are not followed, you have not done what they client wanted and the client can have you sued for not following the contract.

•  Formal - Is a meeting that is or could be organised with the client, to outline the requirements wanted. From this it can be recorded in different ways, so the employer can have all the information that is needed. Within this meeting they can discuss the requirements, and start to organise what is wanted, budgets  deadlines, how the employer is to be paid etc... For this you would dress smartly to show that you are really interested in doing this project.

  Here is an example on what to wear to a meeting for a formal meeting for a brief. Dressing smartly can help towards getting the brief, but you would need to ensure you are clean, not smelling and tidy hair.
 Wearing jeans could show that you are not interested, even if you are.

They way you present your self, can depend on whether you would get the brief or not. Even if you have the personality, and creativity for the job you need to consider the way you dress for the meeting.

• Negotiated - Is a type of meeting with the client and the employer, where they discuss ideas and work collaboratively with each other, discussing and agreeing on ideas for the aims from the objectives. Having good negotiation skills can help towards getting the brief, as you negotiate what can be done for the products. Some of the things you could negotiate are: budget, amount of products etc... Also with it being a negotiated brief, you can decide on the deadline. If you have several editors in your company, then you can more than likely get the product done, as when working as a team you can give out each team member a task to do.

•  Informal - Is the most unreliable types of brief structures. The client can contact over phone, email, social networking site I.E. Facebook or text message. With this they just basically ask you to do so make something for them I.E. a website. But with this if the client ends up cancelling, the employer looses business, and may possibly have to clients order created. Therefore the employer may be stuck with the creation. You might be friends with the person who wants the products done, but working for a friend can be complicated, as things can be changed. But if you tend to work as an informal company, you can get less business, as people might not need or want the items any more leaving you with the final products. But also it isn't very professional

• Tender - A tender is a type of competition brief. A group of people will be selected to do a brief, they could be selected by post, email or phone call. When going to the meeting, you then present you ideas to the client(s), and one of you would be considered to do the brief. To try and get the job, you will have to be a bit like a formal brief, because the cleaner and smartly dressed you are theres a big change you will get the job. Also how are you going to present how you are going to do the brief? Are you going to use flipchart/mood boards/prezi/microsoft powerpoint etc... You would need to show ideas, layout designs, colour charts and paperwork. If you went in looking this profesional there is a big chance you would get the tender brief.

One thing to consider about your brief is:

• To see who your client it, because without know who the client is, you wouldn't be able to create what is needed.
• What is there intention? With finding out there intention, this can help develop what the client wants.
• Who is the target audience and why? As this can help decide on what the creation will look like.
• What type of brief have you been given, from the structure types above.

When you have got your brief the first thing to do is read though it. Then decide what the client wants, and how your going to do to it. Then the most important thing to do is to start doing your primary and secondary research, but before you start your research, get every possible contact detail from your client. For example: Email addresses, Mobile numbers, Home numbers, Office numbers and Work numbers. So with having all possible client contact you can keep in contact with your client thought the project. Now that you have gotten your research you can start your planning. After you have all your planning ideas, pitch these back to your client, and if they want any changes do them to your planning, and then re-present them to your client. Once your client is satisfied, then you can start actually creating what your client wants. Once you have created what your client wants, you can then book a meeting with your client, to present the finished product.

One very important thing to consider when you are creating your clients product is possible constraints.

The constraints are:

• Legal: you will have to consider the law when you are creating your clients product. For example then entire creation is your own work and not copyright. Another example is to make sure nothing is obscene  but as obscene can be a large range of things, you need to consider what your going to put in, from images to words. Another important Act is: if your going to include images of children under the age of 18, you need to permission on the parent or guardian  but you need to have this in writing as, if you have it from word of mouth and create the product needed, you can be sued for using the image of that child because the parent or guardian can say 'no I didn't you permission to use that image.'
• Ethical: you need to consider the ethical constraints when creating your clients product. With this you need to ensure that there is no racism in the product as it could cause the creator and the client serious trouble. Also with ethical constraints you need to make sure that aren't any swearing on the product unless it is required for a certain thing, as the reader(s) of the product can again cause the creator and the client a lot of trouble.
• Budget: You would need to consider your budget from your client. You client can give you a budget that they want you to work within. Therefore you need to ensure you don't go over this budget.
• Timescale: Your client will more than likely give you a deadline for when he/she wants there products. Therefore you need to work within this timescale, because if you do hand in your clients products passed the deadline, they can give you a bad review, which could cause you to loose clients or not gain any clients.
• Conditions: What conditions has your client given you? Even if you don't like these conditions you need to follow them. They can be from something so very simple for example: certain colour scale, to something very complex, for example: details on the client for a web page, but with information about there life on how they got to where they are today. If you don't follow these your client can sue you for not following there conditions

When you have been asked to do a brief for a client, just follow these steps:
1. Generate ideas based on the key concepts in the brief.
2. Assess the ideas - how relevant and workable are they in relation to the brief?
3. Identify the strongest, most relevant and workable ideas.
4. Identify and problems or constraints that might happen with each of your ideas.
5. What solutions are there? Research and evaluate the solutions against the requirements and constraints.
6. What further changes could improve the fit of the brief and strengthen the product.
7. Select the strongest idea(s), that best fit the brief and then present them to your client using the most appropriate documentation.
8. Develop the preferred idea(s) further in the response to the clients feedback.

During pre-production for your brief you need to undertake a few things. Some of these are:

• Primary and Secondary research: Primary research is what you do by yourself. This could be anything from emails to surveys  With these you can collect responses for people that you know. Secondary research is where you go to library read though different books and journals to collect information on what you need for you client. Also you can look on the Internet to see if people have already created what your client wants or something similar.
• Photographs: Does your client want any photography in there product? If they do, you need to go  out and take them yourself, to prevent copyright of other people. If this didn't happen you could be sued for the copyright act
• Layout Designs: Create more that one layout design. As with having more that one, your client can choose which one he likes best. But he also might want to take some things from one layout and put then in another layout.
• Consider Typefaces:  Which is better to use? When creating a product create a list of different typefaces for your client, as then he can choose which one he likes, also it needs to be readable for he buyer.
• Software: What software are you going to use to create your clients product? This is because some documents don't open in different software. This is because some can be .JPG or .BMT
• Risk Assessments:  In most photography and video projects you need to have a risk assessment. On these you need to write all possible risks that could or can occur, and what you can do to prevent them or what to do if one occurs. Without one of these, you and the client can end up in trouble, as you didn't set out the assessment and didn't make plans on what to do if something occurs. 
• Contact lists: In a project, you need to have the contact details of your crew. Also you need the contact details of your client. With having these contact details, if one of your crew gets lost you can ring the other members to find out where they are, or you can ring the other members of the crew to see how they are doing.

When doing a Brief or a live brief you can get a lot of opportunities out of them. For example, if you are a student doing a live brief, this that you consider from you opportunities are: Putting the brief on the personal statement for your UCAS Application. This can help towards getting into a University that you want to go to, as it shows that you can work with clients. You can also put it on your CV. This can help towards getting a job, in the industry you want to work in. When an adult, you can also put the brief on your CV, to get other live briefs in the future or to get another or different job. Some other opportunities that can happen from doing a brief are: Some examples when you are in education can be: they can be a reference you applying for a job or in getting another live brief. They can say to the person who is offering you the job, what you did for them, if there were any problems, what you did to resolve them.

 An example from my experience is when I did a live brief for ST Peters School. For them we had to create a video for the new year sevens, to show how the school is like. We were given a 'little book of worries' which contained worries they current year sevens had when they started the school, some of which were: not making friends, getting head flushed down the toilet etc... From this the opportunities i can have from this are: good use for my CV, my UCAS personal statement and a copy for my portfolio.