Using Music, Copyright And Release

Copyright- When someone creates a product, they're automatically given the right to decide who can use it and what it is allowed to be used for. The types of copyright are the  RIGHT to copy e.g. royalty free and creative commons (CC) and NO right to copy e.g. copyright protected.

Royalty free- This means that you can use a product however much you want and wherever you want without the obligation to pay a licence or royalty fee per usage. Although sometimes you may have to pay an uproot fee to the source to have unlimited usage of their original product.

Fair use- Fair used is another copyright rule meaning the product has limited usage conditions. The product may be able to be used for some things without permission but you don't have the use to do whatever you wish. The Social Times have written an article explaining the Fair Use terms on Youtube so amateur online creators know what they can use certain music and audio for and where certain media shouldn't be used to avoid breaking any copyright laws.

Creative commons- It's a copyright licence which means your work can be used and shared without any legal obligations. You should credit the source but the product can be used however you wish. Here is a sight that lists all the Creative Commons music communities. E.g. SoundCloud, ccMixter, Bandcamp and many more.

There are certain places where you can access royalty free music to use for projects meaning that you won't have to worry about paying anyone or getting in trouble with copyright laws.

Youtube has an audio library which has a collection of sounds and music for any creator to use on their project. Here is Youtube's page that tells you information about the tracks in their free audio library and the conditions of using audio on Youtube.

SoundCloud also has a group dedicated to professional, royalty free music where anyone can upload a royalty free track that is then shared with any member of the group, giving them the ability to download the track to use anywhere.

The Social Times have created a list of 10 websites that every online video creator should know about when it comes to finding free music to use for projects.

Here is a really helpful video informing about the use of royalty free audio on Youtube.

Focus Group- Biscuits And Posters

What did I know about Focus Groups?

I knew that a focus group meant getting a small group of people together, presenting them with a product and asking them their opinions on it, whether you give them a fixed set of questions or ask them the just speak their mind.

What was the task?

In small groups, we were given sample of two different types of cookie. Using Quicktime audio recorder, we sat around and discussed the cookies we tried referring to:

•  First impressions
•  Smell
•  Texture 
•  Taste
•  Visual impression
•  Quality and cost

After discussing the cookies for a few minutes, we discussed the pros and cons of this style of focus group compared to a written survey. 

What do I know now?

The pros of the focus groups were: the speed of response is quicker- you speak your mind straight away rather than thinking about what to write onto paper, the opinion you give is more detailed as it's less effort to speak your thoughts than to write down a long explanation, this means that your response is more honest as you don't have the time to think about altering it.

However there were some cons with this focus group. If you're sat with a group of people and someone shares their opinion then you may be influenced and agree with with people you're with rather than speaking your own mind. If the researcher has to listen to a 5 minute long piece of audio of qualitative information and pick out individual opinions rather than typing in simple qualitative research, it would be very time consuming and confusing to pick out exact opinions.

After doing the cookie focus group. I decided it would be a good idea to do a focus group to find out what people around the college think of my political poster design. I won't be asking them fixed questions but I will present them with points to refer to so that I can find out the information that will be helpful to me. These points will be as follows:

• Target audience
• Eye catching design?
• Legible text?
• Clear message?
• Encourage you to vote?
• Do you like it?
• Best place to display?

Before I do the focus group I will hand out a quick survey just so I can get the demographic of the group of people.

Ryan, Maisie and I went into the crib to do a focus group with people from around the college to find out what they thought of our political poster designs. We presented them with the talking points and the demographic questionnaire. Above, is the audio from the focus group where they discussed their opinions and below are the results of the demographic questionnaire.

There were three people in our focus group, they were all male and they were all on the Sport BTEC L3 course. The varied in age from 17-19 however they're all eligible to vote next year in the general election. The 17 year old who will be 18 in March and the 18 year old will be voting next year but the 19 year old won't be. I wouldn't have expected males on the Sport course to be very interested or educated about politics so I am not surprised that one of the boys won't be voting and I would guess that the other two that will be voting haven't really thought about what the parties have to offer, they just said that they will vote purely because it's the first time their eligible. 

Here are the posters that the focus group looked at.

Shape Tweening

This week I looked at the 'Shape Tweening' feature on Flash. Firstly, you create a keyframe, then you insert a keyframe at the end with the shape in the place that you want it to end up. If you right click on the blank frame in-between the two frames you have filled at the beginning and the end you will get the option to 'Insert Shape Tween' and when you click this it will create the effect of your object moving from one location on the screen to another.

As you can see on my timeline, I created one layer for the Christmas tree as I wanted it to remain exactly the same in all of the frames. So I put the Christmas tree in it's own layer at the beginning and the end, therefore it remained the same. Layer 2 is my star, which is the layer I wanted the shape tween to happen on. You can see my star moving from the bottom of the tree to the top. 

How Do Soundtracks Effect Scenes

I have chosen to look at the opening scenes of three different films as I feel as though short, three minute dramas are rather similar to the beginning of films, any short drama has potential to develop into a longer feature length film. I would like to look at whether the soundtrack at the beginning of a film is full of lots of music and sound effects and whether it seems like it would be more dramatic than the sound track for the rest of the film.. I will take influence of the soundtracks for opening scenes for my short three minute film to create as much of an interested for the audience as I can.

Jaws opening scene



Who created the soundtrack?
John Williams

What genre of music is used?
I get a classical vibe from the soundtrack of Jaws in the intense shark scenes. Parts of it sound quite mysterious and intense when all of the instruments gradually come in. If pop music was used then you wouldn't feel as though something scary was about to happen.

Does the soundtrack change depending on the action or character?
Yes and I think this is a key part of the film. Whenever there is a shark scene, we don't actually see the shark but we know it's coming because of the traditional, tense Jaws music. It becomes a reoccurring theme throughout the film but it still makes the audience feel scared about what's coming up. 

How does the soundtrack compliment what we see?
The soundtrack somewhat compliments what we don't see as, like I said above, even though we don't see Jaws, the music tells the audience that we must be scared. If the music was upbeat and happy and we saw a swimmer swimming in the sea, we would take the scene in a completely different way, we'd just see someone having fun in the sea.

What techniques/ideas can I take into my production?
From this scene I have learnt that I can make same scene be portrayed in completely different ways by changing the soundtrack from something upbeat to something tense. After I have filmed the scene I would like to experiment by putting two contrasting soundtracks and seeing which one works best with the film. 

Divergent opening scene


Who created the soundtrack?
Junkie XL and Hans Zimmer

What genre of music is used?
There is quite a lot of heavy music used throughout the film especially when there are fighting and battle scenes, but the majority of the soundtrack is slightly alternative pop. Ellie Goulding recorded a track especially for the film and she is in the 'alternative pop' genre. Most of the other music used compliments this style.

Does the soundtrack change depending on the action or character?
Focusing on the character of Tris, she begins the film as an innocent and somewhat weak, typical female. So the music used when she is on screen is mellow and sweet, you hear birds singing and near the beginning you can pick up a feeling of fear. As the film goes on, Tris develops into a brave character who is strong and she fights and has to tackle tough situations. As she changes into he 'new' character, the music is more fast pace, the beat of the drum is heavier and the climax of the songs are more powerful, showing her success.

How does the soundtrack compliment what we see?
In the scene above, we see the scene being set. There are vast fields and country land but also extremely tall threatening fences that shut the town away. The town looks empty and derelict, but peaceful. However, although the music is calm, gentle and peaceful, it has an eery and mysterious tone that is slightly off key, suggesting that the town isn't empty and peaceful and that it's actually empty because of a reason that may not be a good reason.

What techniques/ideas can I take into my production?
I like the eery tones in the score of this film, it adds a sense of mystery and leaves the audience questioning a deeper meaning behind what first meets the eye. I also like how a popular singer, Ellie Goulding, has recorded a track for the film. If I could get an instrumental from a popular song to use in my film I think it would interest the audience.

The Chronicles of Narnia opening scene


Who created the soundtrack?
Harry Gregson-Williams

What genre of music is used?
Classical. Most of the music is orchestral which is fitting with the time period that the film is set in, which is war time. If the music was pop or heavy then it wouldn't relate to the image we see. Classical music and the use of an orchestra is a good way of building up the soundtrack. 

Does the soundtrack change depending on the action or character?
Very much so, there are a lot of very different characters in this film so it's a perfect opportunity to experiment with the soundtrack. The children are innocent and vulnerable so the soundtrack has a sense of gentleness and mystery when they are present. The snow queen is manipulative so the soundtrack for her is sharp and quick. Mr Tumnus is a gentle and friendly so the soundtrack used for him is quick but friendly, in a welcoming and happy way. There is a lot of mystery in the soundtrack as the film is set in a magical world, but there are also some strong battle scenes where the music becomes louder and more powerful to build up to the climax of people winning and losing the battles.  

How does the soundtrack compliment what we see?
In the scene above, the sound of the sirens are heightened which emphasizes the fear that is scene portrays. For children, the sirens of an air raid probably do seem worse than they are, so I get the feeling that the creators of the film wanted us to experience it from the children's perspective so that we know that the film is based around the children rather than the adults.

What techniques/ideas can I take into my production?
I want to make sure that the soundtrack reflects and separates the different characters from each other to give them more depth. Also, for the more dramatic scenes I want to make sure I use music to build up to them as much as possible.

Prop List

Each scene in my film will require a certain amount of props that I should be able to access fairly easily.

Scene 1

• Mobile phone
• Cereal bowl- bring from home/find in kitchen
• Milk jug- bring from home/find in kitchen
• News paper- find in college/bring from home
• A fluffy thing to resemble a cat- cheap furry scarf (have seen in primark)
• Paper saying ‘election notes’- can print at home or college
  
  

Scene 2

• Mobile phone
• Toothbrush- bring from home
• Toast- cheap bread from shop nearby
• Orange juice- cheap juice from shop near by
• Glasses- find in kitchen
• Stack of paper- available from college or home
• Frame with family photo- frame from home, create picture with cast and print at home or college
  
  

Scene 3

• Mobile phone
• Desk- will find in college
• Paper with dotted line- can print at home or college
• Seats- will find in college
• Handbag- can bring from home
• Newspaper- will find in college or nearby shop

Scene 4

• Mobile phone
• Car- this may be a difficult one but I will ask media teachers if their car is parked in the car park and whether they'd be happy for me to use it, just to shut the door

Scene 5

• Mobile phone
• Desk and seats for leader and PA- can find in college
• Paper on desk- can find in college
• Podium area- can create with chairs/create a sign at home or college
• High heels- bring from home

Storyboarding My Film

To create my storyboards I read through my script and broke it into screens, After I'd broken it into scenes I looked at each line and decided how I wanted each part to look.. After doing this I drew all of the key shots and described them briefly.

These are the storyboard sheets that I created before altering my script. After adjusting my script to include the PI, I chose a different storyboard template and changed my drawing style from stick people to more realistic, scale drawings and I included some extra detail for each shot.

• Shot number
• Duration eg. how long it will last in secs.
• Shot size eg. ECU, CU, MS, LS, OTS.
• Angle eg. high, low, eye view, birds eye view.
• Transition eg. cut, fade.

Using this clear storyboard I will be able to make a detailed shot list from it to add in any extra notes and things that need to be included in the shot, as well as audio.

Political Film Recce's

Location 1- Hive D.

Location 2- Media Kitchen.

Location 3- College car park.