Overall, I am very pleased with the outcome of our project “Master/Copy”. I personally think that we achieved what we aimed for; a film that is both visually interesting and striking, but still with a relevant message. Unlike the other assignments that we were given in post-production, I was able to use more of a ‘free-reign’ when doing this project, especially as it was for the Experimental module.
I’d like to think that Master/Copy has quite a few strengths, as a film itself. I personally believe that our choice to use ‘datamoshing’ as a method to ‘break the fourth wall’ was a good one. Visually, I think we succeeded in creating something that is enjoyable to watch, for the viewer. Our execution of the datamoshing technique is well done, and works well. Also, maybe even more importantly, the choice of footage and clips that would be used proved to be a success – certainly in a visual sense. One of our biggest concerns was to ensure that the images ‘moshed’ into each other well, and looked striking to the audience, rather than it just looking like a digital mess. I think that we achieved this, and the film doesn’t look sloppy at any point. I also think that the concept of it being a reflection on the media, and on how desensitized the public have become. Originally, our project was going to comment on self-perception of the viewers of common media, and how very much influenced by it they are. It was after some time, that we gradually grew fond of the idea of how passive people have become, where real life horrors seem nothing more than something that we witness on television or in games. I think we achieved this very well, particularly in the section of the film that moshes the Call Of Duty gaming footage with the horrific war footage. I am also very satisfied with sound in the film. We aimed for something that sounds glitchy and almost uncomfortable to listen to, and I’d like to believe that this is what we made.
I do however, think that something that could be improved is the flow of the film. There are certain areas that I feel slow it down somewhat and could be more interesting to watch. This is in particularly near the beginning of the film, which when required to hook in the viewer, is something that needs to be spot on. To improve this we could have taken out some of the footage of the BBC globe, as I feel it runs slightly too long.
Having never worked on a montage of any sort before, it was a whole new experience. When compiling the clips, I felt that I benefitted from the ‘Journey through the Night’ assignment that we did earlier in the semester. From that exercise, I learnt the importance of pacing, such as when there is dialogue. Because of this, I tried to ensure that our film would have a consistently entertaining pace, and that nothing is rushed or too slow. Some areas could have been improved, but I think in general, it maintains a steady flow, particularly the middle section, which I have learnt from experience, can sometimes droop somewhat.
Doing this edit for the final project has been very different from not only the briefs that we have covered within the Post-Production module, but also from any other work, both inside and outside of university. It has opened up an entirely new method of filmmaking in ‘Datamoshing’. Datamoshing is the elimination of I frames from film footage, just leaving the P frames. The I frames within digital data are used to detect the end of a clip, and so by removing them, the digital data and, as a result, footage bleed into the next clip sporadically, creating the glitching effect that we were looking for. This can be seen in a lot of video games and digital media, and so we felt it was a good technique to use for this particular piece as this was what we were commentating on. Another major part of the process of making Master/Copy, and probably the most important, was the assembly of the clips themselves. We had to ensure that we juxtaposed them well, in order to get across the message that we wanted to leave, and so that it didn’t just look like a collection of random clips pieced together for the sake of it. We did this by thinking of images and videos that we see every day on the news and on television that if you saw in real life would be much more hard hitting. Because of how passive people have become as a result of things such as violent video games, we contrasted this with reality by juxtaposing fantasy with realism. The power of this is something that I have learnt whilst making this piece of work and something I would definitely like to work with in the future.
I also think that we used the Kuleshov effect to some effect within our film. There are certain areas in our film where certain clips are repeated, followed by different opinions. For example, in the area with the oven advertisement, we included it with Loose Women, where jokes about men are often made, and then did the same with the Sky Sports controversy over the sexism claims. I think that it shows how the oven clip can be taken light heartedly in one aspect, when people are laughing and then seriously when juxtaposed with footage of a ‘sackable’ offence.
Overall, within the module I think that I have learnt a lot from Post-Production. In particular, I have discovered the importance of juxtaposition and pacing of footage, along with overlapping of both picture and sound, in order to keep a flow within pieces of work. I shall apply what I have learnt to future work, and look forward to using them in later assignments.
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