#ALM102DC: SURVEILLANCE PART TWO
7 Minute Informational Video
BLOG
The topic of this 7 minute informational video continues from the previous episode on Surveillance. In this video, we dive into the subject of the pros and cons of surveillance. The intention of this video is to inform my audience, which is the general public, of the different perspectives many may have on surveillance cameras; regarding whether it is efficient in providing society safety from crime or is causing more problems than before. What I want my audiences to take from this video is the perspectives given, and for them to come to a conclusion of their own.
Having learnt my lesson from my previous assignment in being more organised and not leaving things to the last minute, I prepared myself weeks ahead, and am thankful I did. This process took hours and hours of effort, that I do not regret. This assignment is by far my most favourite, most enjoyable, the most I have learnt skills from and overall probably the best that I have produced so far. I’m glad I got this assignment as it gave me the opportunity to explore many skills and techniques via Adobe Premiere Pro.
I had done a lot of planning for this assignment and decided to take the opportunity to explore and play around as much as I could for the 7 minutes that was given. The kinds of techniques that I learnt through Premiere Pro were: the transitions and formats of using text; filters and visual effects and how I can control noise, block sizes and opacity, etc; how to overlay visuals together; how to create a type effect (though not done in full depth); how to have Siri do a voice-over, which by the way was so cool; how to filter and colour my footages; given the opportunity to do continuity editing with my scenes (there were a few mistakes that I could have corrected, but I kind of liked it the way it was, I wouldn’t say the mistakes were intentional though); I was able to take shots of exactly what I had imagined in my head; and then I learnt how to do messaging text bubbles which took me about two hours of fidgeting. I learnt all this and so much more in between.
For my assignment, I decided to structure it into two parts. First an educational video that then rolls into a short film.
The video commences with an informational video hosted by Siri which I found out how to do with the help of YouTube and an app called Automator. I used many Creative Commons overlays and bright, in-your-face texts, as a way of grabbing attention from audiences, and having them follow along with the information given by Siri’s mono-toned voice. In this informational sequence, I added this aesthetic of using olden day overlay shots, which is a hidden reference to surveillance existing for a long time and not just in recent times. Through Siri, I do a short recap of the previous episode, before further elaborating on the topic of its advantages and disadvantages. I included a news report based on the Boston Bombings in 2013, providing a link below the YouTube video, for people to further read into if they were interested.
The second part of the video, which was the film, is introduced by Siri after crediting the stars of the film. For the film, which is a skit, I wanted to be really silly and overly dramatic about it. But also convey my message at the same time. My protagonist played by my best friend Himani, is the representative of society, and is portrayed as a cheerful bubbly girl, living her life as any ordinary citizen. I had my brother Rahul dressed in black, the figure representing the disadvantages of surveillance. We have a scene where he follows the girl through technology. Even though he is there in physical form, it is meant to be metaphorical. In the following scene, we see my other friends Haritik, who is the robber, and Hanisha who is the representative of the advantages. This scene where the girl (Himani) is being robbed, is to identify the benefits of having surveillance cameras, which is to capture evidence of crime, and create a sense of fear in these criminals. By the end of the skit, I dramatically present the once bubbly citizen to be now paranoid of the events that had taken place. She goes out and this time, she has an eye on surveillance. This implies society being aware of what it is and now being left to decide what they can do about it. I end the film with a question of “Which side are you on?” for audiences to decide what they believe, after feeding them information and both perspectives of surveillance.
What motivated and helped me edit this video was again the music, just like my previous assignments. It really helped me with my cuts. It is a way for audiences to engage the audio with visuals and keep the flow going. I found this really cool music from SoundCloud named ‘glitch’, and thought I could use it to be dramatic.
I feel like the film being dramatic and silly is exactly what I wanted. It is funny to watch, but also a great way to get my message across. Even if this assignment was not successful according to the criteria or requirements, the main thing is that I have learnt so much from it and am happy with the results. There were plenty of challenges I had to face especially during the editing phase, but I was able to overcome them with patience and by simply searching up what I can do to solve it. Simple issues like lagging and all, made me go out and search reasons to the cause, etc.
This assignment has taught me things I’ve wanted to know how to do for so long, as well as things I didn’t expect to learn. I’ve been getting plenty of feedback from my peers, especially from my sister Sadhana, and I took in criticism to see what I could do to help improve my video to the best possible. I wasn’t too happy with the video quality that was exported onto YouTube, it isn’t it’s best compared to the original, but there is nothing I can do to help it at this time.
Overall, happy with it, and am grateful! I wasn’t able to put in my proof of Academic Research in the description box of my YouTube video, due to it exceeding the word limit, but it is in my credits scene, and down further below in my blog. I sent you (Bob) an email on the 29/01/2020 regarding this concern. Thank you once again, for an amazing unit!
REFERENCES
MUSIC
“Actionable” by Benjamin Tessot (BenSound) is licensed under a Creative Commons
“The Duel” by Benjamin Tessot (BenSound) is licensed under a Creative Commons
“Jazz Comedy” by Benjamin Tessot (BenSound) is licensed under a Creative Commons
“Suspense” by Ashram is licensed under a CC BY-SA 3.0
“41 Minutes of Spy Music” by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…
“glitch” by BLXCKSTAR is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
SFX
“Angel heavenly choir singing ahhh sound effect” by Free Copyright Free Sounds – For Video Contents is licensed under CC BY 3.0
“Damaged Old Film OVERLAY – 4K FREE high quality effects” by ANFX // Free Media! is licensed under CC BY 3.0
“Countdown Timer ( v 212 ) 10 sec with Sound effects and Voice HD” by Mandy Marthy is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
“Shower Sound Effect – Free – High Quality” by The Sound FX Channel is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
“Ding sound effects – non copyrighted sound” by Tosspot TV is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
“Keyboard Typing Fast SOUND EFFECT” by Some Sounds is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
“Heartbeat SFX (HD DOWNLOAD)” by Sound Effect is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
VISUALS
“Television (1939)” by 01DOGG01 is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
“The Surveillance State: When Tyranny Comes Home” by Mercatus Center is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
“AMAZING Wolken Zeitraffer – Clouds Timelapse (Royalty Free) (Kostenlos) 4K HD 24FPS” by FreeSwissVideo is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
“Security Cam Slow Zoom In HD Setting 2” is licensed under CC BY 3.0
“HOW IT WORKS: H.A.L.O. Cameras” by Denver Police is licensed under CC BY 3.0
“How to Hack CCTV camera using Kali Linux/parrot(shodan) | 2019” by KN Developers is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
“Network of Connecting Dots | 4K Relaxing Screensaver” by Josu Relax is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
“Hacker glasses” by Free stock videos is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
“Criminals Caught on Camera by Ring Owners” by Kozio Productions is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
“Free After Effects Intro Template #154: Hoodie Man Intro Template for After Effects” by EnzeeFX -Free Templates and Tutorials is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
“Digital White Lines Moving | 4K Relaxing Screensaver” by Josu Relax is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
“Bruce Shneier – Keynote at Internetdagarna 2011” by Internetstiftelsen is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
“Film Noir & The American Dream” by Jack’s Movie Reviews is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
“Visual Noise” by Leandro Marques is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
“Coloured static, visual white noise, random bitmap video, random video signal” by antipiano is licensed under a CC BY 3.0
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
Academic (1):
Greenberg, J. and Hier, S. P. (2009) Surveillance : power, problems, and politics, UBC Press, Vancouver. Available [online] at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.asp…, accessed: 11 January 2020.
Academic (2):
Newell, B (2018) Surveillance, Privacy and Public Space, Routledge, Milton. Available [online] at http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=3&sid=ff631ea2-f2d1-4efb-b338-c79fa2819b1a%40sdc-v-sessmgr01&bdata=JmF1dGh0eXBlPXNzbyZjdXN0aWQ9ZGVha2luJnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=deakin.b3957700&db=cat00097a , accessed: 12 January 2020.
News: ‘After Boston: The Pros and Cons of Surveillance Cameras’
Bloomberg: More cameras a good thing 2013, Heather Kelly, CNN, 26 April, retrieved 15 January 2020, available [online] at: https://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/26/tech/innovation/security-cameras-boston-bombings/index.html
Forum:
Ludwig, S 2020, Pro’s and Con’s for IP vs. Analogue Video Surveillance, Security Magazine, accessed 11 January 2020, https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/88854-pros-and-cons-for-ip-vs-analog-video-surveillance
Video:
Privacy and data protection 2016, YouTube, How to engage in cyber policy, 30 July, accessed 15 January 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNEPaGFApX4
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