#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 

https://www.bensound.com

“The Duel” by Benjamin Tessot (BenSound) is licensed under a Creative Commons 

https://www.bensound.com

“Jazz Comedy” by Benjamin Tessot (BenSound) is licensed under a Creative Commons 

https://www.bensound.com

“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 

#ALM102DC: A PEEK INTO SURVEILLANCE

2-3 Minute Informational Video

BLOG

Honestly speaking, I freaked out initially when I saw the work of previous students. It looked more challenging in terms of knowing what to talk about and all. I also did this video at the last minute and am not very much proud of it.

I did however still benefit learning and experimenting with new editing techniques through Adobe Premiere Pro. I commenced the video with a quote by Michel Foucault to have my audience have an idea of what the video would be based on.

Through editing I was able to play the style I liked to use, by cutting titles and images at the start of the video, according to the beat of the music I used from BenSound. I then open my informational speech about the kind of world we live in today, and introducing the topic of surveillance, before introducing myself and the contents of what I was going to speak about in my video.

I spoke about the place and progress of surveillance in today’s world; the intention of the technological system; the dangers of its exploitation; as well as the benefits of it. I wanted the message of the video to communicate the pros and cons of surveillance to get the audience to really think about how they feel.

I was able to communicate these points via verbal communication as well as through the use of Creative Commons videos found on YouTube; which majorly helped me in putting together this video last minute, though I am aware it isn’t something to be too proud of. I wish I did a better job than what I had, or that I could have approached the task more creatively.

The approach I took for this video was stylised as educational, though I initially had other ideas of bringing in a comedic skit. But due to my lack of time management, I was unable to produce what I had wanted.

I think that overall, like mentioned before, could have been refined better. But within the time that I gave myself, this was the best I could do. I am definitely happy with my editing process as my knowledge of the program has expanded.

I now know for next time that if I have a great idea in my head, not to leave it to the last minute. Especially when time is closing in towards Christmas and New Years.

REFERENCES

_________________________________________

Music:

“Funky Suspense” by Benjamin Tessot (BenSound) is licensed under a Creative Commons 

https://www.bensound.com

_________________________________________

Creative Commons – Videos:

Stars: vid

“Journey through the universe hd space stars and the cosmos 1080p animation” by vbkingofvideo is licensed under a CC BY 3.0

Obama: vid

“President Obama Delivers Remarks to Service Members” by U.S. Navy is licensed under a CC BY 3.0 

Globe Spinning

“Earth’s Rotation | 4K Relaxing Screensaver” by Josu Relax is licensed under a CC BY 3.0 

Man in Hood

“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

Webcam Hacking and Techno Feature

“How to Hack CCTV camera using Kali Linux/parrot(shodan) | 2019” by KN Developers is licensed under a CC BY 3.0

Criminals

“Criminals Caught on Camera by Ring Owners” by Kozio Productions is licensed under a CC BY 3.0

_________________________________________

Creative Commons – Images: 

iPhone

“iPhone Air Concept” by Ran Avni is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 

https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/c07dbaa7-45a8-4aac-8db8-a5266a2c3879

Facebook

“facebook” by jamesmenera is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 

https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/c5c80e86-e86a-4a48-b6a6-2cda2030fc2d

_________________________________________

Academic Research:

Greenberg, J. and Hier, S. P. (2009) Surveillance : power, problems, and politics. UBC Press. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat00097a&AN=deakin.b3491215&authtype=sso&custid=deakin&site=eds-live&scope=site (Accessed: 23 December 2019).

#ALM102DC: VLOG

1-2 Minute Self-Introduction Video

BLOG

Creating a self-introductory video was quite fun and at times challenging, but worth the experience. The assessment had given me the opportunity to learn how to edit videos, take shots from many different angles, and capture moments that I was now able to share through my video.

To commence the pre-production stage in this task, I first looked through a website called ‘BenSound’ that provided free music. I felt that in order to figure out the mood and rhythm I wanted for my video, I needed to choose a suitable background score. I then found one named ‘All That’, which featured jazz music, one of my most favourite genres. Going with this, I was able to put together my final shots.

For my video, I included a lot ‘B-Roll’ footage that would show my interests, admirations, or even shots of me walking around. I was aiming at conveying the idea that I liked to observe and admire the world around me. Since the time the assessment was announced in class, I began shooting as many moments as I could to accumulate and chose from a range of footage when it came to the post-production stage. 

It was through this experience that I had learned a lot more about how to use Adobe Premiere Pro (like how to crop shots and how to adjust the audio levels).

Probably the biggest challenge I faced during the assessment, was recording my ‘A-Roll’ shots. I had been recording outdoors, as the lighting was most preferred compared to the lighting inside my house. This meant that my phone camera would pick up the sounds of cars driving past and the birds chirping nearby. I had to learn to be patient, but this gave me a chance to further rehearse my lines.

By the time I got to editing the A-Roll, I realised that I wasn’t too impressed with it, because of the way I had projected myself. I appeared a little too serious for my liking and felt that I could have smiled more or used another method of engaging myself better with the audience while I was on screen. I had to cut out a lot of things in my script that held a bit of comedic value. However due to timing, I felt that it was right to cut those out.

Next time, I may want to find a better location to do my A-Roll, and I may need to work on balancing my audio levels between the music and my A-Roll’s audio. I was also advised to next time used reflectors to fill in the shadows that were cast on my face, like under my eyes. 

My favourite parts about this task would have to be when I captured the shots of the flowers and the bees. As well as the editing part, where I was able to make cuts according to the beat of the music. 

Other than these few challenges, I overall learnt a lot from this task and enjoyed putting everything together in the final edit. I think that I am overall happy with what I have come up with and am excited to further enhance my abilities in video making.