Evaluation Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Through making this product I have learnt loads about technologies. I have learnt how to use them, when they are effective and have enhanced our piece through their use.

Technologies used:

Equipment: Camera/Lighting/Tripod/ Shotgun Mic/ Headphones

IT: PC and Mac/ Premiere Pro/After Effects/Social Media/LiveType

What have I learnt?

I am not going to focus on all aspects of the different technologies I have used but the ones where I think I have learnt the most.

Lighting was a key learning point. I learnt how to use three-point lighting to create different moods and shadows, as well as to get rid of grain on the camera. This was very important for our project with all the shadows involved.

We used Adobe premiere pro on the PC to edit.

I learnt a lot of things on it, the most significant being:

Animatic: We learnt how we could successfully use an animatic to edit around to make sure our shots were all in the right place. However we didn’t use it throughout the whole process because our sequence had changed so much. Therefore this helped us to see how we should have updated the storyboard as we went along, but it still helped a lot. Here is a commentary explaining more on what we used the animatic for:

Cutting down clips:  We cut down clips and took the best bits from them so that shots didn’t linger and the continuity worked. For example the match-on-action shot of the man taking the glass was cut down both ways so that the character grabbed the glass as soon as his hands reached it in the previous shot. Similarly this was applicable with the shot-reverse shot of the man walking into his front room from the back and then the front.

Grading: I learnt how to make the colours of the film more blue, to seem colder. We used a clour wheel to achieve this.

Before and After (Blue Colour Grading)

ProCamp: We made the shots darker using this. It was especially useful for the shadow. This is shown in the split screen shot below.

We also used LiveType on the Apple Mac to create animated titles although the exporting took a while as the titles looked pixelated on Premiere which taught me it is important to leave time for technical issues such as this which luckily we did.  Similarly with After Effects I learnt how to create an effective blood splat our film. This is a great moment in the film which will hopefully get a great audience reaction.

We were able to watch our animatic on YouTube on our actual shoot to remind ourselves of what each shot was meant to look like which was very useful.

Would I do anything differently?

Labelled the captured shots more clearly as we had a few issues with these.

Some of the shots could be more still and the focus pull could be a little clearer.

Used the animatic more to help us while editing.

Used less unnecasary layers as it complicated the editing.

Used the headphones more to check what sound was being recorded.

To conclude I have learnt that these technologies are a vital part of film-making and have learnt how to use them to create a good film.

Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the whole product?

Since our prelim I have learnt lots about making a succesful opening sequence including organisation, the practacalities of our shoots and the importance of editing and different editing techniques.
First I will introduce the briefs for both tasks:

Brief for the preliminary task:
‘Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanged a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.’

Brief for main task:
‘The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.’

Our brief for the final film opening was a lot more open than the prelim brief. Therefore it also had a lot more complications however our pre-lim prepared us for these.

Pre-production:

Anna Francis Natasha Shot List


As compared to:

As you can see our second storyboard/shot list are both more developed and clear. We learnt on our prelim that it is really helpful to be able to look at these documents and know exactly what you're shooting. The visual nature of the animatic was therefore very helpful.

PLANNING THE SEQUENCE:

LOCATIONS:

We learnt about the importance of making sure that permissions are secured for locations. At first we were intending to shoot an extra scene in a hotel, on a group trip to Hollywood but unfortunately we were unable to as there was no filming in the hotel.

We tried to film it outside the next day but we didn’t go and check the location for noise levels and it turned out the traffic was too loud.

FROM THIS WE LEARNT THAT WALKTHROUGH’S AND RECCE’S ARE VERY IMPORTANT.

This wasn’t an issue in our prelim as our only location was the classroom.

Production:
Test Shoot: For our prelim we only had one shoot to do it in. For the real thing we learnt the importance of a test shoot. It showed us the limitations of what we could shoot, and we came up with several new ideas and shots e.g. the key shot of Lotus’s slowly moving shadow behind the glass. We also realised we needed better lighting/props and so bought lots of props together from a charity shop and had a lighting workshop.

This video shows us on our test shoot in the process of learning how to set up a shot.


Working to the Shot List: Working to the shot list was quite hard as we needed to be quite disciplined with ourselves, as we all wanted to move on to bits later on such as doing the head wound. Something we could have worked on was using the clapperboard for each take as we did a few takes back to back without using a clapperboard which led to some confusion when capturing.

Roles: We also learnt the importance of different roles on set. Although two of us were acting, we all had goes on the camera and had to delegate roles such as:

Dressing the set: Bin bags on the windows, Making the drink out of tea etc.

Recording the Shots:  Filling in each shot, how many takes the best takes and time codes on our shot list.

Continuity: We also learnt the importance of continuity. We had issues with reflections of the lighting in the windows, as well as issues such as which hand the glass was in.

Master Shots: We learnt the importance of shooting everything from different master shot angles when in the edit room, as we only had one for the gun scene and it didn’t comply with the 30 degree rule as it was too straight on. If we had an opportunity we would have re-shot this.

Time: Finally, time management was a major factor we learnt on the shoot. We had to fit a lot in to about 7 hours and we didn’t manage to do the head wound the first time round which meant a reshoot, which disrupted our editing process.

Editing:

Prelim:
When it came to the editing, the sound levels were varied and there were continuity errors such as the computer being left on in the background, which could have been sorted by changing the shot order. The cutting points were not exact either due to the editing being done quickly. However we did manage to stick to the 180 degree rule as well as using a match on action and a shot reverse shot. We utilized these skills in our real film as well.

We also learnt there is a lot more to editing then just simply re-ordering everything and putting it together. Music, Titles and effects all play a massive part. We didn’t realise that in our film there is a continuity error with the music, as it is shown as digetic but stops to allow for the conversation halfway through. However it is conceivable that what he was listening to has stopped and the second tack is non digetic.

We had a lot of footage but by looking through all of it we could find fixes to shots that didn’t fit or work. Therefore we learnt the value of trawling through all your footage and picking the best combination of shots.

We learnt that this means a lot of time needs to be set aside for editing, something which as a group we achieved by packing in as much time as possible over a three week period. Here is our editing schedule:

Team:

We all learnt the importance of co-operation on the shoot. We had different ideas of how to do things but learnt to do what was best for the group and overall project. Overall we worked very well as a group J

Pre-Production

Now we've finished our film we want to get feedback to see if we've made a succesful film that appeals to our target audience.

To do this we came up with a poster to promote our film which I then made. I also created a Facebook group to help promote our film.

Editing Week Commencing 5/03/12

Our film is almost complete. We are making the finishing touches such as titles, and the blood splat.I had quite an important role in the blood splat. Our technician gave us a tutorial and afterwards I started working on selecting the areas where we wanted the blood to go, and choosing which one of the stock blood splats we wanted, as well as what direction it came from.

Our work on After Effects


I also helped picked the font and style of the titles on LiveType.
The main thing I worked on during this week though was the grading. As well as conducting some research into grading for our group (group blog), I also spent several hours working through the shots and colour grading them.

Colour Wheel on Premiere

We are now almost finished and the final film is looking great!

Editing: week commencing 27/02/12

During this week our group captured all our footage, picked the best shots, and edited them into a continious sequence.
My individual achievements this week include:
Editing sound behind titles to achieve a continious feel.
Working on slowing down the beggining shots to give a more calm and relaxed feel.
Working on the new ending with the assasin leaving in slow motion.
As part of the group I also helped select and organize the shots into an order, decided where to put the titles, and worked to resolve issues in the sequnce e.g We had a nice low angle shot where the assasin wipes the blood off her face, but the blood was not applied to her face properly and therefore we decided to cut the shot, as it would build more tension seeing her face at the end anyway.
I particularly like the slower pace to the beggining and the slow mo at the end of the sequence, as well as the titles Natasha has started to work on and the new choice of music by Nico particularly at the end of the sequence as it makes it a lot more dramatic.
As a team I think we are working well and the edit is really taking shape.
This week we need to complete our opening sequence and I would especially like to work on the titles and the after effects of the blood splat as these would be useful new skills to learn.

Me and Natasha editing our sequence



Re-Shoot

Our re-shoot happened on Friday 5th March. During our media lesson we got a lift from our technician Chris up to my house to shoot two shots that we realised we needed to re-shoot after working on our final edit. These two shots were:
The picking up of the briefcase. In my opinion this shot really needed to be reshot becuase there was a light meaning we had to cut the beggining of the clip which meant the character jumped a bit. Also there was a shirt hanging out at the back which didn't suit the character.
The shadow shooting shot. This needed to be reshot due to the fact that the guy's head falls into shot without a wound from the gun and trying to cut his head out just didn't work.

Therefore we had to practice the make-up the day before on my hand. Natasha was responsible for the make-up as she did GCSE Art and in my opinion she did an amazing job.
Earlier in the morning Chris had bought all the equipment down to my house so when we arrived evrything was ready to go. We shot the head wound shot first and took three takes, with the blood dripping further down my face in each one. It was quite a challenge to shoot without getting any blood on the sofa however we managed to do it and it looks a lot better. One issue might be the fact that, to reduce mess, we didn't run the entire shot three times and instead went from when my head hits the sofa which might mean that matching up the shots in editing will be hard, however only time will tell.
We then completed the briefcase shot, which, apart from a brief reflection of the light in the glass in a few of the shots and a continuity error with the drink, went well with at least one take which was error free and looked good.
This re-shoot completes our shooting and now we have all our footage. We are continuing work towards the final edit.

Real Shoot

On Saturday we had our real shoot. We implemented all the improvements we had decided to make after the teacher feedback. This meant several new shots as well as the added task of setting up the lighting. However the lighting made it look a lot better and the more realistic props also contributed to a much better mise-en-scene. The introduction of Lotus via the shadows in the window also looks a lot more dramatic as does the slow reveal of the man in the sequence.
Therefore I think the shoot went well.
My particular tasks in this shoot were:
Dressing the Set
Playing the role of the man
Setting up different shots and lighting
Checking the shot log to decide on the order of shots
Here is a behind the scenes video of us on our shoot:

Unfortunately I was only able to shoot a few shots as I was in the vast majority of them, however I checked all the set-ups and ran through the camera movements in rehearsals and was part of the decision on how the shot would be filmed.

Now we have to get on with editing our final piece...