Closing Post

It's the end of the project now and I've really enjoyed it. I'm really pleased with the final piece, even though we did have quite a few problems with it along the way. However its turned out great and I've had so much fun working with my group.

Anyway its been a long but fun project (with a lot of work!) and I've learnt so much.
Thanks to my lovely group members Ben and Selina for being great to work with and to everyone in the Media Department!

This blog is now closed!

Evaluation - Question 7

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

Preliminary Brief: Film and edit a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character. A couple of lines of dialogue must then exchanged between characters & match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule should be demonstrated.
Video Brief: The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes (all video and audio material must be original, produced by candidates, with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source).

I feel I have learnt a lot since completing the preliminary task and I think my skills have developed.

BRIEF.
The brief to the preliminary task seemed quite simple and had a main objective of making the continuity successful during filming and editing. Therefore during the preliminary task, the sequence was kept uncomplicated and controlled, as we concentrated largely on continuity.

The brief for our opening sequence was much wider and required me to be controlled as well as creative. We had to think of an opening sequence that included aspects from the preliminary task, one that worked well and was interesting. For this brief, I was aiming for perfection, and saw the preliminary task as a learning process that prepared me for this stage.

After reading the brief, the next stage was the PRE-PRODUCTION; research & planning.
This stage was kept fairly short for the preliminary task due to time constraints, however I still learnt a lot from it.
Before we could begin shooting our short sequence, we were able to produce:

• A storyboard
• Shooting script
• Dialogue script for our final idea.

These proved to be really helpful and had a huge impact on our final piece. The storyboard allowed us to visualise the sequence and ensured that every member of our group had the same vision for the sequence. The shooting script meant we could order to shoot specific shots, ensuring we used our time efficiently. We were also able to do location reccys for the preliminary task.

This planning prepared me for what was essential for the opening sequence. However it was necessary to go into more detail for the film brief and the preliminary task didn’t prepare me for this. As a group however, we knew that it would be more complicated and required more planning to save time and make fewer mistakes, and we were therefore organised.

PRODUCTION.
At the production stage of the preliminary task we could not have a test shoot or reshoot due to shortage of time. This meant we just had to shoot the final piece, allow no space for big mistakes and really think it all through thoroughly.

However we had produced a:

• Shooting script and arranged the shot order of how we were going to shoot. This organisation meant we saved time and knew every shot that we had to shoot, ticking them off along the way.
• The process of running a shoot used during our preliminary task was very efficient. Before we shot each individual shot, the director would say “sound ready, camera ready” and then name the take and then say “action.” We carried this method into the production when filming our opening sequence to a film. It meant we could check everything was ready before we shot and when we came to editing, we would be aware of what take and shot it was.
• We also allocated roles to each member in our group and therefore made running the shoot a lot easier. Everyone knew the role they had to play and this made it a lot more efficient. We used this method during filming of our film opening sequence and this really helped as it took a lot shorter to shoot than it could have.

From the final opening sequence however I have learnt that a location reccy as well as a test shoot and re-shoot is important. It allows you to correct mistakes or change things that you didn’t notice whilst filming.

From the progression from my preliminary task to the full product I have learnt in this stage that:

• We need test shoots
• Re-shoots are really important
• There needs to be time allowed for more takes of shots so that you can pick the best take
• I have also learnt that it is useful to shoot with more shot types of angles and distances; this was especially worthwhile for our nightmare sequence.

Overall time was a main factor in both and I have learnt that allowing more time for shooting can really improve the quality.

Once we had all our footage, we could begin the next stage; POST-PRODUCTION/EDITING.
During the preliminary task our main aim was to construct something that makes sense. We didn’t have to consider a story behind it, it didn’t have to be a film opening and restricted time meant we just had to keep it as simple as possible. This editing process reminded me of the basics needed when editing, such as capturing, adding onto timelines, unlinking, razoring, chopping up clips and re-ordering the sequence.

From this experience, it meant I could save time whilst editing the final product of the opening sequence. However I did learn that constructing a narrative is quite hard, especially since I assumed that the simple sequence of the preliminary would be easy when it wasn’t. I also learnt that footage looks different on the camera to when you put it on the computer and you must therefore take this into consideration whilst filming so as not to encounter too many reshoots.

The final stage of both projects is the FEEDBACK & EVALUATION.
For the preliminary task, there was no need to consider the target audience; it was just constructed for media students’ learning experience with a theoretical approach. Therefore it taught me the technical side and meant I could take into account factors that went wrong in the preliminary task for the real full product. This included noise such as camera noise which was difficult to solve and also other people that aren’t involved in the piece.

For the final opening we had to find a location that wouldn’t have this problem or was easily solved. As we were made aware of how it takes longer than we think and doing it on a strict time basis isn’t suitable, we knew to allow ourselves a lot of time for the various parts of the project, without leaving it to the last minute. I have also learnt however that target audience and appeal is an extremely important part of making any part of a film, especially an opening. Receiving feedback throughout the whole project is really important to keep improving it and finding out if it attracts the audience.

The preliminary task also showed me how working as a team was extremely important when it came to all stages of the project.

Evaluation - Question 6

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
From the process of constructing this film opening sequence I have learnt a lot about specific technologies.

Shooting
During our shooting days I furthered my knowledge of the hardware used. We used:

• A Cannon HD mini-dv camera to film the footage. Despite the fact that we shot on a HD camera, we didn’t use HD. Along with the camera, I had to learn about using the batteries and tape.
• The camera could then be attached to the tripod, which I had to learn how to use effectively whilst filming. It gave us a wider range of shots, such as more movement, different angles and distances. This variety of shots enabled us to make our opening sequence more interesting.
• During filming, we also had to use lights if it was too dark. We used a pag light just to add extra light; however we didn’t have much of a problem with lighting as we filmed during the day.
• During the filming process, we used two types of microphones; an external mic and a tie clip mic. We didn’t use the other type of a microphone; a boom mic, as we filmed in a house and didn’t need it for long distances. We started by using an external mic for the dialogue when the character is on the phone to his mum, however as this dialogue turned out unclear, we re-shot using a tie clip mic. This gave much clearer sounding dialogue. I also learnt however that microphones often pick up unwanted sound and camera sound. The camera sound could be decreased during editing; however we had headphones attached to the camera so that the sound technician, allocated to someone in our group, could check the sound whilst filming shots. The other person in our group concentrated on directing and filming the shot. This was done to make the filming process as efficient as possible.

Editing
Once we had finished the filming process, the next step was editing. This meant we had to learn about the technology of software.

• Adobe Premiere Pro was the main programme used to do the editing and we used non linear editing.
• We also used After Effects and Photoshop to design the titles that we placed throughout the sequence. The newspaper articles and images featured in places of our opening were also done on these programmes.
• Fireworks was used to produce our company name and logo, ‘Unplugged.’ We had quite a few problems with this but we finally got it to work and feedback told us that it was a good design.

Overall my skill in the programmes that we used throughout the project developed hugely and I learnt that you can improve a lot of things and solve a lot of problems using these technologies.

We used a lot of techniques with the technology available whilst both shooting and editing.

• During filming, the hardware we were using meant we could record sound effectively without it being unclear.
• We also could include camera movement such as pans and tilts as we had the tripod.
• We could also portray with lighting what we were trying to achieve of 3 point lighting to make it look as professional as possible.
• During editing we could use techniques such as capturing footage, rendering clips, adjusting speed and duration, cutting up clips, adding audio (soundtrack and non-diegetic) and also including visual and audio effects and transitions.

As well as technologies from shooting and editing, I learnt other things such as how to use Blogger as I hadn’t used this before. I learnt a lot about these techniques and realised that these technologies can have a huge positive impact on our final product.

On summary what I have learnt is:

• I have reminded myself of non linear editing on Adobe Premiere Pro. I’ve also advanced my knowledge of it from before as we experimented with more techniques this time such as with sound and the pace of shots. Also how to edit it things that we haven’t filmed such as the newspaper articles and images.
• I have also learnt more shot types and advanced my camera skills such as with movement and continuity.
• I have also learnt that health and safety is an important factor and this must be considered with things such as leaving the lights to cool down after you’ve turned them off as they get hot.
• I am much more comfortable with handling the equipment whilst shooting and my easy of use has improved. Also small issues such as portability of equipment is important and it is most practical to use a car to take the equipment as there is quite a bit of it and it can be quite heavy.
• I have also learnt that there is so much scope for creativity despite our low budget and limited equipment. I learnt that once you’ve understood all the technology it is so easy to use and you can create so many different effects.

In Hindsight...

• To minimize the amount of shoots that we need and reduce the re-shoots, we should watch back footage on location and look out for mistakes that we might not have noticed while filming. (this was a huge problem as when we got to the edit suite and watched it on the computer, we kept noticing small details that caused problems and meant we had to reshoot.)
• ALWAYS think about sound as we had quite a few problems with this and in the end had to reshoot some dialogue with a tie clip mic. Some was done on location but we also did some at school.
• Always consider mise-en-scene as we had to re-shoot for problems such as bed sheet covers being too feminine and therefore unrealistic.
• Sometimes we had a problem with camera focus such as with the feet shot so if we were to do this again we could have tried it on the manual setting.
• Could have used a few more interesting shots such as at the start of the opening not revealing the protagonist’s face until we see his reaction to the news broadcasting. This would have built up tension and made the nightmare sequence more disorientating.
• We could have used more experimental shot types such as more movement or interesting angles. However we struggled with this as it was filmed in quite a small space in a house.

Overall if we were to do the project again, I feel id be a lot more confident to make these improvements and therefore increase the quality of our final product.