Prelim post production blog

After shooting the Prelim task the rushes from the tape were uploaded onto the computer, to The Final Cut Server from which we accessed Edit Proxy (digital copy) which we opened up in Final Cut Pro.
It was important to use continuity editing and follow a specific film language to ensure that only the relevant points of the story are shown and that the audience understands the sequence of events. It is also much more interesting for the audience to watch because it gives variety and cuts pieces that aren’t necessary or interesting. Continuity editing can also be used in order to put focus on a certain person and manipulate our views on the character depending on what the editor has chosen to show us. This form of editing can also be used to create the impression of time passing either quicker or slower than it really is. The continuity editing should be seen as seamless and unapparent this is made sure by a continuity person should keeping track of all the different movements of the actors (for example where they are standing, if someone flicks their hair, etc) and makes sure that for each shot being taken they are doing exactly the same thing each time.
In order to do this and pick the best shots, we had to go through the unedited film and log the shots we wanted. We logged them by pressing ‘in’ at the start of the shot we wanted and then ‘out’ at the end of it. To save the shot we created a logging bin- an area to keep all the shots we wanted- and pressed ‘modify’ and then ‘modify clip’. To distinguish what the clips we renamed the clip we modified and pressed enter to save.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

Yesterday we filmed the preliminary task and typically my group was in N04 so we didn't have some of the resources the others had (a great excuse if the clip is bad though :)). In the task we had to film what was in the storyboard provided for us- a man going through a door and having a conversation with a woman consisting of something like "do it come on" "no i can't", we wanted to film the sequence in a wideshot so we set the camera up at the back of the room. To do this we had to make sure we bubbled the tripod to make sure it was level and check the tape was in (which it was but the screen was coming up saying it wasn't but we got that fixed and continued with shooting the wideshot. Here, we had to fix the shot so that the lighting wasn't shown in it but we still got the whole scene. We all took turns in our roles for different shots so by the time we finished shooting, we all ended up setting the camera up, calling "standby, Rolling, Action, cut" and pressing the recording button. We had the set to the left of the room and we had the light source rigged up on the righthand side. It was effective in lighting up the actors, however it left an unnatural circle of light on the floor which i think was caught on camera. It would have looked better if there was a light source coming through from the left hand side but there wasnt enough space in the room to do that without capturing it on camera. we tried to create the same effect on set using a normal lamp but it flared up on the camera so we didn't end up using it which was a shame because it created great shadows.
After the wideshot we went straight on to the over the shoulder shot of the male actor. We should have filmed all our shots more than once in order to be able to choose the best clip from each shot but we started late and quickly moved on from each one. To make the man look powerful in the overshoulder shot we filmed the shot at a low angle. We shot the over the shoulder twice because in the first clip, Stef (who was the female actress) blocked Pointer who we were trying to film. To fix this we had to move the camera slightly right and retake the shot.
In all the shots we had to think about the 180 degree rule and made sure that when each shot was filmed, the camera didn't cross the line.

Intro to stills camera

In our lesson regarding stills camera we learnt about the basic types of shots (extreme wide shot, wide shot, mid-shot, close up, cut-away, cut in, two shot, over the shoulder shot). We also learnt about angles for example high angles which make the object look more powerful and low angles which make the object look weaker. We also studied how light will effect the image.
Another thing we learnt about was the rule of the thirds which involves putting imaginary lines over the image-two horizontally and two vertically-which create nine equal squares, putting the most important objects on the lines makes the image more interesting as the object is off centre. You can also line up the eyes of the object with the top line which prevents the object to be surrounded by empty space.