1. 1. Q6. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?
2. 2. How did you use a blog to work collaboratively? The use of blog work to complete assignments for coursework helped me greatly. This is because I could always access my other group members work as well as my own to either take influence from or give me an idea of how we could improve, helping me to make adjustments to my own work to reach level 4 as well as allowing me to both receive and give feedback on the blog at any given time, which can then be taken into consideration and adjustments can be made. These adjustments could be made quickly and without having to change each piece of work, which, when doing written work can be very difficult. In addition to this, the blog allowed me to add imagery and exemplar material in my assignments such as videos from YouTube and images from production studios. This is helpful as I could give visual evidence throughout all my work to make it both more understandable and of higher quality. The blog allowed our entire group to work on and develop our assignments all at the same time, helping communication through the group as well as saving us a substantial amount of time as we did not have to work individually at different times. An example of helpful visual evidence
3. 3. Our main online tool was the use of YouTube, both to post videos of our research on the blog for visual evidence as well as uploading videos of our own quickly, easily and so they could also be posted to the blog. YouTube helped considerably during our research and planning stage, such as the technical analysis post, giving us the timings of each shot to be analysed. From this we could also take screenshots to include on the blog as well as creating storyboard ideas in addition. Finally, through the use of Freesound.org I was able to download potential sound effects/tracks extremely quickly and for free which enhanced our overall production posted on the blog as well as allowing them to be embedded onto the blog during research for audience testing. This made post-production less time consuming as we did not have to record our own sound whilst still creating the effect we wanted. Youtube videos helped me to complete various research tasks, including opening sequence analysis in which I chose Halloween (Carpenter, 1978)
4. 4. How our film worked Using a variety of equipment to help us, we filmed our opening within two shoots. This equipment included a Canon 600D camera with a 16GB SD card. This cameras very high definition allowed our piece to look a lot more professional as the picture was of such high quality, the camera also allowed us to use more complex shots such as the pull focus shots used towards the beginning of the sequence. (embed video). Overall this camera was very beneficial mainly due to the screen being split into thirds on screen, meaning our group could follow the rule of thirds to the best of our ability. In addition to this, the camera allowed control on brightness and contrast, making our shots look more conventional of a horror film; this also helped when trying to achieve the same lighting in the caravan as from our first shoot. Additionally, we also made frequent use of a track and dolly mainly to show movement of our protagonist on screen- this made shots look very professional as it looked smooth and more conventional of actual film. An example of one of our pull focus shots Our chosen camera- Canon EOS 600D
5. 5. Despite looking very professional after post- production, there were various problems I encountered with the track, the main problem being that the tracking shots used in the external location looked very shaky due to the bumpy ground we used it on. This meant a substantial amount of time was spent trying to repair the look of these shots to make it more smooth moving, meaning post-production was prolonged because of this. I also had problems with connecting the track at times and making the wheels of the dolly move smoothly when filming as they often became stuck. Again this impacted the time in which we had to shoot all the shots we needed, making the process more difficult and rushed which could have made other shots of less quality as we had expected as we didnt have enough time. The main limitation of using this camera was the battery, I had to make sure two batteries were fully charged before the second shoot because the battery ran out very quickly during our first shoot, wasting a lot of our filming time. A video of one of our shaky tracking shots
6. 6. How our film worked (Continued) Another piece of equipment we used for nearly every shot was a tripod. The tripod was extremely helpful in capturing pan and angled shots, such as both canted and low angle shots.(embed video). Additionally, the tripod was needed for the track and dolly to be used as it is placed onto the dolly. The tripod was used for the majority of camera movements shown in the opening. In order to resolve issues raised from the track and dolly, our group came up with the idea of holding the track steady whilst operating so no random, unneeded movements were made whilst shooting. We also came up with the idea of placing the camera on top of something that will slide along a surface easily with force, giving the illusion of a tracking shot without the actual need of its use, an example of this is the shot shown below. The limitations of using the tripod were minimal. However, I often had problems with making pan shots completely smooth and making the movement stay at the same speed throughout. This was noticed by some people when we started to conduct audience research and people thought it did not look as good as it could. In order to resolve this, on our next shoot I placed my hand below the camera to make a much more steady movement, making the pan shots look of higher quality. Below are some clips I watched for advice on how to operate the equipment to the best of my ability to capture the shots we needed:
7. 7. How did you edit your final piece? One of my major roles in editing was uploading any clips we had shot to the D drive of our computer to upload them into Adobe Premiere Elements 9.0. Using the shots, my role was to position them into a timeline, in the correct order to create a continuous, smooth cut of the opening. My main method of editing was continuity editing, making all the clips flow into one another to construct a piece that looked genuine and without mistakes. Furthermore, another of my major roles was to add effects to the flashbacks in the opening. I experimented with various different effects until my group were satisfied with the colour composition and the brightness and contrast with a dirty, green look of the clips as they played (shown below). I also added blank white screen frames which show extremely quickly at the beginning and end of the flashbacks, additionally using fades to make the start and end of each clip look like an actual flash. Additionally, my initial idea was to have the soundtrack at the start of the clip with the song When I Paint My Masterpiece by The Band, I edited this song by cutting down its build up, meaning at the start of the opening the song would start in order to match with the visuals so the soundtrack would not seem out of place or unneeded. Moreover, I browsed Freesound.org to find appropriate sounds we could add to create an effective sound mix, this included the uncomforting, discordant sounds of the flashbacks as well as the gradual built up crescendo inside the caravan, this meant cutting the sounds to the exact point where they sounded most appropriate and adding them to the timeline was another of my editing roles. Our timeline when editing our opening: shots (blue), soundtrack (green)
8. 8. I also had a role in editing with typography, including both adding titles to the visuals in areas that followed the rule of thirds on screen. I additionally added fades to these titles to make them less obvious to the audience, so that it would not take attention away from what is happening on screen too much. I edited the titles to follow the common opening credits order, with the larger production roles appearing as they progress. As you can see, the titles appear in positions in the thirds on the screen, however not right in the middle. The only title placed in the middle third of the screen is our film title The Premonition, I edited it this way as it would draw audience attention- our method of making the audience know this is our title. I we had shot and edited the clips intending on positioning them in certain parts of each opening shot, meaning we would lengthen each shots duration so there was enough time to display these titles. Title appeared at 0:27 seconds Larger role- director appearing later at 0:52