1. Q6. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS
OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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