Monday, 19 October 2009

Prelim Post Production Blog

During our last lesson is Media we began to edit our sequences. We used Final cut pro to achieve this. The rushes tape was uploaded to the Final Cut server form which we accessed an Edit Proxy (digital copy) which we opened in Final Cut Pro.

We used continuity editing, this means that when the shots that are selected are put into the correct order that makes sense.

We set up a log bin and began logging our shots. This is basically when we log the shots that we want to use in the sequence and drag them into the log bin to save them. This is called organising your shots. The process of logging shots is by selecting it 'in' at the beginning of where you want the sequence to start and then 'out' to where you want the shot to end, and that section of the shot you wish to use will be selected.

We then put them in shot order. We put them into an order that will make sense to the audience (continuity editing). We use different types of shots to attract the audience to these key features. For example when we do close up shots, this is too attract the audience to that thing either is a negative or a possitive mannor. When we used a close up of the gun this was to make the effect that this was what the story was about this particular feature.
Unfortunally we lost our digetic sounds during the filming process and so we have to put the shots in the exact order to what the sounds goes and then record the sounds seperatly and then slot it in.

We have to make sure that when were filming each shot is down exactally the same and there are no changes in any of the shots, so that when it comes to editing there are continutity errors so that it doesn't look odd.

Friday, 9 October 2009

Perliminary Task Evaluation Production

I thought that our Perliminary task went well. We shot our sequence in the media class room, it was a little bit small but the light was sufficient and it was fine. We made sure that the main light (key light, which was mainly hard light) was not in any of the shots. I thought our group worked well as team. We set up the props in the correct places and prepared our actors.

We set up the camera, and bubbled the tripod to make sure it was straight and steady this means that the spirt level is correct and so the tripod is level. We left thirty second of colour bar time at the beginning of the tape and then did a practice run of the scene. We each had turns at filming each shot and setting up the camera in the correct place, and we all got to it at least once. I personally filmed the close up shots of the actors. I thought the lighting was ok; we had the main lights of the classroom off, and just had one big light in front of the scene on the other side of the 180 degree line. It wasn’t too light and this was good because we wanted to create and slightly dark mood.
After the practice run, we decided to film the first scene. At the beginning of every shot we rolled for 5 second and before we began the scene and 5 seconds at the end of the shot to allow time to cut and edit when we get the editing process. We shot it in a wide shot and started the scene by saying 'stand by', 'rolling', 'action'.

The first shot went well so we only did one take and then moved onto the next shot, which was an over the shoulder shot. We found it a bit difficult at first to get the right position so we did not pass the 180 degree rule and we managed to get it accurate. After that shot we moved into a medium shot which was from the same position as the wide shot but closer. We then went to a close up of one of the actors and then gun in which was in front of her,. We did this to show the gun in clear view and what the actors task was, we also had the camera high and pointing down on her, this shows that she is weak. We then went to a close up of the other actor, and for him, we did the opposite. We had the camera pointing up at him to show that he is the leader and he is the dominate character and has control over the other actor. After this we shot a close up of actor 1, who starts off in the scene on her own. We showed her tapping her finger nails on the table to possibly show her patience, or the fact that she is nervous. I thought the task went very well and we felt that we only needed to film each shot once. I enjoyed the task and thought it was a good practice for the group to learn about the camera and how to create different moods with lighting.