Editing

Last practical lesson we filmed our little scene which i have already written about below. So now we are onto editing it all together. Unfortunately 2 of the members of our group were unwell for this lesson, this meant the 2 of us left had more to do.

We used a program called Final Cut Pro (the picture above). I found it quick and easy to use, and enjoyed learning about how to cut the right shots together making sure that it was at the exact right time and that the sounds fit. 

i also learnt how to do a sound bridge, which is when the sound continues over a different image. this makes the film feel continuous.

We didnt quite managed to finish all the final touches but im proud of what we did and think its come together nicely.

The Stepfather - opening 3 minutes

This is the first shot of the 3 minute clip. the mise-en-scene tells us the time of year, as we can see snow on the ground, a large snowman in the front of someones house. We can also just see a small farther Christmas oh the side of the next house along. these props tell us the time of year as in winter at Christmas. Christmas is normally thought of as a happy, family time of the year but the eerie, non-jolly sound contradicts that thought.

This shot begins with him walking towards the mirror out of focus and when he gets close he comes in focus, this is joined with a drumming climax of the music. This is a low angle shot which gives the man power, he is in control of what is coming on. A man wearing glasses has become a stereotype of that person being intelligent. With his intense stare and concentration he looks clever as well. He has a strong beard which is an easily changeable feature.

In hind sight this is a happy shot  with all the smiling faces of the children in the photographs, and the Christmas decorations. But the low pitch, eerie non-diegetic music that goes with it makes the audience feel uneasy while seeing the happy faces. this is a contrapuntal image, where the image signifies a different meaning to the sound.

This is the last shot we see from the opening 3 minute sequence. The well kept kitchen shows us the family have money, because of the clean and modern look. From the flowers by the window we can see that its not been abandoned as they are colourful and healthy so someone must have been around to water them. But there is still no sign of another person being around, no plates of glasses left on the side from any ones meal. leaving the audience confused and in suspense.

Preliminary scene

On Friday 23rd September we split into groups of 4 to film a short scene between 2 actors. One walks into a room and they each say a few lines. There was around 5 different shot types we were told to do.
We began by setting up the camera, just like how i explained to in one of my previous blogs.
I was chosen as one of the actors and we had a friend step in a play the other part.
The first shot we filmed was the wide shot. we did each angle all the way through twice. We did this because some shots came up more than once, so instead of filming each little bit and having to move round lots, we can just edit out the bit of that angle we are using at a different angle. It is important to do the scene twice each time at least in case there is something wrong with one of them and you didn't notice while filming.
I think our group did well, we had one person working the camera, a director calling out what we should be doing and when the camera is rolling and a continental girl making sure we did it the same each time like by putting little objects down telling the actors where to stand.
I really enjoyed doing the work that goes into filming a scene and am looking forward to editing our clip on Thursday 29th  September.

second lesson - camera work

One of the first things you need to do is to focus the camera. You have to zoom in very far on an object, preferably in the center of your setup, and turn the focus wheel till the image is clear, this means when you zoom out it will still be in focus.

The next thing for you to check is the white balance so the scene does not turn out completely the wrong colour, you need a white object to hold up in fornt of the camera filling the screen and then you simply press the white balance button on the left hand side of the camera. 

Also to make sure the shot is not too dark or bright you need to check the aperture. The shutter speed is important to be set at around 50 so the image doesn't come out all blurred.

Finally I learnt the most important rule of filming, the 180 degree rule. When two actors are being filmed there is an invisible line between the two and the camera can not cross from one side to the other. There can be lots of different camera shots but they must be on one line otherwise it will be like the characters have magically changed side and it will not make sense to the audience.

first practical lesson - setting up the camera

In my first lesson i learnt how to set up a camera on a tripod. There are 3 legs to a tripod and you can adjust the hight of each to your choice.
Once setting up the hight, you can put the camera onto the tripod is fairly easy as all you do is loosen a nob and hold down a button to slid the camera on and then tighten the nob back up. Next comes bubbling the camera to make sure its flat, where you hold the camera and turn a nozzle on the tripod moving the camera untill the bubble is in the circle.

I also learnt what all the different numbers on the screen of the camera mean, for example the white balance, shutter speed, battery power and the time code.

This is a photo of a camera almost the same as the one we used, and a tripod.

First Blog

Welcome to My blog. I will be using this for the next two years to record my thoughts and developments in my Media AS course :)
I am looking forward to studying Media and creating and developing a thriller, and learning how to blog as i havent ever before.