Filming
Two weeks ago we were put into groups of about 6 and were given a video camera. Our task was to produce a short film with the title 'The Accident'. The short film that I and my group produced went very well. We all had our own ideas and used them all to make our film as good as we could. Individually I got to grips with how to use the video camera as I filmed the majority of the film. We filmed with a hand held camera, used many features such as zooming in and out and shots at different camera angles. Our scenes were basic but the techniques we used on the camera made the clip much more effective to the title of the project. In my opinion the reason why our first attempt was successful is because we all worked as a team and spent time before filming planning what we were going to do. For future production I have learnt that depending on the genre of the project there are specific features available- like using the camera hand half to create a jerky view for a horror film. Also that our individual ideas could work even better if joined with other ideas to produce a more professional clip.
Another type of filming that our group produced was the ‘pencil case ‘scene. The difference with this filming was that we used the tripod for the camera. The point of this task was to use different camera angles and see how they effect the filming. This worked really well and we used over the shoulder shots, birds eye shots, corner shots and close ups. We all worked together in a team and it went really well. for the future I will use of the camera angles we used to help me with my coursework project.
Editing
I especially enjoyed the editing part of our task on the Apple Mac computers. Once we filmed our video clip about the phone call we used the editing software to cut parts out that we thought were unnecessary, add transition effects, titles and credits. At first I found the software quite confusing to use however, the longer we used it the more I understood how to do edit the clip. For this task I felt that our team work was not as good as it could have been as I personally only used the mouse for a minute of two. If I had more time on the mouse I think I would have been able to understand how to use it much quicker than I did. On the other hand we all had input to what effects were used and the timing of the clip. Our finale piece, when show, was not at all what we expected to see. There were blackouts towards the end cutting out most of the scenes. What went well for this section of our practise assessment was the different effects we used that matched the different clips. However, what didn’t work so well were the amount of effects we used that complicated the film. Also we tried to explore all the effects that were available in putting them into our clip but personally it ruined the end result. From this task I have learnt some good tips to assist me in future editing:
-To keep the editing simple!
-if using transitions to use them for a particular effect or use one consistently
-To make tight edits
-Try to film as much footage as possible for editing options.
Sound
For the last part of the practice task we were producing a soundtrack to go with our short clips that we previously edited. I really enjoyed this part of the task because there are so many different things you can control from the tempo to the instruments and melodies used. it was really easy to use and mix instruments from base to orchestras instruments. From the sounds you use you can tell a lot about the film that is going to be shown whether it is a thriller or a romantic genre. As a team we worked really well on this part and all had a go at adding and moving the sections of sound around. We all had our own opinions on the different sounds available but came to a conclusion that suited all of our types. Individually I submitted ideas on the length of the sounds we used and also on using a low drum base all the way through with the sounds with more impact over the top.
