The Final Product - The Prisoner

This is it, the final product. After spending weeks, planning, filming and editing, it is finished and now, like any other media professional, I must tear it apart.


I'll start with what I think didn't go so well.
Firstly, the lighting was impossible to get right. I filmed in an area that had too much lighting but I figured I could fix it in editing by adding a few tints here and there which didn't bode well. My original plan was to put a tint on top and it looked great in one shot but I felt it was too blue in the others. I did try and adjust it as much as I could to make it look real. However is was spending too my uh time with the tints that I had to get on with the rest of it. So, instead I just decreased the brightness and upped the contrast which worked well in some scenes but not so well in the others. In one crucial scene there is a pan showing Number Two's back had a knife taped to it which is a crucial fact to show the audience. However, because it's so dark you can't actually see it which makes the whole shot seem pointless - so as a word of advice for my future self, make sure the lighting is perfect when the cameras are out and filming.

 Next is the audio which caused a lot of problems. When close to the camera, the sound is louder and clearer, however, when stood far away, it's very quiet which gives complications for the speaking scene between the two characters in the garage. Number two's voice is very quiet in some parts. There is one part in particular where I'm very close to the camera and I say a line which sounds very loud and almost as if I've dubbed into the video, causing it to sound fake.

Another audio related problem is the audio. I feel it doesn't fit very well with the video. When editing it sounded quiet well, if not a bit loud, but when I adjusted the volume, it seemed all right. However, when watching the video after finishing it, it sounds almost as if I've made a scene that fits in half way through a movie which wasn't what I wanted. My idea was to make it look like it was a part of the opening sequence which is what I'm aiming for when it comes to my video work as it's the main objective of the course. Yet it doesn't feel quiet right to me. I had the sound almost perfect when I first inserted it into the clip and both pieces of music fitted together nicely. However, when I next went to edit the sound had disappeared as I didn't save it onto the work space in my computer which is an error on my side. It sounds to me like it starts too early and sounds as if I've just popped it on top instead of actually converging it with the shots.

 But I digress. There were some good elements about the video (I hope). I liked the way most shots turned out and most flowed together well as well as the composition. The way the conversation flows between the two characters seems good. Generally the first half of the video seems go to me up until the middle where it starts to go a bit downhill, but it is my first scripted piece of work and now that I've fully gotten to grips with the camera and editing software I now know what works and what doesn't.

 The overall process was more difficult than the other two tasks. Filming was a bit of a hassle as when some shots didn't work or plan out the way you wanted to, you had to work with whatever you had. Another thing was that this task involved people acting which lead to some problems of finding people who wanted to take part and actually having them turn up. Two people I asked dropped out which lead to a last minute plan of myself taking their part which will hopefully never happen again. I'm certainly no Kate Winslet and I think this is shown very clearly. Plus, when you're acting in your own video, it's difficult to get the shot perfect as instead of standing behind the camera, you're in front of it too - I don't know how the Hollywood hot shots do it!

 Editing was another part which I didn't think I'd find particularly difficult but I've been proven wrong. It takes a lot of time to get the video looking the way you want it to to and near the end of it I felt I rushed the second half of the video which is why it's lacking a certain quality to it. In the future, I will definitely be spending a lot more time when it comes to editing and making sure it all fits together smoothly. When watching the finished video back for the one hundredth time I only just noticed some continuity errors which I'm still kicking myself about (I swear there are bruises forming). So in the future, I think I'll spend my life editing until it's prefect down to the T.

 Now onto the video itself. The file is too big to insert into this blog post so instead you can watch it on Vimeo here - https://vimeo.com/109942347

Hopefully trhe next scripted project turns out better...

Until next time,

                        Toni

Cutaways!

So today's post is all about cutaways in my video.
 Basically a cutaway is a short two or three second clip of an object in the scene. It is a way of disrupting the scene but it doesn't break up the action of the shot.
 These types of shots are used all the time in TV and films. The most popular type is called a 'noddy'. This is most commonly used in an interview. Say the interviewee is asked a question and they begin talking, it then cuts to a scene of the interviewer nodding. This can be used to cut the interview down when editing and I've found it to be very useful when there are continuity errors within my video which I didn't realise at the time of filming.

 So, I'm going to show you how I use cutaways to get rid of any errors in my filming.

 On the right hand side of the image above, it's a shot of myself sat in a chair in the garage. In the shot next to this, it is of another person entering the garage. However, instead of continuously filming this in a master shot, I turned off the camera and so the next shot is of a slightly different angle to the door.

It looks like an obvious jump when playing it all through together and it doesn't flow smoothly. 

So, this is when a cutaway is perfect to use.

On the right hand side is a close up of a teddy bear that was in the background of one of my previous shots so this seemed like a good thing to film as a cutaway scene as it was related to the footage. I only put the video in the timeline and extended the audio from the previous shot of the door opening. The door makes a loud creaking sound so I placed this alongside the shot of the bear so it sounds like the door is still opening in the background. 

And on the left side of the image above is the beginning of the shot of the girl entering the garage and the right hand side is a still mid-shot. If you compare this to the first image you can see an obvious difference between the two shots. However, with the cutaway placed in the middle, this continuity is unnoticeable which means my video can flow smoothly (hooray!)

So, this post is about cutaways and is also a good way to disguise technical continuities. Obviously, this doesn't work on continuities to do with props and costumes and location. 

 Before I go I'll leave you with this… always film cutaways as you'll never no when they'll come in handy.

 Until next time, 

                           Toni

And So It Begins

So I've started to begin editing the video which I'm really excited about.

(Excuse the finger that is pratically covering the lens)

This is my favourite part of post production as it allows me to tie everything together get rid of any mistakes and manupilate the shot to get a different feel to the scene.



For example, I'll be tiniting the scene inside the garage to give a more sinister feel to the shot.

So I started off with the shot I want to edit

And then I added a blue tint and ajusted the contrast

 And voilà! It looks slightly darker which helps give an eery effect to my footage as at the time of filming it was a tad too light in my location.

 So that's all for this post. I'm going to keep these short and sweet as a lot of my time will be spent on editing these next couple weeks. 

 Until next time,

                            Toni



Even More Planning - Shooting Schedule

This is the final post on planning and today it is all about the shooting shedule. I was given a template as to how to fill it out but I decided to create my own.
 As you can see I'm going to attempt to film it all in one day which would be an acheivement and a half if I manage to do so. The good thing is, is that there's only two people needed for this so there's less people to organise together.
 So, onto explaing the schedule. The date obviously tells you when you'll be filming the shots and the scene column tells you what scene you'll be filming when. I only have two scene to film so I've decided to arrange mine in chronological order. The reason being is that there isn't a huge maount to film so I can't imagine it taking a very long amount of time. Plus, it reduces the risk of continuity errors (which is something I really don't want in my first scripted task).
 The location column tells you where each shot will be filmed. Because I'll be filimg inside my own house I just put down which room each scene will be filmed in. Of course, if you're filming somewhere outside or in multiple different places it would make sense to put down the name of each place the shots are filmed. However, in this case I'll just stick to rooms.
 The description of shot column is where you write a breif description of what's happening in each shot you take. I just wrote down the type of shot, the camera movement and anything that happens within the shot such as dialogue and the actor's movements.
 Lastly, the cast column is jsut to let you know who's needed where and who is on screen at each shot. Unfortunately, someone dropped out at the last minute so I was the only one available to take their space so wherever their name is in the casting column, I'll take their space in the shot.

 So, as I said in my last post, the next lot of posts are all about editing which is probably much more exciting than planning the whole thing. These posts will start appearing sometime in the week so watch this space.
 Until next time,
                          Toni

More Planning: The Script

Today's post is all about the script I was given for The Prisoner. This was pre-written and given to everyone so we all have the same task to do. However, I wanted to tweak it ever so slightly. First of all, it mentions in the first scene that one of the characters has to enter a small building. This was a problem for me as where I live, I'm sort of restricted as there are no small buildings in any mile radius - I may as well be living in the middle of no where. However, I decided that I could film the character entering a small isolated room instead. So the small building is now a room hence the underlining.
 I also added in a couple of extra lines just to add in a little something that makes it slightly different from the rest of my class. The numbers next each line are just an indication to me as to which line each character will say in each shot. For example, Number 2 will say 'information' in S15 (for a closer look at all my shots check out my storyboard here.

 So I haven't made any drastic changes, it is still The Prisoner and it still resembles the script I've been given - or at least I think it does. That's for all now. There'll be one more post on planning and then the editing begins (yay!).
Until next time,
                         Toni
P.s anyone else have Man Who Can't Be Moved stuck in their head as well?

Planning For The Prisoner - Storyboarding

So this is the start of a new four week project that I am doing individually. The title of the project is The Prisoner and to begin with I had to create a storyboard which isn't my favourite thing to do. There is a lack of quality in the drawings which I do apologize for - when I was told it could be a rough sketch I really went to town with it. Obviously a GCSE in art doesn't help my artistic - or in the case lack of - skills. The first one can't be see very well because there was a problem with the scanner but you'll get the idea in the finishing video.

 

So this is just a quick overview of the shots I'll be taking when filming this project. It gives both myself and everyone else the general idea on how I will film the shots such as camera movement, the type of shot and and dialogue/music that needs to be added when editing the final thing. There may be a few extra shots added here and there but generally I'll be sticking to my storyboard as a guideline.

This was just a short and sweet post and there will be two more added this week to do with more planning apects of the project such as the script and the shooting schedule so keep your eyes peeled.

Until next time,

 

Toni

 

Camera Movement

Okay, so today's post is all about the process of making the video on camera movement. So a couple days ago I talked all about health and safety so check that out if you want to here.
 Although I mentioned in my camera shots post how pleasanlty surprised I was when creating the video this one was no different - if anything, I thought it was slightly easier.
 I only had a few shots to take around school which took less time than I thought. Capturing the movements was a piece of cake as I had a tripod to help reduce the shaky hand syndrome I've got going on when holding the camera manually. My favourite movement was the overhead pan which was taken by placing the camera on the tripod and holding it very high in the air above my head. Depsite the fact my hands were shaking like nobody's business. it turned out pretty well. Even though I was paying too much attention to the camera screen and not particularly looking where I was going, it turned out really well. I was nice to be more hands on with the tripod which helped me to gain more confidence when using it as in my last video I was constantly nervous in case it fell off.
 However, the reverse zoom was the most difficult to film. I must have spent at least 5 minutes trying to get the camera to focus on a flower.
 The editing process didn't take any longer than two hours which I was not expecting. I thought at the beginning of the course, before I started even getting to grips with the equipement, that editing would be the most time consuming task.
 Overall, the process of this task, compared to the camera shots, was easier and took less time to create. I really enjoyed doing this again and now that the preliminary tasks are completed, I can move on to creating the more challenging videos. Watch this space… and also my video!

Until next time,
                          Toni

Moving That Camera

Alright, so today's post is all about camera movement. Once again me and Millie were given the task to go out and film diffrerent types of camera movements. This ranged from a slow pan to fast whip, and high angle to slow pint of view. There was a few off loacation shots filmed near a river and also around the school which leads me to talk about the health and safety aspect when filming videos.
 The first obvious one is to make sure that when near water the camera should be kept on the tripod and screwed on tight so it doesn't fall off into a river and you end up spending oodles amount of money paying for a new one - luckily this didn't happen to us! Of course if you're needing to do a close up then take it off the tripod to get to a near ground level but make sure you keep a tight grip on that camera. It doesn't work so well when it's soggy.
 Another aspect to keep in mind is even when filming around school there are a few dangers. When filming these movements in particular, it involves a lot of walking around and because you're too busy looking at the camera screen, it's hard to see where you're going. You could end up bumping into someone and possibly dropping the camera. So make sure you're not filming down a busy corridor - unless it's apart of the task - and stick to the quiet areas whilst you're still getting to grips with the camera and tripod. I nearly got stuck in a door because I didn't close the tripod legs together so I would advise to close the tripod when travelling from palce to place (unless you want to risk being laughed at from all the children in the surrounding classrooms).
 Also, you're in a class with other media students, it's a good idea to bare in mind that you won't be the only who's filming. Look out for your peers equipement as well as you're own.
 This may seem silly but also keep those shoes laces tied because if you trip with the camera then the quality of the shot has gone out the window. No amount of stabilizing would be able to fix that mess. Plus, make sure there aren't any obstacles in the way before you start filming just so you're not injuring yourself or damaging the camera

 But anyway, filming was a lot as fun but I always find that it is and editing was a breeze. I'll leave you with a little taster on what is to come very shortly.

Until next time,
                          Toni