Diary Entry Pre Production 26th-30th

This week is the last week we have until our shoot day which is Monday the 3rd of May.

We have a number of things still to do before then and here is a list of what we need to complete- 

• Finish the storyboard
• Do a rehearsal 
• Practice the makeup

On Monday, Amy ordered the makeup and did some practising of wounds-

We also collected some of the shoes from the dancers and I emailed the teacher who deals with props at our school asking if we could borrow some. 

After having a final discussion with Matt this week we decided on putting a plastic sheet under the girl so that it would be easier to clean up and for the other actor to transport her while filming. We have found a large plastic sheet in the art department, we are going to use this instead of buying a plastic sheet online. 

This week we faced a problem where our main male character could no longer play the role. 

In order to overcome this, we asked every teacher possible but none of them were able to so we had to ask a student from our year to step in. 

Filming with dialogue

Todays lesson was another workshop where we filmed a scene including dialogue. We did this to learn how to edit with dialogue. 

Taking into account the 180 degree rule and rule of thirds, we filmed the same scene of two people in a conversation in a wide shot, mid shot and close up. 

We used a microphone stick and pointed it at the person who was talking because it helps pick up on sound. There is a case that includes the microphone, a wire that connects the microphone and camera and lastly there is a wind muff or 'dead cat'. Once we briefly learned about the microphone Matt left us to film another sequence of a conversation happening

           

Something we took into account was making sure we kept continuity because the first shooting we did we did not keep it which made editing difficult. 

 

Zoey and I took it in turns to shoot the scene and hold the microphone, whilst Emily and Florence did the dialogue as I was in front of the camera in a previous workshop. This way we all got a chance at learning how to use the camera. 

Another quick thing we learnt was white balance which is to do with lighting. White balance is to do with what colour the picture looks like. There are two types of light- man made light and natural light (sun light). 

Cameras aren’t very good at identifying so need to be told what light conditions it is in. The white balance can be changed on the camera as shown up above. 

The different types are- 

• outside/natural
• man made for inside
• neon lights
• cloudy day
• shadows

Editing Workshop 1

Today's lesson was a workshop with Matt on learning how to edit. 

In the hour we had, we learnt the fundamental basics on how to edit using the software used at school which is premier pro. This software is used by all kinds of editors, ranging from beginners to people who do it for a living. 

When premier pro is first opened up we are presented with 4 windows. The top left window is the first video screen which is going to keep changing as you start editing. The top right hand window is another video screen which is linked directly to the timeline which is the bottom right window. The timeline is where the construction of the video takes place. The timeline goes from left to right. The bottom left hand corner is the project window which is the 'finder' of the software- footage, audio etc can all be found here. 

The first thing we did was made a bin where we put our rushes in. This process is called LOGGING. A rush is a completely unedited video file, it is called rushes because the film stuff is shot during the day and then ‘rushed’ off during the night to be used the next day by the producer and editor. (Called daily's in America because the process takes a day). 

Folders inside editing programmes are called bins. 

We logged by picking out the rushes we liked that we took in a previous workshop and moved it all to a bin. We renamed the rushes short and simple names so that they can be easily found in the future. 

(the square on the bottom left is the bins)

Once we had our bins we were able to use our footage. We first trimmed our videos down, to do this you mark the in point by pressing I. This tells the computer where to start the footage. 

 You press 'O' when you wanted it to end. 

We then moved the videos down to the timeline and put them together to create our final piece-

A few other important things we learnt were- 

• The trim handle is used to trim videos earlier/later
• We use Command S to save our work 
• Command Z is short for undo

 

Diary Entry pre-production 19th-24th

This week we found out the date for our shooting day which is the 3rd of May. We have two weeks to prepare and have a number of things to do.

Here are a number of things we did in preparation- 

Firstly, we went to our location to establish what we need to film and where. 

Here is some footage of the ideas we have - 

After establishing the location we were able to get onto our storyboard. 

A member of our group Nosa drew this for us whilst we discussed what would work and what wouldn’t- we didn’t finish our storyboard but will do this next week. 

Another task we had to do was order a few costumes and props. We split this out between us.

Nosa- is in charge of getting the doll house, headphones and the plastic sheet.

Amy- glasses, makeup and male costume

Mimi (myself)- fake blood

Tatum- white dresses

This week myself and Tatum got the fake blood ordered from Amazon and the white dresses for the female character from a website callee PrettyLittleThing. 

Lastly, we spoke to the dance teacher at our school about borrowing some shoes and some dance students offered to lend us some that we'll pick up next week. 

Camera workshop2- Thursday

 In the second camera workshop, we practised using two key techniques when filming which are:

The 180 degree rule-

This technique is used to make sure that the audience are aware of where everything and everybody is and know where all the action is happening in the scene. 

It is a basic guideline regarding the spatial relationship between the characters in a scene. The characters in the scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. 

If the 180 degree rule is broken, it looks and feels wrong because audiences have been conditioned for years of how things should look. 

Rule of thirds -

This is where the screen is split into three horizontally and vertically. It is more about where the lines meet rather than the boxes themselves. Where the lines meet is where point of interests go.

A mistake people usually make is placing the point of interest in the middle of the screen.

When adjusted and placing the point of interest on one of the focus points, the shot becomes more dynamic. 

We also learnt the language used whilst on set, to prepare to shoot a scene, dialogue goes as follows- 

Director- "Stand by"

Crew- "Standing by"

(these terms are used because they are short, simple and will not be misinterpreted.)

Director- "Roll camera"

Crew- "Camera Rolling"

Director- "Action"

Director- "Cut" 

It is important not to cut before the director calls it. 

I do not have footage from that day to show but what was shot that day is what we used in the editing workshop number 1. 

We shot a simple scene of me walking down the stairs and checking my phone multiple times with different camera angles. 

Camera Workshop with Matt-1

On Monday the 19th of April our media class had a camera workshop. 

During this hour lesson we learnt how to set up cameras and tripods. 

The Tripod 

Tripods are used so that a camera man doesn’t have to stand and hold a heavy camera for hours when film making. 

The tripod is made up of two bits -the legs and the head. When adjusting the height of the tripod, unclip the bottom clips and then follow up from there to avoid accidents such as the camera falling off. 

 

The Camera

A technique used when passing the camera is 'mine yours'- because the camera is heavy and expensive, when passing it around the person receiving the camera says 'mine' and the person giving it answers back with 'yours'. 

To place the camera on the tripod, you slide the bottom of the camera onto the tracks/grooves of the tripod, remembering to press the button on the left as you do so to ensure the camera clips on. Once you’ve done this you swap your grip to the right side and twist the fastener to make sure the camera is on securely and won't fall off. To test this, you can use the 'earthquake test' where you pick up and shake the tripod. 

Once the camera is on the tripod, you bubble it by making sure the 'little yellow circle' is in the middle. 

You then slide the battery onto the side of the camera and to ensure its in place you hear the 'click' sound. 

You also twist the handle round until it is tight to move the camera round like so-

There are two lenses on the cameras, the focus lens and the zoom lens. You simply slide them around and adjust it to the focus and zoom you want your shot to be- 

Props list update

List of props needed-

• the doll house
• fake blood
• mop and bucket
• headphones + cassette (I included this in part of the costume list and post)

We don't need that many props because the majority of our sequence if focused on the dolls house. 

A member of our group, Nosa, is bringing in his doll house from home. 

I am in charge of ordering the fake blood, which I found on amazon.  

We will be needing a lot of fake blood to make the 'pool' of it to give the illusion that she has been killed by a wound -(a cut) and that she has been left there for a while. 

Our group found a mop and bucket that the school already have which we will be using.