This is a picture of a wide lens, as you can see its bases diameter is much smaller then the top. This is to maximise the amount of light being able to go through into the shot to give a certain vibe or depth to a character. The presence of a shaddow and the length of it determines how spookey or playful an object is. For example, when walking home at night scenes are in movies. They commonly have very long shaddows to show no one else is around.
Last Friday we started to edit our tapes in the editing sweet. We got into our groups and logged on to the Final cut Server, this was a new programme to not only new to us but the school too. We went into the programme and checked out all of our footage then accessed the edit proxy (digital copy of the footage) of the original footage to use in our exercise. Continuity Editing is very important to smooth over the discontinuity of the editing. For example if you cut together two frames the sound would be inconstant and repetitive. By choosing the speed or speech we can force the audience to identify with certain characters. Film language is used so that people understand what is happening on screen for example we commonly started with the mid shot to establish the characters and their relationship. The general order if filming shots are wide shot, mid shop, over the shoulders then close ups.
Logging Shots We made a file entitled “log bin” for our best shots in each category. We chose the shots that looked the smoothest with no continuity. Also some shots had too much head space or the shots had too much light in them. Luckily none of our shots were out of focus so we did have the choice of using all of them. It took our group a long time to select the takes we wanted to use but I think we selected the right ones.
Organising your shots Before starting the preliminary task we were given a story board. This consisted of four wide, four over the shoulder and four close ups. The shots were selected to show emotion to the audience and to ensure they understood the story; they were in a simple formation as it was our first time filming.
Shot Order As our task was set out in shots that we had to stick to, this meant there was a pattern to follow which made this easier for us. It was difficult as our actors did not always hit their point or eliminate continuity so we had to delete many frames. To get shots from the left side to the right we had to hold down the “I” key for in then, hold down the “O” key to cut that particular piece of footage. Once done, we dragged it down onto the editing time line and perfected the sound on it.
Editing in Final Cut We cut from James’s entering the room to Fiona’s eyes anxiously glancing at him then looking away. By using the ECU on her eyes, all of the audiences focus is drawn to them, rather then whatever was being said.
Last lesson me and three others were put in a group to film a short sequence in the old editing sweet. The location was a great place to film as here was lots of space and natural light. During our time filming we did not have allocated roles like camera crews do, we all had a go at everything. My favorite was being the director and deciding when to say action and cut. We tried to get a wide variety of shots, to do this we attempted to hold up the camera on the tripod, but it proved too difficult for us. The lighting was very difficult to decide on; we discussed many reasons why we should use different kind of lighting. After much thought towards this, we settled on having a very light room but with hardness to it, as James was the main speaking character he needed to look a certain way. We had a key and a fill light so the shadows were attached to the wall. The lighting was very important because I gave the character a story behind him. The lighting showed that he wasn’t a soft and loveable person. He was a bully. At the time yes, the lighting looked effective but we are yet to go through the tape and start the editing. But at the time, on the screen of the camera it was very effective and did give great long shadows. Adding to the spooky and anxious vibe. As there was a limited amount of time we were aloud, we had to quickly set up the camera and get it into position for the first shot. To set up the camera we firstly had to ensure the tripod was level, to do this we bubbled it. This means the bubble in the spirit level was within the smaller circle. We checked the frame, made sure there were no equipment in view for example the lights or our shadows. In our group we had written down all of the different shots we needed, we used a large range to ensure the audience understood the two characters relationship. For example, we shot Fiona downwards. This shows she is weak and had a lower status then James. We shot James so he looked like a powerful tall man; he also never sat down and got onto Fiona’s level. The sequence of shots we did were, wide shot, mid shot, close ups (of both), extreme close ups (of both) and over the shoulder shots. During filming we were very conscious of the 180 degree line. This line is the one you are unable to cross when filming as it confuses the audience to think the characters have switched positions on screen. On set we used the appropriate terminology to not only make the actors feel more confident in our filming but also to get experience of saying the words and properly understanding when to say them. It made us feel more formal and professional. In terms of practical film making I think we have learnt very much in a short time. In our group we did not get any help from the supervisor, which made us feel more confident in ourselves. The story behind our short sequence was that James was pressurizing Fiona into killing someone in an assassination type of way. We decided on this as we wanted to make the frames spooky and as if they could be in real life. Over all i think our filming was very succesful and everyone lernt alot from this practical way of teaching.
