Question 4

The Camera we used to film our short film was called Canon X5. It was a HD camera, which meant that our short film was filmed in a high resolution. The camera was very easy to operate, which gave us more time to focus on other aspects of the film. While filming we were watching the shot we were taking through the viewfinder. The viewfinder allowed us to make sure that we had positioned our shots accurately e.g. during Max's diary scene we needed him to be in the centre of the frame exactly and the viewfinder allowed us to do that, because it allowed to position him accurately. In general the viewfinder allowed us to see every shot before we took it, which saved us a lot of time. Sometimes we only noticed objects that were in the way of a shot by looking at the viewfinder e.g. one of the members in my group was in a two-shot we took of Sarah and Max in the kitchen. We were also able to switch the camera's modes from automatic to manual ect. This allowed us to take more creative shots e.g. a close-up of Sarah during a scene in the kitchen in which her face was in focus, while the background was out of focus. The spirit level on the Camera also enabled us to make sure that every shot we took was straight. We were also able to attach a tripod to the camera, which allowed us to take more versatile shots e.g. high angle mid-shot of Sarah holding a knife in the final scene. We also attached tracks to the tripod and camera to make panning movements much smoother especially during establishing shots during the first scene (graveyard scene). The camera was also very easy to transport due to the camera bag it came with; making moving from location to location easier.


 
After filming, I and my group used Adobe premier to edit the film. First of all we used a cable lead to capture and record all of our footage onto Adobe Premier. We saved all of our editing work onto a LaCie drive due to it having a lot of memory; a normal 2gb USB wasn't big enough. Our LaCie was always plugged in whilst editing. With Adobe Premier we were able to cut our captured video and sift and sort the shots into the different scenes and rename them, so that we knew which scene or shot they were. We were also able to cut out the clapperboard ect. Due to the shots being renamed and cut we were able to reorder all the sh ots we took into the right order and get rid of the shots we didn't need on the timeline e.g. shots in which the actor/actress didn't say there lines properly. We were also able to add titles onto the timeline. We used this tool in order to make the title for our film (Lost For Words) and the production company's names ect. We were also able to add effects and transitions to the video in order to make some of the transitions from one shot to another smoother or faster e.g. in the first scene when Max puts down the flowers on his father's grave, we used the effect called ghosting to cut down the really long shot. We also used the fade effect in order to allow the titles to fade in and out; we were also able to control what time the title came in and left (mark in and mark out) e.g. at 1.18 or 1.10 ect. Adobe Premier also allowed us to add music on top of the timeline and once again we could decide what time it came in or out. We also used a Dictaphone to record one of the short pieces of music we got someone to create for us (Happy Bir thday on piano in the final scene). We were able to make the music faster or slower ect, so we slowed down the song at the beginning of the film. We were also able to mix sounds by placing them a little bit on top of each other to make the transition from one piece of music to another sound more natural e.g. from the short song Crescendo in the final scene to the short song of Happy Birthday. For the diary scene we used a directional microphone in order to record Max's voice and make sure that it was clear due to the fact that the first time we filmed this scene his voice didn't sound clear. We also used a boom mic to prevent and static or muffling noises in our film. The boom mic was supported by the boom pole that enabled us to hold up the boom mic without touching it.


 
The main online tool I used to begin with, was blogger/blogspot. Blogger/Blogspot was used in order for me to be able to upload all of my work together in one place instead of making it into a book. There are many tools on Blogger that I found very useful when constructing my work. I used tools like 'labels' that enabled me to be able to organize my blog properly under headings, which made it, look more professional e.g. I organised my research into the labels main task research (related research) and other research (unrelated research that was useful) in order to make it easier for bloggers navigate their way around my blog. Blogger allowed me to put posts up in order for me to be able to share my work with other people, who were able to comment on particular posts, so that I could take in their feedback. I also had the opportunity to use Blogger's templates or create my own in order for me to make sure my blog s uited the world of my film. I also had the opportunity to design the actual layout of the blog in order for me to be able to make my blog more accessible for me and the people who viewed my blog. Due to the fact that Blogger was on the internet I was able to access it from many different locations, which made it more convenient for me. Blogger also gave me the opportunity to use other interactive tools that enabled me to post work on my blog in a much more interesting way. E.g. I could upload PowerPoint documents onto my blog with Slideshare.


 
One of the many interactive tools I used was Prezi. A Prezi is basically a zooming online presentation editor. I could create a whole PowerPoint on one page and I could add images and video's ect to it. This tool was particularly good for making presentations and pitch's in lesson due to the fact that you could include everything that you wanted on one page because you could enlarge or minimize writing ect. I used these tools to put a YouTube video into a picture of a mug for example. The programme was also really easy to understand and use due to the fact that there were different tutorials available for the various tools you needed to know about creating a Prezi e.g. there was a tutorial on effective ways to use zooming. Using a Prezi made it easier during pitching because we could spend more time taking down feedback rather than focusing on playing the slide seeming as our audience could see all the information on a Prezi without the use of a motion path if they wanted to. I also had the opportunity to edit a Prezi online with other members of my group who had a Prezi account, which made it easier for my group to work together because we didn't have to meet up as much, which was very hard due to other subject commitments.


 
Slideshare gave people viewing my blog the opportunity to view a normal word document or power point I had to be viewed in a much more interesting way on my blog and on slide share. They also had the opportunity to zoom in to the document if they couldn't quite see it. Slide Rocket was quite similar to both Slideshare and Prezi seeming as you could make a presentation online. It was similar to a power point due to the fact you could add transitions between slides, however Slide Rocket was more advanced. You could add a tweets feed to your presentation, so that viewers could see current tweets of a particular topic e.g. they could see recent tweets about a duck on your presentation. This programme also gave you the opportunity to record your own voice over a presentation in order to explain a slide or image ect. I used this tool to present my storyboard on my blog by recording myself talking about the storyboard. Like Prezi you were able to add a live YouTube video to a particular slide, which came in handy e.g. I added trailers of films that were similar to my film in a presentation I made on Slide Rocket. All of these websites made explaining research and planning that much easier because you could support what you wanted to write with images video's ect. It improved the overall look of the blog seeming as these programmes were quite new and more interesting than just text.



We recorded one of our pitches and feedback using the camera on our phones e.g . we took a video of a pitch we did in class and uploaded it to YouTube and put it on our blogs. We did this in order for us to have a visual form of our pitch to put on our blogs. We also used normal digital still cameras and the camera on our phones to take pictures of ourselves while filming and just in general during the length of the project. This was useful because it allowed people to see the process of making the film in pictures e.g. an image of two of us filming with the camera. I also used Windows movie maker to make a moodboard and then I converted the file and posted it on YouTube. I thought that this moodboard was more effective because it allowed you to talk about more. E.g. I was able to include a song in the moodboard that really did sum up the emotions experienced in the short film and I was able to explain why.


 
I used Google in order to find a lot of the images and websites that I needed / used for the research stage of my coursework in particular .e.g. I found a lot of images of blockbuster posters, like the film Seven Pounds for my film on Google. Due to the fact that Google is a search engine I found it extremely useful seeming as it led me to many sites that were vital to the film making process e.g. I made an add on Gumtree, which is a site that enables you to sell/buy things or advertise things like job vacancies. We used this site in order for us to attempt to find a cast that would act for free. This website was very slow; in the end we only got one reply, but it was way too late for us to even attempt to audition that person. However Google led me to a website called Starnow that specialised in advertising acting jobs. This site also had regular acting opportunities that required people to work for free, so we had a high response rate and we ended up getting over 200 views for both of the adds we put up. In order for me to advertise a job opportunity for Starnow I had to sign up, create a profile and essentially become a member. Many members of my class ended up using this website due to its high success rate/background. This website enabled me to choose who we wanted and shortlist them ect, so basically I was able to sift and sort applicants into different groups e.g. 'got the part' and 'unsuccessful' ect. We were able to see applicants profile, so we could check out their acting in previous roles they may have done and we could contact them through messages on Starnow. Google made it easy for me to find the website that we got our main actress from and Starnow made it easier for me to manage applicants, which helped us a lot during the planning and research stages of the project. Google was also the website that allowed me to find many of the sites that allowed me to have more creative postings on my blog e.g. Slideshare.