Prelim Post Production Blog

To edit our prelim task we used Final Cut Pro to edit it.

this is what the final cut pro editing time line look likes, firstly we had to check our work out of the server we did this by clicking on the balls arranged into a cube, we then had to put our work onto the desktop and re open it in order to edit it on final cut pro. if we save our work on the server it doesn't slow down the computer we are working on as it isn't stored on the computer, the server also insures that our work is safe so if we edit our work and mess it up we can always go back and start again as it is always saved on the server.


Continuity editing
This is the predominant style of editing in narrative cinema and television. The purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the inherent discontinuity of the editing process and to establish a logical coherence between shots. for example if we were to start our edit with a extreme close up of someones eyes the audience wouldn't know whats going on as it wouldn't set the scene like a wide shot of both the characters. when we were editing we had to make sure we matched on action so the transition between to shoots is smooth, and the audience doesn't notice a jump e.g. the camera could go from one end of the room too another and the audience wouldn't notice.


Logging our shots
we filmed our sequence fully in each type of shot so when it came to editing we had lots of options we could choose from for our final edit. we had to mix up lots of our shots to make them fit and the transitions look smooth we tried to match on action, we had to bins of film we had the original ones with all the shots and we copied these to the final edit bin.


Organising the shots
we arranged the shots in the way we thought which told the story best and made sense to the audience for example we didnt start our edit with a close up as we needed to set the scene with JJ walking through a door into the room it set the scene.

Prelim Acount of Shoot day

1)  our prelim task shoot took place in the film studio

2) the film studio location worked well as we could control lots of factors of continuity like background noise e.g planes flying overhead, also the lighting in the studio made it easy as it doesn't change with the clouds or sunlight unlike it would if we were shooting outside, when we went to shoot the door outside we had problems with shadows as we couldn't control our environment like we could in the studio. One drawback of using the film studio is we didn't have a door to use so we had to shoot a different door for the entering on to set.

3) My active role in the filming was i moved props around the set and set up the camera and tri pod for filming and watching out for bad continuity when shooting so when we come to edit the shoot together it will look smooth and professional. I watched out for shadows casted by the spotlights lights in the studio.

Lighting
1) The lighting we had in the studio was very good it was bright and constant, in light up the set well and it was quite hard as well as the studio lighting in the ceiling we had additional spot lights these were very bright and hot we had to watch out for these lights casting shadows that could then be seen by the camera.

2) The lighting was important to the scene as we had lots of white surfaces and glossy surfaces in our set so if the lighting wasn't set up properly these could had reflected the light back into the camera, the artificial light of the studio made the set look more real than if we were using the light from the sun outside.

3) The lighting in the studio was effective at helping us keeping good continuity.

Filming
a) when we were setting up the camera for every different angle and shot we made sure we white balanced it focused and got the correct level of zoom.
b) It was easy to level the tripod in the controlled environment of the studio as the floor is relatively flat and level unlike when we had to shoot outside of the door being opened it was on unlevel gravel so we had to bubble the tripod to make it a level shot.
c) Each time we went for a new shoot we would make the actors stay where they were going to be in he scene and then focused and zoomed and that we had the correct amount of space around our actors.
d) In our shoot we closely monitored the equipment like lighting tripods making sure we didn't have e.g. a leg of a tri pod in the shot.
e) The angles for our shoot were appropriate as we had to do certain ones like over the shoulder of both actors, close ups of both actors and a wide shot each one of these shots we made sure the shot was framed correctly by doing white balances and focusing.
f) we filmed the entire scene in all of our chosen shots so when It comes to editing we have lots of differnt options of shots to use. The story board bellow is the one we used.

g) We were careful not to break the 180 degree rule otherwise it would look as if our actors have swapped postions and confuse the audience.
h) in our shoot we tried to handle it as perfesional as we could by using industry terminology like Stand by, Standing by, Role it, Rolling, Action and Cut.

Pre-production planning prelim

Our prelim task is going to be shot in the studio, as it is much easier to shoot in a controlled environment of the Tv studio, the lighting in their is good as well as you can control every aspect of it making it much easier to watch out for shadows and white balancing doesn't need to be done as frequently as it does when shooting in the environment. For our actors we will just try to get who ever is available on the day. We have been given a story board and script so we don't have to worry about making one we cant give it to the actors to learn as we don't know who they are.

Introduction to Video Camera

This week we have been mainly doing video camera work and film short scenes.

1) Camera operation and functions
we used the settings on the camera like aperture which makes the picture brighter or darker and white balance to set the cameras settings to the lighting conditions we were shooting in so it could see all the colours clearly. we had to focus the camera in so after shooting the picture was sharp and we could zoom in in editing and the picture wouldn't be blurry.
Zoom enabled us to zoom in for things like extreme close ups with out shoving the camera in the actors faces.

2) Using the camera
  *we used a wide shot which is when The subject takes up the full frame, or at least as much as possible the same as a long shot
* we also used an extreme close up to create tension in our scenes, an extreme close up is when the camera is zoomed in and gets extreme detail of the subject.
*we used an over the shoulder shot, it shows two people having and conversation we did this both of the actors in our scene so we have more options when editing the shoot together. 
*further more we also used a close up of both of our actors a close up is when a certain feature or part of the subject takes up the whole frame.