PRELIM POST PRODUCTION BLOG.

After shooting our prelim task from all the different shots it was time to put all the correct shots and favourite shots together in final cut pro. We learned how to access all our footage and choose the best from each by checking them in and out. We then had one of each shot and the next step was to pick the small part of each that help the scene come together with a lot of shots. This however all had to show the following.

Continuity editing
The most important thing that an editor must keep in mind is continuity. It is said that a good editor is when you don’t notice its there, for example. When you are watching a film and a shot changes to a closer shot. We don’t notice that we may have jumped towards the subject of the shot by about 10 meters. The thing that makes this smooth and UN noticed is the continuity. Continuity is hugely important when cutting during movement or dialogue. For example the door opening from outside at the beginning of our prelim task had to match the next shot of Sam entering; the door must swing in time to when it was opening from the inside. Also in our scene we had a switch of shots during dialogue, to match the continuity in their lines we had to make sure that the gap between talking was a realistic pause, not to fast or slow. This took us a while to get perfect as before we left the gap too long and it appeared the actor had forgotten his lines.  This was also helped later on, when we felt as a group that Sam left a pause to long in the scene, using our editing skills we managed to make the gap smaller and yet it still ran smoothly. These methods can be divided into temporal continuity and spatial continuity – literally TIME and SPACE, within each category. Techniques can cause a passage to be continuous and discontinuous editing, causing viewer disorientation and throwing the viewer of guard.
An ellipsis is an apparent break in natural time continuity as it is implied in the film's stories sometimes. The simplest primary way to keep continuity in a scene is by filming the entire scene from each shot, this means that when we were editing we could pick out any point in the story with any angled shot. For example we decided to try having the close up of the keys at the end of the scene to make this work we would have needed the sound of the door closing, however we did not film the whole scene from that angle so we were not given that freedom, this is something I will try and make sure we do in our later tasks.

Logging in my shots
The layout of the window consists of two clip viewers, one is to see the raw footage played and the other is the newly edited footage. Underneath that is a timeline, this shows all the clips put together, you can adjust each of them from here, all the editing to the scenes themselves takes place here. In the left hand corner the log bin is placed. This is where the narrowed down shots are placed.
To start our editing process we needed to get all our footage from the final cut server, we then checked it out onto the desktop and opened it in final cut pro. Every thing we had shot was put into the rushers bin; we had to select out the shots we needed to put the scene together and forget the failed or not as good a shots. Our selected shots our then put into the log bin.

Organising my shots
Referring back to our story board, we decided to only use it as a thin template. Selecting the right shots for the right lines were mainly based on the original story board. However the odd shot was a judgement of my group of what looked best and best told the story.
The story board given could have been interpreted in many different ways, we decided to make the more dominant character the one pushing and urging the other character to do whatever they were meant to do, this character was called Sam. The more victimised character was called Laura. We show this because we sympathise more with Laura. However we decided to give the ‘bad’ guy more screen time, simply because the more threatening expressions on Sam’s face helped tell the story. Laura was shot in victim status and we show that we sympathise more with her in our editing because at the end we put a shot in of her looking sad and scared, this helps us sympathies with her because we relate more to her feelings after seeing the scene finish with screen time on her.

Shot order
Our shot order was important to show eye line matching with juxtaposition and help demonstrate continuity and sequential editing to control the story line. We had some interesting shots that we wanted too include in our scene, to enable it to still make sense we had to put our scene in time with the rest of the dialogue etc.
Basically we put the storyline first, making sure it made sense, that was our priority for shot order.

In all I think our prelim post production task went well, we all worked well as a group, all had an in put in what was to be edited out and what was put in, we maneged to get the task done quickly and efficiently, we discovered the few mistakes we made, for example our 180 degree line rule was broken in our establuishing shot. However it pulled through well for us all. 

PRELIM EVALUATION

For our prelim task we started by creating a check list so avoid making any mistakes like before. We were given a class room to film, had blonde lighting and cleared the room for space, we set up a table and chair where the character of B sat.

The location
The location I firstly thought was the short straw of all of the options but with the lighting and a space, it worked out just fine. i liked how we had a door that we could show was coning from outside of the building it was also nice for an establishing shot.
the role i took was the same as everyone else in my group, we all rotated, behind the camera roles, calling the action line and taking the directors shot, finding good shots and angles that showed different idea's each of us wanted to portray, e.g. the hero shot etc, check listing each of the scenes we had covered and ticking off essential keys to the picture being filmed, for example white balance, focus, rule of thirds, exposure etc...

Lighting
Our lighting was a blond and simple light. we decided to plot the lines we were given on the idea that action B had to go and drive somewhere, using car keys as prop and indicator to the viewer, the set was an average room with no dark twists and a simple what could have been an office, this meant the two standing lights used were all we needed, we used no other over head or room light.
it was effective because is make the room bright and simple, the light was very artificial room like and life like. Apart form our establishing shot when we used daylight (naturalistic) it was effective because it wasn’t a distraction and it was a complimentary light to both of the actors.

The filming
We set up the camera in the right way, remembering to bubble the camera especially when filming outside on uneven surfaces, the tripod was level in every shot thanks to our check list. We did at least two shots of each scene to make sure the camera angles and focus etc worked well, as we were moving around the room the light was coming from different angles of the shot so the lighting balances did vary slightly until we adjusted it. We made sure the lighting stands and any other equipment we used was not in shot and kept the continuity between each shot so look professional.
We made sure to also link the continuity we filmed the whole scene from each shot, for example the wide shot and over one shoulder we would film the whole shot again.
Again thanks to our check list we did not break the 180degree rule and even in the establishing shot we kept the camera from crossing the 180 degree line.

To make our shots more interesting and let us experiment with some idea’s also to show our understanding, we decided to create a hero shot for Actor A and look down upon Actor B. this helped the viewers hopefully make sense of the plot.  We had no structured plot line but decided to make A the more favored role using shots and the prop of the keys we decided to leave to the viewers imagination. Also actor B was sitting down and Actor A had the appearance of towering over her, making her look like the under dog.

Our terminology was kept professional, we used the words, stand bye, role camera, camera rolling, action and cut. We didn’t need to use anymore words other than over it again. This kept the filming efficient and we didn’t waste time with miss communication.

Our filming lesson was a well learnt and I enjoyed doing it, I know that I will now watch a film and see that depending on how many angles shot in one scene could be the least amount of times they went through the dialogue. The filming its self was very efficient, we had learnt from our extreme failure in our test run and had made a check list of everything we had to remember.  Our group got on well and we all had an input in choice of shots and everyone had a fair share of playing director and camera operator.

INTRODUCTION TO THE VIDEO CAMERA

Camera shots and Camera movements
What I had to remember when using the cameras

Time code, white-balancing, aperture settings, focusing, the 180 degree rule, spatial settings,

Spatial settings helped to show the viewer the space there in as well as portraying spatial relationships between the characters, for example a close and friendly relationship between two characters would mean that they could be shot in the same frame, and an antagonistic pair of characters could be shot in separate frames. This has exceptions.

White balance is when the white areas in a frame are adjusted manually to tell the camera what every other colour in the room is in comparison. For example a white wall would be white balanced to help the brown door and oaker table find the colour in comparison. if the white wall was adjusted to look cream then the rest of the colors in the scene would appear darker and same the opposite way around.

Focusing is key and something i forgot to pay special attention too when we were given our first task to film, the focus is an essential tool to create a clear picture; it is also used to shift the audience's attention from one item to another. For example a man in the background is in focus he then looks towards the bottom left hand side of a camera and goes out of focus, the item he is looking at comes into focus at the front of the scene.

The 180 degree rule is a rule in which the camera cannot shift past one side of the shot, if the camera begins filming on one side, the camera can go anywhere that does not cross over the 180 degrees.  This prevents the actors appearing to have swapped places or the room to seem warped, for example, a shot and reverse shot must be shot on the same side as if the camera is across the 180 degree line the characters can seem to have swapped places, also if the door stars on the left of the frame it cannot suddenly be on the right as it will appear strange. There is an exception to this rule which is the arc rule when the camera whilst filming crosses over the line. This is allowed because you see the camera crossing over and it doesn't warp the set.

The proximity of the shot is also broken up into many different categories to give off different roles or effects,
The wide and extreme wide shot
This helps the viewer see where the plot is taking place. This is usually used as an establishing shot.
The medium shot
The medium shot, shows the subject of the scene close up, but not close up. Like a full body of the character.
Close up shot
This shows the subject of the scene in close, like a head and shoulders. This allows us to feel more familiar with the character.
Extreme close up shot
This is a more non naturalistic shot as it is unlikely for in life anyone to get that close to people and see there emotions, this is to show emotions or perspectives of the character and allows us to become very familiar with the character etc...


Before anything is shot the director will shout stand by to make sure everyone is on the ball and ready. It is also essential to never cut or record unless the directer calls it. It is important to leave a long gap at the begining and end to allow plenty of editing space this is called leading out. Turning over is a term used by the director to tel the camera man to speed up, rolling is a term used to tell the director and actors the camera is recording but the actors dont start the scene until action is called.


I found that moving from a still camera to a video one is very different, the only similarity is the fact it captures what is infront of you, the movement, the while balence the angles are very different. however the cinematography in video and photography in still camera canj be similar in artistic filming, but the shots in a video is normally one of many and can be simpler.
I found the filming its self easy until i watched over and saw all the many mistakes i had made. Including, focusing and spatial thinking. my focus was very incoinsistant and the spaces I used were too small and cramped. I will now, having learnt not to, be aware of these mistakes and work on improving and polishing them in my next task.