The first week of video craft we were taught to use still camera and were tasked with walking around town gathering imagery with the techniques we had learn prior. This included techniques such as rule of thirds to correctly composition of the images, we also had to make sure the exposure was correct. Using what we had learnt I was able to change the aperture to take a more professional shot.
This week has been an interesting week for video craft as we got to use more expensive video cameras. This was rather confusing to try and remember all the buttons but with more practise hopefully the cameras become much more familiar.
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| Image captured during our experimentation |
Video craft - 23/03/2015
During our session before lunch we spent it watching a video on composition and shot techniques and followed up with a group project to create a small sequence out of five shots. My group decided that we would create a drug deal scene within five clips and decided which angels we would use.
After lunch each group got a camera and a tripod then headed out to town to shoot. Our location was a shady alleyway, perfect for what we wanted, or so we thought. Performing a white balance and adjusting the presets of the camera we then experimented with camera angles and different shots. Once the clips were uploaded to the computer and we were able to replay them back to us, it was soon apparent that one of the clips was unusable due to exposure issues. Other issues included contrast differences in the image such as recording in a shady environment with the sunlight beaming down in the background. I know know to pay more attention to the lighting within all of the recording field, not just what is in main focus. From these experimentation's I found that I felt I had learnt a great deal about camera operating and the importance of taking time to correctly set up.
Video craft - 30/03/2015. Camera shots
The next period we are given a sheet with different shot types and asked to go out in groups and shot some. My group experienced a few mistakes when heading out to record different shots and techniques. First of all we forgot the SD card for the camera, next the SD card I had retrieved did not let us record. Finally we got the camera working and white balanced and were told we had to come back inside. Its easy to say we have learnt not to do these mistakes so easily again.
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| TIPS – Camera Angles and Shooting Tips for Digital Storytelling. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://digitalwriting101.net/content/excerpt-camera-angles-and-shooting-tips-for-digital-storytelling |
Pre-production
Today in class we discussed the steps involved in film production.
Preproduction. This is the stage in which all the planning takes place. During pre-production the project is broken down into what we are trying to do, where we will do it, who will be involved in this project and when it will be done. During this stage story boarding will also be covered to plan out what content will be shot, what camera shots are needed. This makes it easier to shot once production stage comes around.
Examples of these steps being used are during the planning for our first group project, for this we were assigned with coming up with a 5 shot sequence. It was determined we would shoot later that lunch time, the 5 camera shots were discussed and drawn down on paper in the order agreed. We agreed to shoot in an alley way/ shady area due to our topic being a drug deal.
Lighting, Sound and Reflectors!
An important part of video craft we have been learning recently are the factors of lighting, reflectors and sound. Today our class took the cannon cameras downstairs to a nice open area, this was because today we were playing around with the fundamentals of light and how much it affected the imagery we captured. We chose to move to this location down stairs because there was a large window in the main foyer, we would be able to use this for natural lighting. Once set up we would direct each other to stand or sit in multiply locations near the window and to face multiply directions. Doing this we were able to see the lighting on the talents face and how it changed as they moved. After the prime spot was set we moved on to leaning about reflectors. reflectors are large round disks that bounce the lighting onto the talents face. We could use these to lighten the shadowy areas of the face. This could be very useful for an interview to make the interviewee to look more natural. These reflectors could also bounce multiply colours to create a more warm or cool look.
Sound is something that I have always been curious of and have always struggled with during self initiated projects. The basic gear we are assigned with is a camera, tripod and a sound kit. I felt more comfortable with the camera and tripod than the sound kit but after group projects for video craft I feel more confident using the sound kits, they are actually very easy. The construction is very simple and even attaching the boom mic to the camera is easy. The biggest factor that I have had to concentrate on is the volume level on the camera itself once all set up. During class we were made to experiment with the levels and channels, from this I have learnt that there are two channels that the audio can go through so I must pay attention to which one I am correcting and also to keep the audio at a safe and responsible level.
Video craft - 11 - 13/04/2015. Group project #1
Today in video craft we have been assigned the duty of creating a testimonial for a small locally owned business. My group contained myself, Josh, Ashleigh and Chris. First of all we had to figure out who amongst the Invercargill community was illegible and also would allow camera recording.
Two hours where spent driving around visiting places such as Xtreme go carting, ten pin bowling and various small food businesses to gather information, but unfortunately all except Xtreme carts were uninterested. After talking to the working we discovered that he had worked there for seven years and had a large understanding of his work place. Following this we then headed back to SIT to collect our idea and brainstorm how we would go about this task. Ashleigh draw up a plan for us as Josh and I brain stormed idea for different camera shots that we could possibly do. We also decided to experiment with the GoPros to see if we could gather some interesting footage. We kept in mind that we were telling a story about this place.
Key words we used were:
Fun, fast, energetic, adrenaline and customers
Two days later we returned to execute our planning and preparation. Two hours of footage was taken with a variety of shoots from objects around the building to the carts in action.
Group project #2
The following week we were assigned the same task. This time we knew who we would like to go to but still had to get permission. After gaining permission to shoot at Classic cars we were back into the prep stage planning our every move. Having walked around and scouted our location Ashleigh, Nicola, Josh and myself began to plan shots, drawing down anything that would help us tell our story about this place.
I have gone through footage of our shoot at classic cars and I am happy to say I am very pleased with the shots that we took.
Unfortunately I was absent for the pre-interview recordings but luckily I had the opportunity to see the footage that the rest of my class had gathered during video editing. This was more than enough for me to take mental notes on how the lighting had been angled, the degree in which the interviewee had been placed and level of sound that was recorded. I noticed that the background was very plain and that this looked very appealing to my eye. I want to replicate something similar within my own interview. During the following class Kevin also explained to us about b-roll. and how this footage could be played over top of the interview itself. This would be done to produce a video that is entertaining to watch and also support the interview. This would be recording something that the interviewee is talking about and playing a video of it over top of the interview audio.
Interview
The first assignment which is a self initiated interview is approaching fast. For my interview I would like to go some place different that is interesting. I have contacted Nigel Edwards who works at Avenal funeral home, he has agreed for me to come in and interview him about his job. I have assembled a 4 man crew for my project. The group contains Ashleigh as AD (assistant director) Ben as Boom mic and lighting and Josh as AC (assistant camera) and also lights. I myself will be in charge of main camera work. Ashleigh has politely helped me with the quested that Nigel will be asked. Currently there are 4 pages of questions, which i will go through and decide which questions are higher priority.
During the Interview shoot I found that Nigel would move around constantly making it hard to keep him on the rule of thirds, also I found that prepping the camera for every single shot took a decent amount of time and I was forced to leave without collecting every shot I was wanting. I was pleased with the lighting and found that no harsh shadows appearing during my interview. Lighting on some b-roll clips was mildly dark but were not under exposed. I realised during this interview that white balance is my new best friend.
After watching all the interviews via projector I felt that I did a reasonable job. There were of course things that could improve such as more b-roll footage but in the end I feel rather satisfied with the end result. It was interesting to see that each interview was very different and unique in its own way. I also thought watching them all was a good learning curb as I got to see different ways I could approach an interview and some way that i should not approach.
Self initiated project
As we have finished interviews its time to move on to completion of the self evaluation and creating a showreel. Josh has approached me and asked if he is able to use my car as a prop for a self initiated project to include in his showreel for camera work, I have agreed and think this would be a perfect time to record something myself as I am lacking work. Later that day Josh and Aaron turned up at my flat. Due to the lack of notice I did not have time to plan out a sequence of shots that I could do and so improvised. I thought of a series of shots I could do to tell a story about students lives. I did not feel good about what I was recording with no sense of direction or preparation but continued. I felt like I lacked a decent amount of clips and that nothing would blend together, I was afraid that nothing that I was recording would tell a story.
This was not the case once edited. The clips came together nicely and made an entertaining segment, something that I did not see happening. I can strongly say that i do not like going into a project under-prepared and will most definitely avoid this in the future! The only other issue that I faced was the lighting issue as the day turned to night, this was only an issue because Josh had not issued out a redhead kit.
The end is near
I have finished the showreel for my cinematography, this I am pleased with. As the years progress I can see myself taking a liking into camera work and believe that I will increase in skill greatly by the end of my study.
The final assignment for me is the self evaluation. Only being 750 words to talk about the whole year so far makes it hard to fit everything in so few words. All round I feel that video craft has been a very delightful class to take. The class has taught me very much and I enjoy putting its teachings into practise.
Alfred Hitchcock (1899 – 1980)Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock or otherwise known as "The Master of Suspense" was born August 13, 1899, in London, United Kingdom. Alfred is known as the man who pioneered many techniques in the thriller genres and for his ability to pull audiences out of their seats.
Known for films such as:
Frenzy
The Birds
Psycho
Vertigo
The Wrong Man
Notorious
Rope
Rear Window
Sabotage
The 39 Steps
Sir Peter Jackson
Born October 31, 1961 in Pukerua Bay is a director well known for his Lord of the Rings trilogy. Before I even understood films and how they came to be I had respect for Sir Peter Jackson, not only because he is a kiwi but because of his work with The Lord of the Rings. These films are the first that I ever paid any attention to and as a child I loved seeing sword battles or giant fights. Knowing that someone from New Zealand had the ability to make such awesome films that were know around the world had a big impact on me. Known for films such as:
The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun
The Hobbit There and Back Again
The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug
The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey
The Lovely Bones
King Kong
LOTR: The Return of the King
LOTR: The Two Towers
LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Frighteners
Heavenly Creatures
Dead Alive
Bad Taste
James CameronBorn August 16, 1954 in Kaspuskasing, Canada. The name James Cameron has been well known to me ever since I watched Titanic as a child. This name further more stood out to me with the release of Avatar which was amazingly graphical and thoroughly enjoyble
Known for films such as:
Avatar
Titanic
True Lies
The Terminator
Terminator 2 - Judgement Day
The Abyss
Aliens
Video editing
I have been working with the short film "Admit One" directed by Patrick Gillies. I have permission and have been cutting up shots and takes in Premiere Pro. This experience has been beneficial for learning short cuts and proper terminology. This week I am pleased with the rate at which I learnt Shortcut keys for cutting and sub dividing clips.
"I" key to mark an in.
"O" key to mark an out.
"Command+U" to sub divide a clip.
"command+shift+3" to screen shot.
"Command+shift+4" to screen shot a selected area.
The logging description was not my strong point. Well ease dropping on Patrick talking to a class mate, I realised that I needed the description to be more descriptive but still simple. This was so that if anyone was to come try read my shots they would not be deceived and could tell exactly what the shot was.
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| Screenshot of my working. |
Video editing
Week two of Video Editing and it has been slightly more relaxing! During this week I have moved from logging and onto creating the basic compilation of the the film following the story board. This was rather easy as I have done a few videos before and understand how the timeline and video layers work. I did get confused with one section of the story board but after further analysis and some help from Patrick I soon fixed up my mistakes. Using apple I am unfamiliar with a lot but manage to learn some shortcut keys to make my work much easier and more time efficient.
These keys were:Ripple tool edit (B)Razor tool (C)Selection tool (V)
Overall this week in Video Editing has been relaxing and relatively straight forward.
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| Screenshot of my working. |
Video editing - 17 & 29/03/2015
This week in video editing has been reasonably straight forward, I have been carrying on with previous work and creating a rough cut edit for my admit one edit. Patrick has checked my edit and told me that I am ready to proceed with the final edit.
Video editing - 31/03/2015
Carrying on with my final edit I have been working on trimming the footage and excluding the 'junk' of the shots, anything that doesn't add to the story. I have experienced an issue with shot four which contains the actor walking into a cinema and finding a seat, after three seats the actor finally settles.
Within this take is a cut where the lighting and exposure changes midway and the change is very apparent. I cannot find anyway around this, trying to change the clip by playing with light levels saturation and various other effects but I cant seem to even the change. I thought about adding a clip in between the change but there were no sufficient clips, the best solution I came across has having a transition happen right when this change happens. Also i have inserted audio to my project and have begun to cut and morph the audio to the video.
Video editing - 7/04/2015
This week is a fantastic week due to the fact that most admit one projects have been complete. This is good because i cannot see myself being able to edit any further and with us having worked for over a month now on the same thing it has become very tedious and boring, I do understand that this is what editing is, long hours on the same thing. Maybe its just so boring when the work isn't yours.
After watching play backs for admit one I regret not being so adventurous. Some of my class mates have really turned this video into a funny piece to watch even after seeing it for the 6000th time.
Video editing.
The fun begins. During class today we have been delivered with our topics for an upcoming presentation and i have been given PAL. I know pal is on my tv because i have had to play around with this before when trying to set up an xbox. We are assigned the job of researching our topics and presenting them in class in two weeks
Video editing - 8 & 12/05/2015
Today in video editing Patrick has been teaching us about colour correction and the colour correction view within premiere. In particular the RGB Curves and Three way Colour Corrector effects. I found each of these useful in there own way. For example the RGB Curves colour corrector I found was very handy at allowing me to correct each colour separately, adjusting them to the respected levels required. As for the three way colour corrector I found this most useful for finding the correct skin tone well comparing changes made to
the vectroscope.
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| Vectroscope |
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| Three way colour corrector |
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| RGB Curves |
Video editing - 15/05/2015
This week in video editing class our tutor has been teaching us the uses of a venet and how we might apply one of these. Inserting a clip of classmate Kate talking i then inserted a circle on top of her face. using the key points i molded this mask to match her face and made it so that only the mask appeared on screen. This was an effective use for allowing me to focus a face for colour correction. I can see the use of this during interview editing.
29/05/2015
Today in video editing Patrick has introduced the class to audio effects, this is due to the work we will be doing on our interview. The effects shown were loudness radar and peak radar. These allow us to monitor the level in which the loudness and peak are within the audio and make changes according whether these are broadcast safe. Audio is not my strong point but i have always wondered about it and how to handle it.
12/06/2015
Editing the interview has been reasonably basic, the colour levels were not too bad with a few shots really needing it. After checking my sound levels and colour levels i found my interview ready to render but would be unsuccessful at least 8 times. I tried to render both the web edit and tv edit to see if one was playing up and not the other but unfortunately i could not render either. Unsure and frustrated as to why i had a error occurring i closed the program and reset the computer which thankfully fixed this! During editing i did have issues with lack of b-roll which was interesting to try work around.
19/06/2015
after watching the play backs for every bodies interviews i feel i have done a reasonably decent job, there are a few very good edits within the class. unfortunately it was time to move on to the editing of our final showreel. This is half done i feel because of our editing during the year on what will be included, this will mean edits are already (in theory if i did it right correctly coloured and sound balanced. Ob course this will mot likely have to be double checked.
