When analysing our ‘sense of space’ I have a mixed opinion on the
final result. I feel as though it could definitely be improved in certain
places such as the speed of the audio track and the variety of shots filmed. We
wanted to create a morning routine that would rapidly speed up as the narrative
went on, in order to connote tension and get the audience to feel as if disequilibrium is about to occur. I like the
idea of building up tension rather than going straight into drama as it keeps
the audience intrigued as to what is about to happen and when it will occur.
However, I feel the shots were not quick enough to fulfil this as Alex and I
found that if we cut the shots to make them faster we would not have a
sufficient amount of shots to last 3 minutes. We thought about filming more
shots to fill the 3 minutes but there weren’t many other scenes we could film
to do this.
When we began with the audio track, we recorded the sounds in
Alex’s student flat such as bacon frying in a pan, the oven timer, etc. A
positive aspect to our audio track was that we were able to sync these sounds
with the visual shots easier than we thought. However, when we went to film at
my house in Leeds, we decided to use a red egg timer to match the sound of a
timer as it looked more interesting than an over timer. The weakness of our
soundtrack was trying to sync the sound of footsteps with the footage and in
the final footage it doesn’t match as perfectly as we had hoped. I also feel as
though the sound of the argument at the end of the piece may not have fit in
the overall piece as well as we hoped and could be seen as out of the blue; yet
not in the surprising way that we aimed for.
With the filming, I was happy with the shots we got and we used a
variety of close up and long distance shots. We were advised not to film our
footage in a student accommodation for the problem of not looking realistic so
we took this advice and travelled back to my house in Leeds for the
footage. I feel the colours in the
footage repeated a theme of black and silver glossy objects, such as the
countertop, mug and toaster. Therefore the egg timer stands out from the rest
of the kitchen as it is a bright red colour and would signify a catalyst for
the piece. The weakness of our footage that stood out to me was the scenes
where the main character is walking down a street, as the camera wasn’t very
steady and now looking back I would have looked into how to make the shot
smoother while walking behind the actor. If I could make any changes to the piece it would focus on making
the argument at the end of the narrative so that it fits better in the piece
rather than standing out in a negative way.
After we were given the brief for this project, Alex and I created
a spider diagram to write down all of the ideas that we could use for our
project. We came up with a number of different concepts such as our ‘sense of
space’ being in a rainforest or an underwater piece. However, we decided that
realistically we would not be able to create the visual side to these
environments and would find it difficult to represent similar sounds. We
decided that we wanted to create a piece that featured a regular routine that
the audience could relate to but then adding a plot twist to add drama to the
piece. We felt as though this concept would be easier to create rather than the
underwater or rainforest ideas, as well as being enjoyable to produce. When making the audio piece we created another spider diagram to
distinguish which parts of the audio will feature certain sounds as well as the
number of transitions featured. We planned to use 3 transitions with the
repeated sounds gradually speeding up and ending with the argument scene.
However, after the feedback we got from the class and Debbie in a couple of
seminars we realised that more transitions were needed. Although it would have
been better adding a number of transitions we weren’t able to add many more due
to not having enough different shots to fill the 3 minutes. In our initial
plans we were going to include an atmos sound but later discovered this did not
fit in with our piece.
We planned the filming using a storyboard so that we could visually
see what scenes we aimed to film and we managed to film the majority of these
such as the bathroom scene where the character is washing his face while still
hiding his identity. It was easier planning the filming for the kitchen routine
as the argument scene relied on the weather as well as the actors. We travelled
back to my house in Leeds in order to film the footage rather than using our
student accommodation as it looked more realistic and there was a repetitive
theme of black and grey glossy objects. I am satisfied with the footage that we
filmed as the majority of it has stayed with our initial planning.
I have definitely learnt a lot from this project; from editing
skills to filming techniques, one of the main reasons I enjoyed this task. Editing
is the side of the course that I am very interested in as I love the way a
collection of film clips can be merged together to create a story/meaning.
However, I had less knowledge and experience of editing before beginning this
course and after the production seminars and help from Alex during editing I
learnt a lot. At the beginning I felt uneasy how many people on the course had
so much more editing experience but I was able to pick up on how to use
programs such as Soundtrack Pro and Final Cut Pro. Although I learnt some basic
skills in previous seminars on these programs, I felt as though I needed
reminding of how to edit in a certain way. While we were filming in Leeds I
also learnt how to film with a Digital SLR Canon 60D with
new techniques such as a pull focus. I found it enjoyable learning these new
skills as I was able to experiment with the camera for a number of scenes for
example I suggested to Alex that we film a scene with the mug from inside a
cupboard. The concept was to film the character pulling a mug out of the
cupboard from a different perspective; from inside the cupboard so that the
identity of the character is still hidden as well as experimenting with
different angles.
At the start of the project I didn’t feel as confident with the
idea of filming many shots for the project as I was worried my lack of
experience would affect the piece but I have learnt many skills with filming
such as pull focus and adjusting the exposure. I found it beneficial splitting
the filming role equally between Alex and I as it allowed me to gain new skills
while learning any alternative ideas he had when filming. I have learnt many new skills when editing the footage for this
project, such as reducing the noise of a particular sound such as a footstep that
sounded a lot harsher on the stones than the other footsteps. I also learnt how
to change the colour and exposure of certain scenes in order to make shadows in
a scene lighter or making the colours slightly brighter.
Throughout the whole project Alex and I worked very well as a
team, as we always get along even outside of the project and we were able to
swap ideas with each other as well as deal with problems without any
disagreements or arguments at all. We both shared the same determination and
enthusiasm to improve the film each time and we spent many days and evenings
editing; with one of the days spending around 8 hours until late evening to
ensure we were satisfied with final changes. I was able to learn a lot of new
editing and filming skills as Alex had previous experience from his college
course whereas my course was based more on theory and less practical
experience. I believe this is what made the project a lot more enjoyable and
productive as we were able to get on well and share ideas. We both contributed
to the project equally; I did the majority of the video editing as this was a
certain area I wanted gain more experience from while Alex did the majority of
the sound editing as he was able to make it fit together better than myself. In
terms of the filming and sound recording we both did the same amount to create
a fair contribution and I was willing to learn new filming skills as this was
another area I hadn’t much experience in. It was a smooth process splitting the
roles in this way as it meant we were both contributing equally and swapping
ideas for what angles to shoot from or how to edit a specific scene.
The strengths of our teamwork was that we already get along and
meant that there were no bad words or arguments between each other throughout
the project; a fear that I had before starting the course. Another strength as
mentioned before, was the techniques and experience brought to the teamwork,
for example Alex’s practical skills when filming and editing therefore I learnt
these and applied them when editing. Although I didn’t have as much practical
filming experience I still offered ideas such as putting the camera inside a
cupboard so that when the character pulls out a mug it is different from the
generic angle behind the character; I wanted to experiment from a different
angle. There weren’t really any weaknesses to our teamwork apart from we could
have split up the roles more separately, for example one of us editing and the
other filming. However, this is the first project we have taken on and meant
that we were able to learn different skills from our previous backgrounds.
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