Evaluation: Question 6

Question 6:

What have you learnt about technologies when making your opening?

In order to create our opening I had to learn how to use the camera equipment and the editing software as well as using social media in different ways in order to allow our piece to be viewed by more people.

We learnt how to use the Camera’s in different ways:

We used HD cameras to film our production with, and because of the HD quality, we had to work out different lighting and composition to get as much out of the quality of the camera as possible. We also used cameras with manual focus, which allowed us to get the atmospheric shots where the focus changes, along with getting incredible detail on the close up shots. 

We used 2  Canon 550D DSLR HD cameras to record our footage in, well, HD! The quality was impressive regarding image quality and this helped us to add a sense of depth to our piece by adding that extra detail.

With the cameras we had to get to grips with the different lenses. We had a macro lens, which we used for extreme close ups to grasp every detail, which can make some viewers feel wonderfully uncomfortable (desired effect) and we also had a zoom lens which allowed us to get some impressive long shots and establishing shots which helped to emphasise the feel of isolation. We made sure that the lighting mode was not set on night vision either, as that would have been disastrous.

When composing the shots we went with the idea that the protagonist would be central in the shots he was in, and the camera would look up to him, as this would give him an air of authority and power to show his profession. With the Victim we chose to have most shots close up and uncomfortable, and with the killer, his only shot would be out of focus and in the background, in order to disguise his identity.

EXAMPLES OF WHAT I MENTIONED ABOVE.

We also learnt about the 180 degree rule, where you draw a line down your scene and do not cross it, to avoid confusing the viewer. We asked ourselves before every single shot if this broke the rule. This made sure all of our footage flowed and made sense to the audience whilst watching it.

We learnt how the environment can effect planning:

During the filming we came across long shadows we had not planned for and we had to rework some of the camera positions to account for this. We set the tripod up to account for the uneven ground and this helped us to get some stable shots that we were after. We also worked around the environment, as we originally wanted the body to be in a treeline, but the location made it more appropriate for the bdy to be dumped in a ditch instead, which helped to work with the lighting too.
For example, the lighting in the cafe was excellent and helped to make the scene look slighty bland so we did not manipulate the exposure settings. We had to move flowers and menus to make the table look authentic and convincing.

We learnt about how to use editing software to give wanted effects to the film:

When we were editing the footage we used iMOVIE and iDVD to create it. We used the saturation changer to stylise the titles and we used the export feature to export in HD. We used garage band to create the soundtrack and because of the wide variety of sounds our group managed to get a theme tune which fitted to the piece exactly.

This is a screen of the editing software IMOVIE. In this screen we are precisely splitting a clip to make the editing look as slick and professional as possible.

We have used the software to change the colour. In this perticular shot we are making the scene look more pale and bland, as this helps to add to the theme of isolation we were looking for. We adjusted the contrast and saturation to give the feeling of isolation and loneliness. We also used fades and straight cuts to help the video flow. This makes it look more slick and professional which makes it more appealing to the audience. because of the cuts to the film being so precise, we managed to incorporate the soundtrack to make the whole thing look more professional.