This session, in order to gain a feel for the video cameras, we shot a practice trailer. The aim of this was, as said, to get a feel for using the camera, how to hold it, general usage etc. From here we will then go on to edit the shots into a trailer totaling a few minutes long. Having missed the previous session I was not involved in planning. After quickly going over the plans drawn up in the previous lesson we received our briefing and moved on to get our cameras and tripods. We decided which individual shots we had to take a drew up a list to work from. We decided to start with our opening scene which was the overhead shot of the barriers entering college. For this we decided it would make for an easier shot if he held the camera, bracing our arms against the railing. This is as opposed to directing the tripod through the gap leaving the camera precariously attatched to a vertical base, which could cause mayhem. With this decided I then took control of the camera and filmed this shot. Overall I shot about 3 of the scenes and found that I felt more comfortable working the camera and finding a good angle etc. than I felt being on camera. We shot most scenes with the camera at a mid height. A few scenes we tried different approaches were the scene in which Jess moves aside to reveal my feet standing directly behind her. For this we laid flat on our stomach and braced the camera on the ground. In another shot we placed the camera over my shouler so that you were able to see me stood at a window watching the others. This was not a particularly effective shot due to the angle of the sun at that particular point of the day. It caued a glare and you could plainly see my reflection as well as the cameras, this also covered the pane meaning we couldnt see through it, which was our intention. After arriving back in class after an hours filming we watched what we had filmed and discussed additional filming. After the lesson we reshot 7 of the scenes which was made difficult due to the timing. One shot in particular when I am seen down the length of a long corridor. This was made difficult as it was filmed at 4pm just as a number of lessons finished meaning the corridor was usually busy. We managed to get an ok shot but I feel it woul dhave been better overall if we could have filmed when the college was empty.
Overall, In this lesson I got to grips with operating the cameras as well as a feel for angles and placing correctly on the tripod. It also gave me a good sense of the importance of planning. Now that I have a good idea of what filming will be like I think I will be better prepared for when I film my final piece.
In this lesson we were told we would be editing our clips that we had shot in the previous lesson. After a demonstration of how to work the software we were let loose on creating our practice trailers. We were able to work in our groups and alone so I chose to work alone as I generally feel more comfortable with this and feel I can work more to my potential. When it came to being let loose I froze, not really knowing what to do first. I watche
d through all the footage we had to see if that conjured any ideas but unfortunately it didn’t. I then decided that at this early stage it might be better if I aimed to think logically and thus constructively rather than creatively which causes one to continually re-edit ones thoughts leaving you with a severe lack of work. So, began to cut up all of our footage into handy little ‘nuggets’, I think of them. Each one I named, purely out of my own fancy as it helps organisation, and this took up a fair portion of my time. The whole 7 or so minutes of footage that we had had to be watched and rewatched so I could decide what I did and didn’t want. In some cases I deleted scenes that were intended for use and used ones that weren’t. I actually kept one scene that was a complete error in which the camera is tilted and shaking rather vigourously whilst filming a potted plant. This lasted for approximately 4 seconds and I decided to keep it. One I had organised the footage into ‘nuggets’ I began thinking creatively once more. I tried to imagne how the trailer might start, with words, a voiceover? I decided for the time being to keep things as simple as possible so I started with a black screen. Since this was just a practice I did decide that I wouldn’t necessarily spend too much time stressing over the words so I ended up going for a simple and light-hearted yet tongue in cheek ‘Just when you thought it was safe to go back to college…’. I placed this in the beginning and thought about how to move from this shot to another. I decided on a fade out after which a series of clips would play in relatively quick succession. However, the lesson was nearly at an end, as I had spent so much time organising, and I hadn’t yet practiced using the software. As a result I encountered one or two problems. These problems will go with practice I feel so not to worry for now.
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