How to make a video

At the beginning of the lesson we were told we need to keep a record of our group meetings we need to keep a form of diary that includes:

• date
• attendance (who was there)
• focus of the meeting
• duration of the meeting
• action points or accomplished tasks

We watched a DVD about how to make a video. It gave a brief explanation of the major roles and what they do.
brief concept:

• purpose
• intent
• target audience
• limitations (budget and time frame)

Pre production includes:

• scripting
• scene breakdown
• storyboard
• shot list casting
• locations
• equipment
• catering
• transport
• informing people

Shot list/shooting schedule:

• where
• time needed
• different camera angles
• when 
• how long

Production:
Use time well and consider safety issues.

• shooting the project
• time management crucial
• quality control (image, sound, performance)
• potential conflict between producer's limitations (time, budget)
• directors creativity
• requires cool heads to cope with pressure and ability to compromise

Post production:

• all elements are combined in editing
• off-line (rough cut)
• on-line (final edit)
• sound mix
• sound mix of final edit

Transferring footage from camera to computer

In our most recent lesson we were shown how to transfer footage from our cameras to our computers in order to edit them. 

There are two processes: one for a camera that records onto a tape and one for digital camera. For a camera that uses a tape we first made sure that our tapes were wound right to the beginning before plugging it in to the computer, this is so that it doesn't transfer only parts of the footage. We then plugged it into the computer and had to record from the camera. when transferring from a tape, the footage comes out as one long clip whereas a digital camera separates every shot into separate clips to make it easier to find what you are looking for. when uploading from a digital camera all you do is turn the camera on, plug it in and copy the slips across. We used a software called Serif to edit our footage so that we only had the bits that we wanted and could then put them into order using the timeline. 

The use of sound and why it is important

In today's lesson we were learning about sound and how it affects the viewers experience of what they are seeing. It is 80 percent of our experience when watching a film or clip.
Sound is used for different reason like a soundtrack to help the viewer interpret the mood of what they are watching.

There are two types of sound:
- Diegetic sound is within the text and can be things such as dialogue or sounds from something such as the buzzing of an alarm clock.
- Non-diegtic sound is added afterwards and is something that is not from within the text, such as a soundtrack. the characters within the text cannot hear non-diegetic sound.

Storyboard of Pixar's short film 'Geri's Game'

This short film is called 'Geri's Game' from Pixar Animation studios.

Pixar often create storyboards of their films before making them and also use them when they are pitching their ideas for a film to their colleagues. I found this interesting because even though it is an animation it still has 'camera shots' to help tell the story and because of the nature of the story camera shot and angle is very important in showing that he is playing a game of chess against himself. In one of the scenes there is shown to be hands from both sides in the shot to try and trick the audience into thinking there are now two people there, when in fact the shot at the end once again shows the old man sitting alone at the chess table. I remember watching this as a young child and being confused by this short film which shows that Pixar has indeed succeeded in what they were trying to do. Pixar created this short for testing their ability to portray humans and clothing.

camera shots

Today we looked at film shots and angles. Different camera shots give different effects to the scene being filmed and are very important in making a convincing film. bad camera shots will break the illusion of what you are watching. Above is a video demonstrating different camera shots.

http://www.mediacollege.com/video/shots/  This website shows pictures of different shots and angles and is useful for helping recognize each shot.

Storyboarding a scene

Over the last two lessons we have been storyboarding a short clip from the film Insidious. It is the ending scene and is very dramatic and there are 14 different shots that we must try our best to recreate. When we completed the storyboard we filmed our own imitation of the scene. One thing that we learnt whilst we were storyboarding is that some templates are square which TV screens are not, so we had to draw added lines to make sure that we get the correct shot composition within the right kind of space. Below are our storyboards for the scene. We hand drew them so some of the lines are faint from being scanned but I did my best to alter the contrast and brightness to make it better.

here is our finished product

Using a camera

In last weeks lessons we were learning how to use a camera properly.

We learned how to set up the camera and tripod and how to wind the tape back to the beginning so that when we came to watch the tape the footage will be at the front and we wont have to search for it. 

After we had set up our cameras and tripods we recorded a few seconds of darkness to check that the camera and tape were working.

Once we were up and running, we went to various places in the school to get different shots and angles to try out the camera and to practice. then we brought our cameras back and got feedback on our footage. The feedback we got was that there was too much head room and that we need to use the tripod more to keep it steady. We acted on this feedback when we went out again to get some more shots by rehearsing what we were going to do before recording it.