Construction Post 7: My personal contribution to the shoot sessions

Me operating the camera
during a shoot session.

Personally, I believe that I contributed a great deal to all of our shoot sessions (except the test shoot, which I was absent for). With both the main and test shoot sessions, I ensured that I took as much responsibility as possible: for instance the location for all the shots was my house, which meant that I had to prepare and dress the set before both shoot sessions. It was also my job to safely and punctually transport the kit from the media department at school to my home, and ensure that it was quickly set up before we began shooting.

During the shoot sessions, I also made sure I played an active role. One aspect of shooting which I felt we performed well was ensuring that as a group we divided each duty equally, such as:
-shooting
-directing/clapperboard
-sound check

We ensured we all had a level of responsibility

If I were to improve the shoot sessions in any way, I would maybe have kept a log of how many shots we took in each role to ensure the utmost fairness - although overall I felt it ran very well and that I made a significant contribution.

Construction Post 6: Reflections on Edit Week 2

We added our LiveType titles in the
second editing week, choosing a font
which connoted technology & social media

Having split into smaller, more focused groups and completed a lot of the fundamental work dragging and cutting most of our shots, we allowed ourselves to work productively but without the same pressure as the first week. I felt this was important, as this allowed us enough time to focus on putting the finishing touches to our sequence rather than catching up on important work. 

(left) before grading vs
(right) after grading

Josh and myself had a list of tasks which we had left ourselves which was kept in our group folder. Although we were already aware of what we needed to do, and the paper often went missing amongst other documents, we felt it was handy to remind ourselves of exactly which areas of the sequence we needed to work on.

During the second week of editing we:

-Updated the sequence with new & re-taken shots

-Adjusted the new shots to fit accordingly to the music

-Added our new titles created on LiveType

-Graded our shots using ProcAmp & the 3-way colour corrector

We used tools such as ProcAmp
and the 3-way colour corrector
when grading

-Made improvements to aspects such as grading based on target audience feedback

Looking back, I feel that the second editing week went very successfully. Despite the group having separated, and Josh & myself perhaps spending a little too much time on cutting to within a frame's accuracy, it eventually ran very smoothly due to our hard work and good organisation in both weeks.

Construction Post 5: The back-up shoot

Due to a couple of shots needing to be re-taken, we went ahead organising a back-up shoot. We referred back to our sequence up until that point, plus any new shot ideas and produced a back-up shoot list, as well as publishing our sequence's progress to YouTube - we found this very useful not only to detail progress up until that point, but also as a reference tool, as we could view how the set was dressed, where the actress stood and other technicalities when we were preparing to shoot.

Some examples of why we had to re-shoot

In the end, the back-up shoot went well. Although initially it started poorly - we couldn't find the bag containing our actress' clothing and wasted time finding it, and didn't replace any of the moodboard photos for the re-shoot - it eventually ran smoothly and just on time. I thought our shots were accurate and well-planned, as we took multiple takes of each scene to ensure we selected the best one when editing, and glanced back at the main shoot video for accuracy. We were maybe a little too meticulous, as we just finished before our planned wrap time. 

Having experienced problems with the back-up shoot, I would definitely put even more care into listing and organising every detail, as we were perhaps a little more casual in preparing for a shorter shoot. This would then ease with the shooting process, as we had to alter certain shot plans midway through the back-up shoot as they wouldn't work without certain props. 

Construction Post 4: Reflections on Edit Week 1

As a group, we were well aware that post-production would require us to put as much time and effort in as possible to ensure that editing was completed to time and was of a good quality. To ensure that everyone put in this required work, we drew up an editing schedule during a group meeting to organise the days on which people could come in and work. Group members' initials were marked against a particular time and day, with the aim of having at least 2 people working on editing so as to ensure efficient work rather than leaving one person to carry the burden of the entire group's responsibilities. Upon reflection, I felt this was a great system, as it indicated how much free time we were willing to give up as a group in order to guarantee the completion of our project, as well as making sure that people turned up and did their specified duty.

One of our tasks this week was to update
our music, which initially didn't connote the
 unease and fear that we had initially hoped for.

In hindsight, though, there was a slight blip this week, as the group were at odds and had different ideas as to how to present or edit certain scenes. This affected our productivity and, after consulting our teacher, decided to edit in 2 separate groups of Josh & myself, and Ella & Pru. Looking back, this was eventually a great decision to make, as although we were no longer a four, we still discussed important decisions & organisation (such as improvements on audience feedback) and had group meetings with each other. This ensured that we made steady progress both as smaller groups and as a collective.

(please click to enlarge)
We produced a re-shoot list this week
to indicate which shots needed re-doing.

One such group task was to decide upon which shots we wanted to re-shoot after editing the rushes from the main shoot. We then drew up a re-shoot list similar to the shot list for the main shoot, as in our opinion this was the quickest and easiest way to ensure that we accurately referred back to the relevant shots on the day of the back-up shoot.

Below, I have produced annotations describing our progress during the first week of editing.

In order to access them, please press the subtitles/CC icon and select English(United Kingdom)

Construction Post 3: Reflections on our main shoot session

There were a few errors which we could
easily correct - such as this shot, which
lost focus as the light changed.

I felt that our main shoot went very successfully - especially when compared to the test shoot. We had admittedly left ourselves with a massive amount to work on after the test shoot and needed to film in a new location with our main actress for the first time, as the target audience feedback group were not keen on the original setup at all. Nonetheless, we completed all of the shots to a high standard and with time in hand, with the other group members expressing that there were far fewer problems compared to the test run. For instance, the location offered more natural light which was much easier to control using the blinds, thus avoiding the same continuity errors with lighting as the test shoot. The location was also much larger to shoot in, which meant that pans or tracks were easier to perform. As a result, the vast majority of our main shots were used in the final sequence.

We also wanted to correct small details
 to improve the storyline. We felt, for
instance, that we could have added a
little more aggression to this shot.

On the other hand, there were still small areas and shots which we wanted to improve, plus a few noticeable errors such as:
-the separate pans when Grace walked around the bed were a little jumpy
-some shots, like those filmed on the bed, were shaky as there was little camera support
-the shot of Grace preparing to leave lost focus as the light behind changed suddenly
-Grace's shoes are clearly put on in this sequence, yet in the next shot she exits wearing only socks

Luckily, though, these were extremely minor compared to the problems of re-organising & re-planning a great deal of our entire project, and were easily able to be corrected. Overall, despite these small improvements for the back-up shoot, I was really pleased with how smoothly the shoot ran, as we worked efficiently and ensured that the takes were good enough.




        






(left) An obvious continuity error                      (right) Our main edit (without back-up shots)

Construction Post 2: Our post-production kit

An example of our editing space

Our post-production kit list:

-Dual-monitor Windows PC:
enabled us to separately edit & view our sequence
-Adobe Premiere Pro:
software used to edit the project
-Apple iMac
-LiveType:
(on iMac) for animated titles
-Blue Yeti Microphone:
to record extra dialogue
-Audacity:
to save recorded dialogue to the PC

During the post-production stage, each group was assigned an edit suite at which we would edit our rushes, titles, graphics and music into our sequence. These edit suites were equipped with the hardware & software listed above, however we used the microphone and Audacity in a separate quiet room so as to record Grace's friend's dialogue without background noise. This sound then had an EQ audio effect applied and its frequency adjusted in Premiere Pro, to make it seem like in-call dialogue.
Please access my analysis of the Premiere Pro workspace via the Prezi below (click fullscreen for clear analysis)...

Construction Post 1: Our production kit

(please click to enlarge)
We signed a shoot organisation form to
confirm timings & to give us the
necessary permission to shoot.

Our kit list:

-Canon Legria HF G30 camera:
to shoot our sequence

-Tripod:
to support the camera & provide stability when shooting
-Sennheiser HD201 Headphones:
to check that sound is being recorded properly, and to check for background noise
-Shotgun mic:
to record sound
-Clapperboard:
to detail the shot & take of rushes for ease when editing
-(plus shootboard/clipboard for reference)

The media department at school allowed us to use their provided kit in order to shoot our media film sequence - this was extremely useful as it prevented possible transport, hassle & costs of hiring or borrowing equipment. We were permitted to do so on the basis that we not only confirmed and signed our shoot days onto an authorisation form with our media teacher, but also that we had signed an equipment release form and completed basic camera training such as how to properly pack a kit bag or safely change a battery.

Once this was completed, we were allowed to shoot. It was my responsibility on the main and backup shoot weekends to ensure that I had signed for and collected the kit on the Friday beforehand, and that I had safely transported it from the shoot location back to school before school began at 8:35 the following Monday. In my opinion, this contract was helpful in ensuring that I understood my responsibility and that I needed to be punctual and sensible when transporting and working with kit.

We had to sign an equipment release form to
confirm we were trained and able to use
and transport kit safely. This then gave us
the required permission to shoot.