Preliminary Task

For my preliminary task I had to film an indoor scene using conversation, non-diegetic sound, different shots and good lighting. I also had to edit the film adding effects such as fading in and fading out and also non-diegetic sound to the scene. When shooting I used a tripod to make sure that the shots were steady and accurate. I found that this helped when filming the characters walking as I was able to stay at the same height and also when I switched from Jamie to Shane the shots were at the same height.
I had to shoot a number of different things:
1. Person (Jamie) walking towards the camera
2. Jamie walking away from the camera
3. Jamie holding and opening the door handle
4. Close up of Jamie's hand opening the door
5. Long shot of Jamie opening the door and entering the room
6. Jamie crossing through the room and sitting at a table with another person (Shane)
7. Over the shoulder shot of Jamie talking to Shane
8. Over the shoulder shot of Shane talking to Jamie
9. Person standing up and walking away

The short film was shot in one of the sixth form rooms and it was shot using a Digital Video Camcorder, Canon MD101 we used a TP320 tripod which enabled us to have a smooth and professional shot. We measured the length from the door to where Jamie was standing.  We made him stand still whilst we moved from in front of him, to behind him, which seemed to work well as he was in exactly the same position. When shooting the conversation the room wasn't bright enough to see Shane so we decided to edit that when it came to putting it onto the computers. We mainly panned around the room using the tripod when Jamie was walking into the room. I tried to avoid using the zoom in and out tools as it sometimes makes the shot look fake and has a tendency to blur if it is too close, so when we shot number 4 (Close up of Jamie's hand opening the door) we shot a medium close up, which worked just as well, and enabled us to keep the short film smooth, without fault. We shot each shot twice to make sure we had exactly what we wanted.

We downloaded the film by connecting the camera to the computer using a USB, we had to ensure that the recording was re-wound to the beginning of the short film so that it would open the scenes fully. We opened the short film in Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0. We viewed the film on the computer to ensure that it was all in working order and ran through professionally, if not we had to edit it and re-shoot the scenes. When it was fully loaded in APE we selected 'New Project' we had to save it into a file and the 'z drive' was chosen and the short film was given an appropriate name. When the program is fully loaded and saved you must click on the picture of the camcorder and select ‘capture’. This will ensure that the film is loaded and ready to begin the editing process. To edit your film, there are many different options. There is the ‘edit’ drop down menu in the top left corner, which has a variety of different options to choose from. There is a square with two shades in it, which if selected, will come up with many options of editing. This is what I used to edit the film.

The score that we were able to use for our short film could not be copyrighted. We were able to search on a variety of different websites to find sound for the short film. Some of the websites that we search where www.audiojungle.net and www.freesound.org. However the score that we initially used for the short movie was found on the school drive in resources, once it was deemed suitable we began editing the film. The sound was one of the easiest things to edit I thought. You had to select the media file you wanted to insert into the short film and drag and drop it into the sound section just below the screen, I then began to fade in and fade out the sound when necessary ( at the beginning of speech or at the end of speech or when fading out at the end of scenes)

The overall project has taught me how to use APE. I have never previously edited a film or clip and it has been a valid and interesting experience. I have filmed short clips before, but i have never before edited my own recording. I have only ever filmed at small family occasions such as birthday's and Christmas's and also just short scenes on my mobile phone, I have never filmed anything as in depth as what I have done for this project. I had never previously thought about what the lighting had to look like when shooting something like singing happy birthday, but I will definitely take into consideration what the light and the background is next time. I learnt a great deal amount the editing and filming as it was a hands on job it wasn’t something you could just leave and let it work itself out because sometimes the clips jump and you need to add certain transitions and edit brightness and contrast which is an interesting this to do. Overall I think that this task has added to my personal experience greatly, I will definitely take more consideration as to what everything looks like and it has improved my knowledge of the subject massively.

The Programme we used to edit the short film - Adobe Premiere Elements. I had never previously used this programme. I have done some small bits of filming but I have never edited a film in such depth as to what I did here. I gradually taught myself some simple things which I needed to use when editing my film.

Some sections of the editing process were harder than others. For example when adding the non-diegetic score for the short film we had to ensure that the background 'fuzz' was quiet enough for the music to be played. We used one piece of film so that it would add a happy tone to the short film.

I then selected new project, this enabled me to have a blank sheet and to put my recording onto it. It would have no previous editing, it would be all new and no edits.

The 'Image Control' section allows you to edit the Brightness, Contrast, Hue and Saturation. I dabbled with the Brightness slightly as some shots were too dark.

The 'Opacity' section allows you to edit the Opacity of the clip. The different fades, 'fade in and 'fade out.' I used a few different depths of fades as I wanted some  shots to be fast and others to be reasonably slow.

This is the 'grabbing' section on Adobe Premiere Elements. This allows you to cut sections and to add the fade ins/fade outs at your own desire. The yellow lines on top of the blue section are the faded sections and also the sound. It allows you to adjust the volume.

 

1st Screen Shot. Long Shot of Jamie.

Jamie is walking towards the camera to go into the classroom. Tripod and un-natural lighting. 

 2nd Screen shot. Long Shot
Jamie walking down the corridor towards a classroom. This shot was taken with a tripod and un-natural lighting.

3rd Screen Shot. Medium Close Up.

Jamie at the door of the classroom, opening the classroom door, using a tripod and un-natural lighting.

4th Screen Shot. Medium Close Up

Jamie entering the classroom, use of a tripod and natural lighting.

5th Screen Shot. Long Shot.

Natural lighting in the classroom of Jamie and Shane chatting. Tripod used.

6th Screen Shot. Over the shoulder shot.

Jamie and Shane chatting about there lessons. Natural lighting from the window behind the camera, tripod placed on top of the table.

7th Screen Shot. Over the shoulder shot.

Jamie asking how Shane is. Very dark shot, only natural lighting and tripod used.

8th Screen Shot. Medium close up/ Over the shoulder shot.

Shane saying goodbye and leaving the classroom

These print screens are from different scenes in my short film. There are some print screens which are particularly dark, these have been edited in Adobe Premiere elements to make them lighter as you could not see much detail. I like this short film as it has a number of different camera angles, not all in the same shot there is a variety of long and medium shots.