Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

We used lots of different technologies to plan, film, edit and share our film. Because we were forced to use such a range of technologies, including lights, cameras, microphones and editing programs, we inevitably learned a lot about them and got better at using them.

Technologies used:

• School's video camera (for the preliminary task and shoots) - Canon Legria HV 30
• Mahalia's camera for wide angle shots - Canon 600D
• School's camera (for the animatic) - Sony DSC H50
• Lighting kits (for lighting the set) - Arri Redheads (650 and 750)
• Microphone (for recording the guitar soundtrack) - Blue Yeti
• Tripod (for making the shots steady)
• 2 camera microphones (for the different cameras)
• Google drive (for writing scripts and planning)
• Adobe Premiere, Audition and After Effects (All CS5)
• Paint (for making the title)
• Youtube (posting finished videos)
• Facebook and texting (to stay in touch and organise things)

HARDWARE

Cameras

The school provided us with a Canon Legria to film our sequence. This camera was very lightweight and easy to use. It was also HD quality so the shots that it captured looked good. This camera was fine for shots outside but we soon realised that my room, (where the majority of the sequence was shot), was too small. We were unable to capture enough of the scene because the angle on the lens was not wide enough. We realised we needed a camera with a wider angle lens so we used Mahalia's Canon 600D. This camera was able to capture more of what was happening in the confined space and was vital for making our shots look good. We also preferred the quality of the shots that the Canon 600D captured.



Me filming an MCU of Lara

I was not previously aware that shooting on different cameras could be such a problem or that the shots captured by each on could be so different. I learned that it is vital to be consistent with the technology that you use if you want a consistent look and feel in your sequence. This applies for lighting and other things too, not just cameras.

Lighting

We used Arriflex Reheads ( to light our indoor shots. I had never used lighting equipment of any kind before this project so to suddenly be in control of such high-quality lighting was exciting and challenging. I was unsure of how to properly light a scene so I did some research and watched a few Youtube videos about how best to light scenes and how to achieve different looks. This video was particularly helpful.

For most of our shots, we used all three lights. We didn't want lots of harsh shadows on the faces of the characters so we pointed the lights at the ceiling and into the corners of the room so that the light would bounce off of the walls and be diffused onto me (Michael) and the set, giving a softer and more natural look. This was all new to me and I learned a lot about how to achieve different lighting effects by rearranging and fiddling with the lights and from the research I had done previously.

One thing I had not anticipated was how hot the lights get. My room is a small space and we had to close the door and all the windows so that we could control how the room was lit without the interference of natural daylight. This meant it got extremely hot and stuffy and we had to take regular breaks and let the room ventilate a bit. We made sure that we wore gloves when moving the lights and were careful not to trip over the large cables.

The Montage

We were quite ambitious with the montage in the second half of our sequence. To achieve the effect, we needed the camera to move smoothly from one side of the room to the other with no shaking and at a fairly high speed. To do this, we mounted the camera on the tripod and then put the tripod on a skateboard. This worked surprisingly well and I am very pleased with how the shots turned out. There is a little bit of shaking in a couple of the shots but it is not very noticeable and the sequence still looks good.

We also needed a way to transition from shot to shot. We needed the camera to move from behind something at the start of the shot, move across the room and then move behind something else at the end of the shot. For our test shoot, we didn't properly think this through and didn't move the camera behind anything. I had to add the black bars in After Effects and the result didn't look very good.

Setting up the lights for the montage

For our next two shoots, we used two black books to cover the camera lens at the start and end of the shots. Again, we had a problem because the Canon Legria automatically adjusted its exposure. This meant that as the camera moved out from behind the book, the exposure was very high and took a second to adjust. This is another reason that we needed to use Mahalia's Canon 600D. Her camera's exposure could be adjusted manually and this allowed us to achieve the effect we wanted without the exposure being wrong and ruining the shot.

From this, I learned about how to effectively achieve the camera movement that we had within the sequence and also about how exposure can affect how a shot looks. I had never really given exposure much thought before this project but now I know how important it is.

Microphones

We used three different microphones throughout the project. We had a different microphone for each of the cameras that we used. They were roughly the same quality and worked in the same way so we didn't really face any problems when working with both of them. To record the soundtrack, I used a Blue Yeti microphone and recorded myself playing guitar. Again, the microphone was simple to use and I didn't run into any problems. Once the file was recorded, I exported it from Adobe Audition, dragged the file into the timeline in Premiere and cut it down so that it fitted in with the sequence.

SOFTWARE

The Internet

The internet was essential during this project. Google Drive in particular was extremely useful when writing script and planning shot lists as it allowed us all the edit a document at the same time. This was much quicker and easier than sending different versions of different documents to each other because we could instantly change things and use the chat feature to discuss changes that we wanted to make.

Facebook was useful for organising shoot times and planning things like editing sessions or meeting times. While we didn't actually use it to discuss the project, it was essential for organisation and communication, particularly at the weekends when we didn't see each other at school.

This project made me realise just how important the internet is to stay in touch with people and to organise things. While it is no comparison with talking face-to-face with someone about the project, it is definitely a useful resource for communication.

Editing

Editing the sequence was very time-consuming and quite difficult. Luckily, I was already very familiar with After Effects so I was able to do things like masking out the text fairly easily and without the need to look at Youtube tutorials or other online resources. I did, however, learn how to effectively work between After Effects and Premiere by using the 'Replace with After Effects composition' feature within Premiere. I went into more detail about this feature in a group post about editing techniques.

Masking Out The Titles In After Effects

I have also used Premiere many times before in previous projects such as the TV trailer project from last year so I was able to easily arrange and manipulate clips on the timeline without any problems. Grading the shots was more difficult. Again, I have done this before so I knew how to do it. To achieve the look we wanted, we increased the contrast and darkened the shot slightly. We also wanted quite a warm look as the film is essentially a rom-com. To achieve this look, we boosted the reds and brought down the blues just a bit. The difference is subtle but still significant. Obviously, each shot was different and we had to grade each one individually with slightly different settings for each.

3-way colour corrector - grading our shots

I didn't really learn a lot about editing as I already had a lot of experience with it. However, I did improve my skills within After Effects and I became more efficient overall at editing.

CONCLUSION

I was acting in almost all of the shots so obviously I didn't really get a chance to use the camera much. However, I was able to help light the scene and I helped frame many of the shots and think of interesting ways that the camera could be used. While I would have liked to use the camera more than I did, I still had a big input on how the shots looked so I wasn't too bothered about not filming them.

The main thing that I learned from this project was that technology should be used as a way to tell the story and that it should not be the main focus of the project. If the camera is used well, there will not be any noticeable jerky movements or moment where it is out of focus. If a film is edited well, the audience's attention should not be diverted from what is happening in the film because of a continuity error or strange grading on a shot. The best-edited and shot films flow well from shot to shot, tell the story well and completely immerse the audience in the world of the characters without diverting their attention to flaws in the construction of the film. Technology, editing and special effects should always be secondary to story and character to make a film relatable and enjoyable.