Editing my first scripted video

This week I have been trying to catch up on work that I have missed becuase I was ill for all of last week :( Luckily I was able to help my partner edit the video she had shot. This gave me the opporunity to understand what it was I had missed and learn any information that could help me on my AS media course. We experimented with a range off different shots, editing techniques and added effects to engage the viewer and create a dark setting...

• Tint - this was useful when trying to create different sceens with different atmospheres, as we could create a dark/light setting. This helped to maintain the dark theme that ran throughout the video.
 
• Splicing - we had to splice together different shots, so that they ran smoothly without a change being detected. This helped the whole video come together and look natural to a viewer.
 
• Speed - we edited the speed on certain clips in order to spped up certain footage that seemed slow and boring. For example the opening door was speeded by 120%.
 
• Contrast & brightness - this was edited on the scenes within the final room to give it an egdy eary theme. This added suspense and set the scene when trying to acchieve a dark setting.
 
• Music - we added different genres of music including instrumental and classical to add more depth to the video and create suspence/tension within the viewers.
  
  
  Overall this video was successful and I was able to develop my skills further :) 
  Thanks, Amelia 

 

 

 
 
 

Editing 'The Interview'

Hi everyone,

So I have just finished filming and editing the interview and I think it was successful as I had a range of different shots and scenes to choose from when it came down to editing. I altered some scenes to make them appear more effective in my final video and added music which all together made it have the appropriate light hearted theme I wanted it to have. Here are some of the changes I made:

• Tint - I used tint on a range of different scenes which was useful when trying to create different effects with different atmospheres, as I could create a light setting. This helped to maintain the lighter setting, making the interview light hearted and clearly visible for my audience.
• Splicing - When I began to put frames together I had to splice together different shots so they ran smoothly without a change being detected. This helped the whole video come together and look natural to a viewer. For example in the action shot of the woman walking through the door.

• Contrast & brightness - I used this when editing on the final scene let the audience know that the film was beginning to end. This made it visible for the audience but also let them know what was about to occur.

• Quiet Speech - When it came to edit my footage some scenes that included dialogue were quiet or muffled. This made it difficult when splicing together different scenes as the volume was different on each frame. To overcome this during editing I altered the volume to try and equalised volume across the range of scenes.
 
Lighting - As I filmed the surroundings gradually became darker which was noticeable between frames. This was because of the time of day so to resolve this I altered the lighting.

Music - During editing I looked at a range of music genres and decided which one would be the most effective. I decided to add instrumental as my music choice, to add more depth to the video and create the setting.

I felt confident when editing this video and when choosing different effects. I feel I have already benefited and learnt from the course and that I can produce an effective video that creates the desired effect from an audience. Here is the video that I filmed and edited...

 

Until next time :)

Story Board - Lost And Found

I decided to plan out storyboards for my two possible videos to decide which one would give me the best experience when shooting. Here is 'Lost and Found'.

This is my story board for my potential short film 'Lost and Found'. This short film explores dialouge through use of camera angles in conversion, but I also added an element of thriller. This will give my video much more excitment and give me better opportunities when experimenting with themes and ideas for final piece material. Here is the story board for my potential short film:

Filming - The Interview

Hi everyone,

So I have just been filming the footage for my short video 'The Interview'. I was given a script and brief for guidance, which told me that in this project I would be focusing on dialogue and using the camera to explore conversation. With this I was able to understand what it was I was aiming to achieve and plan ahead of filming. This gave me the opportunity to edit my work and decide what I was going to do before shooting and change any necessary scenes to get the most out of this assignment. After planning where, when and how I was going to film, I began to create my story board. This gave me an effective overall plan for filming and made shooting much easier and controlled. I added lots of detail including time frames, edits, camera shots and dialogue (shown on my previous blog post).

 

When I was filming there were several problems I encountered. When I found a problem I did my best to try and resolve it, making my final footage much more effective and believable. Some of these problems were:

• Blurred footage - It was difficult to ensure the footage I was shooting was clear and not blurred due to me trying to direct what was going on. I tried to use the best footage I had and I believe I will still be able to make an overall effective piece. Next time I will ensure that I shoot enough footage that is good quality.

• Quiet Speech - Some of the dialogue in certain scenes was quiet. To overcome this I decided to encourage the actresses as much as possible and planned to help during editing by altering the volume.

• Uncontrolled movements - I found filming footage that involved camera movement much more difficult than still frames, especially on tracking shots. This was due to the handheld movement involved in a tracking shot. I found that the camera was difficult to hold steady when walking (something I also found when shooting my experimentation of movement video). In the future I will attempt to resolve this by using something similar to a dolly, such as a wheeled trolley.

• Lighting - As I filmed the surroundings gradually became darker which was noticeable between frames. This was because of the time of day so to resolve this I am going to alter the brightness and contrast when editing.

• Low angled shots - When filming I found that trying to shoot a low angled shot was difficult due to my tripod only going to a certain lowest point. To resolve this I used the ground as a platform to control the steadiness of the footage and achieved an effective low shot.

• Point of view shots - When filming point of view shots I found it difficult to create a steady flowing movement, to maintain the calm theme because of the uneven ground. To resolve this I chose the flattest locations to shoot, so as to get the most effective footage.

Overall, I think I benefited from this filming experience  as I was able to use a script to form the basis of the storyline, and experiment with a theme to give me an idea about my final piece. It also gave me the opportunity to experiment with dialogue and the camera work involved with filming conversation, experiment with a range of shots/movement and use Mise En Scene such as make-up and costume.

 

However, there were some risk factors that I encountered when filming my video. Some of these hazards were...

 

1. Firstly I shot a sequence of track shots in which I had to move with the camera. To ensure I did this safely, I cleared the walk ways so there was nothing that I could trip up on.
2. When shooting, I ensured the camera was attached firmly onto the tripod, and the tripods legs where stable. This made it safer when shooting as the camera/tripod could not fall onto anyone and hurt them or break the camera.
3. To ensure the weather did not damage the camera or effect footage, we covered it in a waterproof sheet when transporting it. This made the camera more secure and unlikely to get damaged from the rain. We also selected locations carefully and away from any slippy surfaces caused by weather and filmed indoors. This helped us to move more fluently and not slip over and hurt ourselves, and get more effective footage.
4. When travelling to different locations we packed up the equipment into its packaging to keep it safe. This prevented anyone falling over it and made transportation much easier.

Thanks, Until next time :)

 

Planning - 'Lost and Found' & 'The Interview'

So I have been trying to decide on which film to shoot out of two possible ideas. One idea is an interview which is much easier and safer to shoot, as it can be done indoors under controlled conditions. This also fits the brief extremely well, as I can experiment with a range of camera angles and shots associated with conversation. However the other is based on a horror/thriller theme which is something I am hoping to base my final piece on. Here are the two scripted ideas for each video...

This is my potential plan of how I'm going to shoot my short film called 'Lost and Found' - thinking about camera work, Mise en Scene, setting and a script. I am going to film this sequence in the woods, as this setting will give the appropriate edgy feeling I want. It is basically about a little girl who comes across another injured girl while playing by a river. However, using camerawork such as a tracking handheld shots, I can create the feeling that the characters are being watched. I am hoping to achieve a darker feeling as this setting and camerawork will create tension. This is my plan for this task:

Lost and Found – Short Movie

The scene opens with a wide shot of the river with a little girl called Ellen playing by the edge. The shot then changes to a medium shot of Ellen playing and then to a hand held camera movement going towards her from behind. This will give the audience the feeling that she is being watched.

A stick breaking will then cause Ellen to turn around quickly. The shot will then be changed to a medium-long shot of Ellen looking around. She will then begin to wander cautiously into the woods using a tracking shot. The camera will then change to a close up of her face as she looks around.

Ellen: Hello? Is anyone there?

The camera will then use a tracking shot from the side of Ellen as she walks into the woods. Obstacles such as trees will cross over the frame, again to give the audience the feeling that she is being watched. A low angled long shot will then be used with Ellen in the distance. She will stop and look over at the camera.

Ellen: [gasp]

Ellen will then begin to walk towards the camera cautiously to show the audience her reaction and point of view as she gets nearer. This will add suspense as the audience will want to know what she is looking at. The camera will then change to an over the shoulder shot of her looking down at a person lying injured.

Ellen: Are you okay? What happened?

The camera will then use a reverse shot to show the injured person called Madeleine.

Madeleine: Help please.

The camera will then change to a medium shot as Ellen tries to help Madeleine.

Ellen: It’s okay, don’t worry, you’ll be okay.

The camera then shows a close-up of Madeleine’s alarmed face as she whispers

Madeleine: He’s behind you.

The camera will then use a handheld movement to rush towards the characters from behind, as if the camera is the man’s point of view. The camera will zoom to an extreme close-up of Ellen screaming and then the screen will go black.

'The Interview'

This is my potential plan of how I'm going to shoot my short film called 'The Interview' - thinking about camera work, Mise en Scene, setting and a script. I am going to film this sequence in a conservatory, which will give it the relaxed feeling I want. It is basically an interview about film, including favourite movies and genres to give me an idea when planning my final piece. With this video I can explore camera work through conversation in depth, which is something I would be limited with if I was going to shoot the other movie. This is my plan for this task:

The scene will opening with a tracking shot from behind of a woman as she walks towards a door. This will then change to an action shot close-up of the handle as she opens the door. I will then use a medium shot of the door from the other side as she walks through into the conservatory. This will then change to a medium shot of the woman as she sits on a sofa next to a man with a laptop and shakes his hand.

Ailsa: Hello.

David: Hello, my name is David.

Ailsa: My name is Alisa.

The camera will then change to a medium close-up of the mans face.

David: Is it okay if I ask you a few questions?

Then camera will then use a reverse shoot to show a medium close-up of the woman's face.

Ailsa: Yes, that's fine.

Then to a medium two shot of the man and woman sat on the sofa.

David: What is your favourite film, and why?

Ailsa: (Improvisation - answers truthfully)

The camera will then change to a medium shot of the man as he says

David: What s your favourite film genre?

 This interview will continue with questions such as:

1. Are there any genres you dislike?
2. Do you have any favourite actors or actresses?
3. What was the last film you watched in a cinema?
4. Do you visit the cinema often?
5. How often do you buy films?
6. What do you think is reasonable price for a DVD?
7. Who do you watch films with the most?

 

The interview will the conclude with 

David: Thanks for answering my questions.

Ailsa: Thank you, it was nice to meet you.

 

In shooting this scene I will ensure I use a range of camera movement and shots in my work, including 180 degree shots,  action shots, shot/reverse shots and over the shoulder shots. This will give my video depth and fit the brief of experimentation with camera movement using dialogue.

These two film ideas are very different approaches to the task, despite the experimentation of genre 'lost and found' would give me, I feel that the 'interview' is best suited for this task. Therefore I will be shooting that video.



Filming my scripted video

Hi everyone,

So recently I have been filming the footage for my short video. I was originally helping my partner edit a video she had shot. However, I decided to film my own footage to catch up on work that I had missed so I would not be behind. I was given a script and brief for guidance. With this I was able to understand what it was I was aiming to achieve and plan ahead of filming. This gave me the opportunity to edit my work before shooting and change any necessary scenes to get the most out of this assignment. After planning where, when and how I was going to film, I began to create my story board. This gave me an effective overall plan for filming and made shooting much easier and controlled. I added lots of detail including time frames, edits, camera shots and dialogue. This is the storyboard I created:

 

 

When I was filming there were several problems I encountered. When I found a problem I did my best to try and resolve it, making my final footage much more effective and believable. Some of these problems were:

 

• Blurred footage - When I began to edit, I realised that some of the footage I had shot was blurred. I tried to choose the best quality clips to use in my final video so that it would look the most effective. In the future I will resolve this problem by having a number of retakes and checking the quality before beginning to edit.
• Quiet Speech - When it came to edit my footage some scenes that included dialogue were quiet or muffled. This made it difficult when splicing together different scenes as the volume was different on each frame. To overcome this during editing I altered the volume to try and equalised volume across the range of scenes.
• Uncontrolled movements - I found filming footage that involved camera movement much more difficult than still frames, especially on tracking shots. This was due to the handheld movement involved in a tracking shot. I found that the camera was difficult to hold steady when walking (something I also found when shooting my experimentation of movement video). In the future I will attempt to resolve this by using something similar to a dolly, such as a wheeled trolley.
• Lighting - As I filmed the surroundings gradually became darker which was noticeable between frames. This was because of the time of day so to resolve this I added a black and white filter when outside, which was useful in making my video much more sinister. In shots that were filmed inside, I also used a tint to create a darker setting.
• Low angled shots - When filming I found that trying to shoot a low angled shot was difficult due to my tripod only going to a certain lowest point. To resolve this I used the ground as a platform to control the steadiness of the footage and achieved an effective low shot.

 

Overall, this filming experience was the most effective as I was able to use a script to form the basis of the storyline, instead of an unstructured video. This gave me the opportunity to choose an effective location for a dark themed movie, experiment with a range of shots/movement and use Mise En Scene such as make-up and costume.

 

Thanks, Millie

Beginning to film my scripted movie

Recently I've been helping my partner edit her scripted video due to my absence. However I feel I would benefit more from filming my own short scripted movie. This will allow me to gain the skills I have missed out on and be up to date with everything I have missed! I will be filming this in the next week or so :)

Thanks Millie 

TV set - Mary Berry

This week I went down to London for a bake festival at the business and design centre. Here I was able to sit in on a Mary Berry film set for a cooking show. There was lots of camera men filming Mary from different angles which showed me how hectic filming is in real life. There was also other elements that were used such pink lighting (show in picture below) to create a warm setting.

I was also able to attend many master classes in which I learnt baking techniques and more about how TV is filmed.

Here are some pictures I took from the show: