Z1 Camera & Interview Practise

 

Friday has come round again and today we got more use of the Z1 cameras in preparation for filming our group projects for 4003. Instead of using just the camera itself we used external recording audio microphone connected through XLR lead.

After spending some time looking at how to set up the camera and audio combined and all the settings required to capture the audio and video with desired preferences, we made one-on-one interviews in our groups. We used Rachel and Chloe as our willing subjects who talked about holidays.

The problems we came across were continuity as they both moved quite alot when talking. At one point Chloe looks into the camera, this was easy to cover up with a 'noddy'. Though the excercise was focused on improving out audio recording skills there are several points within the edit I wish we could have edited to be a bit smoother. 

However in terms of matching up audio I think it is quite seamless which was the main idea behind the exercise.  The one thing I have learned from today is that even if your interview footage may not be as useful or as good as you expected it is easy to have fill shots and 'noddys' to make up for it.

Not these kind of nods though...

Group Project: Progress

 

We are at the point now where we feel ready to film the main bulk of our footage, Ed has already filmed some research footage which has infact turned out to be quite useful and I'm sure we will make use of it in our final edit.

Monday should be the grand day of filming in which we need to acheive 3 things: the interview, the singing and the mini interviews with choir. To do this we will have a Sony Z1 camera, and at least one Panasonic camera.

Before Monday we need to research techniques behind filming music (specifically choirs), sort out our travel arrangements and make sure we have scripted enough interview questions in order to cover everything we have been planning for the last few weeks.

In the mean time we have come up with what we want to include in the content of our film and an outline of the structure:

Scenes to include:

• Mark de Lisser interview - split into 2/3 sections

• Mini interviews with choir members - Interspersed
• Rehearsal footage
• Performance footage
• BBC Archive footage

Interview Q's/Points to cover

• Why you started choir?
• What you ask from members?
• What message you have?
• Any difficultly/struggles and how you have overcome them?
• What is the future?

Act One

• Archive
• Past Tense/establishing interview Q's
• Intro to choir and location
• Intro to some elements of conflict/struggle

Act Two

• Interview Q's with Mark about personal life
• Quotes from members about struggles/other commitments
• Some rehearsal footage

Act Three

• Looking to future
• Message of ACM
• Reflection on successes
• Summary interview Q's
• "Live" footage

Soundtrack Pro

  

Soundtrack Pro is part of the Apple software package and is used for editing and mixing with multi-track audio. It has an extensive bank of sound effects and audio files, and is compatable with most audio file types.

The reason we are using this software at the moment is to edit sound to a muted film clip from City of God. Soundtrack Pro allows you to view the movie file at the same time as editing audio which makes it a lot easier to get precise hit points for the sound effects.

 

This is an example of someone else's work of how useful Soundtrack Pro is for post production sound editing. One of the key advantages of using Soundtrack Pro is the ability to multitrack which is not as easy to do in Final Cut Pro, and you can line up the sounds as closely as by frame (simply by adjusting snap value).

Group Project: Team Meeting 16th Feb

Production Administration
Meeting Minutes

Date: 16th Feb 2010

Time: 16.50

Location: GH201

Present: Ed, Kirsty, Mike

Absent: N/A

Action Points from last meeting: N/A

Agenda for meeting: Outline, story, timeline.

Points raised: When/where to interview Mark

Action points for next meeting:

• Ed- Ring Mark and arrange interview (would be best for a Monday)
• Mike- Work on sequence, research short documentarys
• Kirsty- Work on sequence, write outline, commit ideas to paper, sign onto Siso.

 
 

Oh My God- The Finale!

It took 3 weeks and 2 groups with 2 angles but tpday we shot the final shot to our 'Oh My God!' films. We chose to go for a comical ending as we thought it would be more fitting with Ed's reaction face that the film ended on last time.

OH MY GOD! from James Harris on Vimeo.
Can't really give much explanation as to why we did this ending other than it was a random thought mainly courtesy of Ed to see Ant dance!

We added credits to the end to finish it off and used the following song by Tom Jones as our soundtrack:

Step Outlines

 

In todays session we focused mainly on short films and how to construct them, mainly focusing on scripting and story boarding.

The excercise we completed was on taking a script for a short film and turning it into a step outline. The purpose of a step outline is to condense a script into a series of statements/statuses about each scene. In this case we had 10 scenes to break down into basic one sentence summaries.
It makes it an easy way to describe the film to some one without them having to read the entire script.

The basic things to include in the step outline is location and action. What should not be included is: dialogue, character description and reason for scene.

The original script looks something like this:

Converting this into a step outline would be more concise:

Different Methods of Camera Handling

In Fridays session we looked at the various ways in which to handle a camera in order to get a stable picture. The main 3 methods of this are:

Tripod
The tripod (as it suggests) works with 3 legs, each can be adjusted to varying heights, many come with a spirit level to just the level of your shot, they are very sturdy and stable.

Advantages: most stable, provides spirit level, can be adjusted to various height, strength/endurance of cameraman not an issue, pan shots can be very smooth, good for panorama and multi angle filming, support from wider base
Disadvantages: heaviest and bulkiest, not good in tight spaces, slow to adjust/move, heaviest to carry to/from location

Monopod
A monopod uses just one 'leg' to support the camera, however it is not just to be used as a 'leg' but the monopod can also be used as a lever to hold the camera up off the ground as well as stabilising it on it. As with the tripod its height can be adjusted easily.
 
Advantages: smaller and more compact than tripod, light and easy to set up, takes up less space so can film in smaller spaces, multi purpose, can allow minimal physical stress on cameraman (depending on how it is being used.
Disadvantages: only has one point of stability, can get sideways shake, not alot of flexibility in shots

Fig Rig 
The 'fig rig' was created by director Mike Figgis at the time of the making of one of his films. The fig rig works by providing the user with a control similar to a steering wheel for controlling the camera. The controls of the camera can be linked up to a device on the wheel itself. Further info can be found here.


A
Advantages: easily portable, easy to use and set up, relatively light, distributes weight of camera, allows fluid camera motion
Disadvantages: cameraman could have limited space, hard to put down and leave safely, once camera is picked up must be continuously held, doesn't eliminate and side to side shake motion

Continuity of Filming Project

Following last weeks session looking at the 180 degree rule and continuity of filming, at the end of the session we went out and filmed some footage making sure we filmed with our actor going right to left.

We were given a list of shots to create which followed the story of a man receiving a phone call with some bad news then rushing to the source of the call. Using Ed as our actor we created the following short film:


When it came to filming we always had to remember when setting up each shot from which angle we needed it in order to keep the shots flowing and not to confuse the audience. Our team managed to remember this rule the whole way through and there was no need for any double takes.

In todays session we worked with another group who were working left to right and put our footage together, this created more of a story. This was the final result:



As the original separate films were recorded separately the use of locations overlaps and does at points look a little odd but considering it is only a small exercise it is not too much of an issue and is more just for our own practice.

Group Project: ACM Gospel Documentary

Research


I have been looking at videos from the BBC's Page  on ACM Gospel Choir for further research. The one which I found particularly useful was the one about Music Director Mark De Lisser, this is more of a profile video on him and proves useful as it is pretty much a short excerpt of the type of thing we hope to make.

In terms of other research, Ed conducted a phone interview with Mark and found out his vision and views on the choir, this has given us some basic material to use in order to start thinking about structuring an interview for the documentary.

Pitch

On Tuesday we took our pitches for our projects over to Paintworks in Bristol which is where we will be based in the 3rd year. As Ed was filming with the choir it was up to Mike and myself to represent the team! For our presentation we created a Google Doc as it made it easy for us all to edit it in our own time in separate locations. We saved it to a memory stick as a back up (though the YouTube video would not have worked in this case), however the good thing about Google Doc is that you don't need to rely on them and all you need is the internet access to get to your file.

This is the presentation we created: