Going solo...

Tues 16th March

Today we started to plan our individual film projects. We watched a couple of short films made by current students at Bath Spa Uni and also a short film which really stood out to me by Stefan Nadelman called 'Terminal Bar'. Nadelman was lucky in the sense that his father was a photographer and had a wide archive of pictures he took whilst working in a bar in downtown New York. The film runs through the bar's history. The many different faces, the changes in trends, but also showed the similarities between all of the regulars who attend the bar. This really stuck out to me because I have worked in a bar and seen the people who go there everyday and it dawned on me that anything can be made in to a good story.

I kind of have an idea of what I would like to do my individual project on and am currently in the proposal stages.

City of...Gosh that sounds a bit different

For this task we were given part of the opening sequence to the absolutely brilliant film, 'City of God'. With the original audio removed we had to use Soundtrack pro to create diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. I decided to use the sounds that were available on Soundtrack Pro. This was a really enjoyable task, having watched the film not long before I wanted to try and avoid recreating what I had already seen in the film which was quite difficult. It was great learning how to create an atmosphere using many different sound effects and making them work with the images provided. If I were to do a task like this again I would like to try and get a bit more creative, instead of just using sounds that match what the images show I would instead try to create a juxtaposition to make the audience feel slightly uncomfortable.

Unfortunately due to those pesky copyright infringement laws I'm not allowed to post the finished project on here. However, I can assure you, it's very good. Honest.

What's cooking down under??

Mandy, Ed, Rachel and I have been asked to create a 3minute instructional cookery video. This had to be aimed at students, healthy and most importantly (especially to someone on my budget) CHEAP! We decided to film in my kitchen because it had a good layout to film in. Also, because I live in halls of residence we could relate it to a lot of students. We decided to cook a vegetable curry using the 'Feed your family for a fiver' from Sainsbury's which proved to be very cheap and yes, very tasty! We elected Rachel to be our presenter and, for comedic effect and also putting our presenter at ease in front of the camera, she opted for an Australian accent. It was quite difficult trying to keep a straight face while filming but was really enjoyable to be a part of. We decided to use two cameras, one wide angle to get good shots of the chef at work and one for the close-ups. Unfortunately one of the cameras was set to 16:9 and the other 4:3 which will be noticeable in the final edit. We must always remember to check! It was rather difficult managing our time. Usually there is a schedule to keep to but a few minor hiccups are allowable. However, when filming cooking you have to be very aware of your time scale because you don't want food being under or over-cooked.



Here is the final edited piece...


While watching through our cookery demonstrations with the class a number of errors were pointed out. We had quite a major issue with lighting and colour balance which is apparent when watching the edited piece. This is something we have to bare in mind for next time as something so simple can affect the outcome of the overall project. Also the voice over was a little out of sync at some points which can throw the audience off slightly. We also missed out an ingredient which we actually did not realise until watching it through with the class! This is something that really should have been checked.

There are a few errors we made which we all have learnt from. However, of all the cookery demonstrations ours was seen to be the most enjoyable to watch by a number of our classmates. I feel that we had fun filming and it really came through in the final piece.

Microphone boom-bastic

Friday 26th February

Today we were given a demonstration of the Z1 camera. Look at it up there in all its beauty! We went through some of the basic manual settings on the camera to obtain the optimum result for what we wanted to film. We were then told that we would be put in to groups and have to film an interview, using an external mic. This excited me, probably too much, but I couldn't wait to have a go on the external directional microphone!

*A little tip from our lecturer was to stick a bit of tape on to the back end of the microphone, so that you know which end is which and saves faffing.

We then proceeded to film our one on one interview, Mike being interviewed by Kirsty, from various different angles. Some of the problems we had was that there was a long period where the mic was in shot which whoever was filming failed to notice. Also, under the pressure, Mike got a case of the giggles which made editing a little difficult. We also filmed some 'noddys' which are always helpful in the editing process wherever there are glitches. I feel that we worked well considering it was very limited space we manage to get some nice shots. The finished edit was ok but I feel that the interview itself could have gone a bit smoother. Also the fact that the mic was in shot for a long time was a real shame, this has definitely taught me to be really aware of this in future. I really enjoyed doing the sound for the interview and think I would enjoy doing it again on another project.