EVALUATION QUESTION 7

7) WHAT HAVE I LEARNED ABOUT FILM MAKING

Since the start of the course, it is clear my skills in film –making and production has improved. Looking back at my preliminary task, I didn’t understand and put into practice the different camera angles and shots that were available for me. However, when creating my product, I learnt a variety of different camera techniques and shots including tracking, panning, establishing and high angle shots. Our planning, storyboard and researching ideas were a lot more thorough in our coursework than the prelim. I movie was the only technical programme I was familiar with before the production of our opening. I have now learnt how to use many new technical programmes that I hadn’t heard of before including premiere pro, Special effects, Wordle, Slideshare and even blogger. By using Special Effects I was taught how to adjust lighting and transport images to place over our green screen background.

I had also learnt a variety of things that were non -digital. For example, the cameras we used for filming (canon 550D) was a piece of technology I had never used before. For our prelim we used an ordinary camcorder, which proved to be a lot simpler than the Canon, which had so many other purposes built into it. I was taught how to keep the camera steady in tracking shots and scenes by using a tripod. Smaller issues that arose during our filming process was the problem of lighting. When filming for the first time we found the lighting was so bad we had to re-evaluate where we were going to shoot the scene, making sure it allowed for sufficient lighting.

Continuity was another problem that arose during the film making process. We had to take into account minor details like the clothing of the gap year student

to make sure it showed continuity. We couldn’t have her appear  a particular way in one scene, then when re capturing or continuing the clip, have her dressed in something completely different.

Since our preliminary task i feel a lot more confident in filming. As a group, we learnt it takes a fair amount of time getting everything in place, and sorting things out, making sure lighting is spot on and objects are in their correct places. We took many different shots of the same scene, trying out new and interesting angles we hadn't used before. Everyone in the group had their own input into how they wanted to see things done. All of our ideas were then combined resulting in an even better finished product. 

Sound in our prelim consisted of simple dialogue used to construct a simple plot. In our opening of Zest, however, we learnt how to create several layers of soundtrack which included a music track, dialogue and a voice over. As a group, we watched a number of film openings and television programmes to help us understand how a music track can be identified with a specific genre. For example, a sitcom like Two and A Half Men has upbeat, feel good, fast paced music. This helped us research a suitable music track that would be played in the background of our opening. We learnt how to frame the narrative by writing a voice over (of the gap year student) that would help explain to the viewer what they are watching. 

We learnt how to position our titles in interesting ways which would be used to catch the audiences attention. We had to put the titles in the right places that would be attached to the character it was showing. These titles were made on both Imovie and Adobe Effects. Besides the titles, we learnt how the music soundtrack can have a huge influence on the quality of the opening in understanding what it is about. At first we used instrumental music, which although was bubbly which fitted in with the characteristics of our restaurant, it simply didn't deliver what we acquired. In the end, after a lot of research, we used the song Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson. This song fit perfectly with our narrative voice over and helped portray our specific genre we were presenting.