Preliminary Task Evaluation

For our filming project the location we did it in was in the media class room. This worked well because we had tables and chairs to use as our props on the set it also worked well because we had a lot of space to use for our piece and so this made it easier for us to think up idea to what we could do in the scenes. I was involved a lot in this project because as a group we took it in turns to film different scenes. we all did it in two's or threes so that we could help each other in what to do and give each other ideas. In filming the over the sholder shots, wide shots, I also got the chance to direct to the actor and to achieve the task of getting the perfect timing on when to say cut, or action, etc.


For the lighting we used a was a darker type of lighting because we wanted to create a darker and more serious atemosphere. We decided to use darker lighting because we wanted to make it clear to the audience to what was happening in the scenes and to see the tension between the two characters. The lighting was important in our scenes because it made it clear to the audience what type of mood the filming was in. The lighting was effective because if we did not have it, it would not be clear to the audience on what was going on and it also created the tension and atemosphere of the scenes.

 Matt Ayrton, our star in our film project.

Camera Operating

Two weeks ago we were introduced by camera opertating we were all put into groups and each group were given a camera to study. we learned all about the whiteening balence, the timecoad and the focus on the camera. We learned how to keep control of the tripod by bubbling the tripod so that the camera keeps still and so it would not move or wobble about. for bubbling there is this green circle with a bubble which we had to get into the middle of the circle so that the camera would be steady. The benefits of using a tripod was that it made the quality of filming better then if you had to handhold the camera. this is because tripods create a more steady effect. But there are also benefits to handheld camera because if you would want to create a dramatic effect in your filming. for example if you are filming a scene full of tension and drama you could create a lot of movement which tells us that the scene we are filming is an action piece and that there is tension within the scene that you are filming.


throughout our filming project we used the different types of camera angles which was part of the filming skill we are studying. We used 'Over the shoulder', 'Wide shot', 'Close up shots', etc. These camera angles created the effect of a variation of different viewpoints we had of the filming. They also taught us that without these camera techniques and angle the audience watching the film would not have a big reaction to the story line within the film. This is because these camera shot types create the effect of what mood and scene is in and it makes it clearer towards the audience what is going on in the film. For example tracking shots can give the effect of action happening within the filming. We learned about the framing and composition within the filming. This helped us understand the looking for space, head space and movement within the frame. the most important task we had to learn was the 180 degree rule. This was important because if this did not exist the audience would get confused with who was on what side of the filming. When we did our filming project we got actors and we learned what we needed to do to create a good effect on what was happening in the scene. for example we learned about spatial relationships to show what the relationship is between the two character, so for example if they were placed standing far away from each other or close to eachother this would show their relationship between the characters.


The mistakes our group made in our first practise was that we did not consentrate much on the 180 degree rule. This made our piece a lot more confusing for the audience to watch because they found it hard to understand what was going on within the filming. However next time we did this we improved on our mistakes and so it became a lot easier for the audience to understand what was going on and we also added on props like a phone, a table, a chair, etc. These props created more of an effect of what was going on. they made it more clear about what the characters were talking about and why they were talking about it.


We each direct the filming in turn to help the actors and to tell them what to do, Like when they had to start acting, etc. We said things like 'Stand By/ Standing by', 'Turn over/  Tunring Over', 'Action' and 'Cut'.

i enjoyed the experience of this project because i learned a lot more about how films work and what the fiming industry is all about. I found this project very interesting because learning about things like the different camera angles and the 180 degree rule made me learn about what they do in movies to create their effects on the audience.       

Photoshop

In photoshop the tools we used were cropping, selecting, layering, rubber which rubbed out a certain bit of an image if we did not want that bit of the image in our project. we also used tools like the fill tool which created the effect of part of an image fading into the whole image. The fill tool created the image to disolved into the image in a whole. i found this effect was effective because it made the image have an effect of a mysterious look.

The tools i found tricky to use was when we had to reflect part of our image by turning it horizontally or vertically over. i found this effect effective but it was hard to figure out how to use it. this was because to reflect our image we had to select the original image and copy and paste it to create another one of that image. We then had to make both images look exactly the same by changing the colours of the image and the contrast of the image. Eventually the reflecting project worked but it was difficult.

I found Photoshop quite easy because i had studied it before hand but there were some aspects which i did find difficult. for example i found some tools hard. like i found the selecting quite hard by getting it completely right.

I think that photoshop is useful for media because it tell us what the genre is in a movie and what tpe of movie it will be by creating the effects for the front page of a movie.