"How to become 'UP AND RUNNING' in important elements of Creative Media, leading to seriously good films."
This whole assignment was a complete eye opener for productional work that I had never even come across before. We did a number of creative projects in groups and I really enjoyed working with my friends throughout this assignment. Planning a production is a lot more complexed and time consuming that I ever though it would be, but I really enjoyed the concept of every project. I can honestly say I have learnt a ton of new things within this assignment.
1) Evaluate how you have grown and developed as a practitioner, during this assignment?
I feel I have grown as a person during this assignment. I appeared properly on camera in a number of single productions that we have completed in groups, which was a complete learning curve for me. I hate being in front of the camera but in order to take one for the team, I had to be. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I still 100% prefer being the camera operator as opposed to the actress and on-screen colleague.
I also feel like my editing has made a vast improvement since the last assignment. My favourite production for me to edit was the One Shot project we did as a whole class. I did a number of effects and transitions during editing the video and I was really pleased with the outcome. This was actually the first production we did in this assignment, but was one of the most enjoyable for me. It was good for the whole class to bond and interact with each other, and during this project I made some new friends.
2) What two things were you most proud of?
The two things I am most proud of is how I overcome my fear of being on camera and how my editing skills have vastly improved since joining this course. I have a complete phobia of being in front of a camera that I have no control over, I feel like a bit of a puppet being told what to do. I've never liked it, even as a child. It was a massive learning curve for me that we will all eventually have to be in front of the camera for at least two productions per assignment, otherwise it isn't fair on the people that are always on camera, as they may want to be behind it. I think people contributed to this more than a 'thing', as my friends said it was fine for me to go on camera. They promised they wouldn't laugh. I have severe anxiety about that type of thing and I'm so pleased that my friends helped me through it. I couldn't have done it without them!
My editing skills are just on a different planet now. I found that in the first assignment I was asking every five minutes how to do something on Adobe Premier Pro, but now I have muscled in and worked things out on my own. I've come to terms with the fact that not every video or production we do will be a success, and any editing I do is a learning method. My editing skills in the One Shot video we did were a complete shock to me, and even watching it now still amazes me as to how I actually did it all myself.
3) What two things do you think you could improve in the future?
I think one major thing I would improve is my technique in writing blogs. As we had over 2 months for this assignment to be completed, I presumed we had a lot of time to write a few blogs. I sat down one Thursday and realised I had about seven to write, and panic stations kicked in. I caught up and was up to date with everything, until Blogspot failed me. 6 weeks worth of work just disappeared, literally. Approximately 10 blogs were deleted from Blogspot and I was gutted. The deadline was creeping up on me and I was getting into a complete panic. The one thing I would improve in the future is to back up my assignments on to a hardrive and complete blogs as soon as they're set, so I don't have a traffic jam of 5+ blogs. This will help me to achieve the best possible grade and I look forward to making it my New Years Resolution to complete blogs as soon as possible!
Another thing I would improve is my editing skills overall. If I were using a music track for a particular video, I would cut and edit the video to fit the beat of the music. This is something I regret not doing with the More Soon project. I just plonked all of the clips together and made a bloopers real at the end without any thought and consideration. Looking back, I really wish I followed the inspiration set by Carl Burgess (director of Ratatat - Drugs) and fit the video with the beat, volume and design of the music.
4) Write down some future targets you would like to achieve...
There are two main targets I wish to achieve for the future. One being the sound techniques used when I film a production with members of my group. Instead of using the camera microphone, I will hire out a boom mic from the ELC to make the sound appearance the best I possibly can. We used a boom mic for a recent production we did, which was the In The First Interview. This went really well as the environment we filmed it in was a compact corridor, with no echo or background noise. When it came to our next project, the In The Third Interview, this is when sound was a problem. I won't go in to too much detail here, but what I will say is that we should've taken into consideration that there was background noise. We didn't realise the mic would pick that noise up more than our own voices! Read the blog about the In The Third Interview here: http://strictlysavage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/documenting-doing-13-in-third.html
The second technique I would like to improve is setting a specific amount of time for my blogs per day. I had a bit of a nightmare this time as I stated above. I have decided to set around 2 hours per spare day (Weds afternoon, Thurs, Fri, and Sun) for blogs. This way I will be able to keep on track and up to date with all of the assignments and written work without getting too stressed about it. If I have no blogs to do that have been set in class, I will perhaps to a critique or review of a film or television show I have watched in a forgiving time bracket.
See you next year for a fun packed year of productions and blog work!
Merry Christmas to all reading this...
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
Documenting The Doing #14: The Coffee Cup
THE PROPOSAL:
My colleagues:
- Jade Popham - Actress
- Katie Patrick - Actress
- Naomi Doddridge - Camera Operator (with me)
Risk Assessment:
Storyboard:
Logline:
Once Upon A Blind Date.
Synopsis:
First time blind dating, first time meeting and twiddling thumbs. After being match made, showing the awkward mishaps between two social rejects with very high standards. “Is that a 6 pack? I think not.” Images can be deceiving.
- - - - - - - - - - -
This project was based on the conversation between Tom Waits and Iggy Pop in a coffee shop. Based upon the film Coffee and Cigarrettes - Somewhere in California, it's an old fashioned themed black and white short film. The conversation consists of two gentlemen having a rather awkward-to-watch conversation whilst smoking cigarrettes and drinking coffee. Oh the irony. The film was directed by Jim Jarmusch in 1993. This short film would eventually be the third part of an eleven-piece production, all of which were shot in black and white.
Our idea of this production would be based upon a Blind Date. We had to make our video as real as possible and something that happens in every day life, therefore we needed two pretty good actresses. Jade and Katie were the two people that appeared in the production, and they were on the blind date. Jade dressed up as a man, whereas Katie a woman. The slight twist in the story was that Katie had thought the guy she was meeting was a hunky heart throb with a six pack, but when she walked in, the man couldn't have been any different.
We chose our setting to be in a realistic environment of two people to have a blind date in. A cafe across the road from our studio kindly lent us their upstairs room for 90 minutes to film. This meant we were on a strict time limit and had to be done and out by 11.30am. We began by shooting a few of Jade's shots first, (the man), and then chose to shoot a few of Katie's shots, (the woman). This is because, as a single camera production, it was more time consuming to move the camera every time we wanted to take a different shot. As a group, we decided to shoot it like this as it would be less time consuming.
Overall, I think our production turned out really well. We used the sound from the camera as oppose to hiring out a separate microphone, as the atmosphere and noise in the cafe was only us, with a little bit of backing music. The only problem we came across was that the music in the background kept changing from shot to shot, so when we edited it all together, there were different songs. We came to a solution in the end put our own chosen music over the top. I think this worked quite well.
We decided to take these shots free hand as the positing of the tripod would've been a complete mess. The close-up shot of Jade involved me sitting on a chair next to Katie. I think shots always look a bit more in depth and natural if they're taken with a free hand as it's almost a form of point-of-view. The second shot looks like a simple layout, but it was more complexed. I sat in Jade's seat, and she held the menu in shot whilst looking at the footage next to me. It was pretty uncomfortable but it turned out okay. In this shot, I also had to keep aware of the focusing and positioning of the camera. I had to twist the lens to be sure that when I needed Katie to be in focus, she was, and when I needed the menu to be in focus, that was too.
My colleagues:
- Jade Popham - Actress
- Katie Patrick - Actress
- Naomi Doddridge - Camera Operator (with me)
Risk Assessment:
Storyboard:
Logline:
Once Upon A Blind Date.
Synopsis:
First time blind dating, first time meeting and twiddling thumbs. After being match made, showing the awkward mishaps between two social rejects with very high standards. “Is that a 6 pack? I think not.” Images can be deceiving.
- - - - - - - - - - -
This project was based on the conversation between Tom Waits and Iggy Pop in a coffee shop. Based upon the film Coffee and Cigarrettes - Somewhere in California, it's an old fashioned themed black and white short film. The conversation consists of two gentlemen having a rather awkward-to-watch conversation whilst smoking cigarrettes and drinking coffee. Oh the irony. The film was directed by Jim Jarmusch in 1993. This short film would eventually be the third part of an eleven-piece production, all of which were shot in black and white.
Our idea of this production would be based upon a Blind Date. We had to make our video as real as possible and something that happens in every day life, therefore we needed two pretty good actresses. Jade and Katie were the two people that appeared in the production, and they were on the blind date. Jade dressed up as a man, whereas Katie a woman. The slight twist in the story was that Katie had thought the guy she was meeting was a hunky heart throb with a six pack, but when she walked in, the man couldn't have been any different.
 |
| Jade dressed as a man! |
We chose our setting to be in a realistic environment of two people to have a blind date in. A cafe across the road from our studio kindly lent us their upstairs room for 90 minutes to film. This meant we were on a strict time limit and had to be done and out by 11.30am. We began by shooting a few of Jade's shots first, (the man), and then chose to shoot a few of Katie's shots, (the woman). This is because, as a single camera production, it was more time consuming to move the camera every time we wanted to take a different shot. As a group, we decided to shoot it like this as it would be less time consuming.
Overall, I think our production turned out really well. We used the sound from the camera as oppose to hiring out a separate microphone, as the atmosphere and noise in the cafe was only us, with a little bit of backing music. The only problem we came across was that the music in the background kept changing from shot to shot, so when we edited it all together, there were different songs. We came to a solution in the end put our own chosen music over the top. I think this worked quite well.
OUR FINAL PRODUCTION: The Coffee Cup
Editing our production was a pretty straight forward process as all we had to do was put the shots together in the right order. We found that the sound turned out better than we expected, so we didn't have to play with the volume or anything. The lighting was also a big bonus as we chose a table situated in front of a large window, and this really helped.
 |
| The Edit Decision List |
The Edit Decision List is a compile of all of the different edits we did to end the production on a high. The file name, time frame and description of all of the shots had to be in this work log to achieve the best possible outcome.
Overall, I really enjoyed this production and feel as if we worked well as a team. The filming went really well and both Jade and Katie did an amazing job in front of the camera. There were a few sections in which me and Naomi decided to remove the camera from the tripod as it would be easier to film, and this would result in me holding the camera, as I have a more steady hand compared to Naomi.
 |
| Three shots we took free hand |
We decided to take these shots free hand as the positing of the tripod would've been a complete mess. The close-up shot of Jade involved me sitting on a chair next to Katie. I think shots always look a bit more in depth and natural if they're taken with a free hand as it's almost a form of point-of-view. The second shot looks like a simple layout, but it was more complexed. I sat in Jade's seat, and she held the menu in shot whilst looking at the footage next to me. It was pretty uncomfortable but it turned out okay. In this shot, I also had to keep aware of the focusing and positioning of the camera. I had to twist the lens to be sure that when I needed Katie to be in focus, she was, and when I needed the menu to be in focus, that was too.
I look forward to doing another single camera production in an environment outside of college as it gives it a little more warmth and makes it more unique to film in an outside space, rather than within the college walls.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
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