Capturing

In todays lesson we did not make a lot of pregress. We captured our film onto premier so that we could view it. We watched it over on the computer and it kept freezing. The whole of our filming was pixelated and you could not see any of it. Every so often a part of the shot would come up but it kept stopping and starting. We tried to fix it and figure our what was wrong with it, either the tape or the computer but we could not figure it out. When we viewed it on the actual camera itself it was perfect but as soon as we put it onto the computer it became pixelated. We then only had fourty munites left of the lesson to shoot the whole thing again. The room we used before was taken and so we had to find another one. We got most of the shots done but we ran out of time. We have organised to film the rest of it in our free periods as the final preliminary task has to be handed in at the begining if the lesson. In that time we also have to edit it as well.

First filming lesson

In todays lesson we made a lot of progress. We looked at our storyboards to refresh what we were doing last lesson. We then began talking about which location to shoot the section we were fliming in. We looked around college and found a good place with enough lighting and space. We then began to run through what we had on our storyboard without filming it, so we did not waste the space on the tape. This took us a while whilst we were trying to figure out what we were definitly going to say as it had slightly changed now we had come to act it out properly. We sorted all of it out eventually and decided where the camera was going to be placed and what types of camera angles we were going to use. We then filmed the first shot, with me and Danny acting and Tom fliming with the tripod and camera. We filmed the first shot of me walking into the door twice to make sure that we had enough footage to delete and edit. We then filmed the second shot on the reverse side of the door. This took us a long time as we could not get the timing right so that we could cut it to make it look like one continuous flow, however we did it eventually. We then started to film the shot that danny was in. However, the two boys then decided to swap roles as it was not working well. So we then had to film a small part again as there was a shot with me and danny in that we had to re-do with me and Tom in. That all went well and we again did two shots of each. The male teacher then came to check on us. He gave us some good feedback and told us what we could do to make the shot reverse shot quicker to shoot. We took this onboard and it helped a lot. We then looked back over what we had filmed on the small screen on the camera. It all looked really good and the five seconds before and after recording each shot were there so that we could edit it accordingly. Next lesson we will edit what we have filmed on premier.

Research and film practice

At the beginning of todays lesson, we watched a shot reverse shot clip. It broke down each step into a simpler version. This really helped us as it told us everything we needed to know about how to shoot a good shot reverse shot sequence. We took notes whilst watching this so we could work on similar ideas when it was finished. After looking at our notes and seeing what advice was important and what wasn't, we looked at our story board again. We began to discuss ideas on what we had already got down and if it needed changing or not and how we should finish the end of it off as we did not finish it last lesson. However, we did not know how it was properly going to look on the camera. We all thought we should act out the shots that we didnt know would look right. This helped a lot. Tom then had the idea of filming it on his camera on his phone. It was not the same as shooting it on a proper camera but it helped give us an idea of what we shoudl change and what we shoudl keep. We found that it was a struggle to get the continuity of the two shots right, but we masterd it eventually and this has given us massive help on what we want to do for the proper preliminary task. As we acted each shot and filmed it, using the pause button as though it were an cut tool, we began to draw each shot on the storyboard. We finished our storyboard after many retakes and changes of what we had originally planned to do. We figured out who was acting in the sezuence and who was filming. We made loads of progress today which has helped on speeing up the process. Next lesson we plan on starting to film the actual preliminary task on the cameras.

First lesson - preliminary task

In todays lesson we found out about the preliminary task. We discussed it as a class so we knew what we had to do to achieve a high grade. We were then given our working groups for this task. My group works well as we all had our own ideas that worked well together and we managed to discuss them well. We then started to brainstorm different ideas for the preliminary task on a peice of paper by mindmapping different camera angles and who would be in the film and who would be shooting it. We talked about different camera shots and the way we could film it that would realate and help to the proper final thriller. I started to sketch out idea don the storyboard from what we were discussing. We changed a few bits around as we went along and this made some parts better. We discussed the different options of words that we could say whilst we were acting to make it more realistic. We did not manage to fully finish the storyboard but we knew what we were doing. Next lesson we will finish the stroyboard off and start to act out what we are definitly going to do.