One of the things I have mentioned about demonstrating continuity in our film was adding film effects. When it came to the editing stage of creating our film, we tested out many effects to see which one suited our film genre the best. We also tried adjusting the brightness and contrast when we decided on an effect as when we filmed our shot film, it came out really bright an sometimes you couldn't see much detail in some clips of the film. We tried to make the brightness and contrast the same throughout our film as it also demonstrates continuity well as it won't confuse the audience if the brightness was really high in some bits of our film. From adding the aged western film effect, it made the brightness toned down and as a group we were able to fix the problem of the bright lighting. We made sure that every shot we did was relevant to the storyline and that it showed the correct things for the audience to see.
Our group demonstrated match on action by filming one of the characters walking trough the door as they are opening it and then filming them on the other side of the door walking into the room. This allows us to see the character walking through the door and seeing them continue in their action of walking into the room. By using match on action in our short film it allowed us to experiment on how we would film up to the match on action shot. It also allowed our group to work even harder at our task as we the group into 2 to film the 2 clips that re joined together to create a match on action shot. This means the transition between opening the door and going into the room is smooth and makes the shot look continuous. In order to make the match on action shot work when we edited it, we made sure that the character used the same hand to open the door when viewed from both sides of the door. We thought if we did not do this, it would not look professional and show that we didn't think our ideas through. It also allows the viewer to not get confused with the storyline and to be able to follow it with ease.
We used shot reverse shot in our short film by showing the two characters exchanging dialogue at the table when they are sitting opposite each other. Shot reverse shot allows the audience to be able to see the characters reactions when they are exchanging dialogue. It also allows them to follow the conversation between the two characters easily and get to see a close up of the characters. When filming for the match on action shot, we thought that by filming in a close up shot, the audience we also be able to see more detail on the characters faces. If we filmed them in a mid shot, it wouldn't be as effective as we only wanted to see the reaction on their face, not their body language as they were sitting down so they wouldn't communicate using their body's anyway. We also used over the shoulder shots to show the characters reactions when they were exchanging dialogue. As a group we thought that filming over shoulder shot were effective as we could still see that both of the characters were facing each other.
By including the 180 degree rule in our filming it allows the viewer to not get confused about the positioning of the camera and the characters in the film. This allows the viewer to be able to follow the film correctly. If the 180 degree rule was broken in filming, then the audience aren't able to see any movement around or behind the characters.
I think our group worked well together. We made sure that we shared out the tasks equally between us and that we made decisions together. When it came to planning for our short film, we sat around a table and discussed ideas and what we would think would work best when thinking of a genre of our film. When we came up with the idea, we separated our group into 2 so 2 people worked on making the script and two people worked on the storyboard. We thought this was a good idea as we could get our wok done quicker and it didn't leave out people doing nothing. For example, if 4 people worked on the script together, someone would be left out as that is too many people working on the same thing. Our reasoning for this was that it was productive and time efficient. When it came to do our filming as a group, we got two cameras and split the group into 2 once again. We looked at the storyboard and decided who filmed what, this was because we had a limited amount of time to film and wanted to make the most of that time. We made sure that every member of the group filmed something and had a say if they wanted to change something. When it came to editing our film, we had two main people work on it as other 2 in the group thought that if 4 people worked on the same computer, it would not be effective. When the editing was completed we sat as a group and watched our short film. From doing this we reviewed our film and made some changes due to suggestions made.
If we filmed this piece again, I would make sure that we filmed it in a not so bright area. The lighting in the room would be toned down and controlled. Having a high brightness in the film footage i hard to work with because no matter how hard you try to get the balance right between brightness and contrast when editing is hard. There is only a certain amount you can do post production to improve your film. I think that is the only major thing I would change when if I filmed our short film again.
I think that when we did our planning for our short film, we did pretty well. We researched into how to write a professional script and how to create a storyboard. In our storyboard we made sure that we drew out a rough plan of what was going to happen in our film, what shots were going to be used and annotations of what characters do in certain scenes. By creating a script, we were able to understand how scripts are written in the industry and how to follow them.
In our short film, we used transitions mostly at the beginning of our film and at the end of or film. We did not think it was necessary to have many transitions between different clips in our film as by using certain shots and angles the film ran smoothly without the use of transitions. We used fade in fade out 3 times in our short film as we thought over using transitions wasted time because we wanted to show more of our film.
From editing our short film, I have learnt how to use hte editing software on the iMacs.As I haven't used iMacs before, it was a new experience for me and it allowed me to explore different things. From using iMovie, I was able to learn abut how to add files and create a project on the software. I learnt how to cutt some of our film away and adding transitions and effects. Overall, I found using the editing software pretty easy as it was easy to follow and simple to use. I have learnt how to edit to create a match on action shot and the 180 degree rule. Editing allowed us to correctly use these shots and let us learn things by ourselves.
From creating our short film, I have learnt how to use the Cameras and iMacs. I have experienced using a camera beforehand, but didn't learn all the details of them. I have learnt how to adjust the resolution on the cameras, not zoom in/out and to view your recordings. It was vital that we knew how to use the cameras correctly as we would be relying on them to make our film, so we needed to know how they functioned. I also learnt how to use the iMacs in creating our film. We were allowed to have access to the iMacs with permission so we could use them in our own time and get to know them more before starting post production work. I learnt how to use all the technologies correctly for filming purposes and what to expect when it comes to using them again.
