Filming and editing my prelim

Filming our prelim

Firstly, we set up the tripod. We pulled the legs apart and then set it to the height we wanted by releasing the tensioners and then tightening them at the correct height. We then placed the camera on top of the tripod and it locked into place. We checked the small spirit level to see if the camera was balanced on the tripod and adjusted it so it was ok to start filming with. We also put the tripod on top of a dolly so we could move it around easily. The tripod attaches to the dolly at the bottom of the legs by fastening it in with a hoop attached to the dolly. We turned the camera on a set the white balance by placing some white pieces of paper in front of the lens and zooming in and out to focus the camera. We then placed the tape in the slot on the camera and made sure it was pushed in inside before closing the outside part.

We set up our two actors to face each other and then made sure the camera was following the 180 degree rule. Then we followed the storyboard with person A starting outside the door. We followed the storyboard shot by shot, moving the camera to the shot it said to use for each part of the scene. Two people were directing and telling the actors what to say and where to stand. Two other members of the group, one of them myself, actually filmed the scene, moving the camera around and setting it for each shot. We did work well in a group however some people were more dominating and tried to take the most control over the rest of the group. However, we worked well as we all made sure we were following the storyboard correctly and using the 180 degree rule through the whole filming of the prelim. We didn’t come across a lot of difficulties except we may not have filmed one part correctly or the actors were slightly off so we just filmed the scene again so we would have it for when we started editing the prelim.

 If we could have done something differently we would have filmed the whole scene in each shot the whole way through and then edited it into the shots it showed on the storyboard for each part. This is so the scene would flow better and not be so broken up with a lot of cuts. Instead we filmed each part of the scene as it was shown on the storyboard by moving the camera around on the dolly which was incorrect.

Editing our prelim

Before editing our own prelim, we learnt to use the editing programme on the computers. we learnt how to cut the clips and put them onto the timeline so they flowed together and how to use the tools on the programme to cut and paste different clips. When it came to editing our prelim, we found some difficulties with doing so. The programme we used to edit was simple to follow and easy to use therefore we didn’t have problems getting to grips with how it worked however the actual editing of the clips to make the prelim was harder. As we had not filmed each scene correctly, because we were meant to film each scene using all camera shots, this made it difficult to edit the prelim so it would flow well and would not look quite broken with lots of cuts. There was also some scenes which weren’t shot very well but we had not recorded the scene again therefore we had to use the only shot we had which meant at some points the prelim didn’t look that good or didn’t follow the story board we were given. There was also a problem with the sound during the editing process as at one point the sound decreased quite a lot and we didn’t know why so we had to use the only shot we had to finish editing. If we could do it again we would remember to film each scene about two or three times and in various camera angles so we would have a lot more to work with when editing and if there was a problem with one of the clips we would have another one. However, apart from these difficulties, we managed to edit together the whole prelim, taking turns in our group, quite quickly and relatively easily more or less following the story board. As there was 5 people in our group, we decided to spilt up and edit in one pair and a three. my personal contribution was editing mainly the start and end of the prelim with the others in my team doing more of the middle parts. I enjoyed getting to learn how to use the programme as it is something I have personally never done before and I liked how I could learn to do it with a clip I actually filmed. When coming to edit our final sequence for our thriller we will make improvements such as we will make sure we have check the sound when filming so during editing the sound will stay at the same level through the sequence. We will also make sure we film every scene in every camera angle a few times so the editing process will be a lot easier and quicker and the sequence will have a better follow with less obvious cuts from one scene to the next.