A production day-
meant to replicate as realistically as possible the methods of creating a film. Led by a a skilled teacher who has a wealth of experience from working in the film industry, we learnt many new skills that are transferable to all our aspects of work within media. Looking at lighting, camera angles, and learning the exact terms to use when filming gave us all a greater insight into how producing a film really takes place.
I found that most of what we looked at shed a lot of light upon the techniques used to create certain images and meant that we could then apply them when it came to the filming of our own short film. I found that storyboarding was a very enjoyable process, brainstorming and then refining our ideas and this also tied in well with my wish for studying the script and screenplay. I liked that I was able to really appreciate the ammount of work that goes into the planning process when film making and will most definitely consider it when looking at future projects. I also thought that making desisions based on the problems we encountered forced me to think on my feet instead of following a set plan, which I found to be far more easy than I expected.
At the same time as this, we were taught the precise terms used when filming, such as 'first positions', 'roll camera' and of course, the almost iconic 'action!' This made controlling our group and filming process far easier and more concise, whilst also allowing me the space to be creative.
Some of the harder aspects of the day included things such as the control of the camera, as often the shots we had visualised and drafted did not appear as we had hoped due to equipment restraints and location. An example of this would have been the tracking scene following the main characters steps up the stairs, as at this point the camera felt heavy and awkward to control, especially with the addition of the steady cam set. Although using the steady cam greatly improved the fluidity of the shot, it also restricted our movement. One thing that the production day taught me especially was just how long it can take to capture the shot that you are looking for.
Improvements could easily be made to how we work (our group is full of perfectionists!) and also the way in which we thought about our shots, though I think this will improve as we get more familiar with the equipment, terminology and time management as well. Whilst I believe that this first film will be a little less polished, I think that the production day has given us the additional skills we need to further explore media and film making.
Things I learnt...
- Soft and Sharp focus- This simply refers to how the camera focuses on the objects in the frame. Soft focus is exactly what it says it is; the edges of the subject are blended a little more, sometimes creating a glow around them or even just a more stylised feel. This is not to be confused with, however, out of focus, where the image simply looks blurred and hard to distinguish.
Sharp focus is the opposite to soft focus and makes the image look clear cut and sharp.
- Depth of Field- Relating to focus, the depth of field of the frame is how much of a scene is in focus. A large depth of field means that everything in the frame is in focus, whilst comparitively, a small depth of field means the subject is often clear and in focus with the background blurred.
- Setup- The way a shot is laid out and planned. To get a feel for this, we were given two bottles, and told to create a setup that represented something or gave a feel of genre, whilst simultaneously thinking about the camera angle and direction of the light.
