Tuesday, 23 November 2010
Beginning of Editing
Although all that has happened, we have at least managed to upload our media footage onto the Mac's, with difficulty at first. We started the editing of the footage this afternoon, and although again the technology was faulty to begin with, it came round and we started work. We started to edit the 'tarts' and their walk, we had ideas to mix the pace of editing to make it stand out more, and to emphasize their importance and their effect on the school. Originally, the pace was slow to begin with starting from the feet to the thigh, then the sequence was sped up. This did not work because the walk and the speed of the walk didn't fit in with our soundtrack. We overcame this issue by changing the pace again. We feel confident that we are going to edit everything on time and that we have made a good start with our trailer.
From Filming to Editing: Group 3's Story
Last post: 1st November. It's been a few weeks, here's what's been happening.
We have lived and breathed media these last few weeks and have taken some major steps in our production. However positive we were feeling about our project we were not ruling out having to write another 'filming faux pas' blog. But now the filming is over and nothing has gone wrong! Everything has been running as smoothly as clockwork. We have been meeting up and discussing our individual progress, for example Camillla's music, Mia's poster, Natalia's editing ideas and Jess's blogging and camera work. We are thoroughly enjoying our time together as a group, sharing our inspirations and ideas, doing some acting together and working closely from the storyboard to create, what will be, our masterpiece!
Minus all the preparation and discussion in between this is the schedule of our main production work:
November 9th - In our soap trailer there is a fight scene resulting from a girl throwing a netball at another girl in the changing rooms. We used a number of different camera angles and techniques, including a point of view shot and the hand held camera technique to create the sense of disorientation. Actresses that we had used previously in our filming were used as extras to create a more believable school atmosphere and the sense of continuity. Following the filming, we took the final images for our poster. The actresses were brilliant, which I believe was the result of good, clear communication and a firm grip on what we wanted the finished product to look like.
November 16th - Throughout our trailer we have a voice over from the head teacher of 'The Academy'. We thought this would bring a unique edge to the trailer. Mr Roy, a drama teacher at our school, was terrific. The filming was over in a matter of minutes, with no re-filming to do or doubts about whether it would work. We fed him the lines and he fed them back to us with a dramatic flair we would have expected in a perfect and ideal soap opera trailer.
November 18th - Last day of filming. We only had a few short scenes to do for the montage we are planning for the end of the trailer. However, we were expecting these scenes to take a lot longer as they were slightly risque. They involve boys of a sexual nature. We were able to use camera techniques to create the illusion certain activities were happening, for example a boy reaching out to grab a girl's bottom. In actuallity, this took no time at all. The boys were very professional and understood what they had to do and got on with it. There may have been a few giggles along the way, but the scenes turned out perfectly and there was no embarassment caused. A sign of great actors and filming direction!
Yesterday, November 22nd, it was time for the gloves to come off and get the storyboards out once again, upload all our hard work from the last couple of months onto the Macs and make a start on editing. I believe that all the work we put in will make a huge difference to how difficult editing will be. In fact, I think the number of choices and various shots we have are going to be the biggest hurdle. How will we choose! Although, we are realistic, we know it will be time consuming, but that's what it takes to create a true work of media art. In this session, we decided as a group what our favourite parts were and weren't, what would fit in where, and which parts of the storyboard may have to be changed slightly.
This week we have booked one of the school Macs on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. We aim to get all our editing done and think this is a realistic goal. Expect lots of blogging of our editing progress!
We have lived and breathed media these last few weeks and have taken some major steps in our production. However positive we were feeling about our project we were not ruling out having to write another 'filming faux pas' blog. But now the filming is over and nothing has gone wrong! Everything has been running as smoothly as clockwork. We have been meeting up and discussing our individual progress, for example Camillla's music, Mia's poster, Natalia's editing ideas and Jess's blogging and camera work. We are thoroughly enjoying our time together as a group, sharing our inspirations and ideas, doing some acting together and working closely from the storyboard to create, what will be, our masterpiece!
Minus all the preparation and discussion in between this is the schedule of our main production work:
November 9th - In our soap trailer there is a fight scene resulting from a girl throwing a netball at another girl in the changing rooms. We used a number of different camera angles and techniques, including a point of view shot and the hand held camera technique to create the sense of disorientation. Actresses that we had used previously in our filming were used as extras to create a more believable school atmosphere and the sense of continuity. Following the filming, we took the final images for our poster. The actresses were brilliant, which I believe was the result of good, clear communication and a firm grip on what we wanted the finished product to look like.
November 16th - Throughout our trailer we have a voice over from the head teacher of 'The Academy'. We thought this would bring a unique edge to the trailer. Mr Roy, a drama teacher at our school, was terrific. The filming was over in a matter of minutes, with no re-filming to do or doubts about whether it would work. We fed him the lines and he fed them back to us with a dramatic flair we would have expected in a perfect and ideal soap opera trailer.
November 18th - Last day of filming. We only had a few short scenes to do for the montage we are planning for the end of the trailer. However, we were expecting these scenes to take a lot longer as they were slightly risque. They involve boys of a sexual nature. We were able to use camera techniques to create the illusion certain activities were happening, for example a boy reaching out to grab a girl's bottom. In actuallity, this took no time at all. The boys were very professional and understood what they had to do and got on with it. There may have been a few giggles along the way, but the scenes turned out perfectly and there was no embarassment caused. A sign of great actors and filming direction!
Yesterday, November 22nd, it was time for the gloves to come off and get the storyboards out once again, upload all our hard work from the last couple of months onto the Macs and make a start on editing. I believe that all the work we put in will make a huge difference to how difficult editing will be. In fact, I think the number of choices and various shots we have are going to be the biggest hurdle. How will we choose! Although, we are realistic, we know it will be time consuming, but that's what it takes to create a true work of media art. In this session, we decided as a group what our favourite parts were and weren't, what would fit in where, and which parts of the storyboard may have to be changed slightly.
This week we have booked one of the school Macs on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. We aim to get all our editing done and think this is a realistic goal. Expect lots of blogging of our editing progress!
Monday, 1 November 2010
Filming Faux Pas
Today we had a session scheduled for filming the next part of our soap trailer storyboard, and our group being very dedicated and enthusiastic towards our media project turned up on time with the actors and the equipment we needed. But, and I'm sure you knew a 'but' was coming due to the title of this post, we suffered a major problem. A member of the site staff of our school told us the school was now closed and no one was allowed to go there in the half term. This left my group and I in a dilema as we must do all our filming in our half term to meet our A2 deadline. Our first ickling was to relocate the setting of our filming, however with a number of successful scenes having been already filmed in the school we came to the conclusion we would not have enough time to redo all our scenes; we wouldn't have enough time to book the cameras and our actors would not all be willing to redo the scenes. Through the production of our media project we now understand not everything goes smoothly however thoroughly you seem to plan it.
This unfortunate turn of events today got us thinking about all the other things that haven't gone quite to plan and I can say with complete honesty none of these faux pas have been our fault.
Day 1: We planned to film in the drama department with Mr Roy, our kind drama teacher who agreed to be the 'headteacher' in our soap trailer. The filming was successful and Mr Roy was terrific, he helped us a lot and he improvised his lines slightly, really getting into the dramatic scene. Our group was so happy with the first part of our filming and had high hopes for the rest of it. BUT later on that day we were told we were given the wrong camera to film with through no fault of our own, the camera we used was not compatible with the apple macs and we had no choice but to redo this scene, therefore needing to reschedule the group, camera and actors. Although we were disappointed, we knew we had lots of time to correct it and we didn't let it get to us.
Day 2: The second time we filmed we got to the media department to find that the cameras that were left for us were either broken or not compatible with the apple macs. Furthermore the camera we had booked for filming that day had been mistakenly taken by another group. We refused to waste another day of filming as it had come to our attention there wasn't many occasions where all the actors would be available. The English department was our final option. Luckily, there was one camera we could get our hands on there that was compatible, however it wasn't charged. All in all about an hour had been wasted by this. Fortunately the actors were very understanding and helped us out a lot which they shouldn't have been expected to do.
Day 3: Cameras working, charged and compatible, actors present and willing, and members of the group raring to go, we were definitely on to a winner with the third day of filming. Unfortunately, the actors had forgotten their school uniforms that were needed for the mis-en-scene of the scene and it wasn't appropiate to send them home to get them. We had to improvise the scene and create a reason why they weren't wearing their uniform. Note to group: next time we film bring costumes even if the actors say they will.
That brings us to Day 4 of filming, today. We had the idea of doing more photographs for the poster of the soap, however we were not able to use the same backdrop as we did for all the other photographs we had already taken and so we were totally stuck. However, we like to find a positive aspect of everything we do and at least today we were able to explain to our actors exactly what we were planning to do so it will be an easier and more straightforward process next time.
Let's hope our careful planning for Day 5 will pay off this time.
This unfortunate turn of events today got us thinking about all the other things that haven't gone quite to plan and I can say with complete honesty none of these faux pas have been our fault.
Day 1: We planned to film in the drama department with Mr Roy, our kind drama teacher who agreed to be the 'headteacher' in our soap trailer. The filming was successful and Mr Roy was terrific, he helped us a lot and he improvised his lines slightly, really getting into the dramatic scene. Our group was so happy with the first part of our filming and had high hopes for the rest of it. BUT later on that day we were told we were given the wrong camera to film with through no fault of our own, the camera we used was not compatible with the apple macs and we had no choice but to redo this scene, therefore needing to reschedule the group, camera and actors. Although we were disappointed, we knew we had lots of time to correct it and we didn't let it get to us.
Day 2: The second time we filmed we got to the media department to find that the cameras that were left for us were either broken or not compatible with the apple macs. Furthermore the camera we had booked for filming that day had been mistakenly taken by another group. We refused to waste another day of filming as it had come to our attention there wasn't many occasions where all the actors would be available. The English department was our final option. Luckily, there was one camera we could get our hands on there that was compatible, however it wasn't charged. All in all about an hour had been wasted by this. Fortunately the actors were very understanding and helped us out a lot which they shouldn't have been expected to do.
Day 3: Cameras working, charged and compatible, actors present and willing, and members of the group raring to go, we were definitely on to a winner with the third day of filming. Unfortunately, the actors had forgotten their school uniforms that were needed for the mis-en-scene of the scene and it wasn't appropiate to send them home to get them. We had to improvise the scene and create a reason why they weren't wearing their uniform. Note to group: next time we film bring costumes even if the actors say they will.
That brings us to Day 4 of filming, today. We had the idea of doing more photographs for the poster of the soap, however we were not able to use the same backdrop as we did for all the other photographs we had already taken and so we were totally stuck. However, we like to find a positive aspect of everything we do and at least today we were able to explain to our actors exactly what we were planning to do so it will be an easier and more straightforward process next time.
Let's hope our careful planning for Day 5 will pay off this time.
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