EVALUATION Q3 skills development

In this post, I will be discussing how I have developed my production skills throughout the year. 

I saw/ I did:

I was inspired by the Vanity Fair scene selection videos where actors look over their past acting projects. Like this one with Amanda Seyfried:

I did a similar thing when looking over what we have done this year:

We did a few practise exercises and learned about the production process like preparation for shoots.

PRELIMINARY EXERCISE:

This continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. We tried to film at least 20 different shots and include these technical elements: match on action, shot/reverse shot, 180 degree rule and match on action which are all essential parts of continuity editing. 

To practise the famous opening of Alfred Hitchcock 1960 film, The Psycho opening begins with a birds eye view of the city which we couldn't recreate. We shot handheld in this exercise for speed. We had to get it filmed and edited as soon as possible.

So, the three important, main things we learnt were:

• Applying the 180 degree rule
• Using continuity editing and filming shots that would allow us to apply this continuity editing in the editing process.
• Filming and editing in shot reverse shots.
• shot reverse shot
• match on action
• 180 degree rule
• whip pan
• focus push
• panning shot
• tilt
• basic lighting techniques
• we also made a brief shot list
• dutch angle

What we needed to shoot:

• call sheet
• script
• costume
• monopod
• dolly
• costume
• props

This was a basic exercise that was trying to get us started with using technology such as the Sony Alpha 58 camera and using Final Cut Pro X for the first time and applying basic skills of editing.

After looking at some clear conventions of different film genres in my VODCAST, I was instructed to edit my PRELIM VIDEO with key genre identifiers in a genre of my choice. I have chosen to explore the key genre identifiers of HORROR for this task:

During this we learned how to:

• import footage from a portable hard drive

• create libraries, events and projects in FCPX

• inserting clips to the timeline in FCPX

• cutting, detaching audio, other basics in FCPX

• saving in FCPX

• publishing to the web

• inserting Foley sound

• sound effects

• transitions (cut to black, fade to black)

• audiobridge

• music

SAMPLE SCENES:

The post that outlines our sample scenes in detail is here.

In Sample scene 1, School corridor, we wanted to try filming with our smartphone for the first time as well as do location scouting. 

What we leanred: 

• The importance of set dressing
• Enforcing continuity editing, 180 degree rule, match on action shots, shot reverse shots and just achieving general verisimilitude.
• More editing skills such as adding transitions (ellipsis)

Areas to improve:

• Using extras to create verisimilitude 
• Continuity:  make sure the poster is always in the same position
• Make the editing more seamless, make sure there is no repetition in movement. for example: when opening the locker the door must be in the same position
• more shot variety (shot-reverse-shot, dutch angle, dolly tracking)
• Develop the props and mise-en-scene: decorate the locker. Make the artwork on the walls relevant
• Cut between alternate takes: some shots are too long and awkwardly framed
• Use Foley sound, record the sound separately
• Some shots are very awkwardly framed: the 'stalking' shot is blocked by the locker.

SAMPLE SCENES:

Preparing for shoots:

• We planed every shoot in detail with a precise list of all equipment needed
• We created a call sheet for each shoot describing Camera shots, Mise-en-scene, Cast, Date and Time

Here is some examples:

ROUGH CUTS:
In the end we made 6 rough cuts. I made a detailed blog post on everything we changes since each rough cut and the editing process. find the post here.

Behind the scenes and proof of directing:

Throughout the directing process I made sure to demonstrate exactly what I wanted the actors to do when I wasn't happy with the scene as well as trying to guide them through the acting process by trying to get them to use personal experiences to embody their character. We modelled the scene for our actors before every shoot.

Here is a more detailed post on each rough cut. 

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK:

Playlist of all our audience feedback from this year: