We used the digital SLR cameras to take the pictures for our storyboard. Despite them being heavy to carry around, our group managed really well with them. We used the zoom feature to capture what would become close up shots. We took the memory card from the camera containing the pictures, and downloaded the pictures on to the computer, and then continued to insert the pictures into our storyboard in photoshop.
Having already drawn a storyboard with paper and pencil, we were pretty sure about what shots we needed, and where the filming was going to take place. We ensured that the hall was free when we wanted to film, and knew in what order was best to take shots. However, because our story-boarding took longer than expected, we had to write our script quickly, and all though it didn't take us long, our actors were given it about 15 minutes before we needed to shoot. To ensure they remembered their lines, in between shots, we read out their lines, and they practiced doing it at least once before we shot it, to make the speech seem as natural as possible.
I had never used a digital video camera for work before, and so had to familiarize myself with the controls before I attempted to use it. Luckily the camera we used wasn't complicated and I picked it up pretty quickly. We used the tripod to film panning shots, to insure the camera remained steady, and we also used zoom to capture the close ups, and cut ins.
To begin with, as me and my partner attempted to start the editing process, on location kept crashing on us. It wouldn't allow us to import all the images at once, and we were resorted to import them individually. Unfortunately when we went to view our imported images the next lesson, our work had been wiped off the college system, as we saved it in the wrong place. So we had to waste time repeating a task we had already complicated once, and ensure we had saved it numerous times.
We then went on to use Photoshop Premier to edit our shots. Laura and I both found this process very difficult and frustrating. This program also kept crashing due to the amount of people in our class using it. We would get half way through editing, for it to crash and we lose everything. After that happened for the first time, we quickly learnt to save everything. We used the cutting tool a lot as we ensured we began our shot a little before our actors began started to speak so we could get it perfect, so we needed to cut these out. We also used the mute button, as half way through one of our clips a loud beeping noise occurred, we needed to mute this out as it was impossible to hear the speech over it. Also we had not realized that our shot of the canteen was extremely bad quality, which meant us having to find our tape, and using on location again to upload the clip once more, to see if this would make a difference. Unfortunately it didn't, but it we did have about 2 seconds of good quality film, so we inserted that, and then slowed it down to make it run longer. Although it took us slightly longer than others to fully edit our clip, we were extremely pleased with our outcome, and felt strongly that all our hard work paid of in the end.
In order to upload our video into our blogs, we needed to first post it on to youtube, which meant creating a whole new youtube account quickly at the end of one of the lessons. We then copied the coding and inserted into the 'edit HTML' section of the blog post.
Blogger has helped immensely throughout this project. We found it helped us to organise our work into the specific sections, and is a easy and efficient way to present our work.
Excellent evaluation of the organistion and process of making your continuity sequence with a clear sense of how you used technology. Excellent use of images to illustrate your understanding.
ReplyDelete