Media Studies Blog 2009-2011

The preliminary excercise created by Mr Marshall, Mannix and Tordoff featured many purposeful mistakes. The most noteable mistake was in the sound during the dialogue. Whilst Mr Marshall’s dialogue was understandable, Mr Mannix’s microphone was placed to close to his mouth so was too loud and had poor quality. The piece also breaks the 180 degree rule. This is known as crossing the line. When doing the shot reverse shot, the camera leaps from one side to the other giving the illusion that the characters have swapped position.

However the rest of the piece was pretty much fine. The excercise fitted the brief to a tee. The close up of the door being opened was particularly successful as the piece still flowed smoothly. Also the tracking shot when Mr Mannix walks over to the chair flowed well into the shot of him swinging the chair.   

A shot log is simply a written record of all of the different shots on a tape or disc. The easiest way to do a shot log is whilst you shoot but it can also be done afterwards. The shot log contains information such as at what time on the tape the shot occurs, what the shot is, who is involved and what shot type is it etc.

This is the Foundation Portfolio. This is critical! As it is 50% of your overall AS mark. The foundation portfolio includes the preliminary excercise. The preliminary excercise is a very short piece of film featuring a person walking to, then opening a door. Walking through it, handing something to another person then those characters exchanging a few lines of dialogue.  The Preliminary excercise will not gain any marks, however if it is not present it will lose you marks. The main piece of filming is an opening to a film of any genre and should be longer than the preliminary and must have titles etc.

By Easter you should have submitted all planning work, 2 pieces of film and an evaluation done in a multimedia format. Which will be marked then submitted to OCR

As mentioned in my previous blog, premiere features Tools that enable the user to manipulate the footage.

The full list of Tools is as follows.

Selection – This is just your average mouse pointer to allow selection.

Track Select – To select all clips on a certain track on the timeline.

Ripple Edit – Adjusting an edit point.

Rolling Edit – Adjusting an edit point between two clips without altering the timeline.

Rate Stretch – Changes the length of a clip, by changing the playback speed to compensate./

Razor – Cuts clips into pieces.

Slip – Moving a clips in and out points equally.

Slide – Moves a clip back and forth in the timeline.

Pen – Creates control points.

Hand – Drags the timeline to the left or right.

Zoom – Zooms in or out of the timeline for a better view.

Learning how to use these tools well will result in an altogether better and more professional edit.

Adope Premiere features a relatively friendly user interface. It conists of five main sections, or “panels”:

1. The Project Panel – This is where the video clips, and files etc are placed.                           

2. The Monitor Panel – This is where you view the original footage, and the new edited footage next to it.

3. The Info Panel – This shows “info” about the item that is selected.

4. The Timeline Panel – This is where you construct the order of the footage.

5. The Tool Panel – This is where you select the tools used to manipulate the footage.

Some of those tools include;

Razor, to cut clips into pieces.

Slide, to move a clip back and forth on the timeline.

And Zoom, to obviously zoom in or out for a better view.

Premiere also features various other panels, such as the History panel, which shows previously performed actions, which can be helpful to undo certain wrongly performed actions.

The Audio Mixer Panel. This allows you to adjust audio levels.

Effects Panel and Effects Control Panel. The effects panel allows you to add video and audio effects, and the effect controls panel sets parameters for those effect.

Adobe Premiere is the editing software that we will be primarily using. It is often the software of choice for ameteurs and proffessionals alike. Almost any file type can be uploaded from MP4’s to JPG’s, those can be uploaded from DVDs, USB sticks etc.

When uploaded, the files can be placed on a timeline, from which the footage can be manipulated using premieres tools. The footage can be cut into blocks and the order altered, or looped etc. Premiere also offers some visual effect tools such as captioning for subtitles etc or for main titles in fact.

Whilst premiere isn’t the most advanced programme, as it is a mid range product, it is pretty good for it’s cost.

Almost every single Film and TV show has been edited. Without editing the footage simply wouldn’t make sense. It would not flow, and there may be imperfections with things such as sound.

Editing is taking what you have filmed, and putting it together like a jigsaw and eliminating blemishes. When recording, you usually (and by usually i mean should always) film all shots from a certain place whilst at that place. You don’t film a bit, then record the next bit of the scene at a different place, then run back etc. This is why editing is so important.

Whilst editing u can also adjust colour, add effect, remove footage, duplicate footage and do all sorts of things to alter the footage that you have recorded. Editing can not only alter the actual footage it can alter the entire mood of the “film”.

Eisenstein was an early pioneer of editing. He would use unusual shot combinations such as two close ups next to each other to convey the emotion of the scene. He believed that 1 image + 1 image = 3 images, the third image being the image created in the viewers head.  

A scene can be ;

• Linear- I.E. going from point A to point B in a logical and chronological fashion.
• Non-linear – Is where it doesn’t go from point A to point B in a set order.
• Montage - There is no chronological flow to the scene, can often be used to portray a large chunk of time passing. 
• Point of view - Seeing what the subject of the scene sees to add emotion and make the audience feel deeply involved.

Choosing the correct microphone for a certain thing is vital. And learning to use the different types of microphones is also pretty important.

For example the “gun” microphone, can be used from some distance, but has to be aimed directly at the sound it is to pick up. This is called Directionality. Whilst the microphone on the video camera does the job. It doesnt always offer the best sound quality, and can often pick up lots of ambient noise. This is why the positioning and the type of microphone is critical. When positioning a microphone, all sorts of unorthadox placements can be used (as long as the mic is not in any danger of being broken). As long as you get the best sound quality, anything goes.

Other things to consider include; 

 Frequency response, Impedance and Handling noise.

Audio Monitoring:

Audio monitoring is basically keeping an eye on the sound that your microphone is picking up to obtain better clarity of sound and minimise degradation. The two metres of measuring audio levels are, Volume Units and Peak Programme.

Shot types can range from extreme wide shots to extreme close ups. When approaching a shot you also have to consider the framing of the shot. For a close up for example, there shouldnt be alot of space between the top of the head and the top of the shot.

 EWS (Extreme wide shot): Often used for establishing shot.  Subject isn’t visible.

VWS (Very wide shot): Subject just visible.

WS (Wide shot): Subject takes up full frame.

MS (Mid Shot): Shows some part of the subject, enough to connect with.

MCU ( Medium close up): Shows the face more clearly.

CU (Close up): Certain feature or part of the subject shown in detail.

ECU (Extreme close up): Extreme deatil.

CA (Cut away): Shot of something different than the current action.

Cut in: Like a cut away to a specific part of the subject.

Two-Shot: Comfortable shot of two people.

OSS (Over the Shoulder Shot): Looks from behind a person to the subject.

Noddy Shot: Shot of the person reacting to what the subject is doing.

POV (Point Of View): Shows the subjects point of view, used alot in Peep Show.

Weather shot: A shot in which the subject is the weather.

Whilst most video cameras are fairly robust pieces of equipment, they still need to be looked after and used properly. In order to get the best out of them there are lots and lots of different settings to consider such as; zoom, focus, white balance and audio levels.

Zoom: This enables you to achieve the effect of bringing the camera closer or further away from the subject without actually doing so. The major downfall of zooming is that the further you zoom in, the harder it is to keep the shot steady. Zooming should be approached in a minimalistic manner. “Less is more.” Do not over use zooms or the audience will become bored of it.

Focus: Focus is usually adjusted using a ring or small dial. Focus can be either “closer” or “distant”.  Whilst most cameras offer an “auto focus”, manual focus is a key thing to be able to do. In order to achieve the best focus, zoom in fully to the sunject then adjust the focus until as sharp as possible, then zoom back out to the required framing.

White balance: This is critical. It lets the camera know what each colour should look like. By letting the camera know what “true white” is, it can then adjust for other colours. Whilst most “consumer level” cameras have an automatic white balance, it is sometimes neccessary to set the white balance manually. This can be done by zooming in on a piece of white paper, focusing and then pressing the white balance button.

Audio: In other words, “sound”. Although most cameras have a microphone built in, sometimes it is benefitial to use an external mic. This can come in handy for filming things such as speeches. But generally the built in mic works fine, as long as these things are considered; Ambient noise, background music, wind, and not cutting of the dialogue.

Whilst cameras obviously have other features, these are the key features that need to be used in order to film a good piece.