Preliminary Task (Shooting)

This week, we have been given a scene with a simple storyboard which made it possible for us to be quite original due to the various options to shoot it. Nevertheless, it required at least five different shots to make it effective and realistic: 

• A wide short first. It is always safer to do this in the beginning because if an unexpected issue makes the rest of the filming difficult, at least we can tell the story. (1)
• An over-the-shoulder shot from one of the characters' back and vice versa. (2,3)
• A close-up of one of the characters' face and vice versa. (4,5)

I was in a group with Celine, Emma and Adri and we were assigned the studio as the venue where we would record the scene. We were extremely lucky because we already had a set prepared as a consequence! Adri and I soon got in charge of the technical aspects of the sequence, assembling the tripod and camera as we had been taught some days ago: meanwhile, Celine and Emma went on learning the script, though in the end they decided to be spontaneous and read the actual pages in front of the camera... Not that I didn't object, but one gets tired of fighting with a group of people who are not willing to work. So yes, the acting could have been taken much more seriously so it wouldn't involve as much work as it is going to require in the editing process. We are definitely going to see the storyboard through the screen, and the actresses laughing a couple of time though, no matter how much we crop the frames. 

On the other hand, I am very satisfied with the job that Adri and I did. We performed our task with the utmost efficiency, recalling all the pieces of advice that Matt and Paul had given us about the use of the cameras. We carefully planned the order in which we were going to get the different shots and, each time we changed position, we focused the camera as we had been taught previously. Moreover, we extended or lowered the tripod depending on which person or object we were going to film to make it look smoother, and we used the appropriate terminology to get everyone prepared for a new shot. 

We did all the shots that were compulsory for the actual completion of the task in 10-15 minutes, and then we decided to explore a bit further during the time we had left —half of it—. We did close shots of the door, a piece of furniture which appears both in the beginning and in the ending of the short sequence so it conveys a feeling of familiarity but also of the superficiality of the action that takes place inside the room. We also carried out the scene from the floor, recording the pieces of script being torn by Celine and stepped on as well —more drama—. 

At all times, we respected the 180 degree rule, which establishes an imaginary line between the characters in a dialogue that we shouln't cross, and we tried to encourage our actresses to match their actions each time we recorded the whole scene again from a different angle. Honestly, I don't know what we will encounter when we have to edit this, but I hope that we can achieve continuity throughout the whole video as well as getting a funny result, at least.

My biggest regret is not having played a bit with the lines and transformed the basic story into a gripping one with some effort and creativity. I heard that many other groups came up with brilliant ideas for their tasks even though we all have the same storyboard. Themes as varied as pregnancy came along the way, in fact, thanks to the versatile lines that we were given. I have learnt, anyway, that I need to be more firm next time we film and implement energy and work ethic among my peers. 

Another important lesson that I took out from this practice was that, in any media text, people in front and behind the camera have to work with coordination and cooperation in order to get a good result, while before shooting the Preliminary Task I thought that actors and the rest of the crew, other than the director and producer, would barely talk during the process of making a film. Communication is key!

First Editing Lesson

On Friday, we were introduced to a programme used by all kinds of media artists, from amateur YouTubers to professional film makers: Adobe Premiere Pro. Personally, I had already worked with it a couple of times before, but this lesson helped me review the basic principles and I also took the opportunity to show friends in need how it worked. 

What we first did was learn the basic vocabulary essential for the utilisation of the programme. In the bottom left corner, we can find the folders, which are called "bins" in this case. The name is used since the birth of cinema, when the frames were so little that the crew had to hang them in the ceiling to be able to see them. They grouped each one of them according to the scenes they belonged to, placing a bin under each separate one. Moving on to the next word, "rushes" is used as a substitute of footage. The background story here is less original: the footage would be rushed off to be edited at night so next day the director could watch it. The equivalent in America is "dailies", if you are curious.

After getting to grips with these few terms, we started to figure out how Premiere worked by ourselves, carefully following Mark's instructions as to click twice in the squares which represented each short sequence. We were shown too the underlying controls to change from the regular clicking arrow (press B) to the razor blade to cut frames into segments (press C).

Having observed the mentioned details, we were ready to start editing our clips more or less properly —as effectively as we could do so—. Franek and I started dragging the frames to the grey espace where it is possible to set their In and Out (marking), cut them and mix them by moving their edges back and forth. We likewise changed the sound settings. The best time to jump from one frame to the next one is when the characters are in movement, as it makes the change less drastic. It is also relevant to know that the clip which is going to play once the editing is done is always the bit higher in the scale. 

I contemplated the entire lesson as extremely significant for the future tasks we will perform in order to carry out our thrillers. By all means, we will be able from now on, as a class, to work in the basics when we want to shoot our stories, with no technical restrictions and the opportunity to give free rain to our ambition —to a certain extent, of course—. In present day, we feel confident and able to make the most of the resources we have. And, more importantly, the issues we are learning about can prove useful beyond the classroom, when we are developing personal projects.

Letting my mind wonder about the Preliminary Task and the Thriller sequence that I start to foresee, I feel ready for both challenges after Matt's lessons' impact: he has made sure, within a few hours, that we can perfectly utilise a camera and a tripod, shoot a brief scene with creativity and dynamism and then edit it, three of the golden rules for a proficient media product. Undoubtedly, it is an impressive achievement what he has done during the last weeks, and I am glad that every student has collaborated sensibly throughout most of the process. I am really looking forward to getting started with the practical side of Media. I have started brainstorming already!

under these lines, the result of our edition can be viewed. Not very professional, but we did our best. I'm sure we will improve awfully through time.