Connor, Scott and myself set about recording some sound effects for our media piece “Relentless Possibility”; we researched into Foley art, a technique used by film industries to add sound effects. Connor found a video online showing sound technicians for a popular video game, recording sound effects and then demonstrating how they use them.
This video gave us a lot of inspiration for our video’s audio. We arranged a date where we would go round to Scotts house to record our vegetable genocide; Connor and myself went to town to collect equipment and fruit and veg, we considered health and safety by buying some overalls, glasses and some other protective clothing. We also bought some Tarpaulin, Duck Tape, Bamboo, Tights, Hair Gel, CDs, a Hammer and lots of Fruit and Veg.
We constructed a Pop Shield out of some tights stretched over and embroidery ring, this was to help reduce any hiss sounds the microphone may pick up, it also protects it from any foreign projectiles (banana juice/goo) once we made these we duck taped them on to some bamboo and tapped that to the tripod, positioning it in front of the microphone. We then got started on destroying some fruit, setting up a stand made out of cardboard and wooden beams, using our array of tools we dismembered the fruit; recording the result with Scotts audio equipment and my D90 for visual. Once we had cleaned up the putrefying mess we listened to the result, find some things worked really well and others were a dismissal.
Scott and Connor then went over the recordings at a latter date to compose them to fit our film segments; they did this using Cubase sound recording and editing software they layered the sounds up on top ofeach other to create a stabbing sound. Once they created the ideal sound they exported it and Scott uploaded it to soundcloud for us to download and use when we needed it.
It was then a simple case of downloading it and adding it to our media film, this combined with the editing has helped tointensify the genera of our film.
We have noticed that in our project we lack an establishing shot. This is quite important so we have gone out to film a few extra shots to fill this gap.
(Link here when uploaded)
We are very happy with how they came out, however, there is a problem. With these intro shots added, our film now comes to just over 4 minutes. With the limit being 3 minutes, we are going to have to find a way to cut it down. This is unfortunate as we were very happy with the overall product.
Filming went pretty smoothly, with no problems really arising allowing us to flow through it quickly. It was done over the course of about 3-4 Weeks taking place at around 7/8-10+ O'Clock. The issue we have noticed though is that we haven't included an estalbishing shot. However, this will only take a quick session to get completed so it's no real problem. We plan to get this done ASAP, maybe even later on today (25/03/11).
Filming Location (In day light)
In our rough cut which we have put together, we've noticed an issue with one of the shots. Unfortunatly, in one of the shots of Heather (Dead character), you can see her take a breath. It's only minor and not too noticeable, however it is an annoyance. We don't have time to correct this now so we've got to stick with it.
Over the course of our filming, we encounted that things were different to how we had planned they would go. Whilst it still went fine, it was challenging. We experimented with many different shots and, in the end, changed quite a few of the shots on our storyboard.
We had to improvise for some of the shots, at some point I had to lay down and shoot without the tripod to get the right angle which the tripod wouldn't allow. Quite a few shots were challenging, for example, the panning was more difficult than I thought, when I had to pan both right and down, trying to keep the pace of the character whilst also framing another thing of interest in the shot.
Also, the cameras metering system could not be controlled manual whilst filming, so we experienced some lighting problems. In one of the shots, where the car is started, when the headlights come on the camera auto-adjusts to meter for the bright point of light, which darkened everything else in the shot. Thankfully, however, it wasn't really a problem because we felt that the effect was pretty cool and suited the dark, sinister feel of the film. Another issue with the camera, was that in some shots there appears to be large black bars scrolling down across the shot. I think was due to metering issues aswell, and unfortutantly, I can't fix it now.
We also experienced problems with sound. As we did not own, nor have access to an external microphone, we had to use the cameras in-built one. This microphone was obviously not very high quality, and as such sound is pretty sketchy. There is also the problem of wind distorting the audio. This wasn't too great a problem as we played music over most of the film, but in scenes where there is no music, you can hear the distorted audio. This is rather an annoyance, but there is nothing we can really do about it.
We did try to pre-plan the lighting, where myself, Connor and Scott made a visit to olympus house (Where we filmed) to check out the lighting and to find out, based on the lighting, how we would shoot. The large flood light above the main entrance to the building provided excelent lighting which was very helpful. However, it did turn off sometimes and since we had no control of this we had to pause/cancel filming sometimes.
Running through the storyboard with the DV
We filming using my own Nikon D90 camera but one of the shots we using an iPod. The advantage of using my camera over the DV Cameras provided by the school was that we could film in higher quality and resolution. Also, the ability to change lenses helped. For most of it, we used a 50mm Prime F/1.8 lenses; this allowed us to take good advantage of focus and depth of field. However, the D90, is a photographic camera mainly, with just the side option to record, so unfortuatnly the settings were limited in video mode. I filmed on the standard video mode with the ISO set to 400-600.
Since none of us hold a lisence yet to drive, in the shot where we had to car speeding off we had to use a 'stunt double'. We filmed Connor (Protanganist) climbing into the car, then switched the shot to a different angle where we switched him with his Dad (The 'stunt double'). This allowed us to film the shot of the car speeding off.
Overall, we're happy with the production we have compiled. Here is a link to our final edit;
Friday, 25 March 2011
With the final deadline approaching, and the blog behind on updates, its time to get it done. Having been away doing alot of practical work I have neglected to blog aspect. The blog will now be updated over the course of the next few days with whats been going on.
This post is just to say that throughout the past moths the group and myself have been working on the project, this has resulted in myself not posting in a while. however in this time frame we have done a lot of work that we shall be sharing with you shortly. for example we have:
had a meeting with the Werrington police
selected our set
check the lighting
organized everyone
over came many problems
filmed our movie
edited our clips together
and discussed many ideas for ourtitle sequence
I will post more entries over the coming weeks where i will go in to more detail about the above.
As of today, all filming has been completed, with a few difficulties.
#1, we had to change actors. Instead of Sophie Stokes playing the part of the victim, due to her coming down with an illness around filming, we had to switch to Heather Steele.
#2 Due to a missed meeting to finalize the costumes, we had to improvise with what we had. Despite this, we feel it turned out fine.
#3 With Olympus house being a building out of our control, the lights of the building which was providing our lighting, kept turning off and because of this we had to wait for them to turn back on to continue filming.
Fran and Ryan painted a board white and wrote helpline and a number so if anyone has any quiries the day we are filming they can call this helpline. However, ultimatly, we didn't need to use this.
