Several crucial tasks of this course involved developing pieces of practical work in regards to film production. By the time that the course came to an end, I had developed four large pieces, as well as four additional films that were purely designed to advance my practical skills.
The course commenced with researching into the studies of camera and lighting features. This included multiple subjects, such as ISO, aperture, shutter speed and frame rate. Despite providing substantial amounts of detail for the explanations of such features, it took me quite some time to effectively make use of them. As I was constantly forgetting how to control each, I decided to write down the locations of them in terms of the camera. However, due to receiving different camera models each time that I was required to film, my writings did not help as much as I would have liked. Eventually, I had gained an adequate understanding of controlling the features, and so I was able to complete a total of seven experiments. My first was to present the effect of a focus pull, which had a successful result. The five that followed all revolved around testing certain ISO levels within particular environments. Four of these experiments specifically requested of me, and so although all but one appeared unsatisfying to the eye, they were all considered a success due to only following instructions. The final one, however, involved creating my own test, which turned out to be boring and ugly. My final experiment was to exhibit the effects of shutter speed on movement. Although this took a significant amount of time to complete, the product of a water fountain spraying liquid at different speeds was worth how long I spent gathering my footage.
In addition to experiments that I filmed personally in my own time, I also researched and witnessed others test three different lighting techniques known as Rembrandt, butterfly and split lighting. This helped me to increase my knowledge of professional film lighting by learning how to create certain effects, and when said effects should be used.
A major assignment of this course was to write an essay about a certain type of new wave cinema. Choosing to focus on the British genre, I spend many hours researching the history, filming techniques, and installments of the subject. Once the essay had been completed, I used the knowledge that I had gained to create my own new wave film following the styles of the three 1960s motion pictures that I had discussed in my written work. After planning to film my father working around some of the rural areas outside of my hometown, I ensured that my camera battery was fully charged, as I would not be able to provide it with more power when outside. Due to most British new wave films having been produced with very little equipment, and since cameras were often held by hand, or fixed onto cheap support stands, I was able to complete my film using nothing but a simple video camera and tripod. Additionally, most films of the era that I was trying to recreate were not lit by professional equipment, but merely by the cameras themselves and the daytime. Therefore, I took advantage of this by not using any external lighting sources to help produce the film, as the daylight provided enough brightness for the visuals to be seen efficiently, as well as relate to the style of filmmaking at hand. Unfortunately, there were a few shots that featured some sky, meaning that the very top of the frame was slightly overexposed, which was not, despite the cheap budgets and rushed filming, in keeping with British new wave cinema. In order to improve upon this flaw, I would either ensure that no sky was filmed, or alter the lighting features built into the camera.
As I was planning my British new wave film, I was required to record footage to be used in four short films. For a certain day in each of four weeks, in order to improve my practical skills, I was provided four hours to film enough footage which would then be edited throughout the rest of the week, to produce a finished product. For my first challenge, I filmed the college in a mysterious and haunting manner by not including any people, to give off the appearance of all previous occupants having suddenly vanished. Since this task was mainly performed to give me footage to edit so that I could familiarise myself with editing using Adobe Premiere Pro, I only learnt very basic practical skills from it. As an improvement, however, I would try to again record the shots captured outside, as they appear somewhat overexposed. To prevent this problem, this most reasonable option would be to set the camera so that the daylight does not appear too powerful, causing the colour to look slightly blanched.
The second challenge involved me spending a few seconds filming four other students located in certain positions within one room. Each time that I stopped filming, the others would move to different locations or alter their poses for me to record. The camera would remain in the exact same position so that only the people within the film would represent change. Overall, it would not be unreasonable to say that I did not learn anything new from this experience, as the main challenge was encountered during the editing of one-hundred and fifteen clips. Nevertheless, in terms of improvement, I would use external lighting to keep the tone consistent throughout the film, since it does alter very slightly as the film progresses.
Unfortunately, I learnt nothing from the third challenge, as I was not at all involved in the production of it. Therefore, once again, the main lessons arose from the editing section.
For the fourth and final film challenge, it was not even possible for me to learn anything practical, as my film had to consist of nothing but found footage. Regardless, this proved to be a blessing, as once I had finished the editing stage after many hours, the film turned out to be by far my favourite of all four.
Later into the year, I was tasked with creating a music video for a song that did not already have one. To somewhat simplify this task, I chose a song that consisted of many lyrics that I could mirror using materials. This, however, enlarged my challenged, rather than shrink it, as I came to the conclusion that I wanted to record this through stop motion animation: a technique that I had always adored, but never once used before. Due to this, the video took many weeks to produce, and although I eventually finished the filming and editing, it was not before the deadline. Thankfully, this did not matter, as what I had completed before proved my understanding of music video production. Unfortunately, due to not having a professional setup to film the video, certain aspects of production are rather deficient and unsatisfactory. For example, the lighting is not at all consistent throughout the video, as although the window blinds were closed constantly, the outside environment still managed to affect the saturation and colour scheme.In terms of camera positioning, what with creating a stop motion video, the device had to be kept in the exact same position for the whole of production. This requirement revealed itself to be slightly more difficult than I initially imagined. The camera had to be removed multiple times from the tripod in order for it to be charged. Usually, charging would occur between each new segment of the video, meaning that whenever the visuals changed to present something completely different, the background and main set piece of the mountain would unintentionally move position slightly, breaking contingency and visual flow. In order to improve upon my video, I would most certainly implement a professional lighting setup, and stick the tripod legs to floor, so that the general appearance stays consistent throughout, and a strong level of contingency is present. I would also hope to have a backdrop that is large enough to cover up the background room.
For my final practical commission, I was going to tasked with producing a promotional video for a real business client. However, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, causing many companies to close temporarily, this task could not be assigned, and so the unit was thankfully changed. Instead, I was required to plan for the production of a promotional video that would advertise a fake application known as DNA - the purpose of which was to enable users to access their family trees, and share information with their distant family members. I created many different pieces of work to help plan for such a video, including a mood board, storyboard, Gantt chart, voice actor script, finding of a music piece, and video release agreement. In addition, I also spent many hours researching everything highly specific that I would need to create the video that I had in mind. This entailed finding websites to hire and/or purchase such equipment and people from, as well as producing tables detailing how much everything would cost in total. Such equipment and people included camera and lighting equipment, a filming studio, catering, actors, hair and makeup artists, equipment technicians, property masters, a voice actor, an editor, a recording studio, and many different clothing props, resulting in an ultimate cost of £24370. Overall, although this did not provide me with real experience of communication between myself and a client, it did help me understand the true importance of planning and budgeting in regards to filmmaking. In my opinion, the area in which I did not improve was that of health and safety, since I did not include any of it in my planning. Therefore, including such information, as well as writing about how I ensured that all cast and crew members followed it, is most definitely the main improvement.
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