Production Skills- AVC Camera

Today we had an introduction to the AVC Camera which is a digital camera that films and records to an SD card, unlike the previous cameras we've been looking at which record to tapes and film. I have previously seen and been introduced to the AVC Camera before in college at CCAD on Green Lane, we had numerous tutorials on working on and with the AVC and had the opportunities to use it for filming our work. It's been a while since I've had any interaction with the AVC so I treat this session as refresher but I also learned new and interesting features to the camera. What was pointed out quite early was that we should not attach a microphone to the camera or use an internal mic because the sound will not have the same quality as using a boom pole and sound operator. Due to the camera been new and digital, it takes a class 10 SD Card to record all your footage and to remember that the camera won't work if the SD card door is open, so always check if you have this problem.

AVC has both digital and manual zoom which you can switch between and a neutral density filter which is described as sunglasses for the camera. It also features a manual and auto focus for when you need either or, and has the white balance feature located at the front of the camera. When fully charged the battery can last up to 400 minutes which is very impressive but if for any reason you feel like you'll need longer then always have a spare at hand. We took a look at the different modes and definitions the camera films in and looked at standard definition and high definition. Standard has two varieties with 680x480 = American and Internet standard and 720x576 = British standard so we noted to remember the British standard. The high definition is of course anything higher than standard. The specific camera we were looking at is the Panasonic AG-HMC151E and we will be using it quite often in future projects with it been digital and quicker than tape and film.    

Live Project- Upcoming Pitches and Ideas

Now we've been introduced to the start of out live project and that we'll be working with clients, we will be briefed by those clients on what the want specifically from us and the project for their video. Due to one of the clients having a deadline coming up soon we were briefed by Diane on this subject so we could pitch to them next week unlike the other two clients which will be pitching the week after. The client we'll be pitching for on Monday is connected to the Johnston Press and needs a video showing the North East in a positive light and featuring all that makes it great. The brief was to make it a high end short film that is the length of a song, that is advertising the North East, which is anywhere from Hartlepool to Berwick-upon-Tweed. The deadline for this is the 10th March so we will be starting this project before the others.

From the brief I interpreted it as the client wanted to see as much of the North East as possible as they named the boundaries and that everywhere in-between qualifies as the North East for the video. This is a giant space to cover and trying to film all over these towns and cities is going to be almost impossible so I'm going to research on all the important and iconic places and locations that will show the positives to the North East. My idea for this pitch is to show 'A day in the life of the North East' I want to start the video at sunrise showing various people in various places waking up to their town or city and getting ready for the day and then move on to all the different attractions and all the accomplishments people are working to achieve at the North East by showing maybe jobs that are only known or able to be done in the North East or people working to make the North East better like local politicians and volunteers. It would then end with people finishing from a hard days work and closing up shops and returning home and the sun setting over all the different iconic attractions and statues in the North East.

Due to the North East been such a huge place there is no shortage of things to film so my main worry is keeping the video to a songs length and been able to time the travelling for the locations and able to get certain shots like the sunsets and sunrises.

Popular Locations-
Angel of the North - Gateshead
Durham Cathedral- Durham
Beamish Museum- Beamish
National Railway Museum - Shildon
Baltic Art Centre- Newcastle
Quayside and Bridges- Newcastle
The Castle Keep- Newcastle
Life Centre- Newcastle
SAGE- Gateshead
Hadrian's Wall
Blue Reef Aquarium- Tyneside
Coasts and Beaches of the North East
Teesside Steelworks- Teesside

These are the main attractions and places I've found so far but I'm continuing to search and look for some lesser known places that will be able to show some of the hidden beauty of the northeast.

Live Project- Upcoming Client Briefs

Since we've finished our Doc/Drama project, we're now moving on to our next assignment which is a live brief. This means we will be working with real clients and performing an actual service to a customer rather than for ourselves or the course. Currently there are three clients that have shown interest in working with the course and we will be briefed next week on what their project will consist off. The three clients are all very different but equally as challenging, the first links to a previous years job where they created a video for the Tactical Training Centre, showing what it is they do and promoting the skills and bravery the team offers, except this year it is focused on the medical team but with the same idea for a video. The second is creating a promotional video for Johnston Press focusing on the North East which needs to be a high end short film advertising what the North East has to offer, this client has a quick deadline coming up and the project needs to be finished for the 10th March. The final client is Mike McGrother, frontman for the band Wildcats of Kilkenny who wants to start a sort of viral marketing campaign against Channel 4's Benefit Street filming in stockton, this will be documenting and filming the actions that they take to protest for their cause.

All three clients are offering a great opportunity and have great ideas for what they want for a video and we will be briefed by the clients next week on what exactly needs to be included in their videos and we will then be pitching our ideas to them in the hope they will be on board with our vision and our ideas. Personally I'd been happy working on any of these projects, they all seem to present certain challenges and all have strong concepts that I feel comfortable pitching and working on.

Me, Myself and I- Pitches

With us completing our last project which was a loc/doc production where we reconstructed a scene from a film (Stephen King's IT), we have no moved on to our next project which is titled 'Me, Myself and I'. This project is focusing on who we are and expressing ourselves in a short 3 minute film, it wants to include any past video clips of us as children if we have any. We are also incorporating our 16mm project in this as well so it's good to plan and prepare for that when in pre-production. This week we were pitching our ideas for our Me, Myself and I's to our course leaders so they can approve or improve on our ideas.

My pitch focused on using a technique that interested me that was used in films such as Alfred Hitchcock's Rope and more recently Birdman, this is the technique of making the film look like one long shot, but really it's multiple long shots edited together so perfectly it appears to be one. This idea seems to be a challenge and thats why I want to experiment and work with this technique so I can try something new from what I've already done. The film is going to be shot as a POV shot from my body and have me walking around going through my day or going through past moments in my life. All/most of the dialogue spoke will be coming from me who will appear on screen as either a visual representation of my mind or the person I'd like to be but I'm holding back. So it's me talking to the POV me trying to explain and more or less thinking out loud to myself. The reaction from my tutor and the group seemed positive and they all seemed intrigued to see how it would work out. I was very nervous when giving this pitch even though it wasn't my first time but I think I'm starting to ease into speaking and pitching in front of the whole class.

Production Skills- 16mm Lenses

This week in Production Skills we carried on from last weeks session of looking at the 16mm cameras, we started to look at the different lenses for the cameras and the different capabilities of each lens. The first thing we talked about was lens mounts and the two different Arri mounts, the first been the Arri Standard and the second the Arri PL. The PL mount is incompatible for older Arri mount lenses but the standard can be a bit weak in strength and ability. The two main different types of lenses are 'Prime Lens' and 'Variable Lens', the prime lens can't adjust the focal length but as a better F Stop and the variable lens is more commonly known as a zoom lens.  

When detaching lenses from the camera you need to press in the buttons on the side and twist to remove the lens, make sure not to touch the lens on the glass as it can damage and ruin shots as well as the lens. The lenses can range from 10mm-100mm, the ones we have available are the super wide 10mm, 16mm, 24mm, 25mm and a 300mm. They all fall into different categories with around 12mm been wide, around 25mm been standard and finally around 50mm been telephoto. We then studied some documents online that mentioned 'Angle of View' but only had the numbers for 30mm, the list was 24mm = 84°, 50mm = 47 ° and 100mm = 18°. We then looked at 'Aperture' which is Iris Control, this determines how much light comes in and controls the depth of field. When adjusting for light, it's good to remember that 1.4 means more light and 16 (The highest it can go) means no light, you can get a better idea of much light there is by using a light meter. For the light meters our course provides you need to switch it on and change it to film mode, make sure it's set at 25 and that the ISO is at 250 before taking a reading. When focusing the camera and lens by eye, you need to focus through the eye piece, start by locking on the eye piece and looking for the grid that appears on and at the bottom of the lens, adjust the eye piece so the grid is in focus. 

This was all the areas we focused on during this lesson on 16mm lenses, which gave us more information on the options we have when it comes to filming on film.     

Scriptwriting- Hot Seating

This weeks scriptwriting lesson focused on hot seating, this is a technique that we all have to use and go through to help develop our characters for our scripts. It's where someone sits in the middle of the room and is asked questions by the rest of the group, the person than answers these questions as his character would and it helps you quickly figure out new things about your character, maybe even somethings that you would never of thought to add to your character before. We started making our way around the group in this session. About 5 or 6 were hot seated in this session and the rest will follow in the next sessions.

I think seen it happen first hand helps you see the benefit of hot seating, while someone is been hot seated another takes notes down for them so they can check the notes for any new information that may be important to the development of their character. I think of the people who were hot seated this week, they all finished with new information or description of their character that they will now be able to use in their scripts.

Location/Drama- Editing and Finishing

With all our filming been completed before christmas, all that was left was to start and finish editing the final reconstruction and the documentary of the reconstruction. Editor for 'IT' is Jacob who started looking at the editing software and experimenting with it before christmas so he could have the skills he needed for when it comes to editing the final piece. Chloe is the editor of the documentary and has a clear vision of how she intends to chronicle the steps taken to complete the reconstruction.

Both started some early work to the edits before we broke up for christmas with the spare time we had from filming early, I completed my camera shots list which is similar to an edit list and offered any assistance or advice that Chloe might need while editing. When we returned from christmas both Jacob and Chloe were fully focused on finishing their edits and spent many hours in the edit suites with their headphones on. They both completed their edits on the first week we returned from christmas and exported them for viewing. I then began work on updating my blog and writing my critical evaluation for the assignment. The deadline date is January 12th at 12:00pm so it was crucial for me to have my critical evaluation completed and spell checked before this date. I managed to complete it the day before and submitted it on the night of January 11th. My overall thoughts on the assignment are positive as I think we all managed to complete the assignment successfully and all learn mistakes which we can turn into improvements on future productions.

Production Skills- 16mm

This week we had our introduction to the 16mm equipment, we took a look at the two different cameras we have that uses 16mm, the ARRIFLEX and the Bolex. We were showed the correct way to handle the equipment and then how to use the equipment for filming, like all equipment we were told to make sure the equipment works before using it on a shoot. There was also a warning about fingerprints on the lenses that can ruin the look of your film and to use a specific cleaning cloth for the lenses, there is a second cleaning cloth for dust and hairs inside the camera which needs to be cleaned.

We were shown the ARRIFLEX first and taught how to handle and use the camera for filming, we went over certain areas and learned that the image flickers while recording and that shutter angle and shutter speed is the same thing. The battery is attached at the back of the camera and their is only one charger for it, when loading film into the camera you load it in the right side of the compartment and the film will come out the left side. There is a panel that controls the speed which you can adjust but we were told not to mess with the inside mechanics of it as it is difficult to fix and even harder to replace. When preparing the film to be loaded you need to cut across the perforations (Holes on side of film) and load the film in pitch darkness so the film isn't exposed by the light. There is a special blanket/bag cover we can use for this with sleeves so we can handle the film and equipment under it in darkness.

I found out that the difference between 8mm or 16mm and Super 8 and Super 16 is that Super only has one side of perforations with wider area for capturing film and without the Super has two sides of perforations which helps it stay steady with a better grip. Film is normally measured in ft so to make sure I know the measurements I made a quick note that 30.5 metres = 100 ft.

We were next shown the Bolex camera which has many of the same rules as the ARRI but you can use it in seriously low light instead of pitch darkness like the ARRI. The Bolex only uses Super 16mm and has slots for different colour filters for the lens. It's smaller and lighter than the ARRI but in some ways just as complicated to work. No film cameras record sound so you always need separate equipment to capture the sound. Now we've been introduced to the 16mm equipment I'm both nervous and excited to experiment and test it out, it seems like it can be quite a carry on when setting it up and getting it ready for a shoot but will be interesting to see the results that come from it and comparing it too some of our digital work.  

Scriptwriting- Dialogue (Less is More)

This weeks scriptwriting session was centered around dialogue and how to make your dialogue seem more realistic and organic, the phrase Less is More was brought into the discussion (Phrase made popular by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe) as an example of how having only a few lines of dialogue in your script can still be impactful and in some cases better than using too much dialogue. We then proceeded to take part in an exercise where we split up into groups of three so we could observe each others conversations and mannerisms, two of us would talk while the third wrote down notes and quotes from the conversations. This was useful to be able to see how conversations can start between two people and how different people can take different roles in the conversation, for example how one can be more into asking questions or how one person could be more of a listener and it's important to identify these roles to make the dialogue flow organically.

We were also able to notice different slang words and tones some people would use that relates to their environment and up bringing, It isn't necessary but can be helpful to research on certain accents and cultures if your writing focuses on them. When I think on strong organic dialogue in films I think of writers like Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson and Richard Linklater, these writers just have so much talent when it comes to dialogue and they make it feel so natural like you're not even watching a film, they have the ability to really make you think the words are those of the characters and not written by someone else. Now I feel like I have a better understanding of how to be more relaxed and more direct with my writing, I really want to experiment with different dialogue for different characters in my script. I have a list of various websites related to scripts and screenplays that I can read through to help me with different aspects of the writing, BBC writers room seems to be a popular website to look out so I hope to look deeper into writing.    

Visual Culture- Essay Question Research

For the end of our visual culture journal we need to include an essay on a given question, there was a list of options for which question you'd like to answer and we chose the best one that interested us the most. The question I chose was "Identify and discuss the creative similarities and differences as you perceive them between studio and independently made films. You may use historical and/or contemporary references as examples." This question stood out to me the most because I felt like it linked to the production and creation of films more than any of the others. I liked the idea of researching both these areas and finding out and understanding the difficulties an independent film would have that a studio wouldn't and vice versa. The essay question requires quite a lot of research and the majority of it needs to be from books so I decided to research and find some books that may be able to help me when I start writing the essay and I'll be able to find them easy.

Independent Film Producing: How to Produce a Low-Budget Feature Film- Paul Battista

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Independent-Film-Producing-Produce-Low-Budget/dp/162153264X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1420483455&sr=1-3&keywords=independent+film

The Insiders Guide to Independent Film Distribution- Stacey Parks

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Insiders-Guide-Independent-Film-Distribution/dp/0240817559/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1420483455&sr=1-6&keywords=independent+film 

Contemporary American Independent Film: From the Margins to the Mainstream- Christine Holmlund and Justin Wyatt

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Contemporary-American-Independent-Film-Mainstream/dp/0415254876/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1420483455&sr=1-11&keywords=independent+film

These are a few books I've found that while help me answer the essay question and will be good to either look at or purchase to have a better understanding of independent film making, I also need to start looking for books about the studio method of film making so I can make comparisons and see the differences.