Evaluation question number 6

Shooting:
During ring production had to use different equipment to keep things safe and protected as well as for the best outcome of our film.
We had to use a cannon xh a1HD camera, to shoot our footage. This was the thing which i was in charge of during production. I had used it before it was quiet easy to manage. We attached on a tripod, which allowed me to get still and steady shots, and produce clean and steady angles and tilts. During filming we used two microphones. The cameras external mic and the sound equipment which consisted of a boom pole to hold the equipment high or low. The equipment had a microphone protected in a windshield system. This was to protect the microphone as it is very sensitive and would damage if it ever fell. The sound equipment also had a hairy harry to protect the windshield equipment, as well as reduce the amount of sound picked up. Because the microphone is so sensitive it can pick a lot of sound as well as unwanted sounds, for example rain drops or wind. We did not have any dialogue in our sequence but we still used the equipment just in case we change our minds and decided to have diagetic on screen sound. We also did this because of a past mistake in my prelim task.
Editing was the next step:
When we got on to this the first thing we done was digitize and then assemble our shots. We then perfected our assemble edits by cutting the shots down and only having what we need on screen. This was done through the basic tools on the software: razor tool this took a lot of time as we had to discuss what to keep and we sometimes changed our minds about our original ideas. We then started adding our affects and planning where they would go and how effective it would be for the film. We played around a bit and found that we should keep it simple by not having too many affects; due to this we decided to only have subtle fades in the beginning and at the end of the sequence. The fades worked well in the begging because the first thing seen is a flickering light, so it looks as though we are turning on the light and introducing the characters.
Tittles: out titles were also made on this software. We tried to go for something which would relate to the genre so we went for red. The titles looked to simple so we decided to make them glow slightly, and more white than red, as the red made the film look more than it actually is it would suit a more horror film whereas our film is a thriller/ slasher flick.
Including the sound was the most challenging as we some troubles importing our music file, in the end we got there feedback we received was mixed, our teacher said that our fist choice very heavy and did too much when there was nothing going on so we changed it and got better comments.
I leaned that technology is a very important part too and that you can fix many things with editing and make things look better through effects. The editing has broadened my understanding and i have gained more confidence in this process, so am more comfortable at editing.
Overall i have learnt: To use zooms on the camera effectively to create different shots, i also learnt the importance of a tripod. Without this our shots would not be steady and we would not be able to create different one like tilts and crabs a wells as pans teaching me more shot types and has advanced my camera skills. I am also much more comfortable handling the equipment as before when i found out i was handling the camera i was a little bit weary and scared that everything depended don me. Thanks to preparations and several set up’s before the real production i was ready and knew what to do. And most importantly i have also learnt that there is so much scope for creativity despite our low budget and limited equipment. I learnt that once you’ve understood all the technology it is so easy to use and you can create so many different effects and that different ideas can make something great and different.