Monday, 7 December 2009

Advanced Production Techniques-

Advanced Production Techniques:

Camera:

Coverage- In a film, sequences are the main parts which build up the storyline. The five shot rule provides all of the shots for one main sequence, so all of the angles can be seen. This provides a bigger vision for the audience. In a sequence, the shots that may be used are: close ups, wide shots, over the shoulder shots and other shots from different angles. Using this method can mean that the shots will cut together cleanly and provide the audience with a consistent and precise piece of production.

A jump cut is a transition where two shots of the same subject are taken, but the camera position is slightly different, causing there to be discontinuity and a look as though the shots have jumped. The main cause of them is framing and it is said that to avoid there being this jump, the camera position should change by 30 degrees or more. This will prevent the shots looking as though they have jumped. Other ways to stop jump cuts from happening is to do a zoom instead of a cut and change the framing of the two shots so they are very different. The jump cuts can make the piece of production look unprofessional and as though not much planning and organisation was taken when preparing each shot.

Resources-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_cut

http://www.bbctraining.com/modules/5915/video/1.2.2_trans.htm

http://www.mediacollege.com/video/editing/transition/jump-cut.html


Rule of thirds- This rule is used for reference and directional purposes, whereby the frame is split into nine equal parts. The main reason for using this is so that the areas of interest are placed differently where they can create more tension, energy and interest, whereas just aligning them in the centre will not have this effect. The intersections of the rule of thirds are used to help compose the shot that is trying to be achieved. An example of where something should be placed is the place of interest should occur a third or two thirds up or across the frame.

Resources-
http://semtax.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/thirds.jpg




White Balance- This is the removal and balance of unrealistic colours in shots and has to take into account things like the colour temperature and the source of where the light is coming from. Colours like blue especially have to be looked at, as if the shot is meant to show the sun's light overcastting the shot and when produced comes out blue, this is going to make it look unprofessional and make the shot useless. One way to correct this in film is to use colour correction filters over the lights or the camera lens. Another way is to use the white balance options on the camera. However, this may not be very effective and may not always prevent the contrasting colours to occur. Therefore white balance can be very important when dealing with certain shots involving vast colours.

Resources-

http://www.sjcontent.com/sj/images/topics/587_2.jpg



Depth of field- This is the range of distances from the camera where a sharp focus can be obtained. The depth of field on a shot may be used to show the importance of a person, event or item in the story. A large depth of field is called a deep focus, and a small depth of field is called a shallow focus. To obtain a depth of field, the camera must be a certain distance away from the object put into focus and is determined from the iris setting. The more light that is on the subject, the easier it is to focus. Some factors that affect the depth of field are: the lighting conditions, the camera filter, the shutter, the lens angle and the gain.

A pulling focus is where the focus is changed during a shot and this means adjusting the focus from one subject to another. The main function for this is to direct the viewers attention so that they see and understand what you want them to.

Resources-

http://www.mediacollege.com/video/camera/focus/depth-of-field.html
http://www.seemsartless.com/guides/camera-dof-cars-fast-360.jpg


Exposure- The iris on a camera is an adjustable opening which controls the amount of light coming through the lens. Getting the right exposure is making sure that the subject of focus has the right amount of light on it so that it can be seen. This may mean that there may be too much or too little light around the rest of the shot, however the main subject is most important. The way to get the right amount of exposure for the shot is by adjusting the iris and so having more or less light accordingly. A problem with exposure is the backlight. This is where the light in the background may be too light or dark, and so will have an effect on the way the shot looks. In these situations it is better for the subject to be seen that not, even if the backlight is too bright. A way to get around this problem could be to use an ND filter. This can be known as a grey filter and is a colour neutral filter which absorbs light and is used to reduce the amount of light coming through the lens in strong lighting conditions.




Location Lighting- The lighting in the shots will depend on the locations that they are set in. Therefore planning ahead is key to make sure that the shots look right and that they have the right amount of lighting. 3 point lighting contains three lights which are used to illuminate the subject which is being filmed. The first light is the key light. This is the strongest light and is the main one. It is placed to the side of the object so that one side is well lit and there is some shadow on the other side. The second light is the fill light. This is placed on the opposite side of the key light and is not as strong as the key light, but is used to get rid of the shadow created in the first place. The third light is the back light. This is placed behind the subject and is used to provide definition and to highlight the subjects outlines. This helps to provide a three dimensional look and also a professional look.

Colour temperature is the method used to describe the range of temperatures in different situations. The units in which it is measured by is called Kelvins and lights, gels and filters are added or decreased depending on the situation to get the effect required.

An additional piece of lighting information which will be useful for us, is to simulate the light coming from a television. We should shine a blue light at the character and then wave a piece of cloth in front of the light to show the flickering of a TV.




Sound:

Microphones- With microphones, the main thing to get right is the positioning, which includes the distance from the source of the sound. The mix of ambient sound and sound from the subject is important and it depends on the situation where you want more of one than the other. If the microphone is too close to the source of the sound, then there will be some distortion and it will not sound as good as you want it to. However placing the microphone too far away could cause you to not get the sound loud enough as you want, and so a balance is needed.

Phasing problems may occur if there are too many microphones around the same source and so the sound waves interfere with each other resulting to this problem.

In our situation, we will probably be recording “in camera” but we may not and so this research is useful.


Summary-

All of these advanced production techniques will help with the production of our short film. From this, I have learnt many things I did not know before and these will definitely be reviewed and used when it comes to the production stage. Much of this information is relative to our short film, especially the lighting research as we have many shots that are in daytime and at night. The exposure will also be important here as we will need to limit some of the light in some shots because of the time of day we want them and the locations we are filming in.

The microphone research may be needed and may not, because we may need it if the more technological camera is available for use, otherwise we may just record “in camera” because of its practicality. The research has also highlighted some problems that could occur in our production, which can now be avoided and kept in mind. For example, some jump cuts would now be avoided because we would now know where they happen and how to stop them from happening. Techniques like depth of field could be used, however further research may be needed if we decided to use it. This research has enhanced my understanding about techniques which can be used to provide a cinematic feel to our short film and why they would be used. It has also highlighted the problems that can occur when using the techniques and how they can be prevented. Therefore, as my knowledge has increased and developed I will be able to incorporate this understanding into the work and hopefully produce a short film that provides a sharp message to the audience and has cinematic feel as well.

Lighting Experiment-

Pro Light with half blue gel-



Pro Light with quarter blue gel-



Pro Light with barn doors-




Pro Light with black wrap-




Pro Light with diffusion-



Pro Light with orange gel-



Pro Light plain-



Pro Light with red gel-



Red Head with half blue gel-



Red Head with quarter blue gel-



Red Head bouncing off the ceiling-



Red Head with closed barn doors-




Red Head with diffusion-



Red Head with orange gel-




Red Head with red gel-



Red Head with tin foil-



Red Head plain-



Toaster with reflecting light-



Summary-

Doing this lighting experiment has enable us as a group to see what light we would need for the many different shots in our different scenes. At this stage, we would probably be using the Pro light for most of our shots as many of them will not need an extremely bright light, like the Red Head. However when we are filming some scenes later at night, we may need the Red Head as it is more powerful than the Pro light. We will use many different gels for the lights, because on some scenes we want there to be a warmer tone and therefore we would use an orange or red gel, but in others we want a cold feel and so we would use a half or quarter blue gel. In conclusion, this lighting experiment has taught me a lot about what lights and gels we can use to create different effects and this will be useful when it comes to filming the shots as we can decide quickly and precisely what lights and gels we are going to use.
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