What i learnt

Tufael here, from the start of this project I have been learning a new set of things every time. In the first few lessons it was what a real film opening looks like and what we aim to do. i learnt what makes a thriller and the conventions of a thriller opening by analysing a few openings like Pelham 123, from this we briefly talked about the importance of the order of the title sequence, which I did not know was important.
After this the cameras were introduced to us although they were still cameras i learnt a lot, such as how much space is needed on top of the head when filming and positioning of the characters. Also how to position many shots correctly, such as over the shoulder, extreme close up, two shots, low angle and experimenting with lighting.

Now the real camera’s came in! just like the still camera’s we were shown a whole set of techniques and shots to make what we film realistic, one of these was the 180 degrees rule, before we got to use the cameras, micky (a media teacher) showed us how to properly use the cameras in the correct way, this included showing how the tripod works, how to hold the camera and inserting memory cards. 

Next when we chose a thriller clip to film ourselves, we chose collateral because we thought we could remake the shots very well and work well with it. Then we made a story board, this was one of our first story boards, personally I wasn’t good at drawing and neither were the others but we all still came up with ideas and Baris drew some good shots. In another lesson we properly filmed something for the first time, but before that we had to learn how to set the camera so that it would save the footage onto the first memory card, after a while I discovered how to and we began filming. I was filming and I had filmed before in the past, but with the new skills I learnt I put them to use and the footage came out very well and everyone was proud of what they did.

Next we were using final cut pro, although we were introduced to final cut pro in a previous lesson where we learnt how to patch stuff together, this was much harder because it was working from scratch and our own footage. at first it was very complicated getting everything imported and in the right place but soon  me and my group learnt, I learnt how to get over footage from the camera to the programme, how to trim footage and fine cut, how to make shots fit in with each other and another skill that we learnt our self was how to get a sound track in our remake, after all the editing we were all very proud of the work and so was our teachers but they still pointed out stuff that we could improve, and we kept it in mind for next time.

Next we had a few lessons on just learning stuff like genre and sub genre’s, intertexuality and other students work. This was all so that we can have a better understanding and so that we think about our ideas. At this point I was starting to get used to blogging and started to blog a bit more.

Next our group had learnt how to make an opening in more detail this was done by remaking a thriller opening with given footage from ‘Arlington road’ here we learnt how to put the title sequence in and later Foley sound and how Foley sound works. We also learnt how to use sound track to put in our sound and also music. We all helped each other in every part.

When making room 333, everything that I had learnt went into action and our group came back with some of the best work we have done so far, we experimented with lighting and setting and although we were pushed for time we still improvised and got it covered. In this I acted which was a difference from what I normally do which is filming, I learnt a lot from it and saw how to use the way we act effectively to work well with  editing and filming.

Right now as we are finishing our opening I am learning how to effectively use the effects and transitions in final cut pro.