Moving Image Entry 4 - Kevin Ross:

Date:27/02/2014
Module: Moving Image El342
Kent University

Team 07:

vp216 - Viknesh Prabhakar
kr278 - Kevin Ross
cb595 - Connor Brown
Tws6 - Thomas Stowell


This is a late blog as for my last week activities towards our film

Team update:

One of our crew has decided to leave university for personal reasons. This member is Thomas Jenkins.
As from now we will be a 4 person group. We will now have to be a bit more efficient with our work since there will be more to do ,however we have started allocating jobs to individuals.

Thomas Stowell- Filming and editing.
Kevin ross (Me)- Sound testing/recording and post editing
Connor Brown- Acting, Story ideas and editing
Viknesh Prabhakar- Directing and Editing

My Role/ Research:

- My first role in our Moving image project is to be the sounds producer.
I have researched into this part of my role, I will be responsible for recording all recordings of sounds present on set. This will require me to use microphones, booms and headphones. Whilst using the boom I will have to make sure neither the boom nor the shadow is within the shot.

I may be asked to capture a wide variety of sound on location, and must also consider the format of the finished product (mono, stereo or surround sound).
As a sound producer I will be required to tell the director when the sound quality is correct for recording.

I will also be in charge of all sound effects editors when editing, these include things such as music.
For this part I will use a video editing programme to include sound effects, background music and I will  have to remove any unwanted background noises.

I have gained some experience in this department from my class activities which are later listed in this blog.

- My second role in the film project is to work on the post editing and finalization of the film, this includes the sound editing.
I have watched tutorials for post editing in my spare time. These include how to add subtitles to our film which we shall include, as well as how to create effective title and ending screens.
furthermore I have looked into how to balance sound effects and add my own to the film.

The reason why we have divided ourselves into separate roles is to work more efficiently and to be able to concentrate on whatever we have been assigned, like this we will become more comfortable with what we are doing.


Class activities :

 

 

The first part of our class activities consisted in setting up the camera and tripod effectively enough to film with. For this we had to extend the tripod legs to a height suitable for our camera man Tom.
secondly we connected the battery and memory card to the camera and formatted it. After this we attached the camera to the tripod. We found that the tripod will be well suited to parts of our film since it is good for a steady shot as well as fluid movement. How we found that it was restricted when it came to more complex movement and would be hard to set up in certain areas. The cameraman Tom or producer Viknesh will likely be in charge if this.

 

Another essential part of our setting up for the shoot will be to adjust the cameras white balance by making it focus onto a piece of blank paper. This will adjust the camera to its environment and give the best shot. Tom our camera man will be in charge of this.

For the sound, I had to connect the sound receiver to the camera, switch this on and pair it with the sound recorder. The sound recorder was given to Connor since he was doing the acting.
When doing this the microphone requires to be in a location where it isn't rubbing against his clothes or isn't to close to his throat for a clear sound.

Then we did an exercise as a class group. Here we saw how to use the boom.
This information was beneficial to me since I will be using it through our film especially when we have multiple actors in the scene.
It emits a clear quality sound of everything around it. However the only downfall to it is that it can be accidentally seen within the shot so this has to be monitored by Viknesh our Director.






We then observed working on a Dolly. The dolly is really useful since it can create beneficial angles for the filming process such as the Zolly.
I will look into these different angles for filming further on for research and include them in a newer blog. It will be wise using different options such as this technique for filming different scenes and making a more dynamic film.

Furthermore we observed the use of this wheel created by our lecturer. The camera sits within the centre and it is a useful device for recording low, high and many angles. It has a good purpose in following actors around to since it is easy to control. Furthermore it allows for rotation of the camera which may be beneficial for our film at some point.























What have I learnt from this practical?:

- I have learnt how to record sound efficiently , and different ways of doing so to record the best quality clip.

- I have learnt different filming techniques which include , tripod , dolly, wheel and holding the camera with you hands.

- I have learnt how to position actors appropriately as for also using the boom correctly in an acting scene.

- I Have learnt how to set up the camera, and work as a team with my our filming partners to collect many clips in a short time efficiently.