30th August 2012

Today in film, we began much as the last class did by reviewing things we had previously learned. However, this was significantly more necessary, as it served as a refresher for protocol for setting up the camera, final cut pro, and various other things. Granted we had learned all these things before, however with all the intricate details many of us had forgotten, and it was good to review these. We continued by  being tasked with making a storyboard of a scene from the Film Noir mentioned last class (Double Indemnity). This was a good idea, as it got us thinking about the effects and camera angles that should be employed in a film noir, as well as sample dialogue that could be employed for our projects. This was followed up by us having to list all the necessary camera angles, dialogue, rigs, shots and actor movement. All and all, having dissected the scene bit by bit, I feel that I have a greater understanding of the techniques to employ later on in our project.

Film Reflection 29th August 2012

Today in film started as most intro lessons do, a review of the class protocols. Due to being in a new room, various things didn't apply, however due to the launch of the macbook program some new things had come into play. A review of these was helpful, though to be honest a somewhat dull way to begin the semester. However, this was soon ramped up with the start of research for our new unit: Film Noir. I will admit that I was excited by this, and when tasked with watching the 1960's Film Noir Double Indemnity saw many techniques that could be employed to further emulate the style. I look forward to the next lesson.

8th May 2012 Reflection

Today in film, we began by discussing the upcoming project, which is mainly focused on sound design. After being put into new groups, we discussed potential subjects, and decided it would be interesting if we did the sound to a comic strip of some variety. We have yet to decide on a comic, and will discuss this next class. We spent most of the class finishing Dancing with Wolves, which is a prime example of the techniques we will need to use for the assignment: Using music to appropriately alter the emotions of the audience, Altering the effects volumes to a similar ends and Trying to keep the background music constant with the emotion that is being conveyed. This movie has given me a host of ideas for our documentary, I only hope I can use them properly.

3rd May Reflection

Today in film, we continued watching Dancing with Wolves. Unfortunately, I missed the first part due to a field trip last week, causing me to be absent for the first part of the film. We focused on the use of sound and music in the film, and how it affected our perception of characters and the situation. This has helped me come up with ways we could use sound in our documentary, as well as several discussion topics for the upcoming essay.

19th April 2012

Today was the first showings of the documentaries. We were given half the class to apply finishing touches. In this time, I was made to present as I had not yet done so. After presenting a slightly abridged version of my presentation, due to time constraints, I feel I did a decently good job. Except for the fact I forgot to mention the  type of documentary my documentary was (in short missing the entire point of the presentation). After this, I aided my group in putting final touches on our documentary. Unfortunately (again due to time constraints), we were unable to screen, only be able to watch and give feedback on one documentary.  I feel that this was useful, as we were able to see what another group had done, giving us an idea of how are documentary style compared to that of other groups.

Reflection 27th February 2012

Today in film, we worked on interview techniques and angles. We rotated through several roles as a group of 5 with each member getting a chance to act as a cameraman, camera assistant, sound tech, interviewer and interviwee. We devoted most of the lesson to this, perfecting the phrasing of questions, as well as the correct demeanor and the correct series of camera angles to intersperse in an interview. Though we were productive this lesson, more preperations need to be made before we can go out to the field, we still have to organise interviews and we still have to hone our skills at and in front of the camera.

Reflection February 21st

Today in film, we started by considering interview questions which we would interview our subjects. We then learned an important lesson in note taking: We had previously not taken note of the model of the camera we were using to film. As a result, we were not allowed to borrow another one until we were given the model of the camera (Panasonic HD/HS 900). This informed us that our notes were not as extensive as we had previously belived them to be. After this, we went over the correct procedure for putting away headphones, before spending some time reviewing camera basics We finished up going over the basics of microphone use.