Tuesday 18 April 2017

Evaluation Essay 07

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?


As the group's editor, I have had to learn how to use Final Cut Pro. Whilst I had experience using some editing programs, I am not used to the Mac interface. When we was making the continuity sequence, I struggled to understand the interface of Final Cut Pro; I felt like everything was hidden and it was difficult to navigate. However, once I got over the first hurdle of getting used to Final Cut Pro I found it quick and accessible, making editing fast. Final Cut Pro made it fast to put text, effects, music and to cut down the footage together and simple. It was also easy to replace and remove, and make our film work.

I was first introduced to Final Cut Pro when editing the preliminary sequence. Looking back on the footage now, it was not hard to edit - there were simple cuts the whole way through, with a blackout scene at the end, there was only one track used for the music and one sound effect at the end. However, since I was new to Final Cut Pro, it took a long time. Getting things into sequence were not hard, but adding effects were. I remember being frustrated at how unclear Final cut felt to me, with no guidance being given at all. I however got over it very quickly, and googled how to add sound effects, video effects and cutting worked, leading to the preliminary sequence to become what it is today. The media technician also did a workshop on how to use Final Cut Pro, which helped.


We used DSLRs to film our footage for the title sequence. Whilst they aren’t cameras designed for filming, they worked well with their portability and their ability to be handheld. Whilst we did face some difficulties with the aperture of the camera and lack of stability if we wanted some close up shots, we did learn that the camera had a lot of potential to film in awkward positions. We used the DSLRs for both our continuity sequence and our final title sequence, and they worked well. The footage was also easy to put onto a computer, which allowed us to work fast. With the tripod attached to the DSLR, we could get the desired height in many of our shots, making many of our shots clean and crisp.


For the white screen shots, we used a variety of technology to help us. These include softbox lights and a white screen. The softbox lights provided us a clean look, and helped the contrast of the black and white in editing, with the softbox lights washing out any stains that might be on the white screen. The white screen scenes help build a story, and I think if we had shot those scenes on a coloured or patterned wall the narrative wouldn’t be as strong, and the focus on the female lead wouldn’t be as strong. In our continuity sequence, we used phone lights to light up the dark scene in the staffroom. This did work well, because we wanted the scene to be dark to portray the horror genre. But since for the title sequence we were following the same high-key lighting seen in American Psycho, we needed the softbox lights to help us keep with that theme. We also didn’t have to use the white screen in our continuity sequence as it didn’t fit in with our narrative.

To conclude, whilst all the equipment we used may have appeared intimidating at first, it was actually easy, and didn’t take long to learn at all. Everything was easy to setup and use how we wanted, which resulted in filming and editing being swift and rather simple. I certainly have learnt a lot since our continuity sequence with the introduction of new technology and equipment, but nothing was overly challenging or so hard that we had to scrap using it. I am satisfied with the progress we have made since our continuity sequence.

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