The technical side
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Rachel and the author went through several stages in producing the opening title sequence for their thriller film. This included figuring out the technical side of lighting, camera shots, angles, and editing. For lighting, they struggled on the first filming date in the dark woods but improved on the second date. Many shots were handheld due to difficulty maneuvering equipment in the muddy terrain. They utilized various camera shots and angles throughout, like low angles and tracking shots. For editing in Adobe Premiere Pro, they primarily used straight cuts between clips but also incorporated dissolves and dips to black for certain transitions.
The technical side
- 2. THE PROCESS In the process of producing the opening title sequence to our thriller film, Rachel and I have had to go through a lot of different stages. One of these stages was figuring out how the technical side to things. This included the lighting, editing and camera shots and angles.
- 3. LIGHTING We filmed our thriller on two separate dates. On the first date, since it was our first time using the equipment properly, we struggled to find the correct lighting. We filmed our thriller in the middle of the night in the woods, making it hard to do much with the lighting. We used a fifty-metre extension cable in which we ran all over the forest, wherever we needed there to be light. However, for one scene, when we were relying on the natural light of the campfire, the wind dimmed the fire down a bit and therefore we had to adjust the exposure a little whilst filming. We were given a red head light to film with and this was difficult to light up the entire scene as we were using a large space. In addition to this, the light gave of a slightly artificial, white look in the dark of the forest rather than the warm fiery glow we were trying to capture. However, this could be passed off as moonlight in the shot.
- 4. MANEUVERING Since the dolly was difficult to manoeuvre on the muddy ground of the woods, we took the camera off the tripod and most of the filming was actually handheld. It was rather difficult to shoot this way, but in the end it worked out well. Some of our shots however were point of view shots and therefore we had to hold the camera ourselves anyway. An example of this is in the opening shot of our thriller, when a girl is running into the campsite and the camera is tracking her as she runs along. The SuperRange Optical Stabliser on the camera (Canon XL H1A) worked well in this shot as it helps to stabilise the image through a wide range of motions. This came particularly handy whilst running with the camera on my shoulder.
- 5. SECOND TRY However, since we hadn’t finished all the filming on the day, we filmed for another evening the next week. This was our second time filming and since we had already had the experience of using the equipment, it was much easier to film and took us a lot quicker. It gave us the chance to really come to grips with using the camera, and we were done within two hours. We even managed to get the lighting exactly how we wanted it with barely any trouble, unlike the first time.
- 6. ZOOM There are three different types of zoom on the camera we used - the lens zoom ring, the grip zoom lever and the handle zoom lever (for low-angle shots). Whilst filming our thriller, we only used the lens zoom ring. This gave us easy control over the zoom and enabled us to adjust it just the way we wanted it.
- 7. SHOTS AND ANGLES Additionally, we used various camera shots throughout our thriller. We used low angles when the Brownie leader places the rag with the Chloroform over the children’s’ faces. This angle made them look vulnerable and weak. However, a high angle was used when focusing on the Brownie leader creating a sense of authority and empowerment. We also employed shots such as multiple tracking shots and even a panning shot. The use of a tracking shot (in this case, a dolly shot) is to follow the character, this puts the audience into the character’s shoes as they are seeing exactly what the he/she is. The panning shot is used to show the audience what the director wants them to see in the frame. It shows the full shot of what is happening by moving the camera horizontally on a vertical axis.
- 8. EDITING In terms of editing, this is my favorite part of the production process. The editing program our school uses is Adobe Premiere Pro (for details, refer to previous post). Transition wise, there were a variety of transitions Rachel and I used in our film. We mainly used dissolves, dips to blacks and straight cuts. Dissolves are the gradual transition between one film and another, overlapping the two shots for the duration of the effect. However, we kept these to a minimum, as they are quite time-consuming. Dips to black are also time-consuming; therefore we also used them minimally. However, they were perfect for the situation when the children were falling unconscious. The majority of our shots were straight cuts. These are generally used for the majority of films as they are quick and just show the immediate change from one shot to the next.