PRACTICAL SKILLS

Production and Post-production process

Under this section I will present production and post production process of my project development.

PRODUCTION PROCESS

The production process is the development of your project production. Photos from the shoot, screengrabs from your computer, images of audio recordings, stages of photoshop / InDesign process of your work, drafts, and stages of your script etc. Also to keep daily logs / meeting notes etc. To finish, evaluate the process of the skills development and the production process overall. Everything that has happened up to this point you've done to ensure the production stage, also known as the principal of photography, go as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

09/05/2022

Bus journey

I filmed a few shots while stood at the bus stop, a close up of the bus going past, and then I was filmed getting on the bus and then short clips of the bus journey. I made sure to get different angles, so I had a variety of shots to choose from.

Train journey

Filming public transport is quite difficult as you have to make sure you get the shot you want at the right time, otherwise you will have to wait longer for the next train or bus to come, with this in mind I was well prepared and new the train times as to when to get ready to film. I filmed a close up of the train tracks, then I was filmed getting on the train and clips from the train journey, then getting off at the destination. The lighting was the only issue I had due to the shadow on me sat next to the window, but this can be solved in post-production.

10/05/2022

Woods (Northbourne/ Tilmanstone)

This location was quite difficult to get to but didn’t really have any issues with filming other than it being a bit windy for the drone, but it was mainly stopped by the trees surrounding where we were shooting. It was great as it was really quiet, and we only saw one dog walker. I got a few shots on my camera of me walking in the road and sitting on a log. I was then filmed on a drone walking through the woods on a path, and then used the drone for more clips to get more options to choose from.

Capel (Battle of Britain Memorial)

As this location is at the cliff edge, it was quite windy, but the drone managed to not blow away. We filmed shots on my camera of me holding my phone and behind me sitting near the edge, then got drone footage of my dad sitting next to me as it pans out.

11/05/2022

Samphire Hoe

Filming at this location was quite simple and brief, all I filmed was the cliffs and a train going past on my camera, as this is a cutaway that will be edited in after a clip of me sitting near the cliffs. It was windy but it didn’t affect my camera, and for noise it won’t matter as I am putting music over the whole video. I got a few different angles of the cliffs so I could choose which one is the best.

Canterbury City Centre

Like Samphire Hoe, shooting at this location was simple and didn’t take long, it was a time lapse recorded on an iPhone 13 of me sitting down and people going about their daily lives behind me. I decided to use an iPhone 13 as I wasn’t sure how to set up a time lapse on my camera, the quality difference won’t be that huge as my camera is quite good quality too. I sat there for 5 minutes just staring into the camera, and the time lapse came to around 30 seconds long. I actually originally was meant to go to Westwood Cross but instead chose Canterbury, due to it being an easier location to get to an film.

15/05/2022

Home

Filming at home was fairly simple, I had most of my shots prepared and added in some new ones. It went the best out of all the other locations due to it being inside and in the comfort of my house, I had all my equipment so I wouldn’t forget anything. I filmed me waking up which took quite a few takes, same with the alarm. Then for the cutaway I used paracetamol and filmed a close up on the tripod to keep it steady. I used my camera for all these shots.

16/05/2022

Abandoned buildings (Lympne)

Recording at the abandoned buildings actually went really well. I spent less than 30 mins there and got all the shots I needed. Its difficult to get to but its close to a main road, which would’ve been an issue if I was using sound. I got one shot of me walking down the middle of the buildings then walking into one of the buildings. I also got some shots of my surroundings and filmed me sitting on the back of an old truck reading.

CONCLUSION

To conclude my production, it went better than I expected. I allowed myself enough time to be able to film all the shots I need and be able to have lots of time to edit to make sure I get it right and the way I want it to look. All of my locations were fairly easy to get to, and I wasn’t disturbed when filming in public. I’m happy with all my scenes and shots I got and didn’t really have any issues.

POST-PRODUCTION PROCESS

EDITING

Editing for my FMP took around 2 days to complete, including editing the actual video together, adding effects/ transitions, titles/ credits and adding the colour tint to the final product. I didn’t really come across any issues except for some difficulties such as Premier Pro crashing or being slow. For the effects, I went on google and found a shake effect which I used which is pictured below. One main issue I had was the audio, as the song was only around just under 4 minutes, my video ended up being around 7 minutes, which meant that I had to loop it carefully which took about 20 minutes to do.

I had to change the levels of the different audios as some were too loud and some too quiet, but apart from that overall I produced my final major project the way I had pictured it from the start.

Editing the colour tint for my short film was more complex than I thought it would be, messing around with the different tones and tints was difficult to get right and make it look the right colour blue I had pictured. I managed to find the right options and put them together to create my final look for my project. To start off I actually exported the original finished video and then put the colour on after as I found it easier that way, rather than editing each individual clip.

GRAPHICS

After I had finished editing, I decided to create a poster for my short film as most films have poster to accompany them. I edited this on Canva and took a screenshot from my short film and then added a title to it. I also made a portrait version. I decided to use this screenshot as I feel like it emphasises the feelings I have portrayed in my video, and pretty much summarises my short film and shows what its about. I originally tried to edit this on Photoshop, but I couldn’t get the right resolution and I don’t know how to use Photoshop that well.

CONCLUSION

To conclude my post-production, I am happy with my outcome as it was what I had pictured my final project to look like. Furthermore, I have gained some skills along the way from editing such as how to correctly use colour while editing, and also more knowledge on how to create a film poster, both of these can be useful for me in the future.