26 October 2014

Western Shoot-out Workshop

As part of introduction into film production, my group and I had to gain understanding into the principles of film making and practice applying them to create effect within our filming. The composition rules that were put in place were - 

Head Room - position of the subject within the frame of the image. Headroom refers o the distance between the top of the subject's head and the top of the frame to include the sense of space on both sides of the image. 

Rule of Thirds - a concept in video and film production in which the alignment of a subject with the guide lines is divided into nine imaginary sections. Miss. Macdonald wanted my group and I to apply this rule and break it when necessary to see what is achieved. One example of this being broken was through the use of a cowboy shot. This is a shot framed from mid thigh up to ultimately focus on the weapon; the antagonists/protagonists gun.

Looking Room - the space in front, and in the direction, of a moving or stationary subject.

Eye Level -
 a shot that has very little to no psychological effect on the viewer. This shot is when the camera is level or looking straight on with the subject.

30 Degree Rule - a guideline that states the camera should move at least 30 degrees between shots of the same subject occurring within a sequence. If this rule isn't followed a jump cut occurs and there is a risk that the audience become disorientated.

Here is the link to our final edit - 

Our final production was edited through Final Cut Pro. I have never used this editing software before but watching online Youtube tutorials helped give step-by-step advice on how to upload,save,add SFX and VFX and alter the length of video clips during the process.

For example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTGR3FjWU4A (Final Cut Pro X - The Basics for Beginners) and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UET7QptHtc (Final Cut Pro X Tutorial Beginners) was great for anyone (like myself) who was unsure how to approach film production in the correct way. Overall the length of our shoot-out was 1 minute, 19 seconds. Unfortunately, my group and I didn't have enough time to film the final shooting between each antagonist. Therefore, this has encouraged my group and I to be more organised when it comes to arranging and applying a shooting schedule as well as being efficient with the amount of filming time given.

One way of doing this is within pre-production. By holding a group meeting, my group and I will be able to select times, dates and locations that all three of us are available.