Today we had our challenge shoot. As explained on last lesson's reflection, this was to challenge our familiarity with camera angles, blocking and behind the camera filming. Basically we had to shoot a scenario of one person confronting another person about cheating on a test in 5 different camera angles. We were all given the 4 different angles and dialogue required for the challenge, but the 5th angle and line was all up to us. Our time limit was 30 minutes and hopefully finish editing it by the end of the lesson.
The 4 angles were: Medium Long Shot, Medium Closeup Shot, Shot Reverse Shot (Count's as two because it films over the shoulder views of both actors) and our chosen angle was the Medium Long Shot. Our dialogue given was:
Person 1: "Hey you cheated!"
Person 2: " No I didn't!"
Person 1: "If you do it again I'll report you!"
Person 2: "But I didn't"
We didn't chose an ending dialogue, we just had Person 1 walk away.
My group consisted of Robert, Kazia and I and the first thing we did was check if the camera had full battery charge. Then we discussed who would act and who would be behind the camera. It was decided that Kazia (Person 1) and Robert (Person 2) would act and I would be the cameraman. However, they would give their suggestions on how I positioned the camera and if they thought it was suitable or not (I could flip the screen). We then discussed our filming location. We all decided to go to the 9th floor lockers near the Cafe. This was because not a lot of people passed through this area so we thought it would be practical to film there as we wouldn't be disturbed.
When we go to the location, we immediately set up the tripod and camera. I instantly noticed how noisy it was and how being on the top floor picked up all the noise from the floors below. It was also coming from the Year 11s on the 8th floor. However the noise died down within a few minutes.
For our first shot, we had to show the full head-to-toe bodies of the actors. Robert would be trying to open his locker and Kazia would walk in and tap him on the shoulder, but not saying any dialogue.
The second shot was a medium closeup shot, which was an angle from waist up. This would start from when Kazia had just tapped Robert and then saying "Hey you cheated!".
The third shot and fourth shot were shot reverse shot, which meant the over the shoulder view of the actors talking to each other. The third shot would be a view of Robert and an over the shoulder angle of Kazia's shoulder. Robert would then say the line "No I didn't!". Then the positions would be reversed and then the camera would be focused on Kazia saying "If you do it again I'll report you!". Lastly, it would reverse back to Robert saying "But I didn't!". The problems that we had with this was the transitions and keeping the shot in the same position. We forgot that we had to film Robert in the same angle twice, and since we couldn't re-watch the footage on the camera, we had to re-arrange the position by remembrance.
For our last shot, we chose to use a Medium Long Shot (which was the same as the first shot). Luckily I had remembered where I had originally positioned the camera, so I was able to capture it on a similar angle (because we forgot to film it along with the first shot). We filmed this shot perfectly fine however, Kazia accidentally made a tiny mistake. She was supposed to walk off into the corridor but she just walked onto the side, so we didn't actually see her leave on camera. Hopefully, no one will notice this minor mistake but the whole group definitely learnt their lesson.
When we captured our footage into Final Cut Pro, I was pretty surprised I remembered the format setting which was "DV-PAL". Ms Rosati gave the whole class a small review on the basics of Final Cut Pro. Even though I had used this editing software last year, I was pretty happy we reviewed the tools because I had forgotten some of them during the summer holidays. While capturing, we compared the shot reverse shots and we could really notice the difference between the first and second trial. We were only allowed to cut out the shots we wanted ON the preview of the sequence and put it out on the timeline. We weren't allowed to edit it any further. However, I took the instructions differently and highlighted the whole clip whereas we were only supposed to select all the shots we wanted. This was supposed to make it easier for us and have the clips already on the timeline in order. One main thing I was worried about was the transitions between our shots. After watching our footage, I realized how our transitions would be pretty abrupt because of all the noticeable background noise. However, we had no time to figure the situation out before the lesson ended, so we just had to export what we had and give it to Ms Rosati.
For our homework, Ms Rosati had us create a movie poster for out challenge shoot.
Overall, I learnt a lot of information today that I know will help me with this unit. I felt it was a great start and I hope to do more challenge shoots again.
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