The dynamics in my group were extremely positive. We all wanted to be entirely sure that the work was evenly distributed between the three of us. Although only one of us filmed each section of the thriller, we always made sure that there were at least two of us on location at the same time. This meant that should a problem arise with the equipment or location we would not be left alone to sort it out. The majority of our editing was done separately for the simple reason that there was not enough room for us all to be editing at the same time. We did however meet up once or twice a week and discuss the changes we had made to the thriller and what changes still needed to be made. We scheduled time for each of us to work on editing, this meant we all knew when the computer would be free to use for our section of thriller. We set minor deadlines for ourselves so we knew that everything would not be left until the last minute.
The first 12 seconds of the thriller were incredibly difficult to film. Filming across from the pub would give us a perfect establishing shot however we faced the problem of having a busy main road in between us. I needed to film the establishing shot for at least 15 consecutive seconds. Unfortunately problems arose in the form of busses. Whilst having a bus in the shot would have added credibility to the urban theme of the thriller they also blocked the pub's sign therefore ruining the shot. It took me no less than nine attempts to shoot an adequate amount of uninterrupted footage.
Filming the beginning section of the thriller was very different to how we filmed the rest of it. The majority of the section (second 12-26) was filmed using a hand held camera. The result of this was to produce a point of view shot. Shooting the pub through the window (second 15) created difficulties as the reflection of myself and the camera would be reflected by the glass, and therefore filmed. In order to prevent this I had to film at an angle which would make not cause the unwanted reflection. It took several attempts to find this correct method. I faced the same problem filming the second part of the sequence as I had in the first however this time instead of busses people kept interrupting the shot. The camera attracted a fair amount of attention from members of the public passing by and people kept slowing down to watch as I filmed. This ruined the deserted atmosphere that I was trying create, and meant that the shots had to be repeated numerous times.
Editing my section was a great deal harder than filming it, particularly as I was unused to the software and found it difficult getting to grips with the features. Before I began to edit my section of the thriller I spent a lot of time practicing and getting to know the programme we were using until eventually I understood it. Editing the first twelve seconds was possibly the most difficult. Due to the fact that the pub was built on a steep hill the camera angle was very slanted. I managed to shift the angle slightly, making it seem less slanted but found it impossible to straighten it completely. The traffic that had caused trouble filming again bothered me whilst editing. Due to the cars driving past it was nearly impossible to cut and edit to sections together because the car would be on screen one second and then disappear the next causing a break in the continuity. The sound too was difficult but once I figured out the logistics it became relatively simple.
The filming and editing did not come naturally to me but I spent a long time practicing and learning the skills needed. My methods (after some tweaking) and organisational skills helped me to create the first 26 seconds of our thriller
We produced more than we had originally believed we could due to the digital technology. I had never before used a camera of that size and ability and was surprised by the quality of the footage produced by it. The digital technology was wonderful when producing sound, the ability to download and create sound bridges gave the thriller a whole new level. However the technology did have some flaws, mainly when it came to lighting. Although lighting could be dimmed using a darker white balance or the editing software there were certain things that could not be changed. For example we had numerous problems with the bathroom lighting, that unfortunately we were not able to fully change to meet our creative ideas.
The main technological help whilst researching was the website ‘Youtube’ : www.youtube.com . Youtube gave us access to inspirational clips from other films as well as ideas for our own. We used Ipods and Itunes to hear sounds that we thought could work well in our thriller. DVD footage also enabled us to watch full length thrillers from which we could pick up on larger elements used.
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