The End of an Era for Green Gage Entertainment

So our hand in was yesterday and everything is completed, we had a final get together yesterday to double and triple check everything was OK and mix our sound. I'm really happy with the way our group worked together and I think that's why our piece has come out so well. Working with a group of boys I did think my opinion might of been ignored at times but it wasn't at all. They listened to my opinions, and ideas I had for the script and final editing were used. Matt and Sean did most of the editing however we were all together throughout the whole process, suggesting things that others may not have considered which I think worked really well. Also small things such as continuity in the piece, things I noticed they may not have thought of.

To begin with we had a lot of ideas on the recession and unemployment, firstly coming up with the idea of following an unemployed person who was struggling to get a job. However finding it near impossible to find a contributor and feeling that our piece was lacking something meant we came up with the idea of using myself as a student pondering my future in the media industry. This worked really well and gave the project a personal touch and an emotional journey to follow. It also relates well to all students in the university as we had Rob Mear's a lecturer at the uni and Don Foster Bath's local Lib Dem MP.

Today we had a final look at everyone projects to give feedback. This is a good exercise as it gives us an idea of what other people think of the project and things we could of changed or done differently. However we had really good feedback from the group and the only criticism they had was the angle at which Don Foster was filmed was the wrong side. But due to the room being very small and Don Foster being in a rush the day we were filming we had no choice but to film that way.

I think in future projects I wouldn't change much as I think everything went well. However we did loose our vox pops so I think labelling the tapes and logging our clips more carefully, so I would of changed that if I could. I also would of done a little more camera work and editing but overall I think the piece looks very professional and I'm really happy with the way our group worked together.

Lidl Love

So Lidl Love is finally finished. I'm happy with my final piece and really enjoyed filming with my Nan and Grandad. Because they were a little uneasy behind the camera at times I decided to leave it rolling in between takes, getting some really good outtakes. And they were so funny and I think portrayed my Nan and Grandad's relationship more than the actual 3 minute film that I decided to include them at the end which they were happy for me to do.

I had a few problems when shooting ( mainly them starring into the camera lens!! ) for example I wanted some shots of their lovely garden and my Grandad watering the flowers for cut aways but unfortunately some neighbours from up the street were very noisy so I couldn't use some of the footage. And although I did pick this up on the sound it was impossible to get them to be quiet so I just had to do the best I could with what I had. Another thing I think I needed to do was to shoot the cutaways for a longer period of time. For example shots of the flowers etc I didn't shoot for long enough so tried to slow them down on Final Cut but this can ruin the quality and make them look jumpy and uneasy on the eye. Another problem was lighting; as I filmed in the kitchen the light from outside appears to change the darkness of the picture as the sun goes in and out of the clouds. It's not a major problem and can be solved by colour correction on Final Cut. However I don't want to do too much to it because I don't want it to look unnatural.

But other than those few minor problems I really enjoyed making the project and am happy with my final piece.

Lighting Demo

I attended a lighting demo over the Easter break so thought I'd put up a few pictures from the day. I really enjoyed the demo because it was hands on and we were taught how to put up the lights and pack them back away as well as how to position them. We also were taught about 2 point lighting in which 2 lights are placed on the subject at different angles. This creates a shadow so depending on what kind of look you're going for usually a 3rd light is added, a key light, which fills the background. Or another way to fill the background would be to use a spot light which has a kind of iris which you can adjust to make the background look more interesting.

As well as the lighting demo I also attended a grip demo. Although we don't necessarily need the grip equipment just yet, I thought it would be a good idea to get a head start. This was also really hands on and we were able to set up the equipment, experiment with it, and then pack it away again. This will be useful for future film projects next year.