Last lesson, we had our first challenge shooting. In this challenge shoot, I was able to review the information I learnt last class about the camera, the shoe, the tripod and using gravity to your advantage, and also information and framing proportions from the TV I watch so frequently. I also had a brief glance at the boom microphone that my group mate, William borrowed. The only real thing I learnt from my glance was that when packed up, the battery should not be inside the microphone. Right from the start, our maturity and observational skills were tested as the cameras laid out for us were those used by younger grades. After swapping old cameras for the digital HD film cameras along with the batteries, we discussed who would be acting and who would be filming, the story (final line said), the setting, and made a basic lesson plan for this shoot. The story we had to bring to life was that of a cheating classmate in school life: the victim confronts the cheater, and the cheater is in denial. They argue for five lines and the ending is left for us directors to create. The main purpose of this challenge shooting however was not our acting skills, but rather a focus on cinematography and choreographic skills. I learned the terms of different shots, including long shots (for entrances and exits), medium close ups, over the shoulder shots (for conversations), and shot reverse shots (also used to show a conversation between two people).
My group decided to film the confrontation in a classroom, giving the audience a better feel as to what the argument is going to be about, being between two students (in uniform, in a classroom). We worked efficiently together, setting up the camera and tripod, clearing the shot of unwanted obstacles such as chairs and desks and got filming. The only technical problem we had while filming was that the boom microphone did not work, or at least the data was not read inside the camera and so when we filmed using a microphone, we ended up without any audio. It was a good thing William suggested we get earphones to check if there was audio in the first shot, instead of waiting until we imported to find that we had no audio to go with the footage. To combat this problem, we simply unplugged the external microphone and relied on the internal microphone built into the camera. We worked smoothly with William’s experience as a previous film student, Justin’s good communication and cooperation skills and ideas and my simple knowledge from all the TV drama episodes I watch. We filmed at least 3 takes of each shot for editing purposes, and were back in the studio in no time, importing files into the Macs. Through this importing process, I learnt the first steps of Final Cut Pro, using the viewfinder to select your footage instead of dragging the clips directly from the bin. This organized, methodical process helps keep the working space organized and allows you to select sections of the clip to use right from the start, making work more efficient.
All in all, I’m very pleased with what my group accomplished last lesson and plan to complete it in the next opportunity given. We stayed on task throughout the challenge, cooperated, collaborated and communicated well, sharing ideas and taking turns to direct and edit to create the best piece possible in the time allocated. We could however, be more responsible and think for ourselves, not relying on another person to get the correct equipment out, but rather checking the equipment ourselves. The hard criticism Ms. Rosati gave us at the end of class will be a reminder to me for whenever I use equipment or do a task in the field.
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