Camera
When filming the camera our group used was the Canon 700D. This camera is of a high quality and therefore gives a very professional feel to the video. The camera had a number of functions in which helped us when filming. The 180’ flip screen allows shots to be taken from close range, therefore making them more clear and steady. This was very useful when shooting the red rose footage and the phone footage, as the 180’ allowed me to get close to the props and therefore focus on it making the picture appear clearer and of a better quality. Ultimately, from filming one thing i learnt was the 180’ screen allows me t get much closer when filming, giving me much clearer and more effective footage. Moreover, the from using the camera i also learnt that there is a grid option when filming. This means that when filming you can ensure your footage is at the right angle and what you are filming is in the right position in the footage. This feature was very effective for filming skateboarding shots. In-addition n class we were also taught how to focus the camera on specific objects, this once again helped when filming props. The focus lessons also helped create mood and atmosphere when filming, focusing helped us mirror our narrative based on love via filming props. However there are also a number of disadvantages to the cameras, for example the memory cards had little storage so therefore filled up easy, this therefore meant some footage wouldn't save. Moreover, there was one camera which didn't allow you to play back footage, therefore meaning there was no way of playing back footage to see if the shot is sufficient. As a result, of this i used an alternate camera to overcome the playback issue and i removed footage on the memory card before using cameras to avoid storage issues. Ultimately from using the camera equipment i learnt a variety of things which helped me during the filming process.
Tripod
Another piece of equipment used for our music video was a tripod. The tripod was beneficial and effective when taking a variety of camera shots. For instance, when taking the long shots for the skateboarding the tripod allowed me to stay steady. Moreover, the tripods are very smooth so this therefore gave meant long shots appear both smooth and steady.Furthermore the height of the tripod can also be adjusted, this allowed me to get some effective shot angels during the dancing and skateboarding, The low and high shots helped us inforce superiority and inferiority. For example, the low angle shots were used to during the dancing to shows the female's mental superiority within the narrative. In-addition, within our music video we used a number of different locations when filming. The tripod is light which therefore was beneficial as it was very transportable allowing us to film where we needed too. However, the tripod did not however have a bag meaning sometimes the tripod was hard to carry due to the shape of the tripod.
Editing software
In-addition, the editing software in which i used to edit footage was adobe premier pro. I experienced a number of problems with this software in which i needed to overcome. For instance, last year when uploading my footage and editing it, the footage would appear muted, As a result of this i learnt from last year and therefore corrected my errors by ensuring i uploaded the file in a different format. Moreover, another problem experienced was titling each clip. Last year i left all clips with the formated titling, this meant it was very hard to distinguish what clip was which. Trying to distinguish between clips was very time consuming, as a result of this i ensured all my clips were titled to avoid the same problem. Moreover, from using the software i became more accustomed to the amount of special effects you can put on your footage. As a result of this, i discovered split screen, i used this to signify to the audience the relationship between the two characters. This was beneficial as it highlighted the relationship between the two. Moreover, on the editing software i learnt how to slow and speed things up, this was very useful when filming the skateboarding footage, as it allowed us to match up the speed of the skating with the beat of the song. The ability to slow and speed footage up helped us create an urban relatable environment for young people. This helped bring realism to the viewers. Another thing i learnt when using premiere pro as editing software, was the ability to manipulate brightness of the footage, this allowed me to make footage appear fitting to the mood of love. The altered brightness on the footage helped us mirror and therefore reinforce the narrative.
Led Light
Another piece of equipment i used was an LED light. However this was not used for much footage as the majority of our filming was done in day time. During the various skating footage the LED was however used, this allowed me to make the skating shots to appear clearer, giving the footage a much more clean and professional look.
Task Four: How have your skills developed over the course of the production