Card game Practice film- Set 2-group 9

last thursday Gez gave us a sheet on what out practice film had to be about. the film had to include a pack of cards,over the shoulder shot, ECU and a tracking shot.
when filming we used different camera shots. i was happy with the close ups that we filimed as it managed to show certain emtions tht we wanted to get across to the audience E.g nervousnes. the shot that i thought was the most successful was the over the shoulder shot, as it alloweed the audience to see a characters point of view from the other actor. i also thought it helped to bring tension.
i thought the editing went well, however whe we tried to try something different, like putting someones voice a certain clip without seeing the clip in which that person was speaking we found it diffcult to do so. however when we continued edititng it was successful because when out short film was put togthere it made sense.
when filiming i felt that i learned alot abut mise on scene. for example, the pack of cards within the shor film allowed the audience to gather what the film would be about, alos it gace a clear understanding of what the film was going to be about instead of making the audience confused on what the story would be about.
yes, we managed to create and element of suspense. for example, at the ending of the film when Tope wins the game and Lemar says 'its not over' Tope replys 'it is' and closes the door behind her, while as soon as she lives Lemar is on the phone. this shows suspense as the audience does not know what will happen next. i feel that the lighting used within the room helped to create the suspense but also i feel that the dialogue used and the tone of voices also helped to create it.
sometimes when filming i forgot to fill up the space above the ctors head and sometimes we will forget to film extra 5 seconds before and mainly after each shot.
i think we used a couple of conventions from from real thriller films. for axample, the use of the close-up shot, over the shoulder shot, put also the dark lighting used and the digetic sound however we was unable to put in a soundtrack as we had not finished editing.
Gez thought that our short film so far is the best that he has seen within our class, however we have not finished editing.
i thought that our practice short film went really well and we all contributed as a group so no pressure was put on anyone. we also gave ideas towards the film which the group took in a gave their opinions. overall i believed that the practice film wen t really well and that when it comes to make our own thriller i would learnn from the mistakes made and our actually film would be alot better.

Camcorder Tutorial

During this lesson we were put into our groups and we were told we were going to watch a tutorial on how to use the camcorders. We were provided with a camcorder, tape and tripod. There were two different types of camcorders the Canon XM1 and Canon XM2, the camcorders are very similar but have slight differences so we had to make sure we knew which camcorder we were working with. My group was using the Canon XM1.

The tutorial taught us how to:
-Insert the tape into the camcorder
-Open and close the camcorder
-How to place the camcorder on the tripod
-How to make sure we are recording
-Rewind and watch what we had previously recorded
-Make the tripod go really high or really low
-Open and close the tripod

Once we had finished watching the tutorial we were each given turns to try and use the equipment. E.g insert the tape into the camcorder, open and close the tripod. Once we finished using the equipment each group was told to go and record our film. I had previously told my group about booking the library's group study room and they thought it was a good idea. We took the camcorder, tape and tripod. Lamar had brought his own set of cards which was easier. We went to the group study room and switched off the lights in order to create suspense. Unluckily the room was still very bright because there were blinds and light was still able to come through. We decided that it didn't matter and that we should continue on with the filming. Whilst we were in class we came to a conclusion of our roles. Me and Lamar were going to be the actors whilst Kai and Karel were going to do the filming. There were tables and chairs in the room all we had to was arrange them. We took one small sized table and placed it near a wall. Lamar sat on the chair which leant on the wall. We did this so that Lamar looked as though he had some sort of power, which was the part of the aim in our film.

Practice Filming

During our media lesson we were given a sheet of paper which told us that in the next lesson we must film a card game being played but we must make in thrilling. The sheet said that we need two players, a set of cards and a table. we were then put into groups and told to think of ideas for the filming. Being told this I went home and thought of many different ideas that would make the card game interesting. I decided that I would rent the library group study room for one hour so that me and my group will be able to work somewhere that we will have privacy and not have to worry about people constantly interfering with our work. Also the group study room had tables which made it a lot easier for us. I also came up with an idea that we should put off the lights and have flashlights shining on each of our payers faces, this is because it will add suspense to the game.