Practice Filming Session

A few lessons back we were put into our groups of four to create our thriller. The storyboard had to relate to a newspaper and was given to us to make a practice thriller. We were given the minimum of 12 shots in which we had to create this sense of mystery and suspense including an over the shoulder shot, point of view shot and an extreme close up. We firstly put together ideas and gradually broadened on the ones we thought will work really well. Making sure we had all our 12 shots we then were given an introduction into how to use the Final Cut Pro software to edit and finalise our thrillers. In this introduction we were shown how to insert clips, soundtracks, text and effects. We also were taught how to cut between clips using input and output and pasting relevant clips together.

In our second lesson we watched a presentation which was made by Mickey the technician were we were guided on how to use the camera, how so switch it on, putting in the tape, putting in the battery and turning the camera off. After watching the presentation we tried it ourselves and were assessed by a member of staff. We were also shown how to use the tripod which we were taught how to place the camera on the tripod securely and safely. After the presentation and testing we were ready to go and record to make our practise thriller opening.

Pebbles was recording and we were quite happy with the camera work of our practical because even though most of out shots looked out of focus and shaky we came up with an idea and made the shots look like it was images caught on CCTV. The majority of our shots were successful and they were the high angle shots that were captured from the 3rd floor of college which gave the effect of Miles caught on CCTV. We found hard one particular panning shot which was when Miles was running down Goswell road, the speed of Miles and the camera interfered as we were not able to get the speed of the camera right so his head got cut off mainly so we had to repeat capturing the shot more than three times to capture it perfect. Our time was up and we had to take back out equipment and edit the next lesson.

Our next lesson came and we couldn’t wait to see our footage. We were watching our footage and saw we had some great clips that we could include to create suspense. We used Final Cut Pro again to edit so we placed all our chosen footage on the time line and previewed it. We saw that most clips worked really well which we were happy with. We inserted some fades so out clips were not obvious that it was an edit. Also we inserted an effect that made our footage look like it was from an actual CCTV camera. We used a technique like this because unfortunately Pebbles my accident recorded over some of out footage but we solved the problem and so we watched it back and it looked realistic with one shot running into another.

We used the college surroundings and the street to record our practice thriller. We recorded outside in the freezing cold and for a while thought we were going to freeze to death. We used a collection of space as we were experimenting and filming in different angles and placed to make our practise thriller interesting to watch.

We tried to create an element of suspense through the effects of our CCTV camera footage as it looked like someone was spying on Miles. And also when we see Topaz coming out the building, dropping the newspaper in suspense and disguise but then the paper is seen by Miles which comes to collect to read. More suspense was created where we see Mile’s hand picking up the newspaper and then the camera panning around his head to catch the reaction on his face. We also have a chance to see what’s written inside the paper. We then have more suspense as Miles is running down the road with the newspaper in his hand constantly looking back to see if anyone is behind him. This creates suspense because our audience doesn’t know why Miles is running but is sure that they would like to find out.

We forgot to check if the tripod was visible when we were recording as it was reflecting into our footage and the final thing we forgot was to start filming from were we left off from so we do not record over what we had recorded already.

I think we used some conventions from real films as CCTV footage is shown in some crime thrillers, e.g. police cameras, shop cameras etc. Also where Miles was running as in most thrillers you have similar excitement and action. We have used Miles as our leading role and all thrillers have a hero or a superman.

We received a lot of positive feedback from our teachers as they thought the camera work and editing was great. I learnt a lot from the practise filming session as we never had any vast problems. However created a lot of ideas and excitement that came to mind about our actual thriller opening, I cannot wait. =)