Directing and Performance - Film B Evaluation - 9th March

Wednesday 9th March 2016             Directing and Performance          Lecture: Andy and Lucy

Evaluation for Film B - Including classroom work

We were asked to get into small groups, we would allocate a preferred job role we would like to work on throughout the film i.e. Cinematographer, Production Designer, Creative Producer, Editor or the Director of Actors. After working on Film A I thought about changing to a different role but I really wanted to pursue the Cinematography role, I wanted to use this project as a chance to gather an understanding for how to set the lights up on the shoot, I wanted to give myself a real challenge by having the responsibility of setting up the cameras and the lighting for the shoot location. Towards the end, I worked as the co-editor for the project to create the final piece along with Josh who was the editor.

Here is a link to the screen test that I filmed and edited within the first lesson of Film B, I explored how to capture facial expressions, movement in front of camera, I wanted to play around with the lights and camera angles to ensure that I could capture different body movements, the hands moving was my main focus point as well as close-ups on the actors faces.

Directing and Performance - Screen Test from Luke Curno on Vimeo.

Here is a link to the blog post, containing notes from the first planning session for Film B.
http://lukecurnopca.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/monday-15th-february-2016-directing-and.html

What I liked

Planning: I thought that the actors interacted within the group chat on Facebook that we set up, we set them a task to generate their own character profiles for the film, they all contributed well and we managed to get each profile which myself and Danielle (Director of Actors) were able to use to create the script, it worked well that we gave them a copy of the script a week before the shoot, this provided them with enough time to practise ideas, get to grips with the main concepts for each of the four scenes that we had created.

As the cinematographer for this project, I feel like it worked by myself reviewing existing films with similar scenes to that of the bar scene that we wanted to achieve, I wanted to see if I could re-create the bar scene from the film "The Fighter" (Directed by David. O Russell), I picked up on the idea that this whole scene was shot handheld which I tried to re-create, adding motion into the frame as well as shooting the piece as if it was from a spectators point of view. I referred back to the annotations that I did on the script as well as an additional shot list that I had on my phone.

Here is a blog post which shows the annotations that I made to the script once the director of actors had finished writing the scenes and ideas for the content of our short film.
http://lukecurnopca.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/directing-and-performance-film-b-bafi104.html

Filming: I thought that the idea of having a test shoot before hand was great, as the cinematographer I was able to play around with the lighting on location, decide on the best camera angles for each scene in the short film, I played around with the zoom, the ISO and took a lot of cutaway footage around the bar, I wanted to explore the idea of changing the focus on certain shots to give the idea that the character would be falling asleep, linking back to our idea in the script of the shy girl starting to feel sick, edited as if it's from her point of view, both fast and slow shots to be suitable for an editing montage of the night. I thought that the actors and the crew worked together well to collaborate to achieve a high-quality film, I worked closely with the director of actors in order to capture the scene, the sound man to ensure that the boom or any shadows weren't cast within the scene, I worked with the editor to think whilst shooting, how would these shots be edited together, would we need more closeups etc. I worked with the production designer and creative producer to think about what would be needed on the shoot to make it feel as if a night out, bottles, pills, lights, colours, clothes etc.

Editing: I thought that the editing stage worked well, again it was a collaborative effort, by having other people at this stage, we were able to bounce ideas off one another which changed pieces of the film around. Myself, Danielle and Josh worked together to arrange the clips into a rough edit which we will work further on for next Monday, we will have a rough edit to work from and the clips that we have planned to use have been renamed so easier for the editor to locate and import into Premiere Pro.

What I didn't like;

Planning: Although as a group the crew were organised throughout this project, I thought that the majority of actors in our group were awful at arranging their time, they never seemed to be free. I thought that it was hard  to interact with the actors, even though we created a Facebook chat, one of the actors doesn't have Facebook, we continuously asked the actors to keep each other updated with the progress, any shooting dates etc.

Filming: We had organised 3 dates where we were going to film, the first date was proposed for a week after the test shoot, everyone agreed but then one of the actors had told us the day we were filming that they couldn't make it, we already had the equipment booked and everything which was a bit annoying, so we had to redo our bookings on multiple occasions to fit their availability. It was annoying for the toilet scene, on the back of the cubicle there was a mirror where the flush was, it took quite a lot of attempts to avoid getting myself and other members of the crew in the frame. One of the main problems that we came across through shooting was from the test shoot, the sound equipment that had been taken out hadn't been checked, the zoom was making a crackling noise, we tried different XLR leads and plugging it into the camera but nothing was working, meant that we had to cancel the shoot, I used this time to film as many cut away shots as I could, thinking about glasses, bottles, pumps, pipes, boxes, pictures, anything that would work as short clips for a montage of the night.

Here is a blog post to the first shoot that we did.
http://lukecurnopca.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/directing-and-performance-22nd-february.html

Editing: I think that we could have done with more time for the edit, once we had finished the filming it felt as if we had long enough to complete a decent edit, however I feel like if we had more time, we could have added more sound effects, chosen the music more to fit "The Fighter", thought more about what was going on around the characters as they were talking, I had input on the edit as well,  myself and Josh used work from the shot list and annotating the script which well for the shooting as well as the editing.

Here is a link to my blogpost analysing the bar scene in "The Fighter".
http://lukecurnopca.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/directing-and-performance-4.html

What I think could be improved;

Planning: i think that we could have organised a time to meet the actors throughout the weeks but it seemed as if they weren't available to shoot at the same times we were, they were restricted to the time that they had to keep in contact with us, we still used the film chat on Facebook but I think the extra meeting could have helped with the character profiles and dates to film since one of the actors didn't have a Facebook account.

Filming: I think that I could have taken a few more cutaway shots, make the montage that Josh edited, make it really fast paced, have a variety of slow motion and fast shots to act as if time was passing by, make it feel like a proper night out, the lights could have been dimmed in the room a bit and the additional lighting from the LED panels could have been increased a bit to cast a few shadows when the actors walked past each other within the frame.

Editing: Again I think that we could have used more time to edit the piece together, instead of watching just the Bar scene from the film "The Fighter", I could have watched other scenes from the film.

Overall: Overall I think that the team worked really well together to cooperate throughout the shoot everyone was there to lend a hand on different scenarios, the fact that we managed to get extras from other actors, this helped to make the bar seem busy, helping to form cutaway shots.

Here are loads of shots from our film shoot to show the team as we worked together to collaborate on the shoot.

References

The Fighter - Bar Scene: Erkin Dogrucu. (2012). The Fighter - Bar Scene . [Online Video]. 30 March. Available from:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BCSF-GW-7k. [Accessed: 07 March 2016].

Note: I didn't have enough space on my Vimeo to upload the FILM A or B so I can't evidence it here, however they are placed in the google drive folders. 

Directing and Performance - 4th March

Monday 7th March 2016                 Directing and Performance           Lecturer: Andy and Lucy

Planning Work and Shoots

We as the crew have been ready to shoot twice in these past two weeks but the actors keep delaying the shoots due to the work that they have, this has decreased the amount of time that we actually have to shoot and edit our FILM B project which is quite annoying. Never the less, the crew have used the time wisely working together to come up with ideas for filming, lighting, creating mood reels, looking at existing videos, picking up on choice of editing techniques, trying to understand the types of aesthetics that we want our project to contain. I have been working closely with the editor to expand on the shot list I created, I have worked with the director to organise shoots and to provide a list of equipment that will be required for the shoot. I have worked alongside the rest of the crew to talk about the actors performances from the first test shoot that we all created. We thought that the barmaid could have been looking more busy throughout the piece, she sort of stood off camera until the other characters wanted to buy a drink, we took on board what Lucy evaluated when I showed the test shoots to give her an idea of the idea, shot angles, the fact that this was supposed to be the establishing shot for our piece. 

We are planning to film the whole piece tomorrow at Marjons, the test shots have given us an idea of locations, places to film, as the cinematographer it has given me an idea that I would like to make the cutaway shots a lot more focused around what's in the bar, make them longer to give a feel of disorientation. I now know a possible lighting set up that I could stick with, I know where I would like the cameras placed for the establishing shot, we know that we want the music to be turned off as well in the bar, could interfere with the sound recorder.

We had a group meeting today, Lucy showed us a film that we could have a glance at to come up with some ideas for the content in our short film, I realised the ideas of sharp camera movements, the fact that the scene was set at a bar just like ours, we started to think about how we could show that the pace was busy, I started to look at the way that the people moved within the frame, did anyones shoulder become visible within the frame. For example in the film "The Fighter", we were able to notice that the camera wasn't stable, I noticed that the cameraman had shaken the camera, helped to add an element of movement into he frame, the whole piece seemed to flow well, I liked the way that the shots were framed, there were a lot of close ups to show facial expressions, the way that the over the shoulder frames were put together.

I thought that from the test shoot we did, the lighting conditions were similar to that of The fighter, I am still going to go with the idea of the two LED panels as well as the two XF100 cameras.

In the meeting I thought of raising the point that the actors should interact more with each other, showing that they are into the idea i.e. the barmaid to look busy, the shy girl to interact with her drink, I thought that the sounds should be chosen carefully to bring the visuals to life i.e. lots of reverb, a glass smashing, dialogue changed slightly to sound echoey, only an idea.

References

The Fighter - Bar Scene: Erkin Dogrucu. (2012). The Fighter - Bar Scene . [Online Video]. 30 March. Available from:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BCSF-GW-7k. [Accessed: 07 March 2016].

Directing and Performance - 22nd February

Monday 22 February 2016          Module: Directing and Performance    Lecturer: Andy and Lucy

Film A Screening and Film B Development

For the first part of the lesson, we spent the time watching other groups short films, I liked the use of colours, the sound design that individuals have created over time, the majority of groups went for the technique of Projection, whereas my group chose to use Green Screen, I think looking at the idea of projection I was able to gather an understanding of how this could be shown across visually. I liked the types of camera angles that I had shot for our film, they were similar to the close ups that the other groups were achieving, I especially liked one shot from the film "Interrogation" where the opening shot appeared elongated, helping to set the scene for the film, I felt whilst watching that the characters were in a wide opened space, however when everyone was getting interrogated in front of the frame, I felt as if the space around them closed up, it was as if the actors were invading each others space.

Towards the second part of the lesson I took the time to head up to ERC as I wanted to find out a few things about the camera, my group are planning to film our first shoot tomorrow, the camera of choice will be the XF100, this was decided as a group from last lesson, looking back on the types of films that we have created so far and the capabilities that we have been able to achieve using this particular camera. I will be able to adjust the shutter speed on the camera according to the movement within the frame, I will be able to use the gain option to make the frame brighter but I was made aware that this would add a lot of noise onto the camera's image, could lead to the film quality becoming grainy. I will have to play around with the lights accordingly but myself and Nat have teamed together so that he can move the additional LED lighting whilst I check the frame to see the difference that it is making, call out any ideas for repositioning the lighting, working with the director to achieve the shot that they require, whilst giving my own input into the shot positioning.

I generated a list of equipment that I thought would be needed for the filming tomorrow;

2 x XF100 Camera's, 2 Libec Tripods, 2 x LED panels, 2 x  2  x Extension 4 way plug, Card reader and USB lead, Zoom H4N Recorder, XLR Lead, Boom Mic Recorder etc.

Out on our test shoot: Myself and Nathaniel booked out the above equipment, I made sure that I checked everything that we had booked out to make sure that it was all working efficiently, made sure that nothing was loose and that everything was secured. I did notice that one of the tripod feet were missing but I slipped a bar mat underneath the leg to make sure that the tripod was stable, it worked well.

Anyway, once we got to the location, as the cinematographer I started to charge the batteries whilst I set up all the lighting equipment and cameras, then I started to position everything for the first shot, where the two actors were sat at the bar talking about their weekends, as well as ordering more drinks.

The actors wanted some pen and paper as well as a copy of the script to read which I had brought with me, I set up a camera either side of the bar to capture different angles of the actors and the lights as they were projected across the wall in the background of the frame.

We had trouble with the sound which threw the whole production out of proportion, I couldn't believe that whoever got out the sound equipment they obviously hadn't checked the equipment to make sure that it was working and that it was all compatible, we worked out that there was something wrong with the zoom recorder, I used the time when everyone was chatting to get loads of camera angles and cut away shots for the majority of scene 3 (ED Scene), everything is hand-held and I added some camera shake to make it look as if it was from the POV of the actor as if they were hungover.

The cut-away shots that I managed to capture were close ups of drinks panning shots for coolers, pumps, beer bottles, cups, mugs, glasses, slot machines, darts board, crisps, boxes etc.

Here are some pictures from the shoot:

Directing and Performance - Film B 17th- BAFI104

Wednesday 17th February 2016       Module: Directing and Performance     Lecturer: Andy and Lucy

Planning Work - Developing the idea

Today myself and Danielle met up from our group, we had been talking in the FB chat, the majority of the actors have created their character profiles and so Danielle created a drafter script for our film b project, included the messages, morals, character structure and what she wants to happen in each scene. As the cinematographer I took it upon myself to ask her to print out the script so that I could have a copy but also so that I could annotate different camera angles and lighting setups that could be used, I have again been doing similar research too that of film A about the types of cameras, looking at existing footage that I have shot, reading through the script I was able to create some shots in my head which could be used

Here is the script with the annotations that I have made, i thought that I would upload this to show my research and contribution to the group so far, as well as attending the meeting with Danielle where we have created a concrete idea on the whole film, hopefully I can achieve this as the cinematographer, I want to experiment a lot more with lighting for this project, getting to grips about the best lighting set ups, where it looks best, best was to light the frame and show of the characters.

We are currently chatting with the actors in the group chat on Facebook, posting links and ideas and trying to generate their character profiles a lot more, we are awaiting conformation on our location, whether we can shoot their and then we shall arrange a date to have a test shoot, myself and Danielle will arrange this and then let the group know what is happening shortly after.

I have told Danielle that I will now try to look at a few part films, scenes in a bar an see how they are shot, what kind of camera angles, trying not to steer away from the establishing shots she had in mind, I will also try to talk to peers in other groups who are doing cinematography, see if we can benefit by helping each other with ideas.

Script - Film B - with my annotations

Directing and Performance - FILM A Evaluation - 17th February - BAFI104

Wednesday 17th February 2016        Module: Directing and Performance     Lecture: Andy and Lucy

Evaluation for Directing and Performance Film A - Including the classwork - BAFI104 

We began the module off by meeting the actors and familiarising ourselves with the Marjons University Campus, getting to grips with the kinds of locations that we could use which were on site, most of which we filmed at for our test shot films, of which we created two, my groups were called "The Mirror" which was about voices being overheard inside a teenager boys head, messing with his mind talking about that they know what he has done. this film itself received great feedback, I was the editor and the sound tech for this specific film, I wanted to get to grips with testing out the equipment and try out a different role which I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of, the team were working hard, generating new ideas.

Here is the film that I managed to edit together with the footage and sound, syncing it up with a loud clap at the start, great way to introduce the short film, filmed at Marjons in the toilets.

 
There is a Mirror (Short Film) - Directing and Performance from Luke Curno on Vimeo.

Another film that I created with a different group was generated through the script that a group member had written whilst listening to his housemates playing a game of FIFA, we took this to a whole new level as we got the actors to act as if they were spectators of a match out on the pitch, I was the cinematographer, helped with sound as well for this film, unfortunately the editor hasn't managed to finish the edit for this. Anyway we received great feedback for this film, they way that we used the spectator sign in the shot to annotate where the actors were, also everyone liked the idea of a few member of the group running up and down on the pitch with a ball as it gave the actors something to track as they watched us run up and down, constantly moving and even shooting the ball in time with their chants and screams from the side of the goal.

Film A Brief and Exeter Visit

Shortly after these films were created, in lesson we were given the brief for our first practical assessed film with the Marjon students of campus. We were told asked to get into groups based around the people on our table, the boys went together and the girls, we were then told that we would be travelling to Exeter City Centre for the next session, we would be set the task of collecting as much footage from the place, including a range of camera angles, picking the footage carefully as it was to be featured in the background of our studio footage. I gave full consideration to the sound design whilst out in Exeter, point the sound tech in the right direction in order to collect sound that would match the filming I had shot whilst out on location, I took a variety of camera anglesWhilst in Exeter we went to visit the Bill Douglas Museum where we would be shown different types of cameras, films, actors, genres and just a lot of interesting information about filmmaking, how it has progressed, advantages, downfalls and being able too see the types of antiques, books, comics, cameras, artifacts, work that others within the industry have created over time, helped to learn some of the techniques that have been used over time and about how they could be achieved, you just need a concrete idea and the drive to get on with it. The idea of visiting the museum was so as too learn the basics of using a device/mechanism to help create meaning / tell the story, something that we could think about using for our own project, we have chosen green screen.

Here is a link to my blogpost that I created when I was out on Exeter, shooting on location as well as noting the visit to the Bill Douglas museum. (INSERT BLOG LINK). 

http://lukecurnopca.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/directing-and-performance-18th.html

Job role

For this module I had the job of the cinematographer where I shot external and internal footage, in Exeter as I mentioned as well as the green screen footage at Plymouth College of Art in the green screen studio. However, my role expanded throughout this module as I took on a lot more job roles due to the lack of attitude from other group members, they didn't turn turn up to the majority of shoots, lessons or weren't on hand to help whilst out on location.

Here is a link to my blogpost from the green screen shoot, we just need to film one more scene which we will be planning to finish over the next few days, I feel like this blog post details my job roles and the extra work that myself and Janusz took on throughout the project.

Blogpost from first shoot too note the job role I had as well as the extra roles that I took on for this module. 

http://lukecurnopca.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/directing-and-performance-12th-feb.html

What I liked about Film A

Planning

I think that myself and Janusz worked really well together, myself researching the type of camera angles, locations to shoot before we actually went out to exteter, looking at existing film noir, watching films, annotating the script, constantly blogging about the progress of us two and the work that we were doing behind the scenes. I thought that Janusz had created a brilliant script, I thought that we had developed a short shot list but it was something and through the module I started to test out the camera, types of framing that I could create, researched into the lighting, types of lighting equipment that we were using and how to operate them, helped myself towards the shoot as I was able to set them up quickly which gave more time for the shoot and this was vital as it was only myself and Janusz who had turned up for the main shoot.

Filming

Firstly I liked the visit to Exeter, enjoyed filming out on location, experimenting with the camera to achieve different angles, pans and lots of cut away shots. I really pleased with the look of the Exeter footage, 3/6 people turned up to this shoot, we worked well as a team, directing each other what we wanted and started to think about how we would achieve, where the actors could be positioned in front of the frame for when we start to film the green screen footage. I think that it was a great idea of mine to run a few tests, i came up with the idea for the test shoot in the green screen room, from that session myself and Janusz were able to set up the lighting, green screen, laptop, camera, sound mic and any extra equipment that was required. Also I feel that by deciding to go out to the train station for some shooting, I was able to practice with the framing of shots, I think that I achieved many great camera shots from this shoot, myself and Janusz had the idea of these shots being used as cutaways for the green screen footage, help to establish a scene relating to the interview in our script, helping to drive the narrative forward.

I thought that despite all the complications, myself and Janusz worked well to inform the actors on what was going on and I think that we copped well with the amount of added pressure from all the extra roles that we took on.

I thought that the actors were really good, listened to what we told them, worked efficiently to achieve the product that we wanted, despite only having two of us on the main shoot. I thought that they learnt their lines well and it was good the way that they kept asking for us to critque them on their performances, if they wanted to re-shoot they let myself and Janusz know clearly which was good.

Here's a link to my blogpost from the first shoot that we carried out (INSERT BLOGLINK HERE).

http://lukecurnopca.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/directing-and-performance-12th-feb.html

Edit

I thought that I worked well, it wasn't my job but I went through the footage and labelled the clips that myself and Janusz wanted to use for the edit, I feel like this made it a lot easier for the editor to cut and chop the footage together, we already knew from the test shots which shots that we wanted too use, the types of camera angles and of course by looking at the script, myself and Janusz were able to order the shots. I thought that once the editor finally came in, he cracked on with it straight away and it started to come together, the clips worked well together and he knew what he was doing, myself and Janusz helped of course too show where we wanted the scripts, Dan wasn't too familiar with how we wanted the piece edited together, where we wanted the clips and whether we wanted anything cropped, or the duration shortened or perhaps exploring the possibility of colour correction to make the clips a little brighter.

What I didn't like 

Planning

There was nothing that I didn't like from the planning at all other than the fact that not everyone was present, which meant that it was only myself and Janusz who had contribution and research on hand to create something out off.

Filming

I didn't like the fact that not everyone was present at the filming, giving myself and Janusz a lot more to think about, having to get everywhere earlier to prepare, the fact that we had to take on extra roles which messed around with the time that we had but we just got on with it.

Edit

I didn't like the fact that the editing was left to the last minute, when editing we decided that we would shoot another scene for the ending of the film, otherwise the narrative might not come across clearly which was a really annoyance on my part, we filmed everything early and got the script and everything done, all they had to do was start editing and collect the footage, this meant that we now have to rush the filming for the last scene which we plan to do throughout the next few days, had to cancel plans that I had in place for filming my project outside of University.

What I think could be improved for future work

Planning

I think that the other members of the group should have contributions too the group work as well, I think that there should be someone else to arrange the actors, book the equipment out, do research on lighting, come up with sound effects and music for the background etc. I think that the booking should be put in place a lot earlier but it has been extremely difficult to arrange a time to film with the actors, they are in at different times than us, the group chats worked well though that we had with them on FB and the fact that we exchanged numbers at the start so as to ask them when they are available and let them know about the availability for booking out rooms and equipment.

Filming

I think that all of the members of the group should turn up too the lessons to understand how everything is going to work and I think that they should have a read of the script to get an understanding of the type of project we are trying to achieve.

Edit

I think that they should make a start as early as possible so as too leave the rest of the group and actors with plenty of time to re-shoot instead of leaving it to the last minute and then because the rooms are fully booked, the rest of the group have to work out an alternative for the location to shoot at.

Overall

Overall I liked my job role and working with Janusz in the group I feel like we came up with a great idea, executed the filming on the shoot well with the aid of Dan in Exeter for some of the filming, I feel like the actors were great on shoot as well as off shoot, it was hard to plan dates around them but we got through it, it would just be nice to have a lot more contribution, people to turn up to the shoot to lend a hand, and the whole crew to muscle together instead of leaving it to the last minute.

Directing and Performance 15th February - BAFI102

Monday 15th February 2016            Module: Directing and Performance    Lecture: Andy and Lucy

Introduction to Film B and recap on Film A

Note for Crew and Actors for Film B

Crew for Film B: 
Director of Actors: Danielle Young
Cinematographer: Luke Curno 
Editor: Josh Jones
Creative Producer: Danielle Mallett
Production Designer: Nathaniel Marklew
Sound Man: Dylan - Blue Heard

Actors for Film B
Chloe Carrubba - Shy Girl
Jaz Horth -  Outgoing Girl 
Adam Connolly - Brandon
Vicki Sherwood - Barmaid

Today we were given the introduction for Film B, we were split of into tables where we had to choose one of the scenarios of the 6 pages that had been placed in the middle. We were given the task of elaborating on our chosen scenario, being told to think about what could be going on in the short film, what type of camera angles, possible dialogue, trying to really set the scene. I chose the drama actors scenario, I thought that I could film the new actor who is coming into help teaching, frame it from there point of view, this would work with the idea I had about the rest of the class, to add an element of enigma to my film I thought about playing with the idea of never seeing the rest of the class, we as an audience can hear everything that is going on, he is staring directly back at them off camera. It made me think that is this could be a dream, could he be having a flashback to a recent classroom session, having doubts (could show through sweating) etc. I also thought that if the audience can’t see the crowd who are booing or cheering, could the noises just be voices within the teachers’ head, he’s already thinking I can’t do his and preparing himself for the possible outbreak ahead

Part 2

For the second part of the lesson we worked alongside the actors we had been given, got into our allocated groups for Film B, pitched our task 1 ideas from each individual member of the group, we tried to generate new ideas and pick one of the pitches to create a film for, thinking into locations, scenario, character profiles etc.

We watched a few clips of actors being placed in front of the camera for long periods of time, I found these clips interesting as it was amazing the way that their body posture, arm movements and even there mouth and eyes changed position over time, when the lady was blinking it gave me a sense of tiredness (her eyes drifted off very slightly to different directions), or perhaps she was thinking about someone who she has liked for a long time, started to play with her hair and crack a really faint smile now and then, also in the next clip we watched a man who was beginning to smile, kept raising and lowering himself which gave me the impression that he was nervous, he started to smile and look to the floor quite a lot, made me think that he was distracted about something/someone else, it felt almost as if he was laughing at himself or someone, got me thinking about whether our film could have a comical element, these were only ideas though don’t forget.

Part 3
Each group was set the task to create our own 90 sec piece, positioning our actors in front of the camera, I was really interested to find out how they would react towards what was going on with there peers around them, would they smile, move there body posture, we were given a 3 point lighting setup with Dae Doe lights, a cannon 600D, Manfrotto Tripod, Soft box and a few other pieces of equipment, as the director of cinematography I wanted to capture different areas of the body, changing the angles, focusing on key parts like the actors hands, face, their movement, their eyes etc. Really wanted to play around with the lights to cast shadows on their face using the reflector (give a behind the scene look, very mysterious), could have done with a few more ideas, it was harder than I first thought to direct the lighting, you know what you want in your head but to actually visually achieve that was a task but I was up for the challenge.

Here are the shots that I filmed and edited together with the aid of Danielle who kept changing the lighting, the actors who reacted naturally to their surroundings and the rest of the team for being on hand to help with ideas, even just moving around to see what the shots looked like from different angles.

Directing and Performance - 12th Feb - BAFI104

Friday 12th February 2016          Module: Directing and Performance    Lecturer: Andy and Lucy

Green Screen Shoot

Today myself and Janusz met in college, we headed up to the Green Screen room and ERC to collect the equipment around 11:15 in the morning, the idea we both had in mind was to get set up so as the actors could come straight in and we could start the filming process. Unfortunately Janusz forgot to charge the camera batteries last night but we simply put the batteries onto charge as we began to set up the lighting, camera, print of copies of the script to hand, sorted out all of the sound equipment etc ready to begin our filming.

Janusz left me in the room to set up the lighting and camera whilst he went down to reception to meet the actors as they had arrived, once they got to the room myself and Janusz gave them a few copies of the script, introduced ourselves again and ran over a few things. We left the actors alone as we continued to set up the gear, the actors started to rehearse over there lines for the days shoot, giving us time to double check everything to make sure that it was working, I checked back to my previous test shot blogpost to see where the camera, lights were placed in comparison to the green screen, as well as checking the number on the back of the LED panels, 255. Whilst checking the XLR cable with the zoom to test the room noise, through the headphones I could hear a hissing noise, was pretty distracting, I dealt with this in a calm way as I asked Dave from ERC to have a look for us, we tried replacing the XLR lead and changed the model number of the boom mic that we were using, decreased the volume of the mic too which seemed to decrease the hissing noise. Once the hissing noise had reduced I started to set up the sound equipment for Janusz and ran him through how to use it, what buttons to press to record, stop, how to increase the volume for any reason, made sure I was by his side to aid with the holding of the boom pole too.

For this shoot Janusz and myself were a little disappointed that other group members who were to fulfill roles of the sound engineer, lighting engineer and the editing team all failed to show, therefore we had to split these tasks between the two of us; this proved easy as we had the skills between us from previous projects undertaken although there was a time impact. Janusz took on the role of the sound man and director and I took on the roles of the cinematographer, lighting engineer, helped with the sound and helped a lot with the directing of the actors, coming up with additional ideas for Meise en scene throughout the shoot. The fact that we didn't have an extra pair of hands was a pain but we just got on with it, I mean we set everything up ourselves, nothing went wrong throughout the shoot but like I felt as if the rest of the group didn't care at all, so by taking on these extra roles it did add pressure but we were determined to work alongside and with the actors to create an interesting interview piece for both our show reels and the actors to be proud of.

Throughout the shoot I operated the XF100 camera, after every take I played back the material to the actors to check what they thought, whether they would like to shoot another take, and me and Janusz critiqued the shots, what we thought worked well and what we thought they could improve, predominantly relating back to there body posture, the way lines were spoke and how they acted in front of the camera. With all of these ideas, we worked together with the actors and every scene that we shot seemed to improve, become better to a point where the actors were speaking fluently and they knew there character which was great, especially Vicky as the Vicar, felt that she put a lot of expression into her character, the types of hand movements that she gave in front of camera.

I tried to get a variety of camera angles and all the time I was concentrating on how to achieve the shots for Janusz (Director), helping him with the positioning of the boom pole, to ensure that there wasn't any background shadow on the backdrop, I was thinking about any cut away shots which could make the film more interesting and just add a different element to the footage, one of which was a close up of Ellen (Actor) holding a phone up close as she was reading a text from a guy called Nathan, links into the script. Whilst concentrating all the time on the camera angles I was tweaking the light on certain shots to increase the light on there face, make the actors pop out of frame a lot more, however I had to take into consideration that the lighting changes could make the green screen look different in colour, add shadows, anything could change in the frame, whilst making these changed I asked on of the actors to view the frame to see the light change, worked well and they said if there were shadows, determining whether the light needed to be angled differently, lowered, raised, brought back or brought forward.

Once we had finished the shoot, we wanted to make sure that the actors were happy with everything that had been shot, whether they wanted to shoot any last takes or give any feedback on how they thought myself and Janusz had worked, whether they liked the idea we came up with, the way that we had done everything between ourselves, they told us that they were really impressed and that they thought we had done an exceptional job with everything, the way that the shoot ran so smoothly and they liked the feedback that we gave on there acting, carried on with the positive vibes throughout the shoot.

Here are a few shots that I thought should be snapped using my phone, which I thought I could use on my blog as a nice wrap up for the shoot.

Luke and Janusz (Crew for the shoot). 

Ellen, Vicki and Izzy (Actors for the shoot). 

It was now time to pack up all of the equipment and returned to ERC and head back down to the suit where I would transfer all the footage and sound from todays shoot, this needs to be passed onto the editor but I could have edited it all myself anyway, its not hard whatsoever and the fact that myself and Janusz came up with ideas of how it could be edited together whilst we were on the shoot, they wouldn't understand where the cutaway shots should be positioned or how the lighting changed for a reason etc. Anyway we waited for the group to turn up to collect the footage but no one did and so Janusz has said that he will put the footage onto his google drive so they can get a copy of it, I created folders for both the sound and footage, labelling the camera that we used and the zoom mic H4N.

Myself and Janusz contacted the rest of the group on what happened in todays shoot, I messaged George (Editor) about the types of camera angles that I had used, explained the reasoning why, what I was trying to achieve, the lighting angles that were created etc. I wanted to let him know about what scenes the phone cut away shot was for, I wanted to give him an idea about how it could be edited together, explained that we need a rough cut of the footage for Monday next week, its all in his hands now. We think that we might need to make another trip to green screen room next week to film the last scene with the actors, Janusz us currently working on the last scene, we agreed that the actors would have to wear the same clothes and that we would be using the same set up in terms of equipment, lighting, camera, sound etc.

Directing and Performance -Thursday 11th - BAFI104

Thursday 11th February 2016           Module: Directing and Performance     Lecturer: Andy and Lucy

Out on shoot - Plymouth Railway Station

Today myself and Janusz went out to Plymouth Railway station to film some cutaway shots for our Directing and Performance module for Film A. As the cinematographer it was my job to work with Janusz as the director to achieve the shots that he wanted, all the time we were shooting, I was thinking about wide angled shots, signs at the station to annotate and relate back to where we were, all the time we were both thinking about how we could make a space on camera for the actors to stand in front of on for the shoot tomorrow in front of green screen.

I managed to frame a wide angled shot of the station, with the main sign "Welcome to Plymouth Railway Station", I left the camera running for 4 minutes to capture some interesting footage to portray people travelling along the walkway outside the station, gives a busy feel to the shot. I noticed when I played back the footage the types of different interaction between the public i.e walking, getting into taxi's, using the cash machine, chatting etc.

Once we were leaving the station I got a opportunistic shot of someone walking along the overpass, framed it nicely and panned which I thought worked well with the sign in the background saying "Plymouth Station".

Here are a few shots from the shoot featuring myself as the cinematographer, Janusz as the director as well as portraying the location and possible angles for our short film.

Setting up the XF100 camera for cut away shots of Plymouth Railway station (Cinematographer). 

Positioning the camera to take a close up of the sign "Welcome to Plymouth Station". 

Framing the shot, having the high rising building in the corner of the frame, thinking about the actors standing in front of the station.

Once we had finished our filming at the station we both headed back to grab a card reader to export the footage onto our memory sticks and google drive. We also had a preview at some of the shots and we were really happy with the colours, wasn't too bright or distracting, the 4 min shot that we took would work really well for our piece, once we had reviewed the clip and seen the framing for a second time we decided that the actors should stand in the bottom right hand corner, we will position the actors tomorrow in the green screen room.

as the cinematographer, of course I wanted to get some great footage but i wanted to experiment with the camera, playing around with the focus for the shots of signs, playing around with the zoom but i knew we could create pans and points in post so I didn't worry to much about the extra zooms, I did however try to get a variety of camera angles, high, low, close up, wide angled shots to showcase the building, panning shot to show the vast size of the station as well as tracking the publics movement as they were entering or leaving the station.

A few camera shots

Wide angled shot, framed from the side of the station, idea of the actors to be stood to the right hand side of the frame.

Close up of the "Plymouth Station" sign, portraying someone walking along the overpass, enters in from the left side of the frame. 

Wide angled shot, framed to showcase the high rise building in the background, thought the actors could again come in from the right hand side of the frame, perhaps point to the sign. 

Directing and Performance - 8th Feb BAFI104

Monday 8th February 2016          Module: Directing and Performance         Lecturer: Andy and Lucy

Half Term Meeting

Film A Crew:

Director of Actors: Janusz Czerniecki
Cinematographer: Luke Curno
Dann Hobbs - Sound Man
George Martin - No Role Selected - Didn't turn up
Sam Grffiths - No Role Selecte - Didn't turn up until the last shoot - took on sound
Alan Laszczak - No Role Selected - Didn't turn up

Film A Actors:
Izzy Wiebe - Claire Davenport - News Presenter
Ellen Swailes - Camera Girl
Vicki Sherwood - Priest

Myself and Janusz met in college today as we wanted to come up with additional ideas about which footage should be selected to be placed over the green screen in post, using a tool known as keying. As the cinematographer I wanted to experiment with how the shots could go together so that they would all link onto each other but Janusz had the idea that it should be all random shots, long clips. short clips, had the idea to mix things up a bit which I totally understood and thought that it could work, lets experiment. Anyway I got out my laptop and started to have a play with the Exeter footage to see whether or not clips could link together, work alongside each other, cut aways, created a rough montage, however, we both agreed that we would gain a better understanding of what shots to use once the script had been finished. We have based the script for this project around an interview with the idea of Exeter cathedral as the main point of focus for the background framing, this could change though.

We used this meeting to plan the shoot as well, we have created a Facebook group chat as advised so as to keep in contact with the actors and the rest of the crew but other than me and Janusz none of the rest of the crew are responding, which is quite annoying. Anyway, we worked out that actors would be free on the friday and so we have both booked out the green screen room for 11:30 on friday until 1, however, going back to the instructional video for practical screencraft, we were able to stay in the room longer as no-one had booked it, we only had an hour though and we didn't know much for the setup, where as for this project we know the lighting set up, the type of camera, the area to stand, the sound recorder and everything to make our shoot run smoothly.

I advised Janusz to book out the equipment and provided him with a list of what would be required, still waiting to hear back from him to find out whether he has managed to book all of the equipment required for Friday morning so that we can hopefully have it all set up so that the actors can come straight into the room and were ready to shoot. I am also waiting to get a copy of the script which he will be finishing of, adding the ideas that him and myself have talked about today, he has planned to finish the script by tomorrow, we had the idea to send the script over to the actors so that they too could see the content, run through their lines and perhaps change some of the wording around if they bring any additional ideas to the table. I thought to myself, to ensure that the camera batteries will be charged and that the cards will be formatted, Janusz should book the camera on the Thursday so as we can get it ready for Friday's shoot.

Directing and Performance - 2nd February - BAFI104

Tuesday 2nd February 2016                    Module: BAFI104                        Lecture: Joshua Gray

Green Screen Workshop

We started of the lesson by looking at a short video, titled "Hollywoods History of Faking it - The Evolution of Green-screen (chromakey) compositing. This video talked about the different types of green-screen and projection, how everything works and it provided excellent case study films, followed by clips that the effects had been positioned over. I thought that the video was both creative and inspiring, I have started to explore some of these techniques in the green screen room, however it is sort of second nature as I haven't used much green screen before other than on my short course evening class for Film Production with Plymouth College of Art. I organised a trip up to the green-screen to play around with the lighting set up, and as the cinematographer I wanted to find out the best positioning for the lights so that the green screen would be lit up evenly across the back, the camera that we took out was the XF100, I had done a few test shots last week with the Nikon D7200 but the green screen backdrop kept flashing, tried to edit it in post but it seemed to enhance background shadows of the actors so today I decided to use the XF100 for a test, took out 2 LED panels for different lighting ideas, shadows etc.

Hollywoods History of Failure - The Evolution of Green Screen"


There were two music videos that really sparked my interest as the cinematographer for this module, the first was called "Watsky- Whoa Whoa Whoa [All You Can Do]" I thought that the technique of looping video helped to highlight specific parts of the film narrative, I thought that this specific effect would work really well for the shot of the robber stealing the actors phone, I thought that the footage for the phone being stolen could either be slowed down, sped up or looped over and over to look as if it was being taken or placed back in the bag, this could add enigma too the video, the looping would both look as if the robber was hesitating to steal the phone as well as making the robbery part stand out, thinking about it, it could be used to loop the part of video where the actors are pointing to tell each other where the train station is.



The second music video that inspired me for the looping was from the Rapper Dizzie Rascal, for the song "I don't need a reason", I liked the idea behind that the peoples faces were moving or lip syncing whilst everything else was either frozen or moving fast, in some places it created a fantastic illusion that time was moving really fast, the way that he kept throwing objects in the bin, I loved the idea of the water splashing out and then disappearing, the way the man walked past and reset the playing card stack, the moving and the mouths, facial expressions moved and reset, everything kept cycling creating an element of repetition, enhancing the music videos narrative, helping us too see what was going on.



Not to mention the way that this was shot using a variety of camera angles, close ups for the facial expressions, long shots for the moving images, tracking and pans to follow movement off and on screen. What stood out to me was the way that everything was frozen around Dizzie, but his mouth was constantly moving to speak the lyrics of the song, thought that it could link back to how progressive that he has been in the music industry, he is further ahead than a lot of other rappers. The idea of him being progressive could be reflected in the location as he appears to be in a castle/palace which makes him look wealthy which is then again linked to his appearance as he has stylish clothes and various items of bling, linking back to the genre of rap.

Green Screen Room Additional Information. 

Towards the afternoon we got into our groups, I decided to arrange a trip to the green screen studio for our group as I wanted to try out some of the techniques as well as exploring lighting and how to evenly light our green background, I thought that the idea of green screen could link back to creating a window onto another world. Within this shoot I set up the camera, some of the lighting, helped with the experiments for the projector which weren't working too well, sat in on the meeting, took some notes and operated the camera for the test shots with one of our group members in front of the camera, we wanted to test whether there were any shadows on the backdrop that were visible on the green screen backdrop, myself, Dan, Janusz were really happy with the outcome.

We took notes of where the lighting was positioned so that we could rectify and replicate the positioning of the lights on the day, we played around with the camera settings as well, trying to check out how the camera should be setup and where it should be positioned. We did some test shots and started to edit some experimental pieces of footage using Premiere Pro, learning the capabilities of the green screen but also trying to work out whether there were any shadows that weren't visible on the camera viewfinder, everything was a success.

We discussed our idea and we now have a rough idea of the shots, lighting set up, angles, editing techniques that we are going to use for our "Film A Project".

Equipment Set Up - Green Screen Room 

Played around with the idea of projecting the footage but the screen wasn't big enough so we are going to stick with our original idea of Green Screen. 

Took test shots to see how the light worked for the backdrop of our piece, took a variety of test shots with the light on and off and then played back to see how our footage looked, all pleased with the way that it looked. 

Checked the amount of steps that were between the Green Screen and the positioning of the XF100 camera (total of 9 steps)

Lights were positioned either side of the Green Screen Set, in line with the plug socket (45 Degree angle I reckon). 

Set both the LED pannel lights to 25.5 temp 

References

Green Screen Hollywood History Video: 

Filmmaker IQ. (2013). Hollywoods History of Faking It | The Evolution of Greenscreen Compositing. [Online Video]. 16 June. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8aoUXjSfsI. [Accessed: 03 February 2016].

Music Videos.

Watsky - Whoa Whoa Whoa (All You Can Do):

WATSKY . (2014). Watsky- Whoa Whoa Whoa [All You Can Do] WATSKY! . [Online Video]. 11 June 2014. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVQOhIVcMj0. [Accessed: 03 February 2016].

Dizzie Rascal - I don't need a reason: 

Dizzie Rascal VEVO. (2013). Dizzee Rascal - I Don't Need A Reason [PARENTAL ADVISORY]. [Online Video]. 12 August. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlzgDVLtU6g. [Accessed: 03 February 2016].

Directing and Performance - 1st Febuary - BAFI104

Monday 1st February 2016                

After Effects

Today we were inducted on the basics for using the software Adobe After Effects, we got to grips with how to use green-screen tool (known as chromakeying), making the footage the top layer and adjusting the background footage, additional touches were made to the colours of the footage using colour correction, keying out the green-screen backdrop by using the magnifying tool and clicking in the green space to make the image appear in - front.


We started to layer the images on top of each other, playing around with the opacity and adding different effects to the image i.e. fill, keying, matte adjusting etc. Once the layers had been duplicated we started to play around with their positioning, I wanted to move the bottom layer of the footage behind the top, darken the characters outline so that his shadow projected onto the wall.

In the lesson Joshua was talking about the creation of cinema graphs, I asked him for some help towards learning how to create cinema graphs, I have wanted to learn to create gifs and cinematography for quite a long time, I have always had an interest in creating an image where everything is frozen apart from a space that has been masked over.

Towards the end of the session I had started to create two individual after effects films, I was able to use the masking tool efficiently, be able to layer footage on top of each other, would have liked to have explored the possibility of using sound design to add a background noise to the demo video that we created, the sounds would help to bring the visuals alive and add to the decrepit feel of the underneath world

Here is one of the videos that we created in class.

The Man and his Shadow

The Man and his Shadow (Adobe After Effects). from Luke Curno on Vimeo.

Here is the sheep example that I created, going back to the idea of looping different parts of video within adobe after effects.

Created using Adobe After Effects

Directing and Performance - Monday 25th January 2016 - BAFI104

Monday 25th January 2016                Module: BAFI104                     Lecturer: Andy and Lucy

Green-Screen Shoot

We got into our given groups from the Exeter trip, I had the job role of Cinematographer, I set up the camera for shooting in the green-screen as well as helping come up with ideas and ways to improve the sound quality. Although, the studios were very un-organised, we managed to shoot our piece in under 5 mins, everyone else took their time in the studios so we had to wait for a vacancy so that we could start to shoot our footage.

I worked well with Janusz as the director, helping to talk about ideas with the actor for our single clip, I knew the footage better than anyone and so I was able to visualise the shots in my head, whilst thinking about the camera angles that would be needed in the green-screen room. I worked well with Dan as the sound man, taking lots of tests of vocals, background noise and thinking about the best way to position the boom, working with Alan, once I had set up the camera and set the aperture and camera angle that we wanted I kept checking the frame to make sure that the boom wasn't viewable in the camera.

Green-Screen Shoot - (Wide Angled Shot) 

Exeter Street - Long shot to portray shoppers

Task

Pick a quote to create a senario that the actors can then write about: 

"Les Miserables" Script - Enjolras falling backwards out of the window, until he hangs upside down, the red flag still in his hands, streaming like blood down the wall. 

Reference: William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude- Michel Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer. (2012). Les Miserables . Available: http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Les-Miserables.html. Last accessed 26/01/16.

Directing and Performance - 18th January - BAFI104

Monday 18th January 2016                  Module: BAFI104             Lecturer: Stu Bailey

Exeter Shoot 

For this shoot we were sent to Exeter City Centre, we were given the task of filming around Exeter, trying to capture different camera angles of the streets, buildings, old ruins, parks etc. This footage would then be projected next week, or filmed with a green screen backdrop, we would have to work with a few of the St. Mark and St. Johns actors, trying to bring them into the footage, myself, Janusz and Dann came up with some great ideas, all the time we were filming we made it a priority to think about how the actors could walk in front or in some cases just stand in-front, giving the impression that they have froze but everything is swiftly moving around them. 

Moving cautiously around the centre we managed to capture both a wide range of interesting sounds and camera angles, wildlife, buildings inc. the Exeter Cathedral, streets, shoppers, reflections along the floor, transport, using either pans, tilts, zooms, playing with the focus, Iris, trying to use the camera to it's full potential (we took out the XF100 on shoot).

Here is a list of equipment that we used for this particular shoot;

Camera: 

Cannon XF100 Camera 

Tripod

Nikon 7200 DSLR

Sound: 

Zoom H4N Microphone

Boom Mic

Dead Kitty

XLR lead for Input and Output 

Of course we used a notebook and pen to make any necessary notes as we ventured through the city, taking the angles, measurements, ideas behind, thinking about how the actors would walk into the scene i.e. mise en Scene.

Trip to the "Bill Douglas Centre" 

The first part of the trip I found extremely interesting, being able to explore and see different types of cameras, technology, famous films, actors, posters, mechanics, moving images etc. 

I was really interested in looking at the Zoetrope I liked the way that you could spin it around while looking into the mirror to get a sharp image, especially liked the one which portrayed a tiger running around the edge, the faster you spin it, the quicker the moving image.

I also liked the Mutoscope, this was an early motion picture device, operated by turning a crank, this in turn would give the illusion of a moving image on paper within the machine, looking at it using the viewfinder. 

Bill Douglas Centre - History of Cinema and Popular Culture

 Panning shot at Exeter Cathedral - Statue in the foreground 

 Long shot of Exeter City Street - Portraying shoppers and old buildings

High Angle at Exeter Park (Wide Angled Shot)

All of the following images are shot by Luke Curno (PCA Student).

Directing and Performance - 11th January - BAFI104

Directing and Performance

Monday 11th January 2016               Directing and Performance              Lecture: Andy and Lucy

Initial Idea: At the start of the lesson we had a look at method acting, as a class we were asked what we thought was the difference of acting within film or theatre. I came up with the idea that within film, the cinematographer and director will use different camera angles to shoot the actors, won't show all of the movements on camera, if anything goes wrong you can re-shoot the footage and editing can cover up a few mistakes. Where as for theatre the actors would have a big audience watching and if there was any mistakes for any reason, the audience would recognise and it could mess the whole production up.

The task for today was to use the scripts that we created for homework, get into groups of 5-6 (not including actors) and we would have to re-enact the storyline, we were asked to shoot 5 scenes and leave un edited.

Our idea was based around a football script, taking place was a conversation between two lads who were playing FIFA, we took this idea and we wanted to re-create the scene by playing a game of pool. Unfortunately the pool table wasn't working so we came up with the idea of going out to play football on the astro, it worked really well and we had great fun with directing the actors.

My role for this task was the Cinematographer, my key role was to work with the director, to establish the scenes that we wanted to capture, once we arrived on the pitch we had the idea of the actors being in the crowd as spectators, the script talked a lot about the ref and fouls on the ball. Ed had the idea that we could film it from a perspective of spectatorship, the girls were shouting over at the ref, 'c'mon ref'. Claudio and Charlie came up with the idea of bringing a ball into play, wanted to give the actors something to track up and down the pitch.

I was really pleased with the way that our shoot went, as soon as we got the ball (props) we started to film and record our 5 continuos shot scenes, we used a variety of different camera angles again which I liked because it helped to bring the viewers into the conversation, especially the line "c'mon" which was shortly followed by a short clip of Ed hitting the crossbar. The pan up at the start really helped to introduce the scene as the audience became aware that the girls were behind a barrier, followed by the spectators sign which helped to establish that they were spectators at a sporting match (astro within the start of the frame).

The feedback that we got on our project was great as a whole and it showed that us as the film team and the actors worked closely together to create a naturalistic piece, using the script and improvising.

Here is a link to the finished short film of our task that we created for the "FIFA Film".

BAFI104 - Directing and Performance - Introduction

Monday 4th January 2016

Directing and Performance                   Module: BAFI104              Lecture: Andy and Lucy

We watched a short clip of a film called "Gasman (1997) dir. Lynne Ramsay. I thought that this short clip was edited together very well, I especially liked the beginning where the child was pouring salt over a toy car but in the background we heard the lyrics "Let it Snow, let it Snow, let it Snow"

We were split off into tables, given 5 different roles to choose from and we had to choose which one that we wanted to carry out for the day on the film task we had been set, I decided that I wanted to be the sound engineer so I had to go up to get some equipment including a H4N Zoom mic, XLR lead, boom pole, boom mic, dead cat and of course a pair of headphones so that I could monitor the sound quality.

Later on during the day we were split of into the group roles that we had specifically chose, on each table there were different roles and so we had to find everyone with the same script as us in order to form a film production team, our teams then had to travel to the Marjons University, where we sat in the theatre room and got introduced to the programme leader for the acting degree. Once we had finished listening to the task, we were given actors to work with, 3-4 in each group, plus the film team.

In our small groups we were told to make a short film but we had to incorporate the dialogue on the scripts that we were given, whether the words were spoken or acted out, this would depend on the approach that we wanted. I thought my team worked really well together, with George as the cinematographer (directed the shots), Ed as the creative producer making sure that everything was running smoothly, myself as the sound engineer, Rhi as the Production Designer helping to come up with ideas for the location and Jade who helped direct the actors. As a group we wanted to give the actors some ideas but we wanted them to come up with most of them as we felt that they could act a lot more fluently if we gave them the freedom to change the script, make everything a whole lot more interesting.

I thought that I worked very efficiently as the sound engineer within our group, I had to hold the recorder, boom pole with the shotgun and then listened through the headphones to make sure that sound was ok. However, we found a generator in the room, type of fan which we thought might be good to leave on as it gave the room a busy feeling, as if the noises within the actors heads were moving around within the bathroom, sounded like they had power over his mind.

Once I got back to college I started to import all of the sound clips and video footage so that I could put the sound and video together as my role said to link the sound up to the video and put onto your blog, I changed the levels of water so that they would stand out, used cross fades, transitions and I changed the colour slightly for the film to make the mirror look slightly darker.

I have uploaded the video and exported to VIMEO as a short, here is a link to it!
There is a Mirror - Short edited from Luke Curno and filmed by other PCA Students, uploaded by Luke onto Vimeo.


Additional Work 

We were asked by Andy to record a conversation between two people, we could either set up the reorder or secretly record people talking, however we would have to ask for their permission to use the sound. Anyway myself and Nathaniel were aware that we were being recorded, lead to less um's and r's, we still managed to interrupt each other a few time, whilst finishing each others sentences.

Transcript for conversation:

(Inaudible)

Nat: We'll you know, what kind of we'll you know, sound

Luke: We'll I was using the zoom H4N mic and then I had an input mic which was the output, most yeah we did have some sounds that was actually picked up on the camera

Nat: Yeah

Luke: That we was using so that was quite cool

Nat: Yeah I saw that and when you screened it

Luke: Yeah I like your's as well, like the way you, because all of the other groups they did theirs hand held...

Nat: Yeah

Luke: Which was quite funny

Nat: Haha Yeah

Luke: The fact that you used a tripod

Nat: Yeah well that was Dan's idea to use the slider, I always wanted to use the tripod because I don't know I didn't really like hand held, I like it for some shots but not for...

Luke: Perhaps you could have looked in, explored the idea of using the slider...

Nat: Yeah we did use the slider

Luke: No like the, using two different tripods

Nat: Yeah

Luke: On either end

Nat: Yeah

Luke: So you could slide it more efficiently

Nat: Yeah yeah yeah were going to do that for our, because were doing our instructional video on the slider

Luke: Oh are you

Nat: Yeah so we are going to get some local shots using the slider and then we are going to film us you know, using the slider...

Luke: Oh ok

Nat: What are you doing for, with the instructional video

Luke: Were thinking about doing some sort of hall video, so you know when girls do like beauty halls

Nat: Yeah

Luke: So like were going to do some sort of like beauty guru, something like that but were gunnu have a man whose dressed up as a woman, so were going to have like a comedy twist on it.

Nat: What, whose going to dress up as a woman

Luke: We'll I'm not gunnu volunteer

Nat: Whose in your group

Luke: Janusz, emily, no Janusz

Nat: Maybe Janusz will dress up as a girl

Luke: Yeah Janusz could dress up as a girl...... Quite funny that

Nat: Yeah, gotta go now

End of Conversation

References

Gasman (1998) Directed by Lynee Ramsay [Film] USA: Cinema 16 on DVD