Connor's Film Blog

I think the three most useful skills that I have learned from this class are: learning how to plan out my work, working well with others, and getting work done in a short time frame. I believe that this course has helped me out to prepare for the real world, because I have learned how to manage my time correctly and to do work outside of class when I need to.

I believe that the Early Years of Cinema unit was the most useless unit. I only believe this because we did not gain any skills from the unit. It was a very interesting and entertaining unit that informed us about the early cinema, but we still did not learn skills to be applied in the real world. I don't think that any of the units should really be striked, as they were all useful or informative. I do believe that the employability/digital citizenship unit could be made shorter, because it is mostly stuff that you learn from experience/learning from your mistakes.

The principles of composition unit was the one that I enjoyed the most. I find it very interesting that you can convey a message and emotion just from the placement of all the characters/setting. I learned the different types of framing, the different angles, and how to compose a scene based on the mood of the story. I would like to learn more about the golden rule, and how movement can affect your composition. I think this unit could be improved by working a little more with the framing, instead of just doing a small, simple assignment. Maybe include the rule of thirds on the assignment, or maybe touch a little bit on lighting and colors.

The article gives three key points of advice: decide what your motivation is, get feedback on your characters, and refine your character. Knowing the motivation of the character is important in order to be able to develop the story and its pacing and outcome. The driving force behind a character will give them the empathy from the audience, and it will communicate the story effectively. No one will make a perfect character first try, so it is important to get feedback from your actors and see what they have to say, as their advice may be helpful to craft a unique, and interesting character. If you do nothing with that advice, then all of that will go to waste. Make sure you take the advice that you gain and apply it to your characters.

I have learned how to make a project in a very short amount of time with only one other person. I learned how to record interviews, and I learned how to edit audio to clean up speech, and then hide the cut. This assignment has taught me to understand that most people aren't knowledgable of how video production works. This means you have to be patient, and maybe do multiple takes with your talent. This assignment was an alright end of the year project. I believe that the general consensus is that this was a relatively boring project that did not allow us to express ourselves creatively; however, this gave us a viewing into the corporate film production world. It taught me how to work with audio equipment, and to work with people that aren't aware of video production. I made the mistakes of recording not enough interesting B-roll, and not doing a couple takes of people answering interview questions. Next time I could have more of a plan with the B-roll, and better inform the stud...

The three key tips that I took away from this video are: choose the right mic for the job, test your equipment, and get to know your subject. The right mic for what you're doing will vary depending on the interview that you are going to do. Having a handheld microphone is good for on the street/newscast interviews, but can look unprofessional or distracting in a sit down interview. Using a lavalier and/or a shotgun microphone can be the most optimal setup for a sit down interview in order to not only get good audio, but to have a backup as well. Making sure that the equipment is working is essential to any film shoot. If you don't test that your microphones are working, then you will waste time. And time equals money. Getting to know your subject will make both of your jobs a lot easier, it will make them more relaxed and you can tailor your questions to them. This will make them answer with more complete answers, making you have to work less in post.