Connor's Film Blog

Dear Connor, Your future self just completed the school year at SVCTE. It will be a challenging, but really fun year for you. Make sure you plan out all your work ahead of time, and don't wait until the last minute to do something. Also, know that you work a lot and don't set unreasonable expectations. Know your time constraints. Your experience here is going to be lots of fun with the people you met in this class.You will also become a better storyteller and will be proficient in premiere pro/handling a camera. Be prepared for long shoots, but don't be discouraged. I warn you to keep an open mind and be positive towards your work. Also, be careful with your head and don't get a concussion. Sincerely, Connor.

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.

The three key tips for camera and lighting for interviews that this video gives are: using a second camera can be a great help, make sure that you light your subject properly, and use your tools to soften/diffuse light. Having a second camera is great because you can easily cut between different angles in post, making it so that the interview is more dynamic. Having a properly lit subject is everything, because without it, you will be watching a radio play (nothing). Using 3 point lighting can be an easy and effective way to light up a subject. Sometimes when using three point lighting, your subject will have harsh light across their face, or may have no light on one side of their face. A couple simple ways to get rid of this is by using tools such as flags, diffusers, or bounce-boards.

After watching this video I learned the three key tips of: choosing the right location, being aware of your surroundings, and to keep in mind the framing of the subject. Choosing the right location is essential because it will compliment your story, and make sure that you have an interesting, but not distracting background. Being aware of your surroundings is very important in order to make sure that you get little to none extra noise from things such as HVAC, a busy street, or an airplane. These can all ruin your shot and need to be taken into consideration. The framing of the subject is usually pretty straight-forward. The camera should be at the subject's eye line and they should be looking slightly off to the side at the interviewer. This will create a neutral look to the viewer.

B-roll is supplementary footage that compliments what your interviewee is saying. This video tells you to keep in mind of what you are shooting when shooting B-roll, and gives different tips to make the shots more dynamic. He tells the viewers that when shooting B-roll, it should not be a bunch of random shots, and it should go along with your story that you have been setting. There are many different ways to make the shots more dynamic, through the use of drones, sliders, handheld shots, and framing. Drones can be overused and are hard to work with, so they may not always be the best option. Sliders are pretty great because they change a shot that is completely static, to a shot that has some movement. Handheld shots can move freely and show a sense of intimacy because it seems more human-like, rather than a slider or a drone.

3 considerations to keep in mind when shooting outdoors are: the shadows, the brightness of the sun, and to know that using a reflector can create more shadows. You would use a reflector by putting it on the opposite side of the sun and pointing at the subject. This will help reflect sun to shine onto the dark side of the subject.

I believe that the three most important mistakes to not make are: not having a theme, not having an interesting topic, and not having a vision. If the documentary doesn't have a singular theme then your film will just be a bunch of shots of your topic, with no structure. The theme will help keep your story moving forward. Having an interesting topic is important, because if you don't, then your audience won't want to watch your film. It is very important to choose the right topic so you not only get your viewers' attention, but you also keep it. Not having a vision for your film will result in an absolute mess. Not knowing what you're going to do is a recipe for disaster because you will just be shooting random things that have no meaning.

The three key points that the presenter makes about lighting are: make sure you use a hair light, don't overcomplicate the lighting, and light the backdrop if you can. Using a hair light is important because it will help make your subject pop out from the background. Using the hair light, you will create a more filmic look to your scene, and it can make it look a lot more dreamy. Remembering to keep your lighting simple is important, because basic 3-point lighting has been proven to work well and can get you the effect that you want. Lighting the backdrop is important because it will make the scene more evenly lit.  I would like to learn a little more about the positioning of the lights and how far they should be.

3 key things to keep in mind when writing your treatment is: to write a detailed synopsis, make sure you don't give the viewer all the information of the story at once, and to be open to changing up the shots you wanted a little bit if there is a chance to capture a unique moment. Having a detailed synopsis will make it easier to know what exactly you are going to shoot, and how it will all come together in the end. Knowing what you are going to shoot is a lot more reliable and will correctly shape up the story, rather than shooting whatever and then trying to piece it all at the end. If you keep the viewer on their toes on what is going to happen next in your documentary, you will be able to grab their interest. Just like any other genre of film, suspense and mystery can be used to grab your viewers' attentions and to keep them intrigued. When you are out shooting a documentary, sometimes there will be unique, candid moments that you were unable to account for in your pre pro...

B-Roll is the footage used to cut away from interviews or news reports to help better tell a story. It is footage used to cutaway from the A-roll, or the main footage. If there is something wrong with the video in the A-roll, but you still have good audio, you can use B-roll to cutaway and save the project. When shooting B-roll, you have to remember to keep the shots interesting and make sure the framing and angles are unique. You also have to make sure that you shoot more than needed so you have enough to edit with and won't be left short. Also, make sure the B-roll is relevant to what your subject is talking about. 

Two things the filmmaker did that were controversial, were staging some scenes, and having the inuits use techniques that weren't true to how they actually hunted. Staging some scenes in a documentary is very controversial because it isn't as genuine as if it occurred naturally. Also, since he had the Inuits using harpoons instead of the rifles they actually used, it played a false reality. I believe that the film was still authentic in a sense after reading this article, because he still used Inuits in his casting, and showed off the skills that they had, and the sense of community that was there. This film is so famous because it was one of the first documentaries. It also made people debate on what exactly a documentary was.

I think a documentary film is a film that documents a real life event/situation, that educates the viewer on it. I think they are interesting and important, because they educate the viewers on topics that are unique and would otherwise not be known too much about. They can bring new light onto important topics that are often not talked about but are very important, such as global warming. If some documentaries inform people about a topic like global warming, it can have a big impact in how people live and will change their way of living. Another reason why they're so important is that they can find new interests in the viewers. This will give that viewer more motivation to search something that is interesting to them. Documentaries are easy to follow along and are easy to understand. This means that anyone can easily watch it and not have to worry about getting lost.

3 Things that I learned in the storytelling unit are the 7 types of dramatic conflict, the different archetypes, and the Hero's Journey. I would like to learn more on how to create a unique, interesting, and relatable character. I would also like to learn on how to make interesting conflicts and not have to worry about it being cliche. I am not unsure about anything with this unit, but the thing I know least about is script writing, just because we didn't spend too much time on it. This unit was relatively pretty easy and not complicated; however, I still find it interesting and good to know the parts that I learned because the story is key to the film you are creating.