What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing the product?
Hardware tripod, Canon EOS camera, torchI learnt about how to
use the camera to achieve the best result. When I first started
using the camera, it was quite difficult to know when it would be
in focus or not. I practiced lots of shots to try out the focus and
learn how to achieve the best focus for Target. Through my project
you can see that sometimes the camera is slightly out of focus, for
example when the camera is following the killer walking away from
the blood. Sometimes I would use the camera to focus in on a
certain object such as the fire in the woods. This took a long time
to get right and I practiced this shot so many times before I felt
satisfied with it. The problem I had with this is that I would
intentionally begin out of focus so that I would then focus in on
the fire but sometimes I would get it into focus and then it would
be slightly out when I watched it back on a bigger screen.
The camera I used for Target
The long shot of the fire which I focused in on
I tried out different techniques with the lighting and this is
very important through my piece. The lighting changes slightly but
I wanted to make sure that all of the shots were quite dark. This
is where the torch came in handy because I was able to use the
torch to crate shadows, the shadows when the killer is preparing
his weapons, and these shadows were useful in creating the dark
atmosphere before the killer strikes. I also tried different
techniques with the torch when I was filming the blood. The light
was reflecting from the blood and this looked amazing so I decided
that I wanted to move the torch slightly so the reflection would
change in each shot. This went hand in hand with the camera because
it was handheld so it was as if the killer was looking down at what
he had done.
The close up of the blood where I used a torch and hand held
camera
The tripod was useful for filming the close up shots of the
killers eye, this is because there wasnt as much movement when I
was filming the eye so the focus is on the eye and not how much the
camera was moving. I liked the way the camera was so still so the
only thing moving was the killer and it looks as if he is preparing
himself to kill. I also used the tripod when it came to filming the
extreme long shot because I wanted to make sure this shot was very
still as this went hand in hand with the peaceful atmosphere before
the kill.
The shot of the eye that I used with the tripod
Software Adobe Premiere CS6, AudacityWhen editing I used two
programmes, Adobe Premiere CS6 and Audacity. I mainly used Audacity
to edit the music for my project and this is why the music works in
time with some of the shots and the music isnt too long. This was
quite a hard task because I had to make sure that the music flowed
well and worked with the footage. I had to make sure that there was
a big enough climax as each of the instruments are added to the
music and I didnt want to miss out too much of this because it was
all so important to lead up to the final climax. I had to make sure
that the directors name disappeared as the much reached the climax
to connote that the killer had taken his final victim. This was a
very time consuming process because of the amount of times the
music was slightly off with the footage. I played around with this
for a long time until I managed to finally get it and when I did, I
was really impressed with how effective it was.
Premiere Pro CS6Audacity
I also used Adobe Premiere CS6 to edit my footage and make sure
that it was all in the right order. This took a long time too
because of the amount of times the footage needed to be trimmed and
have a sense of the order of events. The opening credits have a
story of their own as they are all about the killer preparing
himself to go and kill his victims. This is why it was so important
that all of the shots made sense with each other. I then had to
edit some of the shots like the extreme long shot due to it being
too light and the whole piece lacking in continuity because of it.
I used colour correction to fix the lighting on it but I also used
a blue tint and a flare so it looks as if the sun was setting in
the distance. This is why this shot is near the beginning of the
opening sequence after the killer has prepared his weapons. Again,
this was very time consuming to make it look just right so it didnt
look like there was too much going on with this shot as its primary
intentions are to let the audience know where the killer is going
to kill. I also used colour correction on the close ups of the eye
/ hands because they had quite an orange tint due to the lighting
of the room I filmed in. I wanted to make sure that they linked in
with the rest of my shots so I had to get them dark enough to
work.
The editing process to colour correct the extreme long
shotBeforeAfter
When editing, I didnt realise the amount of time and effort that
really goes into making films. It was quite a lengthy process and
so hard to get everything to work together when some of the shots
might look slightly different to the others. I spent a lot of time
slightly changing some of the shots and re-filming them so that
they would work with the rest of my footage. I also realised how
much time goes into creating the sound for a film because I spent a
long time making sure that my music was the right length and the
shots came on with beats of the music.
My technical skills have improved so much over the course of the
year and I feel that I am much more confident with Adobe Premiere
CS6. I have learnt so many tricks on this programme which can
really compliment the footage I took. I have also learnt how to get
the best quality shots by practising them with the camera and I
feel much more able to film shots that are slightly out of focus
and then move into focus.