Blog 3

Today we went to Parkside School to do digital photography. We also processed the non-digital film we took last week. I was surprised at how complicated it is compared to digital photography, and that you have to do all of the prossessing in the dark. I think I would find it a lot easier if I were to do it again because I would be more confident that I wasn't doing it wrong. Although we only got one photo done, I think we got the amout of light exacty right and the photo was very crisp. I didn't find the dark room too hard to work in because there was more light than I though there would be. Although I still don't get the point of using old-fashioned cameras, when you could just use a digital camera, because on a digital camera its easier, you can't get it wrong and you can edit it on the computer. You can also check If the exposure is right and if its wrong you can always delete it and try again.

The photo we processed



These are the photos in negitive form



 After break we went out to take some still life pictures. We used a skull of some kind of animal in every picture. My favourite picture was the one were we took a pictue of a yellow sign saying 'danger of death', and then put the skull coming into the picture. I though this was successful because the colours worked well and the skull was at an angle so that it looked like it was a dinosaur or monster pearing in. We couldn't really find any other place that would make a really good picture so I took a picture of Liam and Gabriel sitting on a sofa looking strangely at the skull. It looked very weird, but I thought that made you laugh and think. We then edited it in photoshop. We didn't change much because the colour and contrast were already okay so we just cropped some of the photos to make them look better.      

 

  

Mr D's comment

Excellent posts, Liam.

Blog 2

Today, we made a remix style arrangement of our footage from last week. It was great because you can do a lot more than on windows movie maker and it's really fun speeding up and slowing down our voices. We added some funky music in the background so that without repeated voices it sounded a bit like a funny rap. Even though it was 15 seconds long, I was pleased with it because it was funny and my friends liked it. We achieved adding music, cropping it, adding words and speeding some parts up. We also edited some footage we didn't shoot, about a boy apologising to a girl about getting her in trouble. It was fairly good but I think the one we did together at the start was the best way of arranging it. And we couldn't completely copy what the demonstating was like. If I were to edit this footage again I would change it so it does go from a longshot to her hands straight away because I think it looked weird and confused the viewer. Instead I would put it so it changed from a long shot to a medium shot. I learnt how to edit footage in the best way. For example it is good to change the camera angle on a movement. I personally contributed to both of these in terms of what clips to use and what music.

After lunch we took some pictures with the cameras. I found this quite hard because, unlike on a digital camera you can't see the picture straight after you take it. You also can't delete them and you only have twenty four shots. Because of this you can't take lots of shots to make sure one is right. I'm not entirely confident they will all come out because it was hard to tell if it was in focus. Another thing I found frustrating was you can get the amount of time the shutter opens for right, but then if you put the camera very low to the ground and facing up it may have changed and you can't see it. This happened when I got down very low and tried to take a shot looking up the trunk of the tree. But all  of that said it was fun experimenting with the tips we learnt before. E.g the rule of thirds, leading lines and viewpoint.


P.S on Sunday when me and my family went to Southwold we happened to see a film crew filming a new ITV drama called Injustice. It was their first day of filming and we saw lots of vans with equipment in parking and we then saw them filming a shot where a man and his dog were walking along the beach. The writer of the drama who was there as well told us the actor in the scene was looking gloomy because in the drama the man  had just killed someone. It was interesting seeing how big a film crew they needed. Here are some pictures.

Blog 1

This session we had to work in groups of three and film each other in different scenes around the school. We chose by a tree and in front of a brick wall. We said our names and what we were looking forward to in the creative and media diploma. After filming by a tree I thought we should film in front of the brick wall because it contrasted with the previous leafy background. It didn't really work out that well because half way through filming the sun came out and made a shadow of the sound boom behind us. I found it hard to speak straight to the camera because I was distracted by people coming out of the door next to us. We managed to get ourselves about two thirds of the way to the side of the shot because it looks better. If I were to do it again I would sit down or lean against a tree or choose a different position, because standing is a bit boring and predictable. We took it in turns to record sound and use the camera. At the start I put together the sound boom.

 I thought we would be able to choose the groups, so I wasn't looking forward to it when I found out we couldn't choose who we worked with. But it worked out okay and I enjoyed working with the people in my group. I would've liked more time because I felt we didn't get that much done before we had to go in. We found it quite easy to get the exposure right without using the paper technique. I think this is because we filmed where it was either completely in the the sun or completely in the shade. I found recording the sound interesting because it's so much louder and clearer than on my phone or our digital camera. I also found it enjoyable because I had thought we would be using cheaper cameras and wouldn't be using all the equipment on the first day. I didn't really like talking to the camera because it is embarassing when you get it wrong.

I learnt a lot on the first day. I learnt what we would be doing this year in CRAM. I became fairly familiar with the equipment. I learn some techniques such as using a piece of white paper to get the exposure right on the camera. I learn some tips like you look better two thirds of the way across the camera, to leave head room in the shot and don't cut people off in the shot at their joints, instead half way through their thigh, arm, torso etc... I got to know some of the people on the course and became familiar with the school. I learnt some new words such as 'Dead cat', the cover which stops the sound of the wind being recorded. I understand that zooming in and out on the camera is unnatural and should not be used unless for an special effect.