The document summarizes the equipment, software, and techniques used to create a student film project, as well as areas that could be improved. It discusses the presentation software, hardware including cameras, lighting and microphones, and editing software used. It also provides specific examples of shots that did not work as intended and could be improved, such as unstable dolly shots, a focus pull that was too slow, issues with audio quality, and lack of planning for slow motion shots. Areas for improvement include practicing camera techniques, ensuring proper audio quality, and planning elements like slow motion in advance.

1. What have you learnt about technologies from the process
of constructing this product?

2. What equipment software and hardware did you use?
Presentation software:
prezi
YouTube
emaze and
slideshare.
I didn’t use powtoon so is something that I should look into using during the evaluation.
Hardware:
lighting: soft boxes, Paterson studio lights, reflector (gold/silver) and coloured gels.
Camera: cannon 70d 18-55 lens f/3.5-5.6
The camera has CMOS dual pixel focus which helped us when tracking on set as the camera automatically tracks the main subject within the frame and
keeps them in focus. This was particularly useful when shooting the scene where Laura runs her hand over the paints, as I didn’t have to continually
adjust the manual focus.
We used a zoom lens on set rather than a prime lens as it would be quicker and less expensive.
On the camera I sued a mix of auto and manual focus. Neither was favoured over the other as I choose which would be more practical to us hen filming a
specific shot. For example in all of the tracking shots I used auto-focus because the subject was moving around and it would be impractical for me to be
constantly adjusting manual focus. Then in still shots I used manual focus , particulary in the close ups where we wanted millys face in focus but the
environment around her not.
Software:
On final cut pro I learnt how to:
• Colour grade
• Add audio
• Edit the volume of the audio
• Cut/blade
• Add text/subtitles eg. Controlling their timings and adding fades.
• How to edit a green screen video
What we could of improved upon:
Sound: rode video mic, rode boom pole with shotgun mic and dead cat, H4N.
Sound: our production had music in the background; however, there were some sounds that we added later on such as doors opening, locks and boxes. We had to
use tracks from a royalty free website as the audio footage from our shoot was unusable this was due to weather conditions, the wind was strong and the shotgun
mic and dead cat was effected.

3. Added an eye line match after the close up of milly at the beginning of ‘shouting quietly’, this established to the
audience what she was looking at as there was a bit of confusion. The eye line match also emphasised the
setting to the audience as before they had only seen a glimpse of the house at the end of the first shot. For the
addition of the eye line match we tried to use existing footage but unfortunately none had the right perspective
(as to look like it was where milly was standing). Therefore, we had to go to the house and film an eye line
match to be put into the opening sequence.
Adjusted volume when the car enters the first shot, the car ‘revs’ sounded too loud so we had to reduce the
volume of the audio. This was a specific section, so we have dot key frame that section and reduce the volume
carefully so that the reduction wasn’t too noticeable. This could be prevented by us listening to the audio whilst
on set, although we used earphones to listen to the audio that was being recorded through the H4N, the wind
was too strong outside for us to hear it properly. We could have made sure to check the audio quality when
inside the buildings.
After she opens the text it cuts to a close up of her face, this edit doesn’t work as she is looking up at eye line
level instead of down at the phone. We could have edited this different by using the part of the shot where she
is looking down at the phone.
We could have used the slider to create a more interesting shot when milly is watching TV. We did try using the
slider on set and we really liked the effect. However, when editing we chose to use the still shots. Looking back,
I think that we should have used the slider shots, one of our audience interviews suggested that we should have
some different types of shots in the opening sequence. The use of the slider would create this difference.

4. The focus pull after milly opens the curtains could have been improved. Although timed well with when she learns forward the focus pull is
‘jerky’ and too slow. To improve this, I could have used markers on the lens so i would know how much I needed to adjust it. This means the
focus pull could be quicker as I would not have to watch the screen to know when the image is in focus.
The dolly work on the MLS when milly is putting her coat on is too shaky; this can also be said for the shot where milly is unpacking boxes
in the living room. We should of practiced using the dolly more to ensure we could get the right movement with it, however in this case it
was the surface that the dolly was on (the dolly did not move smoothly over it). So we could have refilled these shots using the shoulder rig
that we had on set.
Also, when she is putting her coat on near the front door of the house, the exposure is too bright, unfortunately during editing we couldn’t
lower this too much as the shot would start to look out of place. Therefore, should have re-filmed this shot to get a lower exposure. This
could be solved by lowering the ISO or not using the artificial lights within the shot.
The tracking shots when she is moving towards the shed aren’t very smooth as it jumps from one shot to the next. This could have been
helped by doing one long continuous shot as she puts her coat on then stopping as she walks out towards the shed. We used a shoulder rig
when filming this, as the dolly wouldn’t work with the surface; therefore, this enabled us to create the interesting camera movement within
the shot. However, we need to improve using the shoulder rig as during the tracking shots there was some shaking.
Using slow motion within the shed scene was decided after we make our first draft of the production. Therefore, we could not slow the
footage down a lot as the shot was only filmed in 24 fps. The quality of the slow motion shot would have been better if we had filmed it in a
higher fps such as 60. However, this would have relied on us planning ahead and knowing if we wanted to do shots in slow-motion or not,
which we did not. We could work on this in A2 by testing shots that we are unsure about before the filming days.