EVALUATION QUESTION 3 production skills

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

...
What I cover in this post:

• Web series made on how to use FCPX, showing development over time
• descriptions of how we improved over preliminary exercises and sample scenes
• summaries of the issues we faced and how we developed our skills to overcome them (casing issues, acting, time)
• set dressing advances
• BTS showing our director skills improving

...
Creative use of technologies:

For creative use of technologies, I made a web series on FCPX TechTips, in the form of a youtube tutorial series:

Episode 1

This is a demonstration of how our initial basic editing was done using FCPX

• importing footage from a portable hard drive
• creating libraries, events and projects
• inserting clips to the timeline
• cutting, detaching audio, other basics
• saving 
• publishing to the web

...
Episode 2

When we started editing more scenes we used some more advanced effects

• inserting Foley sound
• sound effects
• transitions (cut to black, fade to black)
• audiobridge
• music

...
Episode 3

When I filmed my evaluation question 2 creative 'who wants to be a millionaire' I used a green screen and needed to se even more technical effects in FCPX

• green screen
• screen recording
• keyer
• position of clips
• layering

...
Episode 4

Whilst editing another rough cut, I had some difficulty with adding transitions to titles in FCPX

• adding titles to a project
• font and size
• blade tool (short cuts)
• cmd + Z
• transitions (in and out)
• making transitions work on only titles

...

Preliminary Exercise

One of the earliest productions we worked on was a preliminary exercise in continuity editing. Our early production skills were very basic, and this was an introduction to more ways in which we can create meaning in a text using different editing, directing, camera and acting techniques

Task

Practice continuity editing by filming someone walking down a corridor, entering a room and interacting with someone in it

Techniques we practiced using

• shot reverse shot
• match on action
• 180 degree rule
• whip pan
• focus push
• panning shot
• tilt
• basic lighting techniques
• we also made a brief shot list
• dutch angle

What we didn't have

• call sheet
• script
• tripod/monopod
• dolly
• props
• stabiliser
• microphone 
• mood board

What I learned 

• body language is as important as dialogue
• director needs to be clear/may need to demonstrate
• shot lists make it easier
• shooting in reverse order 
• continuity (eg turning out lights) must be payed attention to
• how to use manual focus
• get lots of footage (often of the same scene) from different angles/distances
• always try and jump at least 2 shot distances (eg extreme long shot to close up), other wise it looks like a continuity error
• see what footage looks like with and without lighting
• a script would be helpful

...

Continuous editing v. Discontinuity editing

Continuity editing uses techniques which immerse the audience in the media text, make it smooth and show events as they happen in chronological order. Discontinuity editing however makes the audience acutely aware that they are watching an artificial text which has been constructed, and uses techniques such as jump cuts and the breaking of the 180 degree rule which take away from audience immersion.

...

Early sample scenes

Our first sample scene was very short, it was of our protagonist jogging and playing tennis.

...

How our technical skills developed:

• a lot of footage was shaky - thought to bring a stabiliser next time we would film
• for more shot variety, use a GoPro to get POV shots of the protagonist (using accessories to attach it to his head)
• get more shots and more shot variety next time
• record sound of things like panting and feet running whilst there for verisimilitude
• get even more involved as a director to show how you want things to happen - the running in this scene is very unrealistic
• bring a shot list/call sheet for future shoots
• think of things you could do once you're their - e.g. getting some training shots of him warming up would have added to verisimilitude

...

Our second sample scene was shot inside, which brought more issues with it. This is the scene where the protagonist's partner (Cathy) is leaving him.

Issues:

• the hand opening the cupboard has lots of short takes, so fast that you can't really make out what is happening, and it takes away from audience immersion because its so disorienting
• include a master shot or ELS
• shots of the partner leaving and getting in the car would help with verisimilitude 
• nowhere near enough set dressing, the space in the room wasn't used nearly enough
• Mise-en-scene missing:
• include tennis equipment in the background (racket, bag, water bottle)
• passport (shot of it being put in the bag)
• photos of the couple together and the team (have partner pick them up then put them down again, angrily)
• panning shots of props
• in wardrobe have clear split of his/her side
• have a larger suitcase, get a shot of Cathy grabbing everything from one side of the wardrobe and putting it in the suitcase
• There were still issues with directing, so more demonstration was needed next time

Progress since the last sample scene:

• This time we brought a call sheet and shot list
• we used a stabiliser for the panning shots
• we improvised some of the shots looking at the space we had and thinking of ways to be more creative in it
• a lot more shot variety to choose from in editing

...
Later sample scenes


This is the 2nd attempt at filming the scene where the tennis player's partner (Cathy) is leaving him.

 
...
Progress since the last attempt:

• There was much more involvement as a director, demonstrating to the actress what I wanted her to do
• even more shot variety was used
• a call sheet and shot list was used
• much more set dressing:
• tennis equipment is placed throughout the room
• photos of the couple and the tennis team have been added for verisimilitude
• female beauty products and jewellery were placed on the surface in front of the mirror
• stereotypically female books were placed on one side of the bed, and stereotypically male ones on the other
• the wardrobe was changed so that there is a clear divide between men's and women's clothes
• a larger suitcase that is more realistic for a permanent move

• manual focus was used in some shots (varying focus push/pull)
• There were no overwhelmingly disorienting short takes

Issues:

• There are sound issues with this sample scene
• slight continuity error - the hand pauses on the cupboard door 
• The lighting was difficult to work with, but there wasn't any more we could do to improve it

...
Flexibility and Overcoming Issues Faced

one of the key skills I had to work on throughout the production was flexibility: actors cancelled on shoots a lot, the weather was sometimes bad so filming had to be pushed back repeatedly. We had to find ways to overcome these difficulties.

Cast and Filming:

• Originally the partner of the protagonist was going to be another man, because we wanted to include non-heteronormative representation, taking influence from films like My Beautiful Laundrette, or Withnail and I. But because we had already cast the protagonist and filmed several scenes with him, it would be practically too difficult to reshoot these all again with a different actor, as he did not want play the role if the character wasn't heterosexual. We had to change the casting of the partner to a female, because we had not filmed any scenes with them yet.

• with the actress initially playing the role of the partner, there were issues with following direction, and said she felt uncomfortable on camera, despite agreeing to film. This lead to a cast change, and a reshoot, which was frustrating, but definitely the right decision as the second attempt at filming the packing scene was far more successful than the first.

• Sometimes the actors had trouble following direction: in the car crash scene, we had to reshoot the protagonist's reaction countless times, demonstrating repeatedly the way he should react without making it look too fake or awkward. After about 45 minutes of this, we decided to change the shot to a close-up reaction, and showing the car wheels stopping suddenly.

• For the hospital scene, we asked the nurses at our school if we could film in their office, and they were really helpful and enthusiastic, offering to bring in their old work clothes and move the beds around the room. They also helped us edit the script to make it sound more medically accurate. But filming in the school nurse office was difficult, as at lunch times we had to repeatedly cancel because it was too full, but we eventually filmed after school.

Set dressing:

• at the start we forgot to bring in bits of costume and set dressing, which took away from verisimilitude
• to overcome this we made detailed plans for each shoot (linked below)
• One of the prime examples of this is the set dressing in the packing scene:
• initially there was barely any set dressing, when we re-filmed we added (for verisimilitude):
• female beauty products on the dresser
• a clear divide between men's and women's clothes in the wardrobe
• photos of the main couple, and Tanay's tennis team
• tennis equipment throughout the room
• a larger suitcase (so it looked like she was actually leaving)

  

  Early sample scene - lack of detail in set dressing

  

  Final cut - clear divide between male and female wardrobe,
   shows they are living together and she is leaving

Hospital scene plan

Jogging and car crash scene plan

tennis training scene plan

packing scene plan

Health and safety:

• because one of our scenes involves a car crash we had to make risk assessments to avoid injury
• To make sure no one actually got hit by a car, we made clear markers on the road for where the jogger should stop, and where the car should. The car wasn't going faster than 10km/h. If an accident were to occur, the nearest hospital was a 10 minute drive away, as a safety net.
• seatbelts were worn at all times
• there were no injuries or accidents which occurred

The Facebook Groupchat

Other:

• General confidence was a real issue for me at the start of this journey, but as I did more research and practices confidence grew. In the first few months I had difficulty with editing vodcasts because of this confidence issue, but as we made more sample scenes and we could see our own improvement my confidence grew and I became more able to direct actors effectively and edit vodcasts/podcasts
• Early camera skills were really shaky, and a lot of footage had issues with focus/shake, but as we got more confident with the hardware this improved (more on this in evaluation question 4)
• Group communication was an early issue, but using social media (facebook messenger) we got more involved in sharing ideas through calls and messages, and a group chat was made with the whole cast in it so that we could make sure everyone had all the information they needed (including costume, time/place, scripts etc.)

...
BTS
We made behind the scenes videos for some shoots to show evidence of directing. As time goes on our directing skills improved as we became more clear in our descriptions and demonstrations for the actors


...
(SAM'S WORK)
...

...
This is Sam's creative use of technologies covering the same topic
...