This week we finished the last big thing we needed to add to our film opening and then fine edited the small things. We recorded all of our voiceovers using an iPhone, in a quiet room, using our script on another phone. We then selected the right voiceovers and emailed them to me. I then logged onto my email, saved the voicenotes onto the Mac and uploaded them onto Final Cut Pro, adding them to their specific times. We had to make sure we could hear the voiceover over any other music in the background, so we altered the volumes. I noticed that our voiceovers were too long for the scenes we recorded so we cut out most of the lines using the blade tool and only left what was crucial to the scenes. After that, we played our whole opening through a couple of times to see if we missed any things that need editing, and I noticed that you could see the logo in our ident from the video we got off Youtube. I cropped the logo out of it.
This week when we went to edit our footage, some of our clips were bright red. We found out that the reason for this was because the footage was missing. This happened due to an error with importing them onto the computer and then uploading them onto Final Cut Pro. However, we couldn't see which files were missing so we had to use the codes to look at the files we had recorded on the camera, find them, re-import them onto the computer in a separate folder and then upload them again to Final Cut Pro. This meant I had to replace all the edited footage which was missing. I also had to re-edit all the newly imported scenes and add music to them. One scene missing was green screened so I had to key it all over again and add the background a second time. This process took a lot of time and was very frustrating because many of the scenes we took on the camera had duplicates which weren't right and it was hard finding the footage of the scene which was correct. I had to stay after school again to solve this problem as we ran out of time in the lesson. I also added credits at the end with our names and job roles using the rolling script text, but I'm not sure if we're going to keep this because we don't think it looks like Film Noir credits.
We used this week to edit. First of all, we turned the whole film black and white as we had finished adding backgrounds to our green screen scenes. We had to choose which filter to put on our scenes. The first we tried out was too white and you couldn't see a clear picture as the contrast between black and white was too strong. The second was perfect because it included more grey than white, so you could see people's faces better. However, after doing this I noticed that in our casino scene, you could see the background through the table because the table was originally green so when we keyed it, not only did it get rid of the green screen, it also took the green from the table. We tried fixing this, but we didn't have time to re-film and we couldn't edit the green so we decided to leave it, as we thought it could be a glass table. We also changed the angles in some of the green screen backgrounds because they didn't fit with the footage. However, we also noticed that objects such as the table would drift because we moved the camera while filming. We edited out the most obvious drifts but in some cases, we had to keep it because the scene was essential to the story. Lastly, we used the app 'QuickTime' to record our ident and sound effects such as telephone ringing. In order to do this, we found the indent and sound effects we wanted on Youtube, and used QuickTime to record the screen. We then saved the recordings, uploaded them onto Final Cut Pro and edited them so only the clips we wanted were visible.
This week we filmed the casino scene and any other short clips and scenes which needed to be added to our film, as this was the last week for us to film. For the casino scene, we had to ask someone else to film it because all the people in our group were in the scene. We also asked another person to be in our scene, so the poker table looked packed. We used a fold up poker table and put it on a table. The dealer wore a white shirt and black smart trousers and so did the waiter. We also had bottles and glasses on the table to give it a classy but still Film Noir look. This lesson took a while because we had to film a few things so I decided to stay after school this week to catch up with things I should have done during the lesson. First, I imported all my footage that we filmed in the lesson and put it in the right order on Final Cut Pro after editing a couple of parts out. After playing the whole film through, I realized our film was much too long and there were scenes which weren't essential to the storyline. So in order to make the film shorter, I cut some of those scenes out and made existing scenes shorter using the blade tool. I then played it through, making sure the film still made sense and used the blade tool to edit the music as well, as the scenes were shorter now and there was more music than we needed. Finally, I put a background on my casino scene as well.
This week we filmed our all important restaurant scene. In order to do this, we had to think about how we wanted to portray the scene and how we could make it look realistic. We used the green room to film as we had already found a background we liked. We set up a table with glasses and bottles and cigars and we began filming but the footage didn't seem good enough because it didn't look like a party. To fix this, I asked a couple of people in my class to be in the scene. The girls were already dressed in Film Noir costumes and I asked to boys to put fedora hats on and blazers. Them being in the scene, laughing and celebrating, improved the overall look and set a lighter, happier atmosphere. I then imported our footage onto our computer and edited it, adding the background and music in order to obtain the quality we wanted. This week, I also filmed some footage outside of school for our very first scene/intro. I found a building which looked similar to what I wanted Lazzaro's Law Firm to look like, so I filmed a slow, low angle, upwards pan of it, on which I want to put the title of the film, our names and a part of the voiceover. However, in this footage you could see a couple of things which were modern, such as cars. It was also too short. So I had to go and film it again, making sure it was the right length and no modern things were visible. I also muted it once it was on Final Cut Pro and put quiet music over it.
After looking at last week's footage, I decided to re-film William's scene because he didn't know his lines that well and we had to film in small bits and when put together, it didn't look right. When I filmed it again, he knew his lines and he was also much louder so it looked and sounded better overall. I also made changes to his outfit. We also recorded our first voiceover. It sounded really good but he ran out of breath and towards the end his accent faded so we decided to crop it so it stopped before he ran out of breath. We couldn't record the rest because the class was too noisy. We also looked for background images for our green screen scenes and learnt how to put them as the backgrounds on final cut pro. We also found some jazz music to add to our office scenes. We also filmed the bar scene this week in the green screen. We used props such as glasses, bottles and a cloth to make the scene resemble an actual bar. The barman wore an apron and a white shirt. We also wanted to film our restaurant party scene but it was too close to the end of the lesson so we just imported our footage onto our computer and edited what he already filmed. We prepared to film that scene the next week.
This week we continued filming. On Monday we filmed the office scenes for William and Lazzaro's conversation on the phone. I had to be really careful filming the scene in the green screen not to move the camera because we wanted to put a background on it. We used a 1940's phone which made the scene look old fashioned, as well as the costume we picked for the actor. He wore a blazer and fedora hat, a typical outfit for men in 1940's Film Noirs. When filming Will's scene, we chose not to use a green screen and used a teacher's office instead. We made sure there was no sign of modern technology by not getting the computer on the desk in the shot and covering up any plugs in the background by having a high angle. On Wednesday we filmed a scene with my character in it. This meant I had to get dressed in my costume(a black dress, a trench coat and heels) and put make up on. We filmed in the same location as last week so we could finish that scene. However, the weather was a little different than when we filmed last week. We then uploaded the footage to our final cut pro and edited it to look like it was filmed on the same day as the previous footage and made the scene make sense.
This week, we started filming. On Tuesday's lesson we went to our first location, behind the Plot. We filmed in the shade because this scene is meant to be set at night so when we turn it into black and white, the shade will show that. The first shots we took did not look very professional because a car was visible in the background. Therefore, I had to change the angle of the shot. It was hard not getting in the modern surroundings due to the fact it was a long shot but I managed to not get them in. We used a fedora hat and a blazer for Lazzaro's costume because it fitted his Film Noir role and looked like 1940's style. We used a piece of paper with Lisa's number on it as a prop but I forgot to take a close up of it and I need to do that next week. We then filmed in the green room as well. For this scene, we used one key light because I felt this looked better. We set up a bar using a tall table, glasses, bottles, ashtrays and a telephone. The bar man was dressed in a plain white shirt and formal black trousers and had a cloth as a prop. He was wiping the table. This fitted with his role and made the bar look realistic. I used a medium shot to focus on Lazzaro's conversation on the phone but I cut off the top of his head in some of the shots. We then went back to our classroom and I imported what we filmed onto the computer. From that, I put it onto Final Cut Pro and we started editing. I used the blade tool to cut out cars which were in the background of our scene because they looked too modern. I dragged the clips in the right order and played the whole thing through, making sure it looked good. I also muted the first scene we took because the plane going over ruined it and we didn't need any sound in it anyway.
Our lesson started off by analysing 2 Film Noir openings made by previous Lampton students. However, a couple of minutes into the opening, I was called out of the lesson. On Wednesday, our group went out location spotting to look for suitable places for us to film. We found two spots which we thought would look Film Noir and would fit in with our scenes. One was a metal hut which looked dodgy and could have fit in with our Film. The second was a spot behind one of our classrooms which looked like a relaxed park. I had to move a bench to get the set up I was looking for and was excited to incorporate this location when we film. On Friday, we read our script aloud to the class. We then received feedback. The two negative things they said were that our script was too long and our accents could be better. I then made our script shorter and cut some scenes out which were not essential to the storyline. At the end of the lesson, we practiced our accents.
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AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archive
July 2016
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