6) WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT

ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM

THE PROCESS OF
CONSTRUCTING THE PRODUCT
SAPNA BEGUM
 CAMERA TECHNIQUES
The basics of using the camera is how to hold it and make sure everything is
focused and stable. To make my cinematography in focus, I used the auto focus
option which automatically focuses on certain objects. However, while in auto focus
some shots did not focus on the actors but the setting instead which can be seen in
my first draft. This was something that could be improved by using manual focus
which is what I used in my final draft. The manual focus allows you to be in control
of what you can focus by adjusting the lens to get your desired focus. This was
helpful with scenes of the actress walking as the camera would normally focus on
the background while it was on auto focus.

In focus Final Production

First Draft

In focus of
character
Out of focus and not
backgroun
 CAMERA TECHNIQUES
From using the camera I have learnt a range of things and how to improve my mistakes from my
first draft. One of the things I learnt is the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds is a way of taking a
picture/video to makean off-centre composition more gentle to the eye and looks more natural
than one where the subject is placed right in the middle of the frame. It dividesan image into 9
sections using 2 horizontal lines and 2 vertical lines and then placing points of interest in the
intersections or along the lines. Furthermore, thisallows the viewer to focus on important parts of
the image that are either on the line or next to it. The rule of thirds is used to improve the
composition and balance of certain images where it is needed. Using a tripod is essential to create
smooth cinematography. From my work last year in media, I already had the basic understanding
of how to use the tripod which made things easy. However, due to our location on the bridge, some
footage was quite shaky because of people walking around. Furthermore, I noticed that when I
panned with the tripod the footage was still shaky, but I improved this in my final cut.
 CINEMATOGRAPHY
A shot that Im proud of is the mid shot of the water because I feel that it really
captivates the mood of a film noir. Another shot I am proud of is the mid shot that
captures Nkiambi and the background because it seems very eye-catching, both
the actor and the background and establishes Londons urban location with the
lights and buildings. Furthermore, I am happy with the shot reverse shots as they
seem in place and normal meaning nothing looks odd about them and there's no
significant changes between them that would make things look out of place.
However, the long shot used at the end where Kenia is holding a knife should have
been re-shot because there were people coming through the alleyway which is bad
because this is not meant to happen as the street was meant to be a quiet, run
down, isolated place which is the perfect setting to commit a crime. To prevent this,
I should always make sure to look at every detail while Im watching the clips at the
scene and record it a few more times to prevent any outliers like so.
 EDITING
I used the software Final Cut to edit my videos. Editing was quite difficult because although I had some
experience from last year, I forgot how to do some stuff because I never edit videos and my group had a
lack of editing skills as well which wasnt very helpful. One editing technique that I used in my film was
changing the colour contrast to black and white. I did this by highlighting all of my clips, dragging my
preferred version of the black and white transition and applying it to them. However, due to the different
camera angles in certain clips, there was a contrast of different lighting which made the difference in
black and white obvious. However, I corrected this by balancing out the colour. Another editing technique I
used was speeding up footage. This is seen in the time lapse at the beginning which creates a mysterious
atmosphere especially because it is in black and white. I also added one transition when the scene cuts
from the water to Nkiambi and the background. This was used to create a more smooth transition. I also
edited in the credit titles in my film. I specifically used a white font because in the beginning scenes it was
too hard to see in black. To improve this I would want to create my own fonts that are not the typical
normal generic font and apply it more to my genre a film noir, to make it conform more to the genre. I
also learnt how to cut scenes, using the blade option and zooming in to get a precise cut and not miss any
detail. Overall, I think my editing was good because the film runs smoothly and I learnt how to do a lot of
things. However, to improve I would it add more editing elements.
SOUND
I learnt how to add music by downloading and importing it into my film. The
soundtrack I added was Kevin McLeod - Night on the Docks (Sax). I also did the
same with the wind sound effects. Although we did use a small mic while recording,
it still picked up really harsh wind sounds which is why we had to import wind
sound effects. To improve this I use a better mic. The main difficulty with sound was
the voice over. The voice over was hard to film because it took a while to gather
the actors together and make them repeat their scripts with the exact same mouth
movements. This was hard because sometimes the actors used ad lib which was
fine, but it was hard to make out what they said because of the wind, meaning that
the script was pretty much useless at these times. For one of the scenes where
Nkiambi was talking, after many attempts I could not match his dialogue with the
scene. However, with help I eventually decided to slow down the sound so that it
matched the scene. Overall, I didnt like the voice over because I feel like it didnt
add enough emotion to the actual scene.