Blog Post 9 - Production Records

Before filming our opening, we had to plan out our day. We created a spreadsheet of confirmed location, time, and scenes.

Our group also went to the location we chose to check for any potential issues and record the sunrise and sunset time so we can arrange our shooting smoothly.

In order to have better quality , we decided to rent some equipment:

Camera:

• a7s3

• DJI Ronin 4d

Lens:

• Sony g master 24 1.4

• 24-70

• 12-24

• 70-200

• 50 1.2

Mic:

• ZoomF8m (Boom Mic)

Ending Scene

This shot is in the second edition of our scripts which is when Amber waked up in the car and looks out the window, seeing the dark shadow holding her friends' bag. In the first half of this shot, I need to shoot steadily outside the window, and once the dark shadow appears, I need to accomplish a tracking shot following the way Amber is looking back at the dark shadow while the car is still driving. However, due to the two and a half minute of time constrain, we were unable to include in this shot and storyline

The DJI Ronin 4D was a heavy camera, therefore I've tried several times filming this scene. At the right angle, I must remain motionless and keep a steady track of the dark shadow.

Conversations at the camping site

For this scene, We have made a last-minute decision to replace the initial medium shot with one that gradually pull out from the speaker to the conversation, the camera zooms out at the same time. This shot cleverly connects with the background music and the previous extreme close-up shot in the car when the driver turns on the radio.

This shot was a bit difficult than the last shot. Again, due to the heavy nature of this camera, my arms are sometimes not very stable, which can cause the stabilizer to move. From squatting to slowly standing up, mastering the rhythm and speed of the camera was not easy. Fortunately, after multiple attempts and becoming familiar with the rhythm of the stabiliser, I became more proficient in shooting. Meanwhile, focusing is also a challenge because while getting up and moving back, I also need to zoom out the camera. As a result, I have learned how to adapt to stabilisers and how to coordinate my body and arms to maintain the stability and focus of the video

For this scene, I used shot reverse shot and over the shoulder to present dialogues as the audience can get perspectives from both sides. This scene was relatively easy since I only have to focus on one character.

Next Steps

The next step for the group is editing. To make our production fair, we decided to split the editing process evenly. After one of my teammate finish the editing, I will focus on the colouring of the footage, then pass on to the other teammate to add the title sequence and subtitles.