Shooting a dialogue sequence and editing workshop no.2

The shooting and editing of the dialogue sequence was split into two lessons

In the first lesson we were split into a group of 4 people:

- me 

- Isabella 

- Annie 

- Laura

we found a students who had no work to do and used them for one of the actors in our dialogue sequence 

The actors in our sequence were:

- Laura 

- Raff (the student that we found)

we recorded a short dialogue scene 

Laura walks in and sits down in the chair opposite to Raff 

Laura - Hi, my name is Laura

Raff - Hi, my name is Raff

Raff - how has your day been

Laura - it has been good, and you

Raff - it has been good

Raff gets up from his chair and walks away 

We did this short scene multiple times using different angles 

the shots we used were: 

• close up on Laura's face
• close up on Raff's face 
• close up on Raff's shoes 
• close up on Raff's hands 
• close up on Laura's hands 
• over the shoulder (over Laura's shoulder)
• over the shoulder (over Raff's shoulder)
• wide/ mid shots along the 180 degrees

We set up the camera using the directions that we learnt in our first camera workshop (camera workshop no.1):

1. take out the tripod first 
2. bubble the tripod 
3. attach the battery
4. attach the microphone into the first slot (audio input 1)
5. take the lens cap off 
6. open the screen 
7. press the power on button

when raising the tripod you start by loosening the clamps at the bottom and tightening them when you get to your desired height (if you need to raise it higher you then loosen the top clamps and tighten them when you get to your desired heigh)

We used the "yours" and "mine" rule when we giving and receiving the equipment (camera, battery and tripod)

We changed the white balance to make sure it was alright for the type of lighting we where shooting in 

We altered the exposure of the camera depending on the amount of light was directed towards the lens of the camera (depending on where you were along the 180 degrees more light (sun light) would be directed towards thee lens so the exposure would have to be changed)

We thought about the 180 degree rule when shooting our dialogue sequence so that the sequence wouldn't be confusing to the audience 

before we started filming each type of shot we would zoom in all the way then focus the camera then zoom back out to our desired zoom "strength". Doing this made it so that the shot were in focus and looked good/ professional.

we used the calls when we were filming our sequence 

- stand by 

- standing by 

- roll camera 

- camera rolling 

- action 

- cut 

using these calls we found out that our original battery was low on charge and so we had to change it 

when we were finished filming our sequence we striked (packed up) the kit (camera, microphone and tripod) 

some of the problems we ran into were:

- things to do with the microphone 

- things to do with the white balance 

- things to do with how we framed our shots 

the problem that we had with microphone is that it was a directional microphone. When recording the sound of the sequence i was accidentally pointing the head of the microphone (where it is the most sensitive) towards the ceiling. This meant that we were not recording the best quality of sound that was possible. To combat this we had to record the scenes again with the microphone pointed towards the action/ speaking instead. what we could have done differently was to make sure we were pointing the camera in the right direction in the first place which would have allowed us to have more time to film more angles/ shots

the problem that we had with the white balance was that originally we had the right white balance for the shots but we ended up changing the white balance to a warmer tone which made everything look orange and it didn't look right when we started editing. what we could have done differently is know the right white balance for the type of lighting where we are shooting a scene. 

the problem that we had with how we framed out shots was with the over the shoulder shots and some other shots. The problem with the over the shoulder shots was that we should have moved them more into the shoulder as we left too much room to the size which ended up including things in the background which we didn't want to see (e.g. our teacher working at his desk). what we could have done differently is moved the camera closer towards there head taking away some of the space to the side. The problem with the close up shots on the actors' faces were that we shot them at a side profile. Side profile and straight on profiles aren't good. Instead you should shoot at a 3/4 angle which looks the best when shot. What we could have done differently what that we should have shot the close up of 3/4 angles of the actors' faces. The problem with some of the other shots was that we left too much head space. Too much head space can look back on a sequence and can end up distracting the audience. What we could have done differently was that we could have shot the sequence with the shots having less head space to make the shots look nicer

what i should do in preparation for the shooting day:

- i will make a sheet/ note with the things that we have to remember when filming:

• pick the right white balance 
• the calls for filming 
• pick the right exposure 
• remember to bubble the camera 
• remember the 180 degree rule 
• remember to direct the end of the microphone at the action 

- i will look over my camera workshop blog posts so that i am refreshed with how to use the cameras 

- maybe practice the use of the practical effects

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On Monday 28th March we edited the dialogue sequence that we shot 

we started by rewatching the shot that we filmed so that we would be refreshed with what we filmed and the types of shots that we had 

It had been over a month since we filmed our dialogue sequence and so we needed the refreshing of our memorise so that we could use the shots we wanted to use and didn't miss any shots that we wanted to put into our edited sequence

we got the footage from the rushes and pressed "I" to start the bit of the footage we wanted to add and pressed "O" when we wanted to end the bit of the footage we wanted to add in. We repeated this process with the different shots until we were had made the first edit of our dialogue sequence

we edited the video of the dialogue sequence then our technicion taught us how to deal with/ edit the sound on our dialogue sequences 

as we only used one of the audio inputs we had to first delete the second audio input which was just a blanc audio input clip. To get rid of it we had to un-sync the sound from the video, to do this we right-clicked on the video bar and pressed un-sync and then we able to click on the second audio bar and press the back space to delete it. after we had deleted the second audio we then put all the audios on the same line. when we did this the sounds changed between shots would sound weird so we had to mix the sounds to getter so the sound would flow from one clip to another. to do this we pressed on effects, then crossfade, then pressed constant power. Pressing this we then moved it over to the audio row. between two clips we added the constant power and shortened it to the length needed. When we added this is smoothed out the audio so it flowed from one audio in a shot to the audio in another shot 

when we finished adding the constant power the sequence was fully edited 

doing the editing i remembered and was refreshed on some of the things/ techniques that we learnt in our first editing workshop (editing workshop no.1):

1. "command S" = save
2. "X" = cutting tool
3. "V" = getting back to the arrow
4. "+" = zooming in
5. "-" = zooming out 
6. "command Z" = undo 
7. don't overlap footage and sound 

when we started editing and when we were looking though the rushes of our dialogue sequence we found out some mistakes that we made:

• With the shot of Raff's feet walking away, that we didn't end up using' we ended up cutting too late which ended up with Isabella ending up being in the shot. This meant that we couldn't use all of this shot, especially the ending
• Another mistake we mate when we were looking back at the rushes was that when we filmed some of our shots we left too much head space which ended up making the scene not look as good as it potentially could have looked. The extra head space can end up being distracting when looking back at the shots/ when the audience watch the dialogue sequence. 
• The third mistake we made when we watched back the rushes was that we had the wrong white balance. The change in the white balance that we made made everything look yellow. This made the shots look to warm and make them not look that nice. 

to make sure we don't do these mistakes again i will add onto my note i will make to remember to not add too much head space, remember the right balance and don't cut to late/ have crew in shot

When we filmed we remembered the 180 degree rule and made sure we didn't break it as it can confuse the audience when it is broken as the actors look like they are in the wrong place

looking back at the footage what i would have done differently was:

1. add more kinds of shots - allows for more kinds of shots to be added into the sequence to make it look better
2.  made sure we filmed with less head space - make the shots look better 
3. change the white balance to be the right one for the lighting we had - make the shots look better

what I will do different when i/ we are editing our actual opening sequence is:

• I will take more time to focus on the shots i want to include and not include into the edited version of our opening sequence. The types of shots used in the opening sequence can effect the mood of the sequence, the connotations of the characters and the emotions you get from watching the film. They can also change the genre of the sequence (different types of shots are used for different genres)
• I will make sure the sound is fully/ to the best possible smoothed between different shots. If the sounds aren't fully smoothed it can made the sound sound bad/ not as good as it could be 
• cut and end at the right place in the shots that that we include the bits of the footage we want and don't include the bits of the footage we don't want. The wrong bits of footage can change the meaning and feel of the scene massively 
• not waste time. If you waste time you will have less time to edit the sequence and possible time to make the sequence look and feel even better

overall i think the making and editing of the dialogue sequence went quite well even though we did have things that we did wrong and need to work on. When we film and edit our opening sequence my group and I can use this task as a tool to help us see what we did wrong the first time and not make those mistakes again. This task has allowed me to find out and plan a note/ sheet that we (my group and I) can use on the shooting day and editing time so that we don't make the kind of mistake that we made when filming and editing this dialogue sequence. when approaching our opening sequence we will have this task to reflect on and see what we should and shouldn't do. This can help maximise the time we have and use it effectively. 

this is the edited dialogue sequence we made 

the sequence should have Laura walking in and sitting down as well as Raff getting up and leaving. We didn't edit those parts in as we prioritised the speaking part of the sequence and we were under time pressure so we didn't end up getting the chance to add those bits in. From this I know i need to not waste time so that i can have more time to edit. If this was the opening sequence i could have missed our parts of the sequence that could have been vital to the storyline.

also, i didn't properly smooth the sound out right. It has caused Raff to sometimes have an echo to his voice.