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Friday, 12 October 2007

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This semester I have been rather happy with the topics of shooting, ie in camera edit and the documentary. In the first assignment I helped develop the original idea, however it was changed to a not so good ‘stalking’ idea. The first group was easy to round up together to get the filming and whatnot done. In the end, I was transport, time keeper/logger and helped bump in and out of each scene. I liked the idea of doing an in-camera edit as it gives us a feel of how to keep on a schedule as well as shooting in chronological order. The overall assignment turned out as expected and received an anticipated mark.

The second assignment was easy to get filmed and was fast. My primary role was to do audio. This was primarily as I have done audio before, and know that audio is a very important part for movies to make the sound less amateurish. Getting the group together for the first filming wasn’t too bad, however trying to get the group together for the editing was hard.

I thought the first assignment and an in-camera edit was good practice. However I thought using i-movie and having to learn i-movie since I’ve only ever used final cut or avid was a waste of time, mainly because it is not used in the industry. I can see how it has its advantages for teaching us the basic principals of editing though, but possibly if we used final cut, it could be limited to what we could do in the program as the idea of having tracks such as in final cut make more sense for editing.

Overall I have liked the idea for working in groups. I haven’t had as much success in finding a good group to allow my creative side to kick in and allow for better marks, but I have been happy in passing the subject. I enjoy the topic, the classes and the freedom to use such nice equipment, as well as the trust aspect is good.

Tuesday, 13 June 2006

Three Point Lighting is a very effective yet simple way to light a target. It consist quite simply of 3 light sources set up to completely cover the target in a nice even light so that it is ready for filming or production.

The three lights are dubbed: Key Light, Fill Light and Back Light. The Key light is primarily used as the main source light to give greater detail and contrast when lighting the face. The Back light is used to give the target a more distinct shape and show better definition. It prevents the target’s shadows from being black and featureless. The Fill light is used to soften up the contrast that is given from the Key light by simply filling in the shadows somewhat. This is the basic idea of each of the 3 lights.

By positioning the lights in this array a very smooth, well lit target is the result of such a simple lighting scheme. It is of course the difference between a professional looking shoot to an amateur’s job. That aside, it is important to cover the target as the camera needs features to focus on and to be able to get a consistent looking image.

It can be used in the studio, on location filming, theatre, still and movie lighting. It is important to incorporate Realism and Naturalism when setting up the 3 point lighting as it can be varied in any number of ways. It was originally used by the theatre to create natural light as well as lighting the shadows. It was then adapted to photography (which was black and white) where by white lights were used to create greater contrast in an image.

Three Point lighting is a very good way of lighting a target, as it is very straight forward once the concept is grasped. It is a simple way of using only 3 lights to create a realistic looking set. There are many variations that can be performed to the 3 point lighting structure that too make it versatile and hence why there is no real better solution. It was suggested in one of the articles, that if a 4th light was present, to use it to light the background. It has also been said that only the key light and back light are needed and a reflector used to create a soft fill light, bouncing the light from the backlight.

Three Point Lighting is a very effective yet simple way to light a target. Through use of only 3 light sources, a nice even light is placed upon the target so that it is ready for filming or production.


Sources:
Wavelength Media ‘The Standard 3-Point Lighting Technique.’ Three Point Lighting techniques.
2006. Accessed 30 May 2006
http://www.mediacollege.com/lighting/three-point/

Jim Stinson ‘Illuminations: Why Three-Point Lighting?’ Videomaker.
January 2005. Accessed 28 May 2006
http://www.videomaker.com/scripts/article_print.cfm?id=10625

Tuesday, 30 May 2006

There are many similarities as well as differences between the two free-to-air TV programs Martha’s New Coat and The Biggest Loser. These two shows are of quite different appeal as well as techniques, scripting and technical fundamentals. However they both cover their basic techniques as to authenticate their intention and captivate their audience.

The scripting is very different in both programs; Martha’s New Coat and The Biggest Loser. This adds interest to each but shows how they are distinguished into their own genre. Martha’s New Coat uses a rather ‘robust’ outback Australia slang, and is scripted to suite the style of this particular genre but also the style of life lived in this particular circumstance. The Biggest Loser uses a more easy laid back style of language more suited to city viewers and viewing. It is easier to relate to and is more entertaining as it pulls the viewer in to a certain extent very well. Martha’s New Coat does use some ‘intense’ language, as in swearing etc, which could have bad appeal from the scripting point of view. It could be said that The Biggest Loser uses this intense style of scripting as the contestants are put through a lot of mental and physical agility to lose their weight. Conversely they are both on the extremes of the scale with the foundations being on the audience appeal.

Both programs have soaring audience appeal. They are targeted at different markets; however they have some overlap where they can capture both audiences. The Biggest Loser uses a few clever techniques including high action and high interest as well as psychological attachment for some viewers but also entertainment for others. Martha’s New Coat would have the same sort of technique for appeal but wouldn’t be aiming for this to be the key point. They would be aiming for the appeal to come from people wanting to see a new style of interesting film of some of the events from the outback. All of these aspects contribute significantly to the audience appeal.

These programs are both good at covering the necessary basics of production. They have great appeal and have an intriguing story line. The Biggest Loser has a lot of cuts and good camera work and is very fast moving and entertaining. Martha’s New Coat is a bit slower moving and some handheld camera work; however it covers the whole complete story in one stretch and to the theme of the story. Through use of this archetype stylized techniques, each film has their basic production techniques covered but also satisfy their audience’s desire.

Through use of these techniques; high audience appeal, clever scripting and solid technical fundamentals, the producers of the TV programs Martha’s New Coat and The Biggest Loser are able to produce an entertaining show to cover their target market.

Tuesday, 4 April 2006

The Charles Sturt University contains many disciplines overall. There are many people who attend these courses at the Uni, but that is about all they do. It is a rare fact, that students talk about other courses in great depth or detail, and normally take an opinionated view of them. I study Multimedia; this course entails the use of multiple technologies as a form of presenting any given topic. One thing that I have found within my course, is how related all my classes are. I believe that many of the other arts courses are somewhat the same, but it is a question of how related they are to each other, and how interconnected the whole system is.

From the start of this topic, it has been found that within my group there is a “Proddy”, “Actor” and a “Designer”. After short discussion we were finding each others courses very interesting. The Proddy’s course was first on discussion. It was commonly agreed that they seem to be able to bludge it off most off the time however it was assumed they must do work sometimes. I’ve always thought that they had life easy some days and not others. Our proddy agreed somewhat. He said that whilst it can be easy some days, or simple work, others it can be a full on battle against deadlines etc and can become rather stressful. So maybe our opinion was a bit overrated it was somewhat on the way to being correct.

The 2nd discipline of interest was Design. I did design in College, Years 11 & 12. I found it a very sun subject but also a bit bludgy and a subject that you can do well at if you make sure you do the work. After talking to our designer, she agreed somewhat to what was said, however she made it clear that you had to be creative, motivated, able to move so as to follow what the director wanted and that you must have a strong will to work to make everything fit in. She said her work was a bit more involved, as it wasn’t just simple drawings, it required a whole series of skills, however this made the subject more fun.

When the other members of our group were asked about what they thought of me. Many of them thought that multimedia incorporated a lot of nerdy skills, and that was somewhat of a hard subject ion some areas and easy in others. They were also thinking that I was the sort of person to sit down and make flash animations, as o acquire to the 3d animation. I think that its not really a nerdy subject, and that I know my strengths and weaknesses. I like to be creative on the graphic side of the computer such as on web pages etc. It was very interesting to see what everyone was up to in their courses.

Tuesday, 21 March 2006

Test for Visual Story Telling!

Thursday, 9 March 2006