Fiction Adaptation: 'Real Life' Shoot Day
To prepare for this shoot as I was on my own crewing every part, I spent a good hour with Ferg going over the best equipment to use for this shoot. I chose to go with the Canon 7D DSLR as it is the camera I have used for the other shoot days. For sound, we decided that a Tascam and Clip mic would be the best option as they are small and compact, making filming as a one man band a lot easier.
Ferg then went over setting up the tascam as it is a new piece of kit that I haven't used before other than in a workshop at the beginning of the unit. He taught me how to check the levels on all three pieces of equipment (clip mic, tascam and DSLR). After setting this up with the correct wiring and checks we decided to do a practice shoot to ensure that I could hear what the recording was supposed to sound like. Here it is below:
This went really well and prepared me fully for my shoot. When on set I made sure to do all the checks that Ferg had taught me and all the levels were correct and it sounded good. I then did a sound check with my Actress and adjusted the sensitivity on her clip mic to a lower setting as she was a very loud performer. I then re adjusted the levels on the camera and the tascam to ensure that they were not peaking and again got good results from what I could hear and see. Unfortunately once I had imported the footage into my laptop it appeared that all of the sound footage had 'toasted'.
This made me so confused because I did everything right from what I could see and copied exactly what Ferg had done at the Studios with me and I couldn't think of what I had done wrong. I took the footage to Sam and Ferg the next day and Sam helped me to run the footage through a DeClipper on Adobe Audition to reduce some of the toasting. This didn't fix the problem entirely but it did help reduce some of the static noise that accompanied the footage. We then got Ferg to intervene and help further and he explained that what had happened was the clip mic had 'over modulated' whilst it was being transmitted into the tascam and the engineering of the tascam meant that what I could hear and see was the tascam fixing the problem before it got to my ears and the visual levels. This was quite complex to understand but apparently when the raw footage is uploaded, the tascam's engineering no longer applies leaving you with what the clip mic transmitted.
Visually, the shoot went particularly well. I had planned lots in advance as to what it was that I wanted from each section and I liased well with my actress (Jo) throughout the shoot. She gave me some very good feedback saying that I was the "most professional student" that she has ever worked with and was impressed with my direction and attention to detail. This made me very happy to hear as I was very nervous at the start of the shoot as it was just me and Jo.
Here are some stills from the shoot itself.
This scene I particularly enjoyed filming because I thought that the placement of her looking through the mirror at the camera really worked. With the lines through the mirror it also allowed me to subtly create this illusion of constant segregation, a theme which is discussed a lot in this poem.
This is another shot where I have tried to subtly hint at this theme of segregation and search for one's identity. The bars of the stairs are an imposing part of the frame which is why I think this shot works well. She is made to look a lot smaller and in some ways less significant, which is a big problem outlined in this poem.
Again, using the window of the dollhouse I have tried to immediately show the audience the separation this character feels from the world. I also like to think of it as voyhueristically looking through a window into her life. This is because the poem is addressed like a monologue. A monologue is usually used in drama to convey to the audience a significant insight to a character's thoughts and feelings which is why I liked the poem so much. I wanted to show these issues in a subtle way that would still get across the main points but in a creative way.
I found it challenging to compete with the ever-changing natural daylight as it has started to get darker a lot sooner. The way I tackled this was to make sure I white balanced every time I changed location to ensure that it was as true a reading of the light as possible. If it looked too dark I checked my exposure and aperture to get it to look how I wanted.
After this shoot I believe I have become more confident with the kit which was one of my main goals for the end of this year. I have learnt so much in regards to sound that even though it was unfortunately toasted, I could confidently set up the equipment and know that I have done the best I can with it.
Ferg then went over setting up the tascam as it is a new piece of kit that I haven't used before other than in a workshop at the beginning of the unit. He taught me how to check the levels on all three pieces of equipment (clip mic, tascam and DSLR). After setting this up with the correct wiring and checks we decided to do a practice shoot to ensure that I could hear what the recording was supposed to sound like. Here it is below:
This went really well and prepared me fully for my shoot. When on set I made sure to do all the checks that Ferg had taught me and all the levels were correct and it sounded good. I then did a sound check with my Actress and adjusted the sensitivity on her clip mic to a lower setting as she was a very loud performer. I then re adjusted the levels on the camera and the tascam to ensure that they were not peaking and again got good results from what I could hear and see. Unfortunately once I had imported the footage into my laptop it appeared that all of the sound footage had 'toasted'.
This made me so confused because I did everything right from what I could see and copied exactly what Ferg had done at the Studios with me and I couldn't think of what I had done wrong. I took the footage to Sam and Ferg the next day and Sam helped me to run the footage through a DeClipper on Adobe Audition to reduce some of the toasting. This didn't fix the problem entirely but it did help reduce some of the static noise that accompanied the footage. We then got Ferg to intervene and help further and he explained that what had happened was the clip mic had 'over modulated' whilst it was being transmitted into the tascam and the engineering of the tascam meant that what I could hear and see was the tascam fixing the problem before it got to my ears and the visual levels. This was quite complex to understand but apparently when the raw footage is uploaded, the tascam's engineering no longer applies leaving you with what the clip mic transmitted.
Visually, the shoot went particularly well. I had planned lots in advance as to what it was that I wanted from each section and I liased well with my actress (Jo) throughout the shoot. She gave me some very good feedback saying that I was the "most professional student" that she has ever worked with and was impressed with my direction and attention to detail. This made me very happy to hear as I was very nervous at the start of the shoot as it was just me and Jo.
Here are some stills from the shoot itself.
This scene I particularly enjoyed filming because I thought that the placement of her looking through the mirror at the camera really worked. With the lines through the mirror it also allowed me to subtly create this illusion of constant segregation, a theme which is discussed a lot in this poem.
This is another shot where I have tried to subtly hint at this theme of segregation and search for one's identity. The bars of the stairs are an imposing part of the frame which is why I think this shot works well. She is made to look a lot smaller and in some ways less significant, which is a big problem outlined in this poem.
Again, using the window of the dollhouse I have tried to immediately show the audience the separation this character feels from the world. I also like to think of it as voyhueristically looking through a window into her life. This is because the poem is addressed like a monologue. A monologue is usually used in drama to convey to the audience a significant insight to a character's thoughts and feelings which is why I liked the poem so much. I wanted to show these issues in a subtle way that would still get across the main points but in a creative way.
I found it challenging to compete with the ever-changing natural daylight as it has started to get darker a lot sooner. The way I tackled this was to make sure I white balanced every time I changed location to ensure that it was as true a reading of the light as possible. If it looked too dark I checked my exposure and aperture to get it to look how I wanted.
After this shoot I believe I have become more confident with the kit which was one of my main goals for the end of this year. I have learnt so much in regards to sound that even though it was unfortunately toasted, I could confidently set up the equipment and know that I have done the best I can with it.
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