EVALUATIONQ U E S T I O N 7

AUDIO RECORDING TECHNIQUESIn our full media product we improved the audio recording techniques used to enhance the scenes we filmed. In our original preliminary task we used basic equipment to record our production whilst our final project was recorded using higher quality and diverse equipment to achieve high quality sfx and dialogue to exaggerate scenes even further than before. Personally I feel that audio is a very important part of a film or video, and that without good audio a film is limited to a certain level of success, so therefore for this part of the production process I made sure that audio recordings for character movements or emotions were made clear to the audience, as this was one of the areas to improve based of the audience feedback we received from other members of the class.

In the preliminary stage we used basic equipment for the variety of scenes recorded such as in the restaurant where the two characters are talking. While the audio was understandable, it didn't exaggerate anything in particular and changes in the volume of characters were not as apparent. this was due to the fact that the audio was recorded with the built in microphone on the video camera.

While in our main task the audio was far more superior and technical so that character emotions and actions were much clearer and the audience could therefore understand what was occurring on screen. For this audio development I decided to use external microphones such as the Zoom H5 to retain the highest quality and then the audio could be synced up in post production, and to make work easier for the editor (miles) I made sure that all audio clips started off with a clap so that syncing external audio and camera audio would be far easier. An example of using these technique would had been when "Sophie" the main female character in our production went to pull out a chair, or when "Alex" was answering the door and the audience could here is heartbeat to make the scene more tense and engaging for the audience on who actually is at the door.

For this task I would say that I developed certain skills for recording audio, however due to past experience with using such equipment it was more of a case in making sure the correct types of audio were recorded and then imported as I didn't previously have as much experience in recording outside with microphones such as the Zoom H5, and I therefore had to make sure that adequate noise cancellation was added to make the recordings as good as possible.

LIGHTING & WHITE BALANCE From my preliminary task I could see that improvements would had to be made in the lighting of our final production. I have developed my use of different lighting techniques such as high and low key lighting. This is a skill i already understood but for our final production I made sure that I fully implemented it in all of the possible areas to maximize viewer concentration/

During the preliminary task I didn't use a variety of lighting techniques mainly due to small amount of allocated time we had to produce the task, but it would had also been very hard to use such lighting in the filming locations where there is no power outlets. I had a good understanding of lighting at this point, and I planned to improve the lighting for my final task which we had far more time to record.

The reason why I developed my use of lighting in the final task was because the lighting can make or break a film and with a narrative like ours we had to use lighting to our advantage with the hope of expressing character emotions. This was done in various different scenes such as the conversation between "Sophie" and "Alex" where "Alex" was portrayed as the main character with higher key lighting surrounding him. This was accomplished by using softbox lighting which gives a daylight effect of 5500k colour temperature. From the feedback we received many individuals stated something under the lines of "the lighting was well though out" this shows me that we used the lighting equipment effectively and that it enhanced the narrative and characters presentation.

So this task clearly identifies that I can use lighting effectively and that I am fairly skilled to endure that role in the future. In the future I would also like to bring more creativity into the lighting by giving different effects on the shot by implementing different covers for the lighting or even changing up the colour temperature to effect the mood of the film.

EDITING TECHNIQUESIn my preliminary task I used a variety of editing techniques such as jump cuts and fades, however I didn't use other editing techniques very effectively. I developed the use of this particular skill alongside "miles" the main editor of our thriller film. We used a variety of techniques with the intentions of making an effect on the viewer. For instance we used jump cuts to increase the speed of the scene, whilst slow fades (dissolves) were also used to slow the pan or slider shot down.

In the preliminary task I used basic editing techniques simply with the intentions of piecing the footage together, I wasn't to worried about how it looked I just wanted it be understandable. The reason for this was that we were limited to a small amount of time to get the project produced and therefore we had to make sure the project was finished and not just half done; which therefore effected the amount of work put into the pre and post production of the video. I used transitions such as dissolves in this project to open and close the video, as well as jump cuts to interchange between shots.

However in our final production we used far more editing techniques such as cross cuts, as well as match cuts to enhance the scenes which can be accomplished by using the adobe premiere software. In the final production we also made sure that the editing of shots was more precise and in time with the music to make the editing continuity more consistent. With more time to spend on our final production we were able to use techniques from other successful thriller films such as "Deepwater Horizon". The techniques used from films like this are fast paced editing through cuts such as jump, cuts, match cuts and cross cuts.

Overall I think I developed my editing techniques by using famous techniques from films that are of the same genre, this gives it the conventional attributes of other successful films. In the full product I feel like I have applied the skills I had a good understanding of prior to the task.