CCR Research #3
The third CCR question is relatively easier to answer than the others. At least I think it is. The question is "How did your production skills develop throughout this project?"
Production Reflection
I say this is easy to answer because before taking part in this class and this project, I knew almost nothing about production. In November and December I practiced with editing a magazine cover and editing a 50 second clip. Besides that, I've always had a good eye for taking photos, but I've never experienced a project like this.
When I started, I barely even knew how to zoom in the camera I was using for the first half. Along with that, I knew the different kinds of shots and angles, having watched examples like videos of them in class, but I was stumped on which ones to use to make it look best. For that, I tried it from various different angles with many shots, and ending up with going with a tracking shot. After getting used to it a little more, it was easier to shoot the second half, especially since I did it with my phone.
In my blog, I spoke about how I viewed different film openings, like the ones of Interstellar, Mazerunner, and the Hunger Games. But I went further than that. I rewatched a few of the Hunger Games movies and A Quiet Place: Day One. To be honest, I also watched these for fun, but also to take note of how different shots and angles made the scene feel. In Mockingjay Part 2, when Panem (the Capitol) is bombed by President Coin, the camera follows Katniss from some different angles. But I noticed that as the camera followed her, it wasn't completely still. It was as we were walking with her as we watched, and at the same time, it made us feel the disarray the characters are feeling in this scene. Everything is messy and going up in smoke, and the camera reflects that. Something similar is shown in A Quiet Place: Part 2 when the alien creatures first invade the city and the camera follows Samira through the rubble and dust.
(Time Stamp: 6:25)
Inspired by this, I used a tracking shot to follow the main character and reflect her feelings of desperateness and hunger. I'm glad I did this instead of just several different still shots.
I didn't just learn about the shots, but also how important it is to be prepared. I noticed the big difference in between both days of shooting. Though I knew what I was going to be doing on the first day, I didn't prepare a shot-by-shot script. Therefore, it took a lot longer than the second time around where I wrote it all down.
Technology has never been my strong suit, so I don't know much about it. Having not edited yet, I can't say how much I've learned with that process until tomorrow. I'm going to dedicate this weekend to complete my project. When I practiced video editing for the first time, I used Adobe Premier Pro, but I had a very hard time. My new Media Studies teacher suggested that I use ClipChamp, a tool provided by Office365. It's editing software that is much easier to use. Once I get to working with it on Saturday I'll update on how much I learned from that.
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Personal Reflection
Though, at this point, I started in January, being completely new to this kind of production product, and now I can confidently say I've learned how to shoot scenes and direct in a productive way. I also learned how interested I truly am to this topic, and I had so much fun going through this process. Sure, it was stressful, but I think that was part of the fun. I've always liked movies and TV shows, but it never occurred to me that I could do something with this interest for my future, not until I took this class and did this project.
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Straub, J. (2023, November 23). What is a tracking shot? Definition & examples. Boords. https://boords.com/blog/what-is-a-tracking-shot-definition-and-examples
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