Testing out the cameras

Testing out the cameras

Today in lesson me and Ryan booked out the cameras and the tripod, the image below is the camera that I used. I tested the camera so that I knew what I was doing and to get used to them.

This is a photo of the camera that I will be using to record our zombie series, it is a Sony HD hxr-mc2000e camera it has really good quality but it is not too difficult to use!!

This is a photo of me in action with the camera, I had to turn it on and see if I was used to everything I need to do for recording and basically if I knew how to use the camera, I also had to try out the tripod to see if I knew how to use that and to get use to using it. 

Review of how my leadership project has been going so far:

 During this time I developed my skills on using the camera for example I learnt how to turn it on, I learnt how to record and I also learnt how to hold the camera properly so that I wouldn't drop it and brake it as these type of cameras cost a lot of money. I love using the cameras and it will really help me towards my future ahead of me. I also learnt how to get through things much quicker so that I didn't use up to much time because time is needed! And also I made sure that each of us knew what we were doing so that helped as well. Further into the year when I learnt more it really helped.

My Arts Award Leadership Project

Silver Arts Award - Assignment 2

Introduction

This assignment I have decided to create another video with my team mates Kieren and Courtney, for this assignment we will be creating a episodic series. This series is going to be based around zombies and where a group of people would be faced by them. We have some class mates that are going to involved in this series, we will be trying to make more than one episode which will probably happen if it all goes to plan. We all decided that we would call our series 'Dead Zone' and that it is going to have some dark comedy in it and some heart braking moments.

My own Leadership Skills for this project:
My own responsibility for this project is in charge of operating the cameras. This will mean taking charge of making all shots and scenes for the movie, under the guidance of our director who will be Courtney - and of course following the script from our scriptwriter, Kieren, with sound from Ryan and editing from Josh Garrens.

This means that I will need to get to grips with the cameras and tripods at college so I will comfortable with using camera movement, focus and zoom.

As well as the technical and creative skills, I will also need to develop a whole series of extra leadership skills:

I will need to follow instructions from the Director - which should not be too difficult as Courtney is one of my best mates. However, we will have to make sure that we all work well together as a team, that everyone knows what is needed, and to let people know what they need to do if they miss a lesson. I will need to get myself more organised, and make sure my planning and preparation is in on order. The hardest part for me will be not the creative part of using the camera, but to keep my blog up to date, make sure it can be understood, and to develop better reflection and evaluation skills so I can keep checking in as to how the project has been coming along and how I think my leadership skills have been developing.

Action Planning

This is the evidence of what Courtney had made for the action planning, this is basically everything that we need to do and what mainly helped.
We produced this a part of a group discussion. I have also included this little mind map that Made to help get our ideas together:

Production Crew

• Courtney Fleming - Director
• Gemma Connor - Camera Woman
• Kieren Dixon - Screen Writer
• Nicole Swainston - Zombie 
• Liam Mathis Jamison - Zombie Killer (Nolan)
• Ryan Allerton - Sound Man
• Shannon McLean - Zombie 
• Jack Brooks - Zombie

Review of how my leadership project has been going so far:

Good to have a group discussion so that everyone knows what they are working and need to be doing. Feel confident that this project is going to go well!

Locations

Clock Tower - This is near the college and we will be using this location so that we can have the gang fighting the zombies. 

The Street - This is going to be in the colleges main entrance, we will be using the street because there will be students in the college with the zombies.

Classrooms - This will be some classrooms in the college, we will be using the classrooms for different shoots for the series.

Corridors - This will also be any corridors in the college and again for different shots so it doesn't get boring in the same places.

Plan

Our plan is to start recording our series on Tuesday (19th May 2015)! Our series is about a young lad who is on his own wondering the hills as he comes closer to the clock tower one of our locations and spots a group of people who are struggling to face the zombies so he gets more scared and paranoid. He then goes and helps the other people as they ask them for his help. They face deady situations and do as much as they can to try to survive the zombie apocalypse. There is some scenes that are upsetting/emotional but most important its going to be epic and have some really exciting parts in it!.

I will also need to get some experience with using the college video cameras, and I will show this in a future post.

Different Sets
Sets that I want to have are going to be different, for the first bit I want to have Liam walking toward the clock tower but because he sees the zombies heading towards him he starts running the fastest that he can. I then want him to fall and sit next to the clock tower and find some kit in a bag that will help him against the zombies. I want a scene where a zombie comes over to him and he has to attack the zombie otherwise he will get bitten and turn into a zombie as well. I then want him see a group of people near Middlesbrough College that he goes to help and then I want a cliffhanger to what happens next. I think that if these work then it will make it a good video, but I also want some clips of Jack who is a zombie so that Liam and the zombies are actually involved too.

Review of how my leadership project has been going so far:

So far the protect has been working really well, I have developed my skills much more on the Sony HD camera that I have been using to record the different scenes in the trailer. I have also been helping others in my team if they have ever got stuck for example if Courtney (Director) didn't know what to do for a different scene then I would help her and then we would all think of what we could actually do. 

The project plan worked really well, every idea that we thought of actually got put into the trailer and that's what I didn't really expect but it worked. Really the only problem that we had was that if Courtney didn't know what to do for the certain scene then we would have to think of something that we could do but overall it made our trailer a lot better and made me enjoy it even more.

The overall achievements and the successes that I got is that it mainly worked, all the group conversations that we had putting all the idea together and action plan really helped us by being successful in the end of it and that it all payed off in the end. I enjoyed working with everyone and I enjoyed the experience with working with them in as team and enjoyed all the achievements that we got while working together. In the end everything was successful. 

After this I have learnt so much more about different roles in movies/trailers etc. I have found out how to properly use a Sony HD hxr-mc2000e which has actually really helped me for the future as I now have the experience with them. I have also learnt that it is a lot different to a normal group conversation because in serious jobs like this you have a couple of weeks to do the pre-production and actually plan what you are going to do. I have learnt lots during this year and I have really enjoyed it. 

From the feedback that I got off everyone I learnt that in this type of position I am quiet good as I got good feedback off everyone and that's what I'm really happy with and I hope to carry on with stuff like this for example with Level 3 Creative Media. 

I don't really know what I would do differently in the future because I want to carry on with doing this because I really like being involved with cameras and making mine own videos etc so I'm hoping to carry on with maybe finding something to do to try and get in the media industry. 

Watch out evaluation

Evaluation

For my challenge I wanted to do something new and what I have never done before so I decided to make a trailer on Imovie which I have never used before so I learnt how to use that. I think that Imovie was a good thing to use as it helped me with the clips that i could put in it and it helped me where I need to put the text in the trailer etc...

When I started this trailer first what I done is I planned what I wanted it to be about and what exactly I wanted to be on the video, when I thought that I wanted my video to be a comedy and a thriller at the same time I started have a look on YouTube of some clip that I could use so that I could upload it on to Imovie and then edit it by myself and make the trailer that I wanted. I thought of a name that I could call it and I came up with the name  'Watch Out' so I looked at  videos that would suit that name and that look kinda scary. When I done so I then uploaded the video to Imovie and this is what I done step by step.

First of all I started with getting the clips that I wanted for my trailer, the ones that I was looking for were thriller ones so that I could make my trailer look scary and so that it makes my trailer a bit more interesting. I then started to upload them into iMovie so that I could then begin to make my trailer. 

This is when I got all of the videos that I wanted and started to put my trailer together, I made my trailer on iMovie. I made it on this because it's the easiest thing to make a trailer on as it has everything that you need on there like the credits and the starting of the trailer so that's the good thing. It's also easier because it sets it out for you step by step you just have to put everything into place. So this is what I done next.

This is the second thing that I done after uploading the clips that I am going to use for my trailer. As you can see this is the main thing on the trailer I added this bit onto it, the affect of this text and background shows you that the movie is obviously going to be scary because of the background, the text and the background music. This was a good thing to use because it makes it look and sound scary which is what I wanted my trailer to do and look like.

This is the third thing that I done I started to then add the clips to my trailer, this is the first one that I had it was a clip of one of the characters walking across the train track. It's in the dark and it has trees around it like she is in the woods maybe trying to get away from someone or something. The image of the clip that I have there indicates that's its going to be scary and that there is a twist to it. 

This is the fourth thing that is shown on my movie trailer, it is a girl sat in a chair with ropes around her so that she cant get out of the chair. I think that this was a good bit to choose because as I anted my trailer to be scary well this part creates that scene and suggest that the movie is obviously going to be scary with what is included about this text.

The next view is another bit of text that says 'Based On True Events' this was already on the trailer as I said at the beginning  IMovie helps you put the trailer together and has the text in the places where is best to actually put them you just have to type what you want that piece of text to say which is easy. The effect makes it look scary and the font makes the trailer look creepy as well as scary.

After that piece of text this is then shown, this I say would change the mood to a fantasy one because it has some marvel characters on there so this changes the atmosphere really to the end of this clip... Which you will see when you watch the trailer that I made.

Heres another text bit that says 'DIFFERENT FROM THE REST' this suggests a shock to the trailer like for example while watching this movie something different and strange is going to happen. It creates tension and makes the movie sound and look even better. 

These last photos are the other parts that I have in my trailer, as you can see the bits are always continuous and sticks to the theme. I have the credits and then three other parts of the clip in it to finally complete my trailer. The main good thing is that it sticks to the sam theme 'Scary and Intense'. I really like this trailer because everything that I have got in it has actually worked and its been successful. I hope that everyone else likes it too.