Reflection 30/8/12

   In today's class I gained a lot of information on school cameras and using Final Cut Pro. First and foremost, I learned that the cameras that we use in school are called Panasonic HDC HS 900. When it is turned on, the letters "HG 1920" should show on the screen. If it does not, it means you have pressed 1080/50P. Press again to switch back to ensure that you are filming in the appropriate mode,

   Before filming, the card must be formatted: touch the lower hand menu to bring up menu, go to Set up, and Format Media. Then, select the SD card and press OK. By doing this, you have effectively removed all footage that someone else has filmed before, and also formats the card so it is compatible with Final Cut Pro. Last but not least, make sure camera is on manual mode. 

   In Final Cut Pro, there are four components- the timeline, the canvas, the viewer and the browser. The timeline is where we arrange our clips so that a sequence is formed. The browser's function is simply to give easy access to clips, and are arranged in folders called "bins." The viewer is a window for you to watch your whole unedited clips (hence its name), while the canvas outputs the contents of the Timeline.

   Then we worked on our reverse storyboard (see above). Through this exercise, I learned that accuracy is extremely important in storyboards as it gives information for framing, angles and much more. 

Below is the link for my chosen clip of Double Indemnity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SojaL9M5Pqs&feature=relmfu

Reflection 28/8/12

      In today's class we first went over the expectations and learning objectives of this year's film class, then analyzed the different frames in scenes of "Double Indemnity", a classic American film noir.

   During the presentation, I learned that unlike last year, where we focused on sound design, this year we will learn editing skills. "Continuity editing" was the first unfamiliar film terminology that I came across today, and Ms Wong taught us that it simply meant maintaining continuity and consistency, to "establish a logical coherence between shots". Unless used deliberately, we should abstain from discontinuous editing, as it reflects a lack of discipline and preparation, while also interrupting the flow of your film. Examples of discontinuous editing include change in lighting, location and constume- in fact, this is a common error in our student-made films!

   Finally, we practiced reverse storyboard, which means creating a storyboard for a scene after the scene has been filmed and edited. We decided on one minute of the film Double Indemnity and examined how many cuts there were in that one minute. Below is a screenshot which shows a shot in the clip that I chose to reverse storyboard.

   I think I was an inquirer in today's film class-when we had finished watching our movie clip, I did some background research on Double Indemnity (the year it was made, the director and the genre) before class ended. However, next class I will strive to be more of a risk taker or a communicator.