Primary research ideas
Lighting techniques – for example how light reflects off the person depending what visual effects could be seen on screen e.g a portal
Sound tests – find out the difference between and work out which sound recording equipment is best to use.
Visual effects tests – try out a different variety of visual effects that could be used in my production e.g portals, masking etc.
My chosen topic will be How a visual effect element would be made to look like it’s part of a scene by mimicking the light it would cast. Also how would light react to a subject’s face if there isn’t the effect already there According to behind the scenes documentary ‘Through the Anomaly’ the way the next three shots are achieved is by the use of a studio light to stand in for the actual portal effects. This will also be used as an eye line as well, so the actors know where the effects will be placed so they can see straight into it.
Dir: Ware, C. Executive Producer / Writer: Haines, T. Hodges, A. (2007) Primeval: Series 1 Episode 2 “Underground Infestation”. ITV / Watch
The point in using gels on the lights is to mimic a portal that would be added in post production that will give off lights and look more natural. So, not only is the lights an eye-line but it helps in post production when having a portal that will give off light.
I then went out and created the same effects with the portal based upon the one seen in Primeval for inspiration for this practical experiment. I achieved this by creating the anomaly effect in After Effects and blender 3d for the particle effects and rendered it so it could be compatible with my file in Sony Vegas to edit it all together. I started off by creating a lens flare in After Effects and adjusting the size and proper proportions of it as well as editing the colours to try and reflect ones that fit in the shots i had taken. This then had shard effects placed in and around the portal with motion set to be added to them in After Effects. I then took some creative liberties with it by adding some blur and playing around with the editing until I was happy with the final effect.
This was then put into After Effects to add some motion and rendered where i could edit the full shots in Sony Vegas to place it as i like as well as tinkered round a little bit more.
When talking about lighting and using someone to stand in so the editors will know how to create the effects depending on the person there and the light, Gary Jones had this to say “First, we used an actor to always play the part so we had good lighting reference. Then create the effects around that.” (Jones, G 2020)
I took some creative liberties whilst creating the anomaly, for example tinting it a more orange colour which also enabled me to use the gels on the lights to also try out some lighting experiments as well.
As you can tell from the below image Also practised masking where I masked Jayne so it looks like she is in front of the anomaly. I also lined up the anomaly with the lights to create the eyeline too which helped me to create the anomaly in After Effects and blender to be the right size and get the proportions accurate.
I used the lighting kits to help keep the eye-line with Jayne so I could make the anomaly center and fit in to make it look like the light is coming straight from the center as well.
I think this went quite well and I managed to achieve the effect quite well and replicate what is seen on screen. The only thing I wish went better was the render for the Anomaly. Unfortunately I didn’t save the file and the render went a little wonky meaning the quality isn’t up to the quality of the shots themselves, Another issue is how the track looks. There are still some corners of the light you can see behind the portal. When doing this properly I will make sure the light is hidden slightly better but I am happy overall with how the shots came out and I can’t wait to improve upon this. But for a first test I cannot fault the fact it shows off what I wanted to achieve quite well. I’ve learnt that it can be quite hard to create a portal and that there are a lot of features that need to be considered before creating it, including size and colour that will be in the shots as well as how it is going to look in the shots. Will it be the right quality or will it look tacky. https://youtu.be/-eqqCG9ZrgA
I also used some colour correction to colour grade the finished effect to make it match up more to how the colour in the shots were. This was achieved in Sony Vegas where I compared the two shots with the effects placed on it. I then added the colour to add some creative licence to it and make it more natural with the colours in the shots.
Overall I think this was very successful due to how natural it looks in the shots. The colour grading worked really well and I like to think this was a success. On the other hand though I thought the render could have gone slightly better so the anomaly wasn’t as pixelated as seen in the finished version, given more time, I’d liked to have been able to try another render, or play around with the settings to make the finished product that little bit better. So, when it comes to doing my FMP this is something I will bear in mind and work on to help create a better product for my finished production.
- LIGHTING EXPERIMENT
There are also examples shown in Doctor Who (2005) These also show light reflecting off surfaces that was put in via VFX and according to Doctor Who Confidential (2005) This was achieved by having lights with gels shown at the subject and then VFX added on top in post production. The purpose of this effect is to show a ‘regeneration’ between two different actors. This is achieved by having the second actor stand in exactly the same position as the previous actor with the body in the exact same position to help ease the transformation better. It is quite common for this to be done with a bright orange light that lights up the entire room with effects being placed around that as seen below.
Dir: Ahearne, J. Executive Producer / Writer: Davies, R T. (2005) Doctor Who: Series 1 Episode 13 “Dr. Who and the Parting of the Ways”. BBC Wales.
My aim is to try and replicate the full room of light shown above for dramatic scenes and showing moods. I tried this out with some gels on some lighting kits in the TV studio to see what I could achieve and I am quite pleased with the results. I used 2 lights for my shoot. A fill light and a key light. Both positioned on either side of the camera to get the best amount of light reflecting off Jayne’s face without creating any shadows. Although it is quite common for there to be “Three Point Lights” there were only two available due to the availability of equipment. I ended up having to sacrifice the Backlight in favour of the Fill and Key lights. This benefited my shots though because I think with gels on all 3 cameras, there is a risk of the shots looking too harsh. So I am happy with how it turned out.
Given more time and the availability of the equipment I would have liked to have tried using a black light to see the differences, maybe it would have benefited the shots and made them look much better but sadly I was not able to find out. I am happy with the overall finished product though and can see this benefiting my film to help create dynamic shots and show off some mood lighting.
Lens experiments
This experiment will be to determine what lens is best for when I come to do my FMP. I want to determine which will not only be the best to use in the situation I am in and the shots I will be filming but the ones that will pick up the best background. My film is going to have a few shots featuring very confined spaces which means I need a lens that will work in any kind of environment depending on my shot at the time of shooting. This one below was shot with a 50mil lens with the result shown next to it.
The next test was done with a 18-55 mil lens. This one is great for establishing shots and features some great zooms which can work for a few of my shots as seen below.
- Sony cameras
On Friday 23rd April 2021 Lee gave us some secondary research when he taught us how to use the new SONY HXR-NX200 cameras. This involved going through all the settings and then proceeding to test out our new findings on some shots outside. A link to watching the shots can be found here: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1W7Bg7NBfiOstQiiPYMAeOk2Yfz_lOJjY
I will be using these new cameras for my production and I will also be putting all the new skills I learnt to test to create stuffing and compelling shots and compositions with these new cameras. Onew of the positives of using this camera compared to the Canon DSLRs is how much better the shots come out. Although the DSLR’s gave some very high quality images, the image that comes off the Sony HXR-NX200 can go all the way up to 4K and be very good looking compared to the DSLR. There are also much smoother zooms, The camera is much more efficient when using it due to the fact you do not need to have an external microphone as an external one can be plugged straight into the camera itself. Which is handy in the current circumstances with Covid 19 which means you can have one less member on set controlling the audio.
When it comes to secondary research for these cameras themselves I made notes on what features the cameras do as well as how they function in comparison to the DSLR’s as well as how to set up for the perfect shot. I am hoping all the notes I made will come in handy for when I come to film and produce my final production. Meaning I will be able to faster my readiness for preparing the camera when producing my film and be able to assemble the shots much faster.
- HOW TO USE:
The NX200 mounts the tripod in the same way the Canon cameras we have previously worked with do. This is by attaching the tripod plate to the camera, then placing this on the tripod, and locking it into place.
Battery:
To take out the battery, you need to:
- Hold Down BATT RELEASE
- Reach into the battery bit, and push the battery upwards, which should release it from the slot.
To put the battery back in, you need to:
- Make sure grey arrow on battery is facing downwards
- Reach into the battery bit, and press the battery down into the slot.
To turn on:
Push towards ‘I’ turns camera on.
Full Auto – turns camera on to fully automatic mode.
SHUTTER – changes shutter speed from auto to manual. The toggle at the side can be used to change the shutter speed on manual mode.
GAIN – (Also known as ISO) changes gain from auto to manual. Toggle changes this up and down – our tutor recommended not putting this above 12 otherwise the image will be too noisy.
WHIT BAL – White Balance. Pressing this button will change it from automatic to manual – When it says A or B – this means a custom white balance, and when there is a little sun, this is automatic White balance.
ND FILTER – This stops too much light coming in, and helps correctly expose the shot. This is more useful when filming out in bright sunlight, and the image is still over-exposed with the smallest aperture.
Rocker switches – these are used for zooms, the one on the top is a slower zoom, and the one on the side is faster. These help to achieve a smooth zoom easily.
Rings –
- First ring – Focus – this is how to change the focus manually
- Second Ring – Zoom – This is how to zoom manually
- Third Ring – Changing Iris – This is how to change the aperture manually
FOCUS MAG – this magnifies the image on the display screen to be able to check for the right focus. This doesn’t zoom in the actual shot closer, it just magnifies the shot to be able to see clearer if focus needs changing.
MENU FEATURES:
Here are some useful menu features that were shown to us.
MENU > DISPLAY SET > ZEBRA
- Puts zebra lines on display to show what is correctly exposed.
- The number 70 is used to correctly expose white skin.
- So, if zebra is set to 70, anything that is 70 IRE will have zebra stripes put on it
- From there, you can change exposure so that the skin is correctly exposed
- 100+ zebra stripes are put on anything that is over exposed e.g. light fixtures.
MENU > DISPLAY SET > HISTOGRAM
- Shows histogram on screen
- This histogram is on the zebra stripes
MENU > DISPLAY SET > FPS
- Changes the frames per second – for film, we shoot in 50FPS or 25FPS
MENU > DISPLAY SET > PEAKY
- On – yellow/red/white
- Outline what is in focus
- 3 different sensitivities – Low/mid/high
MENU > ‘DOUBLE ARROW THING THAT I NEED TO FIND THE NAME OF’ > REC SET
- AVCHD – shoots in high definition – approx 6hrs
- XAVC – approx 3hrs
- XAVC X4K – This shoots in 4K, but for this, the files will be larger, they will take longer to transfer, and you most likely need a high powered computer to edit this footage.
MENU > (not quite sure which section this is in, will check when I have cam) > MARKER
- CENTRE – puts marker on middle of screen
- ASPECT – Shot in the correct framing – e.g. Cinematic is 1.85:1
- SAFETY ZONE – Title safe area
MENU > OTHERS > MEDIA FORMAT
- SD card – can decide which SD card to put footage on here
MENU > CAM SET > WB PRESET
- Indoor / outdoor wb
MENU > CAM SET > PICTURE PROFILE
- Different WB settings
Below I have made a mood board to help give me inspiration for the 80’s and mainly Joe’s character Charlie. I have included all things I love that have some sort of connection to the 1980’s. Specifically 80-85 (As Joe’s character is from 85) Below I have included things like
Costume – Joe’s screen used costume (seen top middle) is heavily based upon the one worn by Marty McFly in Back to the Future Part I (Seen left hand side middle). The Denim Jacket being the biggest inspiration from Michael J. Fox’s character and his shoes being an identical pair that Marty does wear in the film (Seen middle)
Television – Doctor Who, which is my favourite programme, was thriving in the 80’s. Having a successful run with Tom Baker coming to an end in 1981 which continued with Peter Davison portraying the character from 81-85 (Seen far left middle) Being a show about time travel, i felt Doctor Who should be a huge inspiration for my film as it has been my life and the reason i am taking this course today. I have also included images from my second favourite TV show, Ashes to Ashes (Bottom left and top center right.) Ashes to Ashes is the reason I fell in love with the 80’s due to it’s 80’s settings and music as well. I also have given Joe’s character a quattro (Seen bottom left) Which Gene Hunt, (the main character) drives in the show. Ashes to Ashes has introduced me to my all time favourite type of music, 80’s pop and rock! Which brings us onto…
Music – Like I said, I love 80’s music so much I had to include it. I have included images of the album covers of a random couple of my favourite songs from the 80’s for example… ‘Ashes To Ashes’ by David Bowie, ‘I’m in Love with a German Film Star’ by The Passions. Finally, ‘Rat Race’ by The Specials and finally ‘Fade to Grey’ by Visage. I aim to have a couple songs in my film, for example ‘Heroes’ by David Bowie. The songs I hope to choose should hopefully help get across certain messages in the film.
Film – The 80’s is packed full of some of my all time favourite films ever. ‘Ghostbusters’ ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ ‘Breakfast Bunch’ ‘Back to the Future’ there are far too many to mention, but certain character tropes and costume elements for example Marty McFly’s costume will help influence my film a great deal as they have done in my life.
Pop culture – The 80’s is wonderful when comparing it to today. I find little pop culture things like changes in BBC Idents and Coca-Cola fascinating which is why I have included them too in my film. I specifically wanted to harken back to the famous BBC Idents from the 80’s in my film which I successfully did at the start of my opening scene shot back in November. As a kid I was always fascinated with the BBC continuity’s on the classic Doctor Who DVDs bonus features’ so maybe it’s the nostalgia that makes it stand out so much in my mind but I just love them so much to hear about the programme before it aired and little trailers from after the episodes themselves. Here are a collection of ones from 1980-81 Doctor Who continuities 1980 & 81 – YouTube. And here’s one for the 1981 story Logopolis in HD as another example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLcLLXjip4c
And that sums up everything I have added into my mood board! Like I said, this is everything that inspires me for my film and some of what inspires me in day to day life as well as my life loves!
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