Freelancing
Freelance is the term given to someone who is self-employed. They will be temporarily employed by a company to do a set amount of work and then after they have finished the work the employment will end. It differs from a normal job because you aren’t fixed to a single company and your income can differ depending on the amount of work your getting at the time. Some of the advantages of working freelance are; you can get to work from home, you get can work for allot of companies so work on a wide variety of projects, the pay can be high for a small amount of work. Freelancing does come with disadvantages. Work is not guaranteed so your pay isn’t constant, starting out is difficult because you don’t have a reputation, theres allot of competition, because you work for yourself you have to buy your own equipment and some of the equipment required is expensive. Some freelances are represented by a larger company who find work and freelance there workers out to the other companies. Networking is very important in freelancing because you create contacts which are needed for getting work, also companies recommend good freelances to each other. A good short showreel of only your best work is very important, this is so clients will see your best work but not get bored from a long showreel.
guest speaker- Joel the guest speaker spoke about his work with companies such as cartoon network and nickelodeon, he spoke about how starting out is difficult because you have to get a name for yourself. He said you should do one or two jobs for free to “gain experience” and “for your portfolio” but not many otherwise people will always expect free work. He also said that you shouldn’t take a job if it has an unrealistic deadline because you wont be able to deliver the product.
Aperture
The aperture is effectively the hole in the lens that lets the light through. The size of the hole is measured in f stops. The smaller the hole less light gets through so the bigger the f stop and the larger the depth of field. The larger the aperture more light get through so the smaller the f stop number and so the shallower the depth of field. E.g.an f stop of 1.8 will let in more light than an aperture with an f stop of f8, it will also have a shallower depth of field meaning less of the subject is in focus, this creates a bokeh affect where the subject is in focus and the background is defocused.
Shutter speed
The shutter speed is the time that the shutter is open for.Its measured in fractions and decimals of a second, for example 1/50th of a second is open for longer than a shutter speed of 1/20th or 1.5 seconds. A longer shutter speed (a smaller fraction) will let in more light than a slower shutter speed. A longer shutter speed will also be more prone to motion blur and light streaks. In video a shutter speed of 1/50th is most commonly used because it gives the most natural looking motion blur.
ISO
ISO stands for international standards organisation. It’s basically a measurement of how sensitive the sensor or film is to light. The higher the iOS the brighter the image, this also increases the noise and the grain in the image.
Pre-production between day 2 and 3
Between tv studio days 2 and three my group completed the pre-production for the tv program. This included the Running Order and the script which was later modified on the third day to cut the program to the desired 12.5 minutes. I was assigned the role of the vision mixer in the gallery, I was happy with this as I enjoyed this role because I got to have a crucial impact on the production of the final product. I got to work closely with the director to achieve the best possible results.
TV studio reflection day 3
On the third day we started the rehearsals for a 12 and a half minute program we had planed out in our groups. The class was divided into two groups so we produced two TV programs and everybody got a role to work on. I was assigned the role of the vision mixer, this meant that my job entailed previewing shots for the director to have a look at and decide on the next shot then when told I would change the live feed to a different camera. I also had to follow the script carefully to make sure I was ready for the cut to the VT’s when the presenter finished talking.I enjoyed this job even though it was difficult at times, I liked the challenge and importance of the role.
In the rehearsals we practiced different shot combinations and sizes for the interviews, we also practiced timings with the VT’s and the live stream to make sure it would end at 12 minutes 30, we left out 30 seconds for the introduction which was still not ye finished. The hardest part of the rehearsals was definitely the timing of the TV program and we had to keep adjusting the teleprompter to make the program last for the required length without going on for too long.
TV studio reflection day 4
On the fourth day we recorded the final program. We planed to start of with one rehearsal run through so everyone in the group was ready for the recording but we had issues with the timings so we ended up doing three rehearsals. The rehearsals paid of as our end production time was exactly 12:29 which is one second of our target time. The timing was crucial because otherwise it would throw of the rest of the program in a snowball effect, it would start adding up and eventually the program would be several minutes of the target time, this is what happened in one of the rehearsals).
The teamwork on the final recording day was crucial. Without the teamwork the whole thing would have broken down and the program wouldn’t have been a success. Everybody had to and did communicate well over the headsets so everyone was clear on there roles and the timings. The teamwork between the director and me was crucial because I had to change the shot exactly when the director needed it changing, I also had to realise when the director was becoming overwhelmed with too much to think about and take control the vision mixer by myself (which Im more than capable of doing) to take some of the workload of the director. I set up the previews for the director and then cut to the correct cameras at the correct times and notified the director on things like timings and shot sizes, all like a professional would.
I found the vision mixing was difficult because of the short time between having to start the VT’s near the beginning I almost missed the timings on several occasions, I also had to adjust the volume of the VT’s because all the volumes were different, I found this difficult because I had to change the window very quickly from selecting the VT to then the audio mixer to adjust the volume before the audio started, I then had to change the window again so the director could see the countdown so they could get the timings right. I overcame this timing issue with lots of practice in the rehearsals so I could get it right in the final recording.
There were quite allot of cuts that went well in the program. Shots like when Isaac reviled he was the farther and I cut straight to tin’s face at the correct time to reveal his expression and then did shot reverse shot between the two. This made the shot very comical because the timings were perfect. Some of the cuts towards the end of the program though started to get a bit lengthy. I kept some shot on for about 5-8 seconds which is quite long, I thought at the time that this would be ok as the Isaac and Tin were talking for quite a while.
The finished TV program ‘playtime with Isaac’
Running OrderTV studio reflection day 1
On the first day we worked in the TV studio for the first time. I was shown how to operate the cameras (focus, zoom and positioning), the light control board, the sound mixing board and the vision mixer. We were also taught about the roles of the floor manager and the director. Once we had been familiarized with the production methods we had a first try at producing something. It was a simple interview between two people that lasted about 3-5 minutes. I had a go operating the camera, using the vision mixer to cut between the shots and directing the program. I like operating the camera and the working on the vision mixer, I liked the camera operating because i could actually set up shots and be creative, I also liked working on the vision mixer because I could control the final video sequence. I didn’t like the directing job, this is because I felt there was too much going on for me to concentrate on, I didn’t like having to think about controlling the shots whilst still trying to keep control of everything else like the sound and timing of the program.
TV studio reflection day 2
On the second day we followed on from the first day. We had a go at all the jobs we didn’t get time to have a go at the day before. I tried being the floor manager and the sound mixer and had another go at being a camera operator on camera 2 because it had more responsibility with having to do more shot movements. I found being the floor manager alright but I didn’t like it as much as a camera operator or a vision mixer because I didn’t like having to be in control of the production floor. I found that that operating the sound mixing board was one of the hardest jobs, this is because you are responsible for all the positioning of the microphones and when people talk there volume changes so you have to constantly adjust all the microphone levels depending on the volume of the persons voice when there talking to stop the sound level peaking and loosing information. I liked having more responsibility with he camera operation because I had more freedom with the shots which meant got to do more interesting shots.
Single camera
Single camera productions are used more for for than TV, this is because in film, lighting has to be changed for every new camera angle. It involves using one camera to capture all of the action so the action has to be repeated. Its used because a more cinematic look can be achieved due to less standing sets and equipment so theres more versatility. Single camera tents to be more expensive as it takes more time and more expensive equipment tends to be used.
Mult camera
Multi camera productions use several cameras to capture the action. This is a quicker cheaper method of filming so it often used in TV programs where the reactions need to be capture but cant be re-created, for example in comedy. It has its limitations: limited styles (e.g. stand up comedy, sit-com, interviews), more equipment and fixed sets so less flexibility with shot sizes, movement and angles this makes for a less cinematic look.
Crew operation and sound differences
The crews work differently in the two production types. In multi-cam there are the camera operators who set up the shots that the director tells them to via a radio headset from the gallery where the director also communicates with the floor manager who sorts everything on the set out. In the gallery with the director these the vision mixer who changes the live feed shots and graphics when the director tells them too (basically live editing) also these the sound mixer who adjusts the sound levels for all the microphones. In single cam productions theres the camera operator with the assistant camera operator who controls the focus and the director, director of photography, sound technician, lighting technician, boom pole operator and a production manager. The main differences in single cam productions is that all the crew is on the production floor not in a gallery and the editing and other post production is done of site after the filming has been done not live like with multi-cam. The sound in multi-cam productions is edited live like with the video. Wireless radio microphones are used along with microphones on boom poles, the radio microphones are used to pick up the sound from people talking without having larger microphones on sets. In single cam productions the sound is usually picked up with microphones on boom poles, this is so no radio microphones can be seen in shot and they give a clearer sound.
Multi camera is the only way to shoot an event
Filming an event is difficult because action happens once and cant be recreated like you can when filming a narrative. Because of this reason multi cam is the only way to film an event. This is because when filming with multiple cameras the action is more likely to be caught and sometimes from several angles of different shot sizes and movement, also action only has to be performed once and filmed from several angles so the action will cut together nicely in the edit because it will be the same on all the cameras
Production Processes
Production of a video can usually be divided into three main categories. pre-production, production and post production.
Pre-production
To sum it up, pre-production is all the planing that goes into the making of a film or TV program. he pre production starts of with the development of the initial idea followed by the writing and development of the screenplay. The screenplay is then divided up into scenes and the shot angles sizes and movements are planed out for all of the scenes. The production also includes other planing including equipment required which involves choosing lenses and gear like tracks and steady cams. The location scouts work n this period to find the shooting locations for all the scenes in the film. Casting is also done in pre production along with finding a director, cinematographer and all the other crew involved with the production and post production. One of the most important parts of the pre-production process is the financing side of it. The developed idea and developed screenplay are pitched to the investors and production company’s and then the finance and budget for the film is negotiated and agreed. The last section in the pre-production stage is the planing for the production stage, this involves making call sheets planing all the shoot days and organising crew and equipment for each day. I did pre production my shoot at the national emergency services museum. This involved planing for things like the weather, travel arrangements and shoot locations at the museum. It was really helpful because it meant that I could get the shots I wanted on the shoot day and I know the times i’d be filming, how to get there and if I could shoot outside that day for the external shots.
Production
The production is usually the shortest but the most important stage of the entire production process. Its the most important stage because its where The actual video is shot and this is what the final product will be. The production process includes the organising of the crew and kit on the shoot days and then the director and cinematographers set up and decide on the shots for the scene. The actors then perform. This stage can take place in many locations across the world or can be situated in one single place.
The standard day on a film production can be over 12 hours long, up to 16 hours. The day starts of with the produces, director and other major crew turning up very early, they are then followed by the rest of the crew at there call times, they are briefed about the days schedule. the grip, electric and production design start work first because this stage has to be completed first before the equipment and actors can be brought in. Once completed the rest of the crew move on set to set up the camera equipment and lighting and the grip, electric and production design move onto the next scene so its ready when the filming on the first scene is completed. Whilst the equipment and lighting is being set up the actors will have turned up and be in dressing and makeup. When the actors and crew are ready and set up they practice with the director to get the action how they want it. They will shoot a shot as many times as the director wants to until there happy with it. At the end of the day the call sheets for the next day will be handed out and the director will sit down with other key members of the crew to review the rushes from the days shoot.
When I did the shoot for the national emergency services museum we got call sheets several days before saying when and where to turn up, the weather and my role on the shoot. I turned up at my call time and stayed for a very short production day of about 2 hours. There were no actors or lighting equipment so set up was minimal. We started by scouting out the shoot locations to get an idea of what we were filming then began taking as many shots as we felt necessary. We reviewed the footage the following day.
Post-production
The post production stage can take the a very long time, up to a year on feature films. This stage involves taking the raw media from the production stage and processing it to make the final film. Because of the amount of time required in this process, it can overlap with the production process, this is because the editors can get to work with the first lot of rushes whilst the crew are still working on the rest of the scenes. Post production includes: editing, colour correction and grading, VFX, scoring and other audio processes.
Editing starts with the editor bringing in the rushes, audio and other required media into the bin in there editing platform. They will then review the footage and sort, file and name the shots with the help of the shot list. They will then review the footage and trim down to the rough shots then place them in order into the timeline. The shots are then trimmed down to the final length and the project is transferred to another program where its goes through colour correction and then grading. The audio is then added and the project is sent of to be scored and if applicable the VFX added.
When I edited the vide for the emergency services museum I followed a very similar workflow. Starting of with the import, choosing the shots I wanted and then bringing them into the timeline. The difference is that I didn’t have a narrative to stick too so the shots had no order they had to in. I found this to be more difficult as theres no structure to follow so one has to be created by grouping similar shots. The video had one song throughout the entire thing so scoring was a simple drag and drop of the song file into the timeline and matching up the vide in time with the music. The was minor colour corrections that had to be done but they were small so I did them in the editing program I used (FCPX).
First I made a new library called emergency services with a new project called emergency services in the editing program called Final Cut Pro X . I imported the rushes and the audio files into the library and watched all of them and selected the parts of the clips that I wanted to use and clicked the F key which favourites the clip, this helps later on when bringing the clips into the timeline. Next I had to find the music to go over the top of the video, this had to be licence free as the client had requested this as they didn’t have the funding to pay for a licence for the music in the video. I chose a track called ‘felling good’ as I felt that it fit with the upbeat theme of the video that I was attempting to create. Once I had the track I began drawing and dropping the favourite clips into the timeline to get a rough idea of how the video was going to look like. I then trimmed the clips to the correct length to make the video fit with the beat of the music. I tried to cut shots at the end of a bar for a more natural and flowing video, I also tried to keep shots to 2 or 3 bars long .I then added key frames to the decibel level in the music and then lowered the volume in the section with the interviews. I spent some time rearranging and re-trimming the clips to make them fit better with he music and group shots with similar contents together. Once I was happy with the order and timings of the clips I worked on the end titles. I first took the graphic of the emergency services logo and imported it into Adobe Photoshop CC and used the lasso tool to select the words and images, I then deleted the white back ground from the image and exported the image with an alpha background. I then imported the new image with an alpha background into FCPX and overlayed it onto the final shot of the emergency services museum building and resized and repositioned it over the sky. To finish the edit of I faded the graphic and video to black and cut the music at an appropriate beat. This was the initial edit complete.
Henry Rees 
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