Video and Sound Production - Lectures & Exercises
29.08.2023 - 05.09.2023 (Week 1 - Week 2)
Sorcha Griselda / 0353056
Video and Sound Production / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Task 1 / Exercises
LECTURES
Week 1 / Introduction & Briefing
Mr. Martin introduced the class to this semester module, and he also starts teaching us on how to use Adobe Premiere Pro.
Week 2 / Framing & Storyboard
During this week, the class was lectured on the background information of
cinematography, including how many shots first appeared in a world of
continuous takes.
+ Shots Sizes
Common
- Wide shot (W.S)
- Includes the entire subject and important objects in the immediate surroundings.
- If it's used at the beginning of a scene, it's often called an "establishing shot".
- Medium shot (M.S)
- Showcases the subject.
- Important to understand gestures and expression.
- Shot from the waist up, with hands and lower half falling outside of the frame.
- Medium close-up shot (M.C.U)
- Shot approximately midway between waist and shoulders to above the head.
- Over the shoulder shot (O.S)
- Shot of subject behind the shoulder of another person.
Less Common
- Extreme wide shot (E.W.S)
- Showcase a broad view of the surroundings around character.
- Conveys scale, distance, and geographical location.
- Medium wide shot (M.W.S)
- Shot of character across the legs above or below the knees.
- Showcases the physical setting of action in which action is taking place.
- Close-up shot (M.C.U)
- Isolate the most important part of the subject.
- For a speaker, this is normally the head, or a small object.
- Extreme close-up shot (E.C. U)
- Singles out a portion of the face, which magnifies the details.
- Increases the drama or impact on a situation.
+ Composition
INSTRUCTION
EXERCISES
Rule of thirds
- Divides the frame into thirds both horizontally and vertically.
Fig 1.1 Rule of thirds
Subject Angle
- Facial modelling
- 45º angling (if properly lighted, will appear round and eyes are displayed fully).
- 3D solidity
- Angling for backgrounds with two or more faces in relation of subject.
- Angling of camera so parallel lines converge to subject.
- Eye Level
- Gives impression of parity with viewer
- Low Angle
- Makes character look bigger, stronger, or more noble.
- High Angle
- Makes character look smaller, weaker, younger, more childlike, or confused.
Screen Direction
- Dynamic Screen Direction
- Depicts subject motion in one direction only.
- Static Screen Direction
- Using the 180º rule for the shots with two characters.
- Enforces that the camera stays on a horizontal axis and not cross sections so that it will disorient the viewer.
- Horizontal axis is called "Line of Action".
Week 3 / Storytelling in Film
+ Story & Plot
- Story [Who & Why]
- Explicitly Presented Events + Presumed Events.
- Set of all events in a cause-effect relationship occurring in time and space.
- Story Structure [3-ACT Structure]
- Act 1 | Beginning: Setup/Introduction of a story
- *Plot Point 1 happens*
- The "inciting incident"
- Turn the story in a new direction
- Sets up what act 2 is going to be
- Raises the stakes
- Reminder of the narrative enigma; presents the possibility of a different outcome
- Act 2 | Middle: Confrontation of a problem
- *Plot Point 2 happens*
- The "Climactic Turning Point"
- Protagonist's quest reaches critical mass
- Possible solution is presented
- The biggest cliffhanger: will the protagonist win or lose?
- Act 3 | End: Resolution of problems
- Plot [What/How/When/Where happened]
- Explicitly Presented Events + Added Non-diegetic (narrative) Material.
- Everything visibly and audibly presents in the film, and material that is extraneous to the story world.
- Plot Segmentation
- A technique for dissecting a plot into individual scenes line by line. It aids in illuminating a movie's grand scheme and its minute elements.
Week 4 / Miss En Scène (Putting On Stage)
+ Miss En Scène = refers to what people see on screen, such as all the
elements that appear on camera and their arrangement.
- Composition
- The deliberate selection of frames and camera angles that make up a shot.
- Manipulating composition can accentuate the emotional themes of the story.
- Set Design
- Refers to everything the audience sees within a particular scene.
- These details help build out the world of the location.
- Lighgtning
- High-key lighting, often used in musicals and romantic comedies, relies on hard light to minimize shadows.
- Low-key lighting, often used in horror movies,
- Costume and Props
- Useful tools for communicating a character's thoughts and journey.
- Serves to drive the narrative or become a motif to underscore the themes of the film.
- Depth of Space
- Determined between objects, people, and scenery, influenced by their placement along with camera location and lens choice.
Week 5 / Production Shoot
Week 6 / Colour Correction
Color correction is a crucial step in the post-production process that involves adjusting the colors in a video to achieve a visually pleasing and consistent look.
- Import Footage: Start by importing the video footage into Adobe Premiere Pro and placing it on the timeline.
- Access Lumetri Color Panel: Navigate to the "Color" workspace in Premiere Pro to access the Lumetri Color panel. This panel consolidates all the color correction and grading tools.
- Basic Correction: Exposure and Contrast: Adjust the exposure and contrast sliders to correct the overall brightness and contrast of your footage.
- Highlights and Shadows: Fine-tune the highlights and shadows to maintain detail in bright and dark areas.
- Color Wheels & Match:
- Color Wheels: Use the color wheels to balance the colors in your footage. Adjust the temperature (warmth) and tint (green/magenta) to achieve a neutral color balance.
- Match: The "Match" section allows to match the color of one clip to another, ensuring consistency across different shots.
- Creative Adjustments:
- Saturation: Control the overall saturation of your footage. Be mindful not to over-saturate, as it can lead to unnatural-looking colors.
- Vibrance: Adjust vibrance to selectively enhance less saturated colors, preserving the natural look of skin tones.
- Curves and Color Grading:
- Curves: Utilize the Curves section to make fine adjustments to the tonal range. Adjusting curves allows for precise control over highlights, mid-tones, and shadows.
- Color Grading: Experiment with the creative LUTs (Look-Up Tables) to give your footage a specific look or mood.
- HSL Secondary: This feature allows you to target and adjust specific colors in your footage. For instance, you can enhance or desaturate a particular color without affecting the rest.
Week 7 / Audio Editing
Audio editing in Adobe Audition is a powerful process that allows us to enhance, clean, and optimize your audio recordings.
- Importing Audio: Start by importing your audio file into Adobe Audition. You can do this by navigating to "File" and selecting "Open," or simply dragging and dropping the audio file into the workspace.
- Basic Editing:
- Use the selection tool to cut, copy, paste, and delete audio segments.
- Employ the time selection tool for more precise editing of specific portions.
- Adding Effects: Adobe Audition offers a wide range of audio effects and presets. We can apply effects such as reverb, equalization, compression, and more to enhance the audio quality.
- Noise Reduction: Use the Noise Reduction feature to eliminate background noise and unwanted hums.
- Multitrack Editing: Adobe Audition's multitrack view allows us to work with multiple audio tracks simultaneously.
- Pitch and Time Correction: Adjust pitch and time to correct any discrepancies in the original recording. This is particularly useful for correcting pitch variations in vocals or aligning audio with video.
- Dynamic Processing: Apply dynamic processing tools like compression to control the dynamic range of the audio. This ensures a more consistent volume level throughout the recording.
- Editing Spectral Frequency Display: The spectral frequency display provides a visual representation of the audio frequencies over time.
Week 8 / Independent Learning Week
Week 9 / Stop Motion Editing
Shooting a stop-motion animation involves capturing a series of individual frames and then playing them in sequence to create the illusion of movement.
- Concept and Planning: Start by developing a clear concept for your stop-motion animation. Plan the storyline, characters, and key scenes. Consider creating a storyboard to visualize the sequence of shots.
- Materials and Equipment: Gather the necessary materials, including your characters or objects, a stable camera, and a tripod. Choose a camera with manual settings to have control over exposure and focus.
- Set Design: Create the set for your animation. Ensure that the set complements the scale and style of your characters.
- Lighting: Proper lighting is crucial for a smooth stop-motion animation. Use diffused and consistent lighting to avoid harsh shadows.
- Camera Setup: Mount your camera on a sturdy tripod to maintain a consistent frame. Make sure the camera is set to manual mode for exposure, focus, and white balance. Disable auto-focus to prevent unintentional changes during shooting.
- Frame Composition: Set up your characters or objects in the first frame according to your storyboard. Frame your shot and consider the rule of thirds for composition. Take a test shot to check the framing and lighting.
- Capture Frames: Start capturing frames one at a time. Move your characters or objects slightly between each frame to create the illusion of motion.
- Consistency and Patience: Maintain consistency in movement and lighting throughout the entire animation. This process requires patience, as even a short animation may involve capturing hundreds of frames.
- Playback and Editing: After capturing all frames, import them into stop-motion animation software or video editing software. Arrange the frames in sequence to create the animation.
INSTRUCTION
EXERCISES
Week 1 | Video Editing
During week 1, Mr. Martin introduced us to how to use Adobe Premiere
Pro. The first exercise was to arrange the video clips provided from the
google drive in the right order as it would allow us to become more
familiar with using the Adobe Premiere Pro.
|
| Fig 1.1 'Mints' video clips |
|
| Fig 1.2 'Doritos' video clips |
We only had to arrange the first set of video clips, which are based
on the 'Mints' commercial and they have been numbered accordingly. The
second set of video clips is based on the 'Doritos' commercial and
they are not numbered in any particular order, so we need to arrange
those clips accordingly, like the original one.
|
| Fig 1.3 Arranging 'Mints' video clips | 29/08/2023 |
Fig 1.4 'Mints' - Final edited | 29/08/2023
|
| Fig 1.5 Arranging 'Doritos' video clips | 29/08/2023 |
Fig 1.6 'Doritos' - Final Edits | 29/08/2023
Week 2 | Shooting: Composition
During week 2, we were lectured about framing and its various shot
sizes. We were also assigned to shoot eight different size shots,
which are:
- Low Angle Wide Shot
- Frontal Medium Close-up
- Frontal Medium Shot
- Extreme Close-up Shot
- Side Angle Medium Shot
- 3/4 Angling Medium Close-up Shot
- Close-up Shot
- Eye-level Medium Shot
Each shot needs to be in a landscape format video with a duration of
five seconds.
|
| Fig 2.1 Editing Process - Composition | 04/09/2023 |
Fig 2.2 Final shooting exercise - Composition | 05/09/2023
Week 3 | 3 Act Structure & Editing Exercise - Lalin
During week 3, the lecturer instructed us to analyze the 3 Act
structure from two short videos: Wen Guang and Lalin.
This exercise will help us have a better understanding about the video
acting structure before diving into the projects.
Fig 3.1 3 Act Structure Exercise - Wen Guang and Lalin | 05/09/2023
We were also given an editing exercise based on a short film called
'My Name is Lalin'. Our task is to assemble and trim the
clips in order based on the storyboard while also applying some simple transitions. The final cut needs to
be 35 seconds sharp.
|
| Fig 3.2 Editing Process - Lalin | 12/09/2023 |
Fig 3.3 Final editing exercise - Lalin | 12/09/2023
Comments
Post a Comment