Green Screen

On the 7th December we had a go at using Green Screen within college, we didn't know if we were going to need to use this technique in our film or not, but we had a go anyway! Jess stood in front of the green screen and pretended she was surfing. We had to adjust the lighting so that there were no shadows and filmed 30 seconds of her doing this. We then sat Becky on a swivel chair holding a camera at the same height as when filming on the green screen; Annabelle then pushed the chair down the corridor in order to create the illusion that Jess was surfing down the corridor which acted as the background for the shot. We then added the two shots together using Final Cut express and Chroma-keying.

We found using the green screen fun and think that it is a very good technique to have! However, we had some slight issues with the colouring when it came to chroma-keying, so we had to do some research using the internet to help us do so.

One good tutorial video we found was this one: 



We encountered some problems during editing as in certain areas of the shot, the lighting contrast is not exactly how we want it to be as there is sometimes a green glow around Jess, but we are happy with the outcome as none of us have ever used green screen before. We also should have taken the sound from the background instead of the green screen shot, as it was just a practise, if we were to do another practise we would spend more time on getting the lighting and chroma-keying better however as we are unsure whether we will be using green screen or not so we are focusing more on the shots we know we do need. 

Tricky shots- Flicking the Coin

We did a variation of practise shots to do with coin flipping. Out of the wide selection we filmed these were two of the ones which appeared to be the most common outcome. In the first practise shot the coin didn't go as high as hoped and didn't come back up and down in a straight line as we had hoped, the second shot was a much better flip but sadly was not done by the person who is going to be playing Sarah. We are going to do another practise shot of putting the coin on a small piece of fishing wire and then try spin it that was, if this does not work we will have to do lots of practising to work out another way of getting out ideal shot. 

Tricky Shots- Taking Coins

As part of our title sequence we would like us taking coins from a pile to be the background image for some of the title sequence, we realised from doing these two different practise shots that we need probably more than double of the coins than we practised with. We are undecided on which one of the styles of taking the coins we will use as of yet but we are pleased with both of these practise shots however on practise shot 2 on hindsight we should have used a much closer shot and re filmed when I accidentally dragged an extra coin out. We will definitely be using a shot similar to one of these in our film. 

Tricky Shots- Coins landing Analysis

Another tricky shot we might need in our short film involves coins landing. If we decide to use this in our film, we want to make sure that the audience understands that the direction of the coins. In Practice 1 we decided to shoot the coins landing on ground using a low level position of the camera, as we believed that this would be the most effective way to display the coins as the audience can see them coming onto the shot and landing on the ground. This eye level shot is the most effective for what we want to achieve as everything is displayed within the frame.We were able to achieve this by placing the camera on the ground and dropping the pennies from a small height, which prevented them from bouncing off shot, and instead they remained within the frame. If we decide to use coins landing in our film, we believe that this would be the most effective method in doing so.

Tricky Shots- Pouring coins Analysis

We plan on creating the visage of pouring coins in our film, so we conducted two practice shots of pouring coins. In Practice 1 we placed the the pennies into a plastic cup (which in our film would be a jar) and tipped them out slowly. We attempted to pour the coins in several motions as originally in our film we wanted a slow trickle of coins but not in a continuous flow. We decided it was more effective to have a close up shot of the jar and have the pennies falling off the frame. This would allow us to emphasise that there is a lot of pennies that our characters are searching through. In Practice 2 we decided to attempt a more continuous pouring of coins from the jar. Once again we placed the pennies into the plastic cup, this time keeping a continuous motion in order to make the coins fall. We wanted to emphasise the vast amounts of pennies being used and therefore felt that a close up of the pouring coins and allowing them to fall off frame would be the best option, as it allows the motion to flow better.

From conducting the practice shots we decided that the most effective way to display the pouring of pennies would be a close up shot and a more continuous shot of the pouring of pennies. However, as this was difficult to achieve during our practice shots, we have decided that it would be more effective if we placed the jar behind the camera and poured the pennies over it during our film. We would achieve this by placing the camera lower to the ground and slowly tipping the pennies in front of the lens, in order to create the idea of a penny waterfall.

Tricky Shots Falling Coins Analysis

This is our practice shots of coins falling. We have used lots of different way to create a good effect of coins falling at once, as though been poured from a bottle.

Practice 1
We lined lots of coins at the edge of the desk and pushed them off a few at a time, this gives a good effect because coins are always falling, but they aren't coming from the same place as it would if it were been poured from a jar. We are also wanting a waterfall like effect of falling coins and so will need lots more to create the effect we want. Another problem we have with this shot is that we set the camera to focus automatically instead of manually; this has made the focus of the camera bounce from the wall behind to the floor to the coins giving a confusing fuzzy effect. To sort this out we need to focus the camera manually on a spot where the coins will be falling so only te coins are in focus. I do like how as the coins fall they are fuzzy because they are falling too fast for the camera and with more coins this will look very good.

Practice 2
For the next practice we did the same as practice one but grouped the coins closer together and in a line from the edge of the desk instead of along. This does look much better than practice one because it looks as though there are more coins and they are falling from the same point. However the problem is that the coins are falling too fast and look too much like a fuzzy blur, we could solve this problem by using a camera that is more suited to faster speeds or not be as close to the coins. Another problem we have again the focus, we did use manual focus for this practice but it still doesn't capture the coins as well as we want it to.

Practice 3
For practice 3 we did the same as practice 2 by grouping them close together and pushing them off the edge. We have manually focused the camera on the edge of the desk where the coins are going to be falling. This has given the best focus out of the three practices. However I think this shot is too close to the coins and we need to be a bit wider to fit more in the shot. They also need to be pushed off more smoothly; we coud do this by using a ruler to push them together.

Practice 4
This is the best out of all practice shots of coins falling. To do this shot we poured the coins from a cup onto the the edge of the desk where they fell together. I think this looks good because all the coins are coming from the same place, it also makes it look as though there are lots more coins than there actually are.
Slow Motion
I think the slow motion coins dropping is effective because we see every coin falling. However because they are falling so fast it is hard to see as they are very fuzzy across the screen. We could try and use as special slow motion camera to do this.

Tricky Shot Experimentation

Here are our practice shots we may be using in our film. We have practiced these shots inparticualr because we feel they will be the hardest to do and look proffesional for our final film.We have done several techniques for each shot so that we know which techniques is the easiest to do and which gives the best effect on screen;