Question 6

In the directing lecture, important points were covered. Two that stood out to me as important were actually things that I had already picked up on during the shooting of our films. First, it is incredibly helpful to have a test shoot. A week before our actual shoot we shot the entire film without actors, and it looked pretty awful, it was a mess. A good mess for a first attempt but if that was the footage for our final thing, i would weep for us. I think in the future it is definitely worth doing when possible. It makes an enormous difference.

The lecture also highlighted another thing; how important it is for the mood to be good and the impact that has on the actors. The story about that group who’s actors badmouthed them with their lapel mics recording still haunts me, so on the shoot i was extra aware of the actors and whether they were happy. After our shoot was done both our actors complimented us on how professional the experience felt and how we had a good energy about us. That was pleasing to hear, I’m glad they didn’t pick up on the stress the crew and I all had inside during the shoot, especially since the actors we hired were really professional and mature and more importantly, weren’t being paid for their time. A positive and comfortable environment gave us the best performance out of them.

Question 7

The sounds are all very crisp and excellently timed in ‘blood simple.’ The movement of the paper is so clear, and the texture of the fish as they slide across the table has been communicated beautifully through the texture of the sound. Sounds such as these have been layered over the scene and continue during the shot reverse shot changes. This maintains the diagetic space in the scene. Even as the shot focuses on one person, you are still able to hear the actions, eg. the creaking of the other persons chair off screen.

Question 8

After looking through the shortcuts, one in particular makes me feel like an idiot. Cmd+A. Honestly, how did i not know this. Cmd+A has always meant ‘select all’ so i don’t know why i bothered highlighting everything the slow way in all my other projects. Ill have to have a go on premiere to test this out, but if Cmd+A selects all the clips in the sequence…. i feel like an idiot for not using it.

Another thing, i knew there was a shortcut for this but I haven’t edited enough this semester to have known it, though i know my film group obviously knew this and used it. Hitting return to render. I was surprised reading that because it’s so easy, just, return. But now that i know these commands, ill definitely use them. It is impossible not to. Clearly, i need to edit more to figure these things out. I really need to edit more.