Question 1

The above shot is grainy, due to auto-gain.

To hide the gain, we brought the darks up a lot to make the jumper darker to hide the gain which was most apparent there. The mid-tones were also brought up slightly. The original footage began looking more washed out and cold, so we brought the shadows slightly toward the red to warm up the image and put the pink tones back into his skin. The gain is still visible, particularly on the wall behind him. This could be fixed by bringing the contrast up further, however, this could make the shot look more obviously colour graded and unnatural. So I am content with our current colour grade.

The above footage of the crowd at federation square is overexposed, an ND filter should have been used.

Again, we brought the darks up a fair amount in this image, and the mid-tones down, to bring down the whiteness. We also brought the whites down substantially. The image began looking too orange, so we brought the mid-tones toward the blue. I don’t think this footage is complete yet. I would bring the highlights toward the blue as well as the footage still looks orange. It also looks somewhat flat, particularly the buildings in the background. So I would try to bring some more highlights into the image.

Question 5

My main goals  for this course were to improve my technical skills and be more hands on in the process. I believe working in a group of two has allowed me to do that as I had more responsibilities. As well as directing, I did more producorial work, contacting some of the interviewees and coming up with questions. I was also the interviewer for this documentary which allowed me to get outside of my comfort zone, as I needed to be able to think on my feet. Most importantly though, and what I feel has been most valuable, is doing technical work. I admit this was the area I was lacking in the most at the beginning of semester. But I did the majority of the camera work for this documentary, did a bit of sound, as well as editing. I made lots of mistakes this semester, but I don’t feel overly regretful, as it is because of those mistakes that I have learned a lot in a short amount of time. Such as the different functions of the camera, what looks good, and how to fix something if it doesn’t look good.  It has also been a long time since I’ve done a lot of editing, and so it was good to get back into it. Especially as I was still mostly unfamiliar with premiere.

This course exceeded my expectations. I didn’t have low expectations, but I thought it would be more or less similar to last semester. While Film-TV1 was fantastic and I had a great time, I feel I have learned so much more in Film-TV2. I attribute this to the ability to choose our own groups and be more fluid with our roles. While I did a lot last semester, I mostly stuck to producorial work as that was my role, and the other roles were filled by other, enthusiastic people. This semester I was adamant about the fact that I wanted to work either alone, or with a partner, because I knew that was the only way I would be forced to learn everything. With that in mind, my favourite aspect of this subject was the fluidity. We chose our own ideas, and people could decide which ones they wanted to work on. Our group size was completely up to us, and, particularly evident in the fine cut screening, we could attempt anything from informational, to experimental. It has given me a new appreciation and excitement for documentary, as well as independent projects, and i feel more confident in approaching filmmaking in the future.