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| The Destroyer 73 |
Today we filmed at The Historic Dockyard at Chatham. This was an interesting place to film at with all the old ships and aircraft. Sophie, Jack, Callum and myself were given a big blue ship, called The Destroyer 73 (D73). We found this a really good location to film as there were many platforms which we had access to and including everything inside. There was also a tour guide on the boat, waiting for visitors, who knew a lot about the history of the ship. Unfortunately we didn't have time but he agreed to do an interview for us about the history of the dockyard which would have been great to put into our mini documentary.
We took shots of the front of the D73, we made sure to get this number in the shot also to establish which ship we were on. Ferg recommended that we take some more dramatic shots, in terms of zooming in and out quickly before focusing on a specific thing for a couple of seconds. For example, the guns and cannons on the ship and then zooming out and then back in on something else, he suggested this because when the boat was in action, everything and everyone were fast paced and the camera movement can show this.
We each took shots different things in the D73, such as a couple of close up shots of bells and things on the wall of the ship. We also met an employee of the dockyard painting the side of the ship and he also agreed to us filming him. This was good because we were able to get some actuality and action into the filming which is something we didn't get much of. Most of our shots included stills of the ship and bits inside it as we ran out of time. After setting up the camera and having problems with the sound we only had an hour to get all the shots we agreed on while we walked round the ship the first time doing our risk assessment.Nevertheless, I found today really useful and eye opening to film actuality in a real location. We learnt a few things, such as it being a pain getting the camera, boom and tripod around the inside of the ship because it had really narrow corridors and steep steps. As a result of this, we know to make sure our football documentary location is big and easily accessible for us to bring equipment through.
Today has also taught us that filming real life is difficult because there were times when we wanted the wind to pick up to blow a flag and the bells to chime but we had to wait for these and if we missed these we couldn't just recreate them. There were workers at the other side of the boat which looked good to film but they had moved by the time we were in the correct place to film them. We shall also aim to get the interviews as soon as possible in case one of the interviewees need to leave, because the guide we wanted to talk to had to go for his lunch break and then we had to leave before he came back. I wish we had time to interview the guide because that would have given us experience in interviewing real people and not actors but I'm sure we can practise this another time before we film our documentary. We know to get the shots we want the first time round if we can to make things easier for us.
Feedback
Overall feedback for all groups
- Pan at 45 degrees max
- Hold shots for 10-15 seconds
- Steady in/out = better edit
- Moves from A -> B
REVEAL
- 3 tights for every 1 wide shot
- Wide shot of an object - next shot zoom in on same object
Our feedback
- Less pans
- Hold the shot for longer
- Check white balance when in new area of location
- Only move for objects moving/a reveal
- Small pans to reveal things are OK
- Some shots were soft, check focus
Overall, looking back at our footage two days after filming I was still happy with our work. It's different to see it on the big screen to the small camera screen. As a result of this, some of our shots weren't as focused as what we thought and the lighting in some parts wasn't very good. We didn't think to look at the white balance but now watching the footage back we know to always check that setting. There were really good shots which started moving, this brought the quality of the static shot down, but we know now to always make sure we get still shots to capture the action, and only move the camera if we are following something or sometimes, a reveal.
The shots which were still will look good with the sound behind them, e.g. we had a static shot of a kitchen and the pots and pans so this will go well with a sound of someone washing up in the background, with maybe old music from a radio, showing what life was like back then. In general, we were proud of the shots and I am looking forward to editing them into an actual short documentary piece.
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