March 23, 2009

Today Joyce had finished our script and through reading through it, as camera person, I was able to formulate the possible shots and angles we could use. More importantly, it was very exciting to see our film coming together.

Our story was very intricate, documenting a boy's escape from his teacher with a magical device which allows him to travel through "portals". However, during the chase, he drops it and it start malfunctioning and transports him random places. Obviously, through this event we could induce a lot of humor which is the theme of our film.

In this single period we started planning our filming days and locations; making sure that we chose days that fit everyone schedule and that would allow us a sufficient amount of days to complete filming. However, as camera person, I started working on the storyboard. Again, the main goal as camera person is to use angle and shots that made the portals as convincing as possible. I also have to pay close attention to continuity between portals. I can do this by doing it indoors where we can manipulate the lighting and ultimately keep it constant. I also have to ensure that the last image in a "portal shot" is exactly the same as the starting image of the next "portal shot". This will ensure the cohesion between the two shots are seamless and undetectable, thus making our portals more effective.

In this period, I had finished doing the storyboard for the first few scenes and will finish most it by next period. This period was very productive in terms of the progression of our film, our script is finished and now with the completion of the storyboard and shot list we will be able to commence filming. As camera person, I have a very good insight into the type of shots that we are going to use is just a matter of putting it down on to paper. I was good "inquirer" today by asking my group members about what they thought about this particular shot/angle and was "open-minded" to their suggestions and comments. I also exercised my "knowledge" of filming, sifting through the types of shots that I could use but only using the ones that were appropriate for our cause and allowed the continiuety of our film to flow as smoothly as possible. Because "portals" don't exist, it is important that my shots make the portals look as real as possible. This is done through particular camera angles and manipulation of lighting. As the camera person in my group and in this unit, this is my main goal.