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Pre-production: Camera test


On the 28th November, I went back to the Lunch Club to do a camera test. I wanted to do this in order to see how the volunteers and customers act in front of the camera. Depending on how they act would depend on who I choose to interview when I come to film the full length of my documentary.

 The night before going to the club, I used the camera to see what I could do with it, like changing the quality of the footage, or the levels of light being picked up. I did this in order to have a better understanding on how to use the equipment effectively on the shoot.

 When I arrived, I managed to set up my equipment easily, as it was only a camera with a microphone attached, and a tripod. The camera that I was using was a Panasonic DVX 200, which is a very good quality camera. I have used this type of camera before, but I have had people with me, so I was able to ask them anything if I didn't know anything, or I got confused by some of the settings. However, on this test shoot, I was working on my own, so there were a couple of things with the camera that I did not know, but I managed to work around them.
The test shoots went really well. I filmed plenty of general shots, and use more area of the church than the lunch club takes up. By doing this, I managed to get some really good shots. One of my favourites was a pan down from a stained glass window onto the lunch club, as I thought that it looked like the light of God shining down on the club.

 When I was interviewing people during the club, I set up the camera in two different positions, so that the subject would be on a different side of the screen each time. I did this in order to see what shot looked better, and more natural. When I had decided, I asked the interviewee a few questions, and didn't cut after each question, as I would be able to take out me asking the questions in editing. I told each person that I interviewed to try and give an answer at least 10 seconds long, so that I am able to link clips and so that their answers will convey enough information about the club. I did several takes with each person, but focused on one or two questions, as they needed to be louder, or to speak a bit longer. 

 I was also able to interview the Vicar of the Church, which was really useful. He gave two different answers, and we tried a few different positions so that I could see what worked better. 

 As I knew that people would be wondering what I was doing, I went around all the tables and introduced myself, explained what I was doing, and asked if anyone did not want to be in any of my shots, but no-one had any problems with me filming them. I also did this when new people arrived at the club in order to make sure that I asked everybody their permission. 

When editing the footage together, I noticed that I would need to play around with the sound, as the inside of the Church creating an echo, which made hearing the interviewees a bit difficult to hear.

 The final edit of the test shoot is available to see on
https://hendrixwinf2014.wixsite.com/variouslens




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