Filming Practice....

Before I started filming, I decided to go around the school and do some practice shots. I tried to experiment with different angles, shots, zooms and movements to get a feel for the camera and get an idea of what shots to use. I wanted to see how certain shots would look, and see what type of shots I could use in my trailer, before I went ahead with the actual filming.  I then decided to make a video showcasing these clips to practice with the editing software...

First group of shots were mainly tilts, pans and zooms, I wanted to practice holding the camera still while moving to do pans and such. I also decided to do some P.O.V shots of me walking towards a door and opening it to see how effective that would look. I did quite a few foot shots of me walking down the stairs, again this was to see what it would look like and experiment with different angles and shots. I did some medium shots of people walking down the stairs, over the shoulder shots of people reading, panning shots of the car-park to practice introducing a setting, I also did a pan of someone running, which was useful for my trailer as I show people running, so it was good to visualise my shots before actually doing them as I can what angles I want, where I want to film it and how zoomed in I should be. I also did a walk on camera shot, with the camera stationary and placed on a pole, again this could be useful for my trailer. 

I then decided to put all of the shots I had produced into a video, and practice editing with clips, as I had practiced editing with photos. I ordered them in a way which would tell a story of some sorts, that it would make sense when you watch it, and that they seem to flow when played. I used one type of transition called cross-fade as I thought it looked effective when transitioning from one shot to the next. I trimmed certain clips down as I thought some parts weren't as good as the rest and I wanted shorten the length of the video to be less than 3 minutes, which is how long a trailer is generally. Music wise, I used a sample song called Kalimba. I thought this went well with my video as it is upbeat and quick, and showcases my clips. For my trailer, I might use a mainstream song from a band, rather than sample music, as it may suit my trailer better, but for this practice edit, I liked the sound of it. 

The whole practice session was extremely useful as it allowed me to get used to the camera again, and also test out possible shots which I could use within my trailer. The editing practice was useful as well as it allowed me to get to grips with the editing software again, and gave me ideas of how I want my trailer to look, e.g. what transitions I want to use, whether or not I want it to cut, the type of music I want, how long I want each clip to be, effects I may want to use and so on. The practice also allowed me to practice trimming clips and fading the music in and out so that it doesn't just start and end abruptly. 

I have lots of possible ideas now, and the filming also allowed me to test possible locations that I could use in my trailer. From this, I have decided to not use inside the building for the majority of the trailer, but outside in the forest area. There will be one shot filmed inside the school building, but apart from that it shall be filmed outside. Shots I shall include will be close ups, pans, tilts, zooms, medium shot, long shot, wide shot, high angles, two shots and over the shoulder shots.