Pre-Production: CCR Planning

During pre-production, I wanted to focus on the creative critical reflection planning, and particularly for the question "How did you integrate technologies—software, hardware, and online—into this project? This question gives me the opportunity to experiment with what technological tools we plan on using. (note that these images are not from the final film, they're from our planning and test film) 

Picture I took during our short film of the iPhone on a tripod and rig

One of the first technologies we tested in our first film assignment was a handheld smartphone rig attached to a tripod. We had experimented with over-the-shoulder shots not knowing that in our final film how important these shots would be. An essential element for our film was this type of shot since we want to hide the stalker's face for dramatic effect. The image above shows the rig setup, with the phone in position to capture the over-the-shoulder shot. The main challenge we faced with this was ensuring the shot was stable and that the phone's movement was smooth and controlled. 

Solution: The handheld rig attached to the tripod allowed us to keep the camera steady while allowing for a bit of flexibility. This setup will be helpful for many of the scenes where we want to maintain tension and suspense by keeping the stalker's face hidden. 

Picture taken of me during our short film production

Another thing we experimented with in our last short film was the handheld rig without the tripod. This was most useful for a scene where we needed to get a smooth camera pan from a table up to an actor's face. Without the tripod, I had full control over the movement of the camera which is what we needed for this specific spot. I wasn't sure if removing the tripod would result in shaky or uncontrolled footage. 

Solution: The handheld rig gave me much more control over the camera, which made it possible to get the natural and smooth pan. This flexibility means we'll likely use the handheld rig without the tripod for other shots in our final film. 

The main camera we're using for our film is an iPhone 14, which belongs to our director. This device is important for a couple of reasons: it's an accessible and high-quality camera for filming, and since it belongs to the director, we know the footage will be safe and secure. We used an iPhone 14 for our first short film, and we concluded it was the easiest camera to use since we already know it well, and it offers excellent video quality.

Beyond the hardware, we plan to organize our footage using Google Drive. We used this for our short film and it allowed our team to easily have access to footage and stay organized. One challenge we face is deciding what editing software to use. This issue doesn't directly effect me because I'm the cinematographer, but its still important for me to help decide with my group what fits best. Last film, we used Adobe Premiere Pro and it was successful, so we will most likely use that.