There are several keyboard shortcuts that I have learned and found to be useful for Adobe Premiere which are;
Functions never used before that may be invaluable to editing;
Looking at the editing from the clip screened in the lecture from the Coen brothers’ ‘Blood Simple‘, there are several stand out moments in the scene in terms of audio editing. Firstly, besides the dialogue, there are sharp sound effects especially in the beginning sequence. These include the fish getting thrown on the table, the lighter and the rustling of the envelope and photograph. The sound effect of the crickets also highlights the sense of isolation of the characters, building up the suspense finally reaching a gradual increase in loudness in a piece of music when the more dominant character shoots the other.
In terms of the video editing in this scene, the editing seems to place an emphasis on the props that propels the action. From the alternative cut is to the fish placed on the table, then the lighter, then an over the shoulder showing more fish, between the main back and forth shot for the conversation between the characters. This seems to place more attention to the lighter as it remains hidden from view until it’s owner leaves.
I find Sandra’s lecture on ‘Directing Actors’ quite interesting, although it had nothing to do with me for my project. I could tell she is very experienced, and there were plenty of interesting points that I got out from the lecture. Firstly, for a director the most important skill is generally about developing good relationship with actors on set, and to be mindful that when direction is given not to overwhelm actors so that they wont be confused. She also mentioned that the relationship between the actor and director, as well as the Director and DP, is one of the most important as it plays a fundamental role in bringing the film to life, and could be crucial to the end product of our film.
Secondly, the director is the person that overlooks the film, and controls the film in terms of its narrative in storytelling. They are also responsible for the choreography of the actors, and direct the actors accordingly. Finally, she also recommends that we should have a plan B during the shoot, due to unforeseen circumstances that we could arise, even though the director may have a couple of rehearsels prior to the shooting.
2). (i)Relation between the parts
(ii) What material is being filmed?
(iii)Scale of the bits
(iv)Emergence and architecture – listening to the material is crucial.
(v)Risk
3. Words do not adhere to meanings, there are other lies that are generating meaning. Listen to the media to learn about the emergence.
4. Micro views. Organized by time. Works reveals itself to you through your act.
5. Using end SNU can be problematic. Ending is fundamental to how we interpret our story. Most of our deep structure of our life are repeated.
6. Most intriguing thing about Korsakow is that it dies overtime.
7. It has to be.
Q3
Based on the scene from Blow Up (1996), directed by Micheangelo Antonioni, there are many things the director would have had to consider. Firstly, prior to shooting, the production team would have worked with the actors to block and rehearse the scene in relation to the position of the camera. This is quite a complicated scene and contains a series of unique and artistic shots that would have been organised by the director and production team several weeks prior to shooting. It was mentioned and demonstrated in the lecture on the use of tracking and focus pulling. There will be three person by the camera, a camera operator, a focus puller and someone who pulls the camera across the tracks. The focus point will change as the subject moves and thats why the focus puller is important or else the subject will be out of focus. n order to shoot a scene such as this there are many other complex elements that need to be considered. Each shot would have taken time, and the actors would have needed to know their mark and cue for each specific movement, dialogue and response.
The scene was highly chereographed and rehearsed in sequence, in regards to the movement of the actors as they barely remain still. I think that Antonioni shows a good example of this, where he would direct the actors as their movements remain natural despite of also the constant movement they are doing. The scene has also unusual framing especially when the woman stands up and her upper half is completely covered by the wooden structure.
Q2
Based on the week 5 reading from Martin Scorsese and Dusan Makavejev, a couple of points that I picked up from it were;
(i) What we put in a frame is a major decision. You can just put an arm in the side of the frame, and the audience will expect something else to happen, or I could pan over and include the head or pan over to include the whole body. This stood out for me because it was completely new to me and I never thought that it would have that much of an effect or influence towards the audience.
(ii)From the Makavejev’s reading point that when you are framing shots you must consciously think that unlike you the viewers of the film will not be aware of the surrounding images. When I am framing shots this is an aspect we normally dont consciously think of, especially in regards to how there can be a tension and excitement from the viewers about what lies beyond the borders of the frame.
Q1
There were many important points based on the week 7 lecture about lighting. Firstly, the main reason why lighting is needed in a film production is because of the technical requirement for proper exposure of every shot in the film. If the shot looks too dark, then there are only a few details that can appear on screen. On the other hand, shooting with too much light makes the shot overexposed. This means the shot looks too bright and the entire scene can look washed out. To ensure that a film is properly exposed, the cinematographer and the lighting team must use a wide array of production equipment according to specifications required by each scene. Every shot must not be too dark or too bright so that the elements it contains can be seen properly.
A few of the points that I picked up was that lighting is one of the most important elements in film production, be it using using professional lighting equipment or natural lighting of the surroundings. Every production requires a suitable lighting design according to the needs of the film’s story and the director’s vision. Every lighting set-up provides a specific mood, emotion, atmosphere, and aesthetics to the overall film viewing experience. As for the basic principles of lighting. This included three point lighting/how to light a scene, fill light, soft light/hard light and diffusing light. During the lecture, Paul also mentioned the importance of exposure as well as how to adjust the camera in relation to certain types of light, in order to capture the actors/subjects in the best way possible.
I think that this lecture would be extremely relevant for my group project, because it teaches us how we can creatively influence the majority of the film through lighting, and so it is a crucial element of our project which shouldn’t be overlooked. Although lighting is an area which I had very little experience with, after the lecture, I also knew that we were going to be working with natural sunlight and so had to be prepared to bounce light or create shadows, using the white and black boards in order to cut off or diffuse light.
1. Different kind of work of art attracts different kind of audience
2. Make the audience feel the emotion instead of showing the emotions on film. For example, horror movies. Jump scare by having a face popping out on the screen works, but try to have the scene more dreadful. Let the audience go with the ride
3. When you’re looking at an art work, you’re looking for meanings, not narrative. Rule of engagement: Genre. K-film can end, and the end can interpret meanings.
4. Shot meaning changes when you change the shot. The order of the film matters! It’s a basic cinematic rule.
5. Keep the audience engaged. Make them form their idea of your work. Building towards something and trying to make those moment as engaging as you can. The quicker someone understands your work, the quicker they are engage to your film.
For this Lenny exercise, my role on the day was the sound director. Honestly, I only found out during the day that I would be working on sound, so I wasn’t quite used to the sound mixer and the boom yet, however I was pleased that I pulled it off thanks to the help of my group members. One of my group member Dana, called friends and also met with students from other film groups to see if people were willing and available to help. Thankfully we were able to get Kimberly and Naz to help us out and I think their acting was great. Overall, I think that we did a great job on the day, even though our group had a few issues with the camera shots as well as the audio. However, we were overall pleased with how the Lenny finally turned out.
From the lecture on lighting, I took away quite a few points from the lecture that was pretty useful. Firstly, it was very helpful to learn about the different levels of exposure as well as how to adjust the camera in relation to certain types of light, as a way to capture the subject or actors in front of camera in the best possible way. Secondly, it is also crucial for us to know our location, and the importance to conduct test shoots before we start filming in order to avoid lighting issues with our footage. If necessary, this would also allow us to make any changes to the production schedule. Apart from that, another point that stood out for me was that lighting is also important in a way because it helps to capture and highlight certain aspects of a film’s set and also provide exposure when it is required.
It is important that filming is done during times when natural light is at its best situation. It is also very important to be aware of weather changes, and to also know when to make adjustments to the exposure levels, because natural sunlight can be very hard to film in as the weather is always changing. Lastly, something that was completely new to me during the lecture about lighting was the “negative fill”. This type of method is a great way to add definition and dimension, because it workds for many subjects in many different situations, which involves taking lights down, and blocking sunlight using black cloth to reduce the amount of light coming in.