QUESTION 1

In this clip from Forbidden Lies, Anna Broinowski’s 2007 film: describe in detail all of the audio, how it may have been recorded/sourced and how you think it has been edited / layered in post. (You do not need to describe how the music was recorded)

In the clips, most of the sound was recorded separately with the visual and then edited together. Many times, the audio is layered with two different voices, however they ended differently, suggesting one is lie, one is truth. Also in the first part, audio effects were added to make more fantasy and dream-like. Sound effects were added very often when a statement was made in clip, it makes the audience questions what is said, if it’s trustable.

QUESTION 2

Most applications reserve keyboard shortcuts for the functions that you use most often. It is really good to learn all of these as it will speed up your editing and additionally alert you to functions that the software developers and other users find important. (You can learn much about the software by looking at keyboard shortcuts).

Find the keyboard shortcuts for Premiere (hint, film-tv blog) and note four or more functions that you’ve never used before and why they may be invaluable to your editing. (Different functions to what you wrote last semester)

Duplicate: Shift+Cmd+/, it’s will very quick and easy to use if I want to repeat a certain part in my editing

Add Edit to All Tracks: Shift+Cmd+K, a quick way to edit all the tracks at one time if I need them to have similar effects/qualities

Bin: Cmd+/, the best way to organize things when editing

Speed/Duration: Cmd+R, I’m really into slow/fast motion effects so it’s be handy to use the shortcut

QUESTION 3

“From a distant gaze …” (1964) directed by Jean Ravel, picture Pierre Lhomme & Chris Marker, words by Louis Aragon, narrated by Jean Negroni, music by Michel Legrand.

Describe a few things that intrigue you – it might be shot construction, camera work, editing, overall structure, thematic concerns etc. Describe the camera work and why you think it has been shot that way.

A few things that intrigue me are the shot construction, the music and narration, as well as the overall structure. At the start, people was shot in a very strange way that they are in the background and constantly being covered by the traffic, as if the camera was following and stalking them from a distance. And then it moved to close up, with all the details of the people and what they were doing. It makes the audience feel curious about the people on screen, question about the story behind every faces they see.

Most of my recordings are irrelevant to each other in terms of content, however the styles are quite similar so it’s not too hard to use them to make a video. The quality of the recordings is great, in high definition, which make it’s very easy to work with.

I don’t have audio recordings so I just used others’ recordings. They are quite similar with background noises, people talking and walking sounds. They are easy to use, however it’s quite boring with the common sounds for this abstract exercise.

After working with the recordings, I’ve learnt that it’s necessary to be linked in order to combine them together. It’s quite interesting to pick out some of the recordings and edit them together. It doesn’t make any sense but I think it’s visually enjoyable to watch. During the editing process, I have to think a lot about which ones to use, how to put them together, which audio goes with which video.

Abstract exercise

I can’t not remember much about ‘End of the Line’ that was screened in the lecture but with whatever I can recall, I think they achieved what they set out to do. Right with the title, they show a lot of the wild landscape of Broken Hill, a very old and poor town, nothing interesting there. It portrays truly how an ‘’end of the line’’ town should look like. Most of the participants in the films are old people who enjoy the simple life at Broken Hill. However, the interview with the two young boys is a surprise for me, as I would not expect that any young people would live here. I think it’s also a metaphor that they name it ‘end of the line’, only old people live there, they are getting to the end of their life.

In the reading by Pawel Pawlikowski, I’m very impressed with one of his points that making film is not about conveying objective information about the world, but to show it as he sees it and to find a form which relevant. I think it’s how filmmakers should put themselves at in order to make the films special and unique. It’s a great way to make the audience remember their films and their signature touches on the films.

Another interesting point that he makes in the reading is that TV is killing the documentary, even though the documentary needs TV for its survival. As I never thought about the other end of TV, it’s very interesting to realize what he says it’s actually true. Even myself, I didn’t consider documentary as film, but now as I study it, I know better about documentary and what it actually is.

Pawel Pawlikowski. In MacDonald, K & Cousins, M. Imagining reality, (p. 389-392). London: Faber & Faber, 1996.

In this week’s lecture, scenes from Scott Ruo’s ‘Four Images’, Brian Hill’s ‘Drinking for England’ and Chantal Akerman’s ‘D’Est’ were screened.  Choose one of these, and consider, in a single paragraph, what might have intrigued, interested, displeased or repelled you.

Out of the three films screened in the lecture, Scott Rou’s Four Images impressed me the most. When it starts I didn’t even realise that it’s a documentary. I thought it was an art film or some kind of short video clip that focuses on cinematography. It’s really different from most of the documentaries I’ve watched, the images were so vivid and metaphorical to imply and portray the life of the main character. Only when the voice in the background started speaking, I realised that it really is a documentary. This new artistic way of documentary making brings me a lot more feelings. I really enjoyed watching it.