The scene which I have chosen to deconstruct is from a popular teen film called Juno, which showcases a sixteen-year-old girl falling pregnant and working to find perfect adoptive parents to take on her child once it is born. This scene is early on in the film when Juno is faced with having to tell her parents that she is pregnant. What I love about this scene is the setting which has been created; the two parents on the couch, Juno standing in front of them and the supportive friend by her side. The director has set up this awkward situation so well as many teenagers can relate to having to tell their parents big news, whether good or bad, while their parents sit in front of them. As teenagers were the audience which Juno was to appeal to, the production was accurately done. However, as this film is also comedic, the director had to establish what would be a serious situation into something which also featured humour and witty-ness. Hence, the father character is seen joking about who the dad of Juno’s child is, rather than being upset with his daughter for getting herself in the situation. Although this could occur in real-life, it is less common to make light of the news of your child’s teen pregnancy.

In terms of shot construction, there are shots which I love and shots which I can’t quite wrap my head around. The director focuses heavily on dirty over the shoulder shots in this scene to establish the point of view of Juno and her parents. However, it is only over the shoulder when set on her parents, and it particularly only features a tiny portion of Juno’s arm rather than the traditional whole shoulder. When focused on Juno, it is not over the shoulder but rather set in front of the parents. This would have been done because an over the shoulder would have been to awkward to construct due to their being two parents and only one of Juno. What is odd to me is the slight pan to the right the camera does when it goes back to Juno. It does it a couple of times throughout the scene and seems almost pointless. If anything, it could symbolise how Juno is looking towards two different directions as her parents are sitting not right next to each other, and hence the camera mimics their positions. However, this seems unnecessary and makes the shot distracting.

There is minimal sound work in this scene as the focus is heavy on dialogue, however, there was folly conducted for the beginning when the parents are seen shifting nervously in their seats. It adds to the tension being introduced in the scene as they anticipate their daughters news.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDa6VWffCX8

Prior to class, we were instructed to create a two-line script which involved two characters performing two actions. We then got into groups in class and picked a script. What I liked about the particular script we chose was how simple it was. Simplicity is perfect for beginners such as me, who want to work more on creating great shot construction. I worked with Linda as co-directors to create the right shots for what was occurring on the script. Looking back at the final clip now, the only shot I may change is the one where one the character’s is seen saying, “fine, let’s go.” It is on an odd angle and I feel because of the height difference of those acting, we should have gone for a wider shot to make it less awkward.

Reflecting back on creating this very short clip, I can see the advantages and disadvantages which come with working with a large group of people in a small and surrounding a small camera. The obvious advantage is the teamwork, and not having to monitor sound and the camera on your own. We had three to four people helping out with filming, two on the sound and two acting. Everyone helped out with setting up the shots and getting it perfect. However, what went unnoticed during filming was the mic and its cord which can be seen in one of the shots, very clearly. Out of all of us there, no one picked up on it, and I recall shooting that particular shot up to three times. An unfortunate mistake but something I can definitely learn from.

The sound construction for this clip worked a lot better than for the Lenny exercise. I am quite happy with how the folly turned out and especially how nice the atmos sounds in the background. I wasn’t aware of the soft music playing in the background while filming, so I was surprised whilst editing that it picked up the pleasant tune coming from the RMIT store. It added to the ‘bookstore’ setting we were aiming to create.

Upon learning more of what goes into the process of film-making, sound was next on our agenda and hence we were instructed to create sound for the Lenny exercises from the week before. Not being able to be a part of the filming process of the Lenny exercise led me to want to really engage in creating the sounds, particularly due to the fact I had never really experimented with the equipment.

However, it was upon doing this exercise that I realised creating wild lines, atmos and folly after production can be an extremely difficult process if done poorly, especially for when you arrive at the editing stage and have limited sounds to work with. Being beginners, my group and I didn’t realise how well we had to match up the sounds with the actual clips, and therefore, we just went for it. This led to the recorded sounds not matching up with the ones in the edited clip and most of them were cut from being used. These being the footsteps we recorded as they were completely off from the real ones, and parts of the dialogue. That’s why in the clip, some dialogue is from the original camera and others is wild lines.

Although it didn’t quite work out in this exercise, I now have an improved and greater respect for those who do practice folly and other sound construction as a profession. To get the sounds spot on and perfectly timed takes a lot of patience and precision. It reminds of the when I went to Universal Studios in LA at the start of this year, and watched a stage show which was centred on film production and what goes into it. People from the audience were picked out to have a go at performing folly to a clip from a movie and it was quite entertaining seeing non-professionals give it a go. It honestly reflected exactly how my group and I went in doing our own.

I hope in future exercises that I am able to better perfect working with sound, so when it comes to editing I am not faced with the inevitable “red face rising.”