Research question: How can I alter and design sound and colour in film to turn a mundane moment into a magic moment?

 

In my project proposal in week 7, this was my original statement of intent:

“For my final project, I am going to work on a scene that I developed from a moment that I found magical. I have a clear visual moment that I want to represent in my final project, based on my own memory, but I want to make this moment more than a recreation by creating a soundscape out of non-diegetic sounds. This project will be shot as a drama, using drama conventions of shooting, editing and sound.”

Throughout the second half of semester, I have stayed true to this intent, and the original script of my ‘magic moment’. In addition to creating different soundscapes for different versions of my project, I have also altered each version by colour grading them differently.

MILK I is my storyboard, which I shot so that I could explore framing possibilities in my chosen location, and see how these shots look edited together in a rough cut. After this I planned my first shoot, where the footage for MILK II, MILK III and MILK IV was shot. I edited a rough cut (which was about 1 min 30 sec long) and used this rough cut as a starting point for MILK II and MILK III.

MILK II was my first foray into creating a soundscape and colour grading for this project. It is inspired by Eraserhead, which I did not intend, but just happened naturally.

MILK III was my second attempt at designing a soundscape and colour grading. I wanted this one to be less surreal and more contemplative.

MILK IV is my final version for this project, and it is a shortened version of MILK II. I did this edit for the media presentation screener.

This project has also been an exercise for me to learn how to produce, direct and edit drama, so I approached each stage of production with drama conventions and techniques in mind.

For pre-production, I did my first callout on starnow, notified the council of my low-impact shoot, created a shot list and shot schedule and gathered a crew that consisted of a 1st AD, camera operator and sound/lighting.

During production, I had my first experience directing drama, which was a great lesson in directing actors and shooting for drama coverage. I learnt about my leadership style and the struggle to express one’s creative vision.

Finally, I got the experience to edit different versions of the film whilst using my creativity to design surreal soundscapes and striking colour grades, which has resulted in the films above. I am ecstatic to share these films, to show how I have taken a strange memory and translated it into film language.