The reading this week was really interesting. The part that stood out to me was the relation between non-narrative documentary in regards to experimental film.

 

Experimental film is essentially made to express personal opinion, experiences or point of views that can’t be used in mainstream context. Usually, experimental films have a narrative however it’s not distinct and easy to follow, it often requires interpretation, because it doesn’t involve mainstream storylines to follow. It’s a way of expressing rather than portraying. Usually consisting of ideas, with compositions of images or random elements which wouldn’t be present in mainstream films.

 

Now I’ve completed this reading, I’m excited to reach week 10 in cinema studies, as our topic will be documentary and we are watching a documentary called ‘Grizzly Man’. I feel as though now I’ll have a bit of prior knowledge about non-narrative documentaries and examples of such, which I will think about while watching the film and discussing in tutorial for that class. It will be interesting to see if this film has any relation to experimental film. Yay!

I didn’t really enjoy the reading this week as I felt as though it didn’t distinguish what collaboration is to its full potential.

However, I really liked the reference to sites such as Wikipedia and YouTube which I felt were cleverly necessary as they are both sites that involves the input from the public, meaning that this collaboration was between the public and sites. It’s a collaboration I never even thought about even though I use it in every day life.

 

In a group, there needs to be a specific direction and plan before conducting so every person knows what to do and how they can contribute. I agree with the statement that read ‘collaboration requires goals’. Goals are important as even after the overall direction is established, to keep the direction there needs to be a goal, and even specific goals along the way. For our PB4’s, goals could mean submission dates along the way. I’ve looked that the criteria sheet, and it looks as though we are given set dates along the way to completion that checked our progress, and I’m guessing ultimately to make sure we didn’t leave anything to the last minute. For example, it says the video essay rough cut is due in week 12 workshops. This will keep the group organised and achieve the final goal at the end (which will be to get the whole assignment in on timeJ)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5W3oMnKBP8&feature=youtu.be

This week in the lectorial, Rachel spoke about collaboration and why it is important.

The main reasons as to why collaboration is a good thing that stood out to me were:

• Bouncing ideas and inspiration of each other
• The speed at which the task is completed; collaborating creates the ability to work faster and more efficiently as there are more hands to help out

I definitely agree. I thought this lectorial was so incredibly useful and relevant as we begin thinking about our next project brief, which involves working in a group. Although I never really think about it, group/ collaborative skills are so important when conducting a specific task. It’s important to ensure everyone is putting in an equal amount of effort, no one is left doing everything themselves, different ideas and suggestions allow for greater ideas, discussions and approaches – all of which Rachel spoke about.

A group discussion can often be hard to begin or generate, and it’s not until people put in their own ideas where it gets easier and more ideas are created. Especially because when working in a group, every member is likely to be so different from each other, so when everyone brings their different approaches or beliefs into the discussion, ideas are bounced off on another in ways you couldn’t do alone.

Collaborating does create the ability to work faster and more efficiently as there are more people involved in the specific task(s). If one person in the group is left to do everything on their own, the process is slow, and it’s often hard to actually get anywhere. If everyone chips in and collaborates together, more ideas are shared which creates opportunity for a stronger piece of work in the long run, and tasks are done quicker as there are more hands helping out.

 

Title: There’s No One Like You

Web ‘blurb’ / Synopsis:

Dee Smart is fun, active and delightful Australian television and movie actress who loves her family, art, all things creative and most of all loves life. Join her on her journey through her crazy yet wonderful profession and uncover the real Dee; her interests, her highlights, her motivation and where she gains her inspiration both in her work and in her every day life.  “There No One Like You” covers the sensitive yet every-present issue of believing in yourself and loving who you are, all told from the perspective of an Australian actress.

One of the most problematic and frustrating aspects of my video would have to be that throughout majority of the interview sections the microphone was incredibly visible on my interviewee’s shirt. This was wasn’t just out of laziness though; it was done specifically. During the practice interview exercise last week, the biggest problem I had was the sound being crackly and cutting out due to not doing a test run before hand. In my PB3, I took my latest knowledge into practice when I did several practice shots to make sure the sound was right. Initially I had positioned the microphone under my interviewee’s top so it was hidden and wasn’t going to be a visible distraction throughout the video. After listening back to the quality of the sound after doing the test shot, it was muffled, unclear and bad quality. I thought about different ways I could come around this problem, however the only way the sound was going to be the best quality was if it was on the outside of the shirt. Luckily I learnt from the exercise and checked before doing it all and not realising until after that the sound was bad and having to do it all again ….

Also, while editing in the post production section, I didn’t realise that I didn’t get rid of the visual behind the found footage when it was on – for example, at 1:40, the visual of the interview comes back onto the screen behind the found footage while it’s still in the shot. It’s not necessarily a negative or bring the video down in any way, I just should have taken the time to edit it properly – which i definitely know for next time!!

One successful aspect in my video was the lighting. I had planned to use natural light so I was very lucky to have the sun beaming on the day of filming. I re-arranged the furniature in the living room and specifically positioned the chair to face towards the opened door where the natural light was most dominant. I made sure that the camera upon the tripod didn’t cast a shadow onto the chair where my interviewee was sitting – I positioned it slightly to the left. Having the door open was very risky as there were birds, planes and cars making noise outside the whole time. Luckily it didn’t interrupt the sound of the interview, so I can definitely say the sound was a success.

In terms of mise en scene in my video, throughout the whole interview the television is going in the background (on mute). This is so create a sense of leisure in everyday families such as Dee’s. In the opening sequence there is an ad for a television program on the TV, and it just happens to read “I love myself” in capitals. This was unintentional however works so incredibly well with not only the content but the actual title of the video. The cut away shots of all my interviewee’s paintings was a success as it depicts her creativeness, allowing the audience to understand more about her as a person and her interests. Her paintings are incredibly detailed so I zoomed up on a few portrait’s faces to accompany the narration whilst she talks about her dad. This was to create emotion for the audience and sympathise with her, particular because they were the eyes of children.

I made a few learning discoveries throughout this project brief including the best and most interesting angles. I consciously made an effort to vary up the camera positon, in particular distance and height. Each time I paused the filming after each answer, I changed up from the previous position by either zooming or tilting the tripod slightly up or down. This was aimed to create a possible relationship between the audience and the interviewee as audience can feel as though she is talking directly to them, and it ensures engagement and full attention instead of just seeing the same angles the entire interview.

Overall I learnt to be patient in terms of going along with what my interviewee has to say and almost improvising when asking her further questions on top of her answers or asking her to elaborate. This is important in the media world as things change all the time, and you have to be aware of it and go along with it sometimes. This was not only just an important thing to learn, but an incredible skill.

The found footage I used came from the ‘prolinger’ section on archive.org. I used a series of black and white footage ranging from 1940 – 1955, and were specifically placed in accordance with what my subject was talking about. For example, I used my own footage of the Rocky Horror Show poster when she explains the challenges of acting, as well as the found footage of a 1950’s French theatrical clip. This fits nicely with the theme of theatre during this specific moment. Likewise, Dee get’s emotional when talking about her father being her inspiration, so I embedded a clip of a woman crying with her back faced to a man. I used this as a visual depiction of the emotion she was feeling, and aims to connect her emotion in real life with emotion that she could achieve in a film, reinforcing the fact that even though she’s an actor, her emotion/feelings in life are in fact real and raw.

Unfortunately all the clips I found with footage of the film’s and television shows Dee has been in, however they were copyrighted. I had issues receiving permission to use them thus couldn’t included them in my PB3, so the footage chosen still works well however isn’t actually her.

There is a clip of a man evidently having a great time whilst playing on the drums in my video, when my subject talks about a funny moment in a film she was in. I couldn’t have access to any of the actual footage of this, so decided to find someone laughing to allow the audience to understand that it was a funny moment, and prepare them to hear this funny story. Although the narration has nothing to do with music, it automatically (well it did for me anyway) creates a feel good mood and can’t help but smile which was my aim, so it’s achieving it regardless of what the actual content is.

The black and white and vintage effect of the footage creates a professional and authentic theme and represents acting as an art, corresponding with Dee’s love of creativity.

As I said previously I had so much fun with this assignment, so to show this I have attached a blooper from the interview below:

 

 

In week 5 workshop, our exercise required us to put together a brief interview segment in groups of three based on this particular theme: “a survival guide to your first six weeks of University”.

 

 

Bradley, Riah and I came up with the idea of each having a different section to briefly discuss. They went as followed:

Brad = work –>  This included navigating RMIT website and getting along with teachers

Riah = lifestyle –>  This included coffee systems, facebook

Isobel = work –>  This included blog and assignment advice

What makes this task to interesting is that even though we all had the same idea (being a group) and the same footage, each person is going to come up with different ways of putting it together.

The editing in my video is very fast paced. I broke up each person’s interview into even little sections and different things they talk about within their topic. Each section includes cut away shots, demonstrating what has been said in that specific section. For example, when Riah says “make sure you have coins for coffee”, I use the shot of her holding coins in her hand and her lining up to get a coffee.

We each had a turn at being in charge of the camera – specifically, I filmed some of Riah’s cut away shots and some of Brad’s. We all had turns at asking the question as well, I asked Riah, Riah asked Brad and Brad asked me. We shared all the rolls around.

Since Monday’s tutorial and Wednesday’s workshop, I have made a conscious effort to notice more things and indulged myself in my surroundings a whole lot more. I was on the train on the way to RMIT when I decided to notice what people were wearing, what their gestures and mannerisms implied and made possible scenarios up for them based on these things.

There was a man wearing a light blue striped shirt with a black suit holding a leather brown brief case. He was wearing a ring on his wedding finger and was bald. He looked roughly 40 years old. Based on all of his physical aspects I came to the conclusion that he was the prominent income earner in the family, working at a law firm on Flinders Street and based on the way he was biting his lip he could have had an important case that day that he was nervous about, he travelled a lot based on the Qantas sticker still left on his brief case reading ‘priority’ and the blue colour of the shirt suggested that he was a calm, more quiet and reserved figure.

It was actually a really fun little activity I did by myself!! Not creepy at all …

At the beginning of tutorial this week we were about 15 minutes into class and Louise told us to turn around on our chairs facing the back wall. None of us had any clue what on earth was about to occur or what Louise was going to make us do. She then said “I want you to write down what I am wearing today.” Everyone started talking and giggling amongst themselves, implying the idea that they had no idea; including myself. We spent about 2 minutes facing the back wall trying to hard to recall what Louise was wearing. I was pretty sure it was a green cardigan, black pants and her curly hair pulled up with a big clip – feeling somewhat confident I could have the correct answer. As we all turned around to see if our judgements were correct, everyone started laughing.

Louise was wearing a grey sparkly spotty cardigan with grey pants and brown shoes, accessorised with a blue scarf. I was so wrong. I must have gotten the ‘green’ idea from the wall behind where Louise was standing which was vibrant green and clearly that was the only thing that stuck in my head.

This was a perfect noticing exercise as we clearly all just walked in without even taking any notice what so ever of Louise’s appearance. This was in no way on purpose it’s just something you don’t necessarily think about noticing. The only reason I would ever take note on what someone is wearing is if I’ve seen the clothing before, if they look exceptionally nice compared to usual, or if I really like an item of clothing they are wearing and would then ask them where it is from.

This exercise was an eye opening experience as now it is now going to be a conscious thing for me to notice what people are wearing.

Like Mason said in the reading, I’m going to ‘set myself’ the task and do it. I’m going to set myself the task of noticing things around me more in different environments and locations.

Following the ideas mentioned in the lectorial, the exercise in this week’s workshop was designed to ‘prompt’ us to consider the narrative structure of our PB3’s. We were given a list of questions that linked to the elements of narrative, specifically relating to our PB3’s.

 

 

QUESTIONS:

What is the controlling idea?

The controlling idea is to uncover life from an actor’s perspective and what inspires them both generally and in their work.

 

How is your portrait film structured?

My portrait film is structured initially with the interviewee answering the questions as the base accompanied with a montage of shots that define her as a person. This includes her paintings and artwork, her house and her family (photographs). Each answer includes her actually answering the question, as well as a montage of these shots.

 

What do you want your audience to make of your interviewee?

To gather inspiration, being assured that they too are great in their own way and are capable of amazing things. Saying this through an actor’s perspective is really important as they are figures whom we as the audience look up to, seeing them on screen etc. I want the audience to feel empowered after watching this video and keep my interviewee’s words of wisdom in their heads, idealistically every time they are faced with a challenge or any suggestion that they aren’t good enough.

 

How is your portrait being narrated?

My portrait is being narrated through first hand answering from my interviewee, not just the use of voice over. Throughout the entire video her answers are used as the narration and the cut away shots are the most important feature.

 

What role will the found footage play in your portrait?

The found footage is actually incredibly necessary in my particular portrait. The found footage (not including the music) is made up of previous clips from my aunties work in either a television show, film or stage production. Most of them relate to particular answers my auntie gave where she either described a certain part as a highlight, or just about acting in general. I wouldn’t have included this sort of footage if the answers didn’t require a visual. I feel as though the visual provides the portrait with an extra quality that is needed in order for the audience to fully embrace themselves in this almost back stage experience.

 

Does your portrait have a dramatic turning point?

My portrait unintentionally does have a turning point, not necessarily dramatic but definitely a change of mood and momentum.

 

When does this turning point occur in your portrait and why?

At the beginning my interviewee was explaining the positives in acting and why she does it. When it got to the question ‘what inspires you’, again she answered with positives. After explaining how her family and art itself inspires her, she specifically said that her dad inspires her more now than when he was alive, which lead to her thinking about her dad more and more to the point of being overwhelmed and crying. I was not expecting this as I was filming, and when it occurred, my immediate instinct was to pause the video and give her space and time to breathe. After this (which was one of the last questions), the interview’s vibe became much more intense, dramatic and deep, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing it just wasn’t what I was expecting. I let it happen however and it ended up providing an incredible quality to the entire piece. In the end she explained what she would say to her younger self, which I thought would just consist of basic advice, however it seemed to lead on from the deep and dramatic aspects originated in the previous question. This advice ended the video on such an inspiring aspect to think about after watching.

So essentially this turning point occurred due to Dee thinking about her dad who inspires her.

 

Does the portrait have a climax and/or resolution?

Yes, the “resolution” is present at the end of the film where she gives younger people advice on how to be happier and more confident through her own personal experience. I guess in a way it is a resolution as it is a nice, simple and meaningful way of summing up her career as some final advice.