Question 6

In the directing lecture, important points were covered. Two that stood out to me as important were actually things that I had already picked up on during the shooting of our films. First, it is incredibly helpful to have a test shoot. A week before our actual shoot we shot the entire film without actors, and it looked pretty awful, it was a mess. A good mess for a first attempt but if that was the footage for our final thing, i would weep for us. I think in the future it is definitely worth doing when possible. It makes an enormous difference.

The lecture also highlighted another thing; how important it is for the mood to be good and the impact that has on the actors. The story about that group who’s actors badmouthed them with their lapel mics recording still haunts me, so on the shoot i was extra aware of the actors and whether they were happy. After our shoot was done both our actors complimented us on how professional the experience felt and how we had a good energy about us. That was pleasing to hear, I’m glad they didn’t pick up on the stress the crew and I all had inside during the shoot, especially since the actors we hired were really professional and mature and more importantly, weren’t being paid for their time. A positive and comfortable environment gave us the best performance out of them.

Question 7

The sounds are all very crisp and excellently timed in ‘blood simple.’ The movement of the paper is so clear, and the texture of the fish as they slide across the table has been communicated beautifully through the texture of the sound. Sounds such as these have been layered over the scene and continue during the shot reverse shot changes. This maintains the diagetic space in the scene. Even as the shot focuses on one person, you are still able to hear the actions, eg. the creaking of the other persons chair off screen.

Question 8

After looking through the shortcuts, one in particular makes me feel like an idiot. Cmd+A. Honestly, how did i not know this. Cmd+A has always meant ‘select all’ so i don’t know why i bothered highlighting everything the slow way in all my other projects. Ill have to have a go on premiere to test this out, but if Cmd+A selects all the clips in the sequence…. i feel like an idiot for not using it.

Another thing, i knew there was a shortcut for this but I haven’t edited enough this semester to have known it, though i know my film group obviously knew this and used it. Hitting return to render. I was surprised reading that because it’s so easy, just, return. But now that i know these commands, ill definitely use them. It is impossible not to. Clearly, i need to edit more to figure these things out. I really need to edit more.

Question 1

Lighting techniques were covered in the lecture. This is relevant to our film because we had wanted to recreate a specific feel from the dinner scene of ‘Oceans Eleven,’ which is achieved completely through the warm glow of the lighting. The technical use of light in that scene is beautiful and exactly what we wanted for our dinner scene. Thankfully, after reviewing the footage, the dinner scene looks great; very Oceans Eleven.

We could’ve only achieved this by reviewing the footage from our practice shoot; something that was also covered in the lecture. Our practice shoot was done a week before our actual shoot and it really opened my eyes to how important they are, honestly the footage from the practice shoot had enormous problems and looked pretty bad. We lit things from the wrong sides, didn’t white balance correctly, everything could be improved upon. Because of this, I am so thankful we had such an extensive practice shoot, it was tiring, but definitely worth it to get the lighting etc right.

Question 2

In the week 6 reading about developing a crew, I found a few ideas stood out to me. I find that my film crew this semester fortunately works well together, and this reading highlights a few reasons why. Firstly, as explained in the reading, ‘first and foremost, everyone you recruit must understand and accept your commitments to the project,’ and ‘no crew functions well unless roles and responsibilities are clearly defined.’ I think these are the main reasons why this group assignment has run so smoothly thus far; because in one of our very first meetings (or possibly our first one from memory), we each specifically stated that this subject and this assignment was our number one priority, and because of this, we have been able to trust that each person will do their work on time and in most cases, early. Also in our first meeting or two, people quickly fell into their own roles. While some were more clearly defined than others, we each accepted certain responsibilities and were happy with them. This is another reason why i have been able to trust that each crew member contributes, as well as making sure that all jobs are done well.

It was also interesting that the reading outlined not only the jobs associated with each role, but the personal traits that make a good producer, art director, D.O.P, etc. These traits are potentially why we fell into our roles so easily, but although I enjoy organizing and scheduling, i hope to explore more technical aspects of film making as well. Hopefully next semester I can explore sound or camera work, and am not limited by the traits required to ensure I do the job well. At the end of it all, i thin hard work speaks for itself, and as long as the crew works hard, it doesn’t matter so much that I’m naturally more suited to producing than sound.

Question 3

Great care would’ve been taken in the choreography of ‘Blowout.’ The pans of the camera are timed perfectly with the movement of the actors. The movement of the camera also sometimes occurs before the actors movements, so as to foreshadow, such as when the male character sat down and the camera moved back toward the chair just before he did. In that same shot, he was framed by metal bars; the camera moves so as to frame the shot with parts of the room, such as the wooden structuring. Also, instead of having the actors in the shot, occasionally just a reflection of them from across the room is used, such as just before the female is handed the phone, creating a more interesting shot.

Question 7

The point about light sources was interesting, how we have to coordinate all light sources and make them work for us and not just think about the one that are plugged in. Even productions with no extra lighting, for example, ones shot outdoors with natural light, require some form of planning in regards to light and how to use it.

Its easy to forget about lighting because the point is for what is on screen to look natural, like editing, its one of those things that is usually not supposed to grab your attention, but instead makes things easier to view. It was useful being reminded of this, as the camera does not see what the human eye does, light is very important and although something may look unnaturally lit in person, on camera it may appear just like sunlight would to the eye.

Question 8

Lenny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niw5v2ZYQLo&feature=youtu.be

We learned a lot after filming our Lenny. Some problems we found with it were:

• Consistent framing: We found that some of our tracking shots were inconsistent in their movements, but can overcome this  by aligning the corner of the frame with the subjects head.
• Ending: We found this problem during the editing process, the actors actions in the two shot were not the same as in the over-the-shoulder close-ups, so we were unable to finish on a two shot as we had wanted to. We can overcome this through more careful planning and direction of the actors.

Some things that went well were:

• The shots all looked really good: Colour/ exposure/ white balance/ composition etc.

• The shoot itself was efficient and we got all the material we needed quickly.