Question 2

I thought it was interesting in the ‘Documentary storytelling for film and video makers’ reading how documentary makers can plan out their story of what they want to film, but never as extensively as a scripted film director could do. “You can’t know where real life will take you, but you can certainly anticipate a range of outcomes and determine whether or not the story holds sufficient promise.” When thinking about my own film idea, i know what i want to explore and i know it sounds very interesting (to me at least), but i cant anticipate how the end result will turn out, because we are not working with actors. Real people talking about themselves or their experiences are much more difficult to work with and whats most important is to maintain good relationships with them if you want your documentary to good according to plan. However, sometimes when things don’t go according to plan, the story can be even more interesting and will take you on a different path. This is why we should anticipate this kind of change and film any experience possible in the process, even if it feels like a tangent.

Something else that interested me was the thought one must put into visuals. Although you cant plan how a documentary filming will go entirely, you need to anticipate how you can make the film a visual experience. Like in drama, the fact that film is a visual medium is important. You must consider B-roll and visual representations of things to keep the audience interested and visually stimulated, even if you cant always anticipate how a scene, event or interview will play out.

Question 2

In this course i really want to go outside my comfort zone and take more initiative and risks. Last semester i gained a general knowledge of what the film making process is and i believe i reached my goals for the course. Now i want to take it one step further and become confident in camera, sound and editing, though i would really want to be as involved as possible, so hopefully directing too. I hope to work in a relatively small group, and help out on other peoples shoots too. Ideally i think it would be awesome and a great experience to work by myself, but I don’t know how practical that would be, so ill sit on the idea a bit longer. Overall, i just hope to make something i am proud of, and i hope to learn a lot. I want to get the most out of this course while i can.

Question 5

The sounds we recorded remind me of the city and large public areas. Hearing sounds like trams, people and coffee machines. They definitely suggest the image of a crowded place in the city, very much representative of RMIT where the sounds were recorded. Even in the running water recording from the fountain, there are sounds of the street and people passing by in the background, giving it the feeling of a public space. Other recordings that could be done to emphasise the space are crowd footsteps, possibly trains, cars, announcements, food preparation. All indicative of things you hear and are exposed to in the city.

Budgerigar:

The screening began on a high. This film was my favourite of the night in terms of technical choices. The lighting, colors and mood of the whole piece were really beautiful, particularly the dark, blue scene with the two Michaels. The ending was great; the fact that they are not just disturbingly similar to each other, but he may be in love with his doppelganger. I thought that was really funny and original.

Milk:

Second film of the night and again, setting the bar high. My favourite film in terms of story. It was simple, but so effective. The humor in it was golden, and I particularly liked the use of music. The music is what made the film. It wasn’t just a story about a guy running late to the store, it was a play on an action type film, and the situation felt so much more dramatic and desperate. Overall, it was just so much fun to watch.

Pranking Frank:

It came a long way from the rough screening. When I first saw it I actually couldn’t follow it, but it turned out great. The timing was really well done and the scenes flowed after another easily, even though initially the two characters are seemingly unrelated. My favourite part was cut out though, when Charlie makes a prank call to his boss and then his boss comes in and leaves, and just before the scene ends it becomes a wide shot and you see there is another person sitting there like “…what?” I understand why it was cut, as it isn’t really necessary, but in the test screening I could not stop laughing. It was the funniest thing I’d seen in any of these films. Regardless, the final film was really good.

Strange Noises:

One of the funniest of the night, just a really fun concept. Like Milk, the fact that the story was simple worked in its favour. Exploring what a mother thinks her teenage son does when shes not around was hilarious, she seemed like a real mother prancing around just being worried. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Question 2

I have found that through this course, I have more of a sense of what makes a good film. I can better identify problem areas, and although my groups film, ‘A Love Lost,’ is finished, published, and looks great, I can still find aspects about it I would change to make it even better. In this way, I found my analytic skills improved naturally and unexpectedly. Through the process of making my own film, I not only gained more technical skills and confidence, but I am more aware of lighting, camerawork, composition, acting, directing, casting, etc. Overall this subject has been my favourite of the semester. Usually group projects are not all that enjoyable, but I was lucky enough to have a really great group, and we were making a piece of work I was excited about. I found myself really wanting to do extra work and put in extra time for the sake of the project and the group. The experience has been invaluable.

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.