The advantage of shooting with editing in mind is that it allows for more control over the final edit.

Multiple takes, different shot setups, and different lighting allows for more options in the edit, as well as being able to be more selective with cuts and shots that might not be optimal to the narrative, or style of the film.

It also allows for control over how time is depicted in the final, and rather than filming long shots, filming shots to be edited together maintains a chronology without unnecessary filming.

I, like my classmates, was not very impressed with the film. The actors of all were the least compelling part of the film. The dialogue (was there even any? I cant quite remember) was almost completely void of identifiable emotion, and it made it very hard to decipher how each character felt in response to the situation; they all seemed rather uncaring.

This made the small amount of dialogue there was unimpressive. The film seemed to try and rely on visual storytelling more than anything with the flyers and a dead bird, but even then it was such basic imagery that it was tough trying to work out exactly what conflict occurred and who by, because suddenly there was a dead bird involved.

The framing of particular shots though was rather well done. In particular one of the final shots that we see  gave a nice sense of depth where the camera was positioned in a stone hallway looking out over the balcony. This was one of the elements that portrayed the drama of the situation better.

I think if the actors would have better refined their performance, it would have been easier to gather what the story was. From what I worked out the first few characters we see were participating in a kind of bird club, and some sort of bully tried to make one of the other characters look bad by throwing a dead bird over a balcony.

I think if character motivations were better established the story would have made more sense. For example if the dead bird was meant to be some kind of insult to the bird club, the conflict made have made more sense. As it was it seemed like the girls found a dead bird and accidentally dropped it over a balcony, which was not particularly compelling.

The Sight and Hearing reading was an interesting one, and it gave a new perspective on sound for me. One quote in particular that I liked was, “If the eye is entirely won, give nothing or almost nothing to the ear. One cannot be at the same time all eye and all ear.” It made me consider the dynamic between sound and vision.

Up to this point I’d never really thought about how sound works in combination with visual elements, but that quote made me think how exactly sound can be used to enhance an image. It could be a diagetic or non diagetic sound in the form of an exaggerated sound effect, or soundtrack.

While not in the reading itself, I also started considering the role of the foley artist as one I have never thought much about before. I’ve seen them at work before in documentary and behind the scenes footage, but it wasn’t until this point I considered the great spectrum they have to work with to create sound that can significantly change the tone of an image.

Clown Train used sound in a clever way I found, and rather than trying to create a rich soundscape, opted to use sounds in the least way possible to maximse the impact they had. Of what I can remember the sound of the lights flickering amongst a bare soundscape and going out was a particularly good effect. Of course, lights rarely make sounds like that when turning on and off, but the sound enhanced the sudden contrast of light to dark in the train carriage.

Horror seems like the biggest influence for this film. The jump scare technique usually relies on sound in a similar way where a victim lurks in silence, frightened, until a monster or the villain jumps out from the shadows accompanied by sudden, loud soundtracks or sound effects to enhance the visual effect.

Select from one of the readings from week 1 or 2 and briefly describe two points that you have taken from that reading. Points that excite you, something that was completely new to you.  

Not being very familiar with directing, Slogans for the Screenwriter’s Wall introduced completely new ideas to me. What was most intriguing about it was the deconstruction of the Director/Actor relationship.

What really struck me is how much attention a Director must pay to an actor, in particular their body language and facial expressions, to achieve a vision of a character. I particularly enjoyed the short section on the biology of the human eye, and how it translates into expression right down to the minute movements of the pupil that indicate thought or stimulation.

The most interesting – and somewhat amusing – part of the chapter for me was the emphasis Mackendrick put on the subtle ways a Director must, in short, manipulate an Actor to get them to achieve the same vision that the Director had from the start, without directly instructing them to do so, “How does the director get an actor to do what he wants?…’You don’t. What you do is try to get the actor to want what you need.’” (p. 190).

I fully understand the logic behind this though as a path to coax an actor into performing a substantiated and hence more naturalistic performance, as opposed to ‘say it like this’ or ‘move in this direction at this point’. I look forward to applying these skills on a shoot this semester.

Consider Jasmine’s lecture on Screenwriting and briefly describe one point that you have taken from it. A point that excites you, something that was completely new to you, perplexes you or even one you take issue with.

Screenwriting alone is an exciting prospect for me since it’s something I’ve never done before; I’ve attempted to write stories before, but never for a visual medium. The mechanics of writing characters and a coherent story are skills I have never formally approached as a result, so the lecture became something of an introduction for me.

Cause and Effect is something that’s stuck with me since the lecture, and it’s something I’m keeping in mind whenever I attempt to write from now on. For me all it is is a way of thinking about how a story world comes together, but I’ve found I already feel more confident with it in mind. It’s easier to visualise a character or an environment if I imagine the character as something that reacts to an event or problem, the effect of a cause.

In this vein of thinking, Conflict as a key part of a story makes a lot more sense now. In a more sadistic way of looking at the task of writing, as the writer it’s my job to harass, demean, or otherwise torture the character’s I create through various means.

As someone who’s knowledge is most technical, the prospect of screenwriting is quite exciting, and the opportunity to explore the more creative side of media making is something I’m looking forward to, especially with the knowledge I talked about before.

In 200 words or less please outline your goals, desires – what you want to get out of this semester. You will review this later in the course. Many will rethink this dramatically – this is a good thing.

As much as everything as possible; this primarily rests on absorbing as much information as possible from lectures, reading material – plus external sources – and tutorials, through focused and considered listening, review, and collaborative discussion.

I will endeavour to apply any of this knowledge to my media practice both professional (assessments, work placement and external projects, as well as my personal creative work) be it conceptual, or practical ability, in particular pre-production such as writing and administration roles. Process and protocol are also a priority when it comes to writing and producing professional – that is, as a career – media, something still very vague to me.

By the end of this semester I want to take the skills and knowledge to create professional and high quality visual media, and apply them to my own work with the goal of completing pre-production on 3 parts of a documentary, of broadcast standard, to eventually pitch to a television broadcaster.

Most importantly, the creative and collaborative opportunities through this course are a luxury I am looking forward to capitalising on to further explore genre, form, and style that I am unfamiliar with right now.