Tag Archives: small things

Reflecting on Small Things // Small Things // Assignment 3 PT 1

What I’ve Gained from Small Things

The “Small Things” studio has been an amazing opportunity to learn and get a taste of a wide variety of film making and production aspects and technics. It has allowed me to ‘dip my toes’ in lighting, sound design and recording, camera work, “firsting”, directing and so much more, and from there, submerge myself into the roles that stand out and interest me. Furthermore, these base understandings have given me more of an idea of what I would like to pursue in the future, both in regards to university study and work placement/experience. A real standout skill taught in Small Things has been lighting setups and first assistant director knowledge, teaching me that lighting is an absolute necessity to have an idea about on any set, and that being the first AD is a lot of hard, but satisfying work.

However, the thing I’ve most enjoyed about this studio is the people and the classroom environment. Small Things really connects and bonds people, learning at the same pace, with enough of a skill balance that you can learn from everyone. Both Paul and the class as a whole have been immensely enjoyable to work alongside, and will definitely be a highlight of my time at university.

Going Up  Final Cut

Reflection

The concept of Going Up, the short film that David, Esther, Leslie Tessa and I made was created and presented by me during the Week 8 Presentations.

From there, I had no major script or scene ideas, so David, Leslie, Tessa and I worked together to collaboratively come up with and write the scenes for the final script. I wrote the piece about the mature woman flirting with a criminal, Tessa wrote the scene with the teenage girl on the phone, David wrote the murderer scene and Leslie wrote the bulk of the preparation scene.

We all collaborated together throughout the pre-production stage of our short film. We had an active group chat that was constantly thinking of new ways to do something. I was in charge of casting, which now looking back on, was very rewarding and enjoyable. It really gave me a good understanding of how to write out a casting call,  contact and inform actors and most importantly, the courage to decline an actor who wasn’t going to work.

Leslie, David and I also did some test shoots throughout the pre-production stage, playing around with the preparation montage, experimenting with shot types and whip pans. This can be seen below.

While this didn’t end up being how we shot the preparation scene on set, it was a really great experience for operating with part of the crew on set, and was also the first time I got to see Leslie, in person, operate a camera. She is a gun and the whip pans!

For a more comprehensive read of where we were at post-shoot, view here.

The two production days themselves were also quite collaborative. Since 3 of us had written our own full vignetted scene, we decided to divide up the director role, depending on who’s scene we were shooting. This meant that I played the role of boom mic operator during Tessa’s directed scene, director of my own scene, and was First Assistant Director on David’s directed scene. This process and experience of swapping roles were almost all positive, with a majority of people getting to play around and experience new roles, as well as each scene having a different style and flavour to them.

The actors were for the most part, really easy and enjoyable to work with. We made sure they knew we were very much amateurs, and if they had any suggestions, we would be more than happy to consider them. This proved really useful, as they had thought about their motivations, and really built off their characters, which were written bland for this exact reason.

In the post-production phase, we were still collaborative, but in different ways. We edited solo, but would share our drafts, scene experiments and colour grades across the group chat, constantly keeping everyone in the loop on our scene construction ideas and music and sound libraries. For the screening, we chose to show two cuts. One is Leslie’s cut, which has a totally different vibe and feel to it than any other, and is a lot of fun. Watching hers for the first time was an eye-opening experience on how the short film could be edited, rather than how I thought I had to edit it. The other cut was a collaboration between David, Tessa and I. We used David’s preparation and murderer scene, my teenage girl scene and Tessa’s mature flirtation scene. We did this because our three cuts had a similar tone and feel, and combined the best bits of each for the screening to give a more digestible and diverse viewing

My favourite aspects about making Going Up were the challenges in both set design, lighting and sound production. These three things were not necessarily my strong suit, and while they seemed daunting and unachievable at first, they worked out for the most part (one aspect I will discuss in more detail below). The set building was a personal highlight, as the corflute on the walls ended up looking great! Furthermore, the script and comedic nature of the film really allowed for the production process of Going Up to be really enjoyable for both cast and crew. Every take would end with us barely able to hold in a laugh, and the cast got really into it too.

My least favourite aspect of Going Up was the lighting. David and I spent hours and hours the day before the shoot, just trying to get a soft wash over the set, without casting too many shadows. We never truly got it how we wanted it, but decided to leave it until the others arrived tomorrow at a basic setup that worked. Furthermore, each new scene would have a slightly different lighting setup, meaning that colour grading was a bit of a pain. This was also the case for anything that wasn’t a mid shot, as the wash would either be way stronger or not strong enough in comparison with the main shots. We managed to salvage a lot of it in post, but it is still the aspect I am personally the least proud of or happy with.

If I didn’t make Going Up, I would have loved to make a small and complete story, similar to that of Where do we go when we don’t know or Do you want to go to the Circus. These were films that were short, sweet and easy to digest, and while I am proud of Going Up, I am envious of the aforementioned projects tightly knit stories and aesthetics. While we did make a series of ‘small things’ experimenting with shooting in a built set, and using sound to create a location, I do like the idea of a small, small thing.

One of the best parts about the filmmaking experience was the crew, who I love very dearly, was how open and communicative everyone was through every stage of the production, even know. No one has been afraid to ask questions, suggest new ideas during the pre and post-production stages, and most importantly, everyone is really nice and lovely! Here are some cute pictures of us on set! If any of you are reading this, thank you, truly!

Project Progression // Small Things // Assignment 2 & Project

So far, our group for the final project of the year is Tessa, David Leslie and I, with our groupmate Esther M.I.A. (not to worry, we are waiting to hear from her soon and fill her in).

Our idea stemmed from my presentation f in which two robbers are waiting in an elevator to rob someone, and strange, often comedic events happen in-between. I had not written any concrete ideas for the idea, so the 4 of us have collectively brainstormed and now almost finished scripting the project. Having it be a collaborative writing and idea generating project has been really enjoyable, with no single person feeling overwhelmed with work, and many different ideas making the concept even funnier and fleshed out than I could have done solo.

We have been pretty on top of pre-production so far. We have casting calls out for both main actors and some extras, with a positive and active response on both. We have a location to film a majority of the project on, and have started listing and brainstorming set ideas and prop lists. The 4 of us are committed to the project, and willing to take both time and money to put into it. It’s very exciting!

Recently, we have been doing some test shoots and runs for the opening montage scene of our project, trying out different ways we could shoot the scene. These have included planned out whip pans, slow transitional cuts and the typical montage quick cut formula.

We will continue to review and test out new ideas for how to film both that scene and the rest of the film, as well as continue the pre-production stage of the project until we are ready to film (hopefully the 18th and 19th of May!)

But I’ll keep you posted!

Deconstuction – Mid90s // Small Things // Assignment 2

Mid90s was released last year commercially but only hit select cinemas here in Australias around a couple of weeks ago. It was the directorial debut for Jonah Hill, who also wrote the film, and I was very excited for its release. I saw it a few days ago and was floored by the phenomenal acting, vibe and style this film bolsters, as well as the technical achievements, especially while filming on film. The scene below is from around the halfway point of the film.

(Language Warning)

In the scene above, the main character Stevie (played by Sunny Suljic) is being forced to accompany his mother (played by Katherine Waterson) as she confronts his newly made older friends. Stevie then proceeds to blast his mother with insults for embarrassing him, as they both break down in their own way.

The film’s camera movements for a majority of this scene are minimal or non-existent, using still mid shots, intercut with perspective shots from the kids in the skate shop during the confrontation. However, the most powerful use of camera movement is during the car argument. The camera is fixed on the mother, but follows Stevie as he towers over her, screaming into her face. This erratic movement following the actor really bolsters the tense feeling the scene is attempting to portray, matching the instability of the aggravated character.

The film uses a lot of wide shots. This gives the actors room to be versatile within the space, but also could be representative of the loneliness and scale Stevie feels in this world. The world seems to be swallowing up all the happiness around him, and all he is left with is his skateboard and his thoughts. The film also uses wide shots to show off the set design and mise-en-scene of the film.

The world is set during the mid-90s (as the title suggests) and the mise-en-scene reflects that. The opening shot of the LA streets is filled with vintage wagons, physical painted shop signs and pedestrians sitting outside shopfronts, conversing and smoking. Similarly, when the two enter the skate shop, the boys are sitting around tattered and old couches, with skateboards surrounding the walls and old fashion technology being the forefront of the entertainment. All these aspects make the audience believe the film is set during the 90s, and keeps you immersed in the feature.

The colour grading matches the 90s aesthetic, with washed out, mellow colours being manipulated to match the fashion and structure style of the time, with a sense of nostalgia for old home video throughout. The sky is always a light, faded blue, which adds to the nostalgia of the footage. Furthermore, lighting is lowkey, with the scene mainly being lit with sunlight or naturalistic blue lighting, creating a realistic daytime setting for the store.

The performances in this film are intense and human, acting more like real people rather than characterisations. The boys sitting around the couches all react differently to the agitated mother, some are in shock and try to defuse the situation, while others poke fun and joke at the situation, making things worse. These are all human characteristics of adolescent boys, who are going through stages of rebellion and discovery, which really adds to the realness of both the tone of this scene and the film as a whole.

I really admire this film and this scene particularly, as it captures the tone and feel of the 90s, while focusing on the actors and their performances. I can’t wait to see what Jonah Hill does next filmmaking wise

There’s Always Room for Improvement – Reflection // Small Things // Assignment 2

You will always continue to improve your filmmaking, because you’re never going to fully ‘have it’.

For this shoot, Nelson, Gill, Belinda, Melody and I worked with Astley’s script to create a short, two-line production. The tone and theme of the script was mysterious, so Belinda, Nelson and I workshopped the preproduction aspects of the project on Monday. While the original plans to stage the scene had to be changed, as we could not get the room we originally had written in, we were happy with our compromise in the garage area of Building 10, adding to the mystery and sketchy nature of the script. We worked with Tessa and Jasmine as actors, who were VERY helpful and cooperative, contributing and listening to us.

Overall it was a very pleasant shoot, I ‘firsted’ which was something I had never done and while it was a lot of work, it was very fulfilling. I edited this project at home, and was really happy with the quality of the shots that were captured, with minimal continuity errors, as well as only a few framing issues. Nothing disastrous, just something that comes with a tight schedule. I found some royalty free music that I felt fit the scene perfectly, and I messed around with a bit of colour grading to bring out the blues and cold tones of the project, adding to the overall mood.

I am really proud of this piece, but it’s not perfect. There is a fair bit of white noise in the audio, and we should have recorded more isolated audio on the set for ADR when editing. But what I’ve come to learn through this shoot, Paul and this studio as a whole is that my filmmaking is never going to be perfect, there is always going to be something new to learn, whether that’s a new technique, new pre or post-production skill or just a new way to tackle a problem. And that’s both nerve-racking and exciting. It means filmmaking is never going to get stale or repetitive, That’s cool as!

Too Many Cooks – Reflection // Small Things // Assignment 2

There can be too many cooks in one kitchen when you’re new, and when I say cooks, I mean equipment.

The crew for this scene was David, Sarah, Peyton and I, and we had never encountered a task quite like this.  For this shoot, we were recording both sound and video separately, and were required to sync the audio up in post together in pairs.  David and I edited together down in the suites, and while I feel like we did the best we could with what we had, the real fear, anxiety and chaos came from the shoot itself. That was the day I realised that you need at least 3 to 4 people in a crew for things to run smoothly.

The shooting part was very stressful for all of us, which was intentional by Paul (cheeky). The lack of preparation, experience and any real concept was enough to make anyone crack, not just amateurs. As you can see in the above video, scenes drag on way too long, boom microphones come into the frame (sorry, that was me), and audio is slightly noticeably out of sync. While this felt like a useless disaster at the time, looking back on it now, it now feels like an informative and helpful disaster.

What I learnt from this was that shoots like this require an intense amount of pre-production, such as a shot schedule, shot list and storyboard. Without this, or any real thought of what to shoot, you and your crew can be left aimless and confused like we were. Furthermore, The shot checklist is integral, and while ours wasn’t too bad and actually helped, I realised the importance of these in post, as it allowed for the merging process to be so much more efficient.

Finally, out of everything this task taught me, the most crucial thing I took away from this was to be open and communicate with your crew. I was fortunate enough to work with people who were, while as stressed as myself, able and willing to communicate with each other to solve the problems of the moment.

Oh, and also, check to see if the boom mic is sticking in frame!

Colour Grading // Small Things // Assignment 2

Colour Grading Exercise

Colour grading isn’t a new skill to be, but I only have a very basic understanding of it. I’ve used it for a few projects this year, one which I have reflected on already, as well as for previous projects in past years. I haven’t really done much ‘experimental’ or unrealistic colour grading, which is something I intended to do with at least one version of each clip. I still want to get better with the tool, as I think it’s a very powerful asset in film-making, and can drastically change the tone of a scene or shot, something I will talk about further on in this post.

Exercise 1

Original:

Version 1:

For this edit, I played around with warmer tones and exposure, attempting to give the scene a nostalgic, home feel. The warm oranges from adjusting the tint really bounce off the tile walls, and while the lighting looks a little unrealistic, I did try to balance it out by adjusting the whites and the blacks within the frame.

Version 2:

I did the polar opposite for this colour grade, really playing around with cold, blue colours, lending to a sadder vibe for the scene. I feel like it makes the bathroom look really empty and unused, maybe like something tragic has happened.  I didn’t really touch the blacks for this scene, but really pushed up the whites for that strong light source from the window. Tinting played a big part in this cut, and it was difficult to make it look cold and not too blue.

Version 3:

Out of all of the experiments with grading, this one felt the most out there, and I’m unsure about it. I played around with colour wheels, trying to give this a look of a rundown bathroom in an apocalyptic setting, with a slight tint of green and dark shadows to accompany. Personally, I’m not a fan of how it looks, to me, it looks a bit washed out and a bit too overexposed. Lowering the contrast played a big part in this cut, which stopped the shadows from taking over the whole scene.

 

Exercise 2

Original:

Version 1:

This is probably the ‘experimental’ colour grading exercise I am most proud of. I played around with the creative colour wheels, giving the light a swamp green glow, and really focused on bringing out the shadows and drowning out the blacks. This style of colour grading really reminds me of a horror film, with the deep dark shadows only allowing the audience to focus on the glow of the beast.

Version 2:

For this cut, I played around again with the colour wheel again, bringing out a pinky-red tint in the lighting, and reducing the contrast down to negative 80. This gave the scene a rose gold tint effect, something you would see in a pleasant flashback in a movie. Contrasting this with the edit above, it really shows the power of shadows, and how much more can be shown by bringing down the whites in a scene.

Version 3:

I am probably most familiar and comfortable with creating a colder, blue tinted scene using colour grading. I tried to play around with that style a bit more in this one, and be a bit more subtle. I only added a small blue tint to the scene, trying to make it look like the clouds are grey outside like this was a funeral scene in a film.  This involved bringing down the highlights, and using the creative colour wheel rather than the tint bar in the basic colour corrections tab.

 

Exercise 3

Original:

Version 1:

Here is another attempt to dampen the mood of a scene. I tried to make it look as if there was a storm approaching,  I did this by really pushing up the blue tint, and messing around with the contrast and highlights slider. this turned the somewhat grey sky a dark blue, and softened the colours of the foliage, creating an unsettling and dreary tone to the frame.

Version 2:

With this version, I attempted to again, do an opposite cut of the one above, creating a stylized, ‘art indie film’ summer vibe. I did this by creating a warm tone with the temperature and colour wheels in the creative menu, bringing out yellows and greens. I also played around with the saturation of the frame, as well as reducing shadows, giving the whole scene a glow. I really like the gold and bold colours in this one created by boosting the saturation slightly.

Version 3:

This is another ‘experimental’ colour grade, especially in comparison to the previous two. With this one, I really cranked out the green tint and green in the colour wheels of the creative tab, giving the frame the look and style of an old computer screen / GameBoy, with that digital, artificial green mask over the whole scene. I also played around with the exposure and shadows, making sure they weren’t too dark and disrupting the theme of the cut. I’m not sure what I would ever use this for, but I’m happy I made it.

Idea Development // Small Things // Project

To pitch an elevator pitch.

James Heywood / s3721053

 

Idea

2 to 3 people who are about to commit a robbery are disguised as janitors stand idly in an elevator, waiting to reach their floor, and random, somewhat comedic things happen, like a fake moustache starts to fall off, or they drop their weapon etc. Others enter the elevator, make small talk etc. A tense atmosphere though.

Characters

Typical criminal character types, a more serious and focused one contrasted with a slightly clumsy one, maybe a nervous one if we have three.

Dialogue / Scenario Ideas

I like the idea of one of the robbers growing a conscience and getting nervous as they ride the elevator, talking to a passenger and feel for them, sweating etc. Some physical humour of disguises falling off or contents being dropped. This is still a workshopping process.

Location

I want most of it to be set in the elevator, however, there will be some shots to establish the crime such as preparation taking place in office/garage style spaces.

Sound and Music

I want there to be lots of diegetic sound effects, such as buttons pressed on the elevator, doors opening, people walking in and out, fidgeting of clothes and bags, sniffles. Really highlight the silence that comes with an elevator.

The faint background music of a tacky elevator tune will probably be the only music used, maybe some intense action preparation music at the start to comedically transition to the boppy music of the elevator.

Lighting

Pretty standard industrial blue lights, if a set is constructed, the lights could flutter and flux, if not, still lighting is all that is needed.

Props

I hope to have a small props list, maybe a matching jumpsuit and nametag, some fake moustaches and sunglasses, hats, maybe nurse masks. Incognito clothing. A couple of duffle bags and maybe some strange prop weapons like a bat or stick.

Inspiration / Framing Examples

Baby Driver – Edgar Wright – 2017

 

Drive – Nicholas Winding Refn – 2011

 

While tonally, these films are quite different to each other and what I have an idea of making, the framing, way they used tight spaces and in the case of Baby Driver specifically, the way they use dark humour are all things I want to experiment with this idea.

Feedback

Please feel free to make comments in the blog comment section below for any changes or things I could add, this is very much a work in progress.