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!

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

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!

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 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.