“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. You may rethink this dramatically – this is a good thing.”  You were asked this at the beginning of the semester. Now, could you review constructively what you got from this semester –  has the course lived up to your expectations, delivered what you expected, maybe even surpassed it?

“As with Film-TV 1, I wish to continue to expand my filmmaking knowledge exponentially with its follow up this semester.  I’m looking extremely forward to creating a documentary, and would like to employ much more artistic and creative expressions than that of the narrative film in the previous semester.  Although undetermined as to the subject of documentary I will be involved in creating, it appears that although there will perhaps be much more planning be done before the shoot, the shoot itself should be completed much more efficiently; an area I’d like to improve upon for this second film.  As director in the previous project, I learned much from the experience, and is a role I would be happy to take on once more, however, it could potentially be more beneficial for myself to work more with the technical equipment on camera or audio, to further expand my knowledge with the process.  I’d also like to take a more hands-on role throughout the editing process, having gained some confidence tweaking our last project.”

In many ways, this course exceeded my hopes and expectations for it, however as it comes to a close I do feel I could have achieved greater gains from it.  I found the documentary process highly engaging and enjoyed the opportunity to work independently on it, without the need of a large crew to organise during shooting.  Not having others to assist at these times was difficult in stages, yet at the same time highly beneficial towards my independence working as a filmmaker and using a variety of equipment and overcoming hurdles as they appeared.  I have also had a larger role editing the final piece than in our film of last semester.  I feel much more comfortable navigating and using the editing software of Premiere Pro, and when I don’t know how to do something am able to learn from others or research solutions to any problems with the software I encounter online.

Though our final film is still in its final stages of production, I do feel I would have liked to take a more creative and abstract approach to it, as I had originally envisioned, however being our first attempt at creating a documentary, I think it’s not a bad first effort.  Throughout the semester, I’ve become much more confident in using the SLR cameras more than the EX3 or Z7, and I’m unsure of whether this is an issue or not, as the tutorials were often devoted to explaining how to use the larger video cameras.  In future documentary filmmaking, I would definitely take on board these queries I hold and ensure to use the EX3 or Z7, so I can continue to develop my abilities with these better suited forms of equipment.

As per lecture –  in a sequence you’ve called ‘colour’ you will have clips that are indicative of a particular colour or lighting state. To the right of that clip you will have that same clip repeated 2 or more times with different colour grades on it.  Take screen grabs of each clip then upload to your blog the series of stills that show us ‘before and afters’ of your colour grading. Provide a few different examples of at least two different clips – each with a description of what you did to the clip and why.  This is a learning exercise, not necessarily a qualitative one, don’t stress – it is the act of doing it and the reflection on that, that is important.

I’m not going to lie; I’ve clearly left this question a little late.  With no access to a decent video camera or video editing software at home, instead I’ve found a still taken from Marvel’s Iron Man 2 (Jon Favreau, 2008, United States), depicting Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark about to suit up as Iron Man in a fight at the Monaco Grand Prix, that has been colour graded in multiple ways.  In the attached image, the top left picture shows the film’s final grade.  To its right, is the image before it has been colour graded, while the bottom two stills represent different colour temperatures and emphasise the dramatic changes to an image that can be made simply by altering its colour.

I’ll start with Image 4 (Bottom Right).  It does not match the film at all.  It’s basically a sepia tone.  Downey’s racing suit is washed out, while is face looks deathly pale, and much of the background is overexposed; the whiteness taking away almost all of the detail of the stands and the carnage left behind him of the race track.

Image 3 (Bottom Left) is better, but still no real improvement (for this movie at least) from the original image.  The image is of a warmer tone, with Stark much more vibrant, but the image’s adjustment has made it lose quality and detailing in both the foreground and background.  The image’s contrast however, is better than in Image 4.

The problem with the original footage, Image 2 (Top Right), is the smoke.  While this effect works fine to demonstrate the F1 crash in the background, RDJ is left in a similar tone, also shrouded in the smoke, as though the image’s opacity has been raised.  Being the main character, who at the time has an upper hand in the fight, he needs to be more prominent and colourful, and literally needs to be portrayed in a more positive light.

Image 1 (Top Left), which is the film’s final colour grade demonstrates perfect how crucial a film’s final colour grade actually is, even though there was not much wrong with the original footage (Image 2).  Here, the frame’s blues have been emphasised, to pick up on not only Stark’s racing jumpsuit, but also highlights sections of the bleachers in the background.  The colour curves around Downey’s face and highlights of his hair are also much clearer, due to the yellow in the image also appearing to have been adjusted, with the flames along the track now more prominent for the first time.  Importantly however, while Stark is now crystal clear, the disaster in the background is still very visible, but is obscured enough to give a greater illusion of smouldering wreckage than the original footage.

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

Paul Ward’s ‘Documentary: The Margins of Reality’ examines the “complex relationship between fiction, nonfiction and documentary as categories and how they overlap”.  Having studied True Lies: Documentary Studies last semester, it’s obvious now that the exploitation of these apparently separate forms is a common trait of recent films, and Ward reinforces this overlapping of modes via the use of reconstructions and re-enactments.  Ward explains that in many examples we are asked to take documentary as something that is in fact performed by actors, yet we don’t merely accept them as fabrications because they are (often) still real experiences of real people.

Documentary dramas (or docu-dramas) too, very much focus on the issues of truthfulness, instead relying on the viewer’s interpretation of what they see, with stories often given a number of different versions from different perspectives.  Often these stories are built on a ‘based on a true story’ foundation, but arguably should not be completely excluded from the ‘documentary’ category.  I’m personally unfamiliar with any of the reading’s discussed films, but a good example of my own sourcing would be the film adaptation of Truman Capote’s ‘In Cold Blood’ (1967), or closely-linked 2005 biographical film ‘Capote’, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman in the title role.  I feel that the best description of this genre is ‘creative non-fiction’, and am keen to explore this further.

Paste the link here from your version of the abstract editing exercise.  Then reflect on the whole process – Consider: the quality and usability of your recordings; the effect of layering and juxtaposition of both the audio and the video and; the things you learnt from working with this kind of audio and video.

https://vimeo.com/103489040

I really liked a few of the audio tracks we recorded, such as of the lone basketballer shooting hoops in the courtyard.  The quality of the recordings were good, however, many of the tracks were indistinguishable chatter and noise, seemingly without a target subject, such as our attempt to record the sounds of RMIT’s cafeteria.  The sounds would work for atmos, but more direct sounds for this exercise would have been more suited.  The video task was insightful, and we experimented a little from traditional shots.  I really liked the overexposure from sunlight streaming through the lens, and while this may look awful in a drama film, for documentary purposes, the experimentation pays off, and we kept the iris settings as such throughout our shots, giving the film an apparently blue hue.

In terms of the editing, it was interesting to reinvent and re-purpose random material and add the non-digetic sounds to unrelated images.  I think layering the sounds could have worked better, rather than the abrupt cuts I chose, but overall, it was an interesting exercise and one to definitely take into account before producing our major documentary assessment.

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

I found the article Documentary Storytelling by Bernard Curran very interesting and insightful into the world of documentary filmmaking.  Here are two points I took away from it:

• It was interesting to learn how, as is often the case with documentary filmmakers, the story is “found” or realised and refined after planning and pre-production.  Curran explains that this is not to say that “a film maker has simply shot material without any story in mind, but that he or she alters the story’s focus or, more likely, its structure during production and post-production”.  This method however, for American documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, necessitates a high shooting ratio and a lengthy editing period; time we will not have, but it’s important that we don’t restrict ourselves in the footage that we have only planned on taking, by serendipitously shooting footage that pleases and appeals to us.
• There are a large range of factors to consider in order to make a successful documentary.  From a target audience, to the film’s relevance, and what has already been explored in previous documentary projects.  However, one of the most important aspects is the film’s hook.  How will audiences become interested in the film’s subject in the first place?  “The essence of the story and its characters, encapsulating the drama that’s about to unfold” must be established from early on in the piece, Curran writes.  Commonly, the hook involves a conflict of interest between two or more of the film’s subjects.

In the lecture we screened a short film called ‘End of the Line’ – the film shot in Broken Hill. 

Please describe in 300 words or less if you think they achieved what they set out to do.  You may not remember much detail, if so, it could be helpful to talk about your first impressions, after all this is what most of us are left with after one viewing.  Feel free to write to any categories you wish (eg. story, choice of participants, sound, camera, editing, etc.). 

Listen to the audio you recorded in Tute #1.  Write a paragraph or two about your recording from a technical and/or “poetic” perspective.  Consider:

What these sounds evoke for you.  What associations they have. 

Do any of your recordings suggest images?  What might they be?  

Do any of your recordings suggest the possibility of other recordings?

I particularly enjoy the sound we recorded in the Week 1 Audio Task of the solo basketball player shooting hoops.  To me, the sound could be used to demonstrate the drive and determination of this person to better themselves at the sport, their dedication emphasised by clearly being the only person on court, heard by the atmospheric silences between the bouncing of the ball, the spring off the backboard, and the shuffling of feet as he runs to retrieve the ball.

Listen to the first 10 minutes of Glenn Gould’s radio documentary, “The Idea of North”.  The idea of North 10min.wav or Files are here (experimenting with different sizes and file types) If possible, use headphones.  Record your impressions in a paragraph or two.

I didn’t warm to Glenn Gould’s 1967 radio documentary “The Idea of North”.  Of course, with little background knowledge about the creation of the piece, I found it hard to follow, and despite further research, the documentary still did not resonate with me.  I found the first three minutes of the documentary to contian little purpose, beginning with seemingly all of the interviewees edited together in an almost senseless cacophony, and found it particularly hard to focus on any particular voice.  Despite this profound effect, which may have been of outstanding use for a documentary of another subject, I found its use here completely nonsensical, irrelevant and confusing.

I found that even when the piece was formally introduced by the narrator (I think), the subject, or at least the piece’s motive, was still unclear, as well as who the people talking were and why they were being interviewed.  Perhaps I’ve overlooked some important defining details, or possibly the piece’s style is sufficiently dated, but I really didn’t connect to ‘The Idea of North’, or at least, its first ten minutes.

In this week’s lecture, scenes from Scott Ruo’s ‘Four Images’, Brian Hill’s ‘Drinking for England’ and Chantal Akerman’s ‘D’Est’ were screened.  Choose one of these, and consider, in a single paragraph, what might have intrigued, interested, displeased or repelled you.

I found Brian Hill’s ‘Drinking for England’ rather amusing, the poetic rhythm of the rhyming couplets used throughout not only extremely clever, but also applicable to the documentary’s substance on drinking, and gave the film quite an ‘intoxicated’ feel.  The film, not only in the title, but in the cinematography, was incredibly English, and I absolutely loved the look of the British bars, characters, accents, and humour.  Despite all this, the film’s subject matter is incredibly serious, and is a film I would like to watch in full soon.

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 by the end of the course – this is a good thing.

As with Film-TV 1, I wish to continue to expand my filmmaking knowledge exponentially with its follow up this semester.  I’m looking extremely forward to creating a documentary, and would like to employ much more artistic and creative expressions than that of the narrative film in the previous semester.  Although undetermined as to the subject of documentary I will be involved in creating, it appears that although there will perhaps be much more planning be done before the shoot, the shoot itself should be completed much more efficiently; an area I’d like to improve upon for this second film.  As director in the previous project, I learned much from the experience, and is a role I would be happy to take on once more, however, it could potentially be more beneficial for myself to work more with the technical equipment on camera or audio, to further expand my knowledge with the process.  I’d also like to take a more hands-on role throughout the editing process, having gained some confidence tweaking our last project.