♠︎Graph Summary:
^^^^^^^^^^^How I grew and what I learned this semester. ^^^^^^^^^^^^
♣︎Studio Experience:
Overall, my studio experience can be summarized into two parts: The first part, writing and technical knowledge, covers the first 7 weeks of study. I’ve been writing observations and reflective response to the studio practises every week. The writings, as part of the studio objective, bring me to learn how to observe more carefully and write critically. Through the exercises, I find out that I am not as observant as I was a child before. People tends to be so busy that they ignore the surroundings and don’t care to stop a minute and notice. (Though we will have a lot less to observe if everyone cares to do so. Interesting. ) I often enjoy reflecting upon the observations I made and it was quite rewarding for it encourages me to ponder on questions. The technical part includes learning the quality of light, the use of professional cameras and audio mixers. I cannot forget how the heaviness of the camera informs me to exercise more. The range of basic knowledge regarding lighting and filmmaking I gained here is enough to introduce me to the subject, providing me credentials and abilities to study further more, which is also one of my favourite part to the studio.
The second part of learning, practical and teamwork, was developed during the short film project. I experienced and learned from going through the whole process of filmmaking(a short and less complex version) with collaboration practise. Filmmaking is not only about art, I realise, it’s also about creating art through teamwork. If I wish to be a director, I should understand both aesthetics and people. The argument we had within the group clearly showed my ignorance of people in reality. I know now one of my problems and I shall keep in mind in the future. I did know that good collaboration needs a bit of incidents like that, so I am glad the we overcame the problem and were closer after that. Doing the pre-production, production and post-production with others is about contributing ideas and listening to ideas from the other as well.
♥︎My performance:
I conclude my performance went through three stages.
- The first stage (week 1-4): During the first few weeks, I was expecting a fresh start. Motivated, I wrote my observations and reflections with great care even I had procrastinated a bit. The procrastination is something I must over come when I enter the working world. For the writing part, what I haven’t done good enough was improving my vocabulary and writing stylishly. As a second language speaker, my vocabulary simply wasn’t enough to produce a deeper reflection than what I’ve done. The way I used English to write still looked foreign. I should read more books. Overall, I was satisfied with my performance but not quite enough.
- The second stage (week 5-8): This is when I felt low that I couldn’t do well. The performance wasn’t what I wished. I myself actually don’t enjoy writing that much. I still remember how I performed in Chinese writing during my secondary education. I wasn’t reflecting on the course content and my own short clip exercises. The dislike towards writing influenced my motivation.
- The third stage (week 9-13): I was fully devoted to the film project during this period. I worked really hard from the early days to the production period. I experienced bad moods but it is now all fixed. This is the film I wrote and the first time I played a role a director, so I wasn’t to give up or to treat it as not important. The rewarding experience had benefited all three of us. The final film product turned out, I think, good enough. Rachel said we should be proud of ourselves since three of us were doing a job of twenty. I agree, we should be proud. Translating the observation we chose wasn’t a easy job for us.
♦︎Film Realisation Process:
I am proud of “city drama” and I suppose it’s the same for Sylvia and Rachel. The realisation of it was both weary and enjoyable. The goal I was trying to achieve, as I have pointed out in my film proposal, are to show the union of the opposites and the phenomenon of leaving big cities in China. Now that we’ve finished the project, I find that the latter idea is more obvious than the former. What I did was to employ voiceovers to explore the inner worlds of both young people who’s tired of living in a big city. We chose not to show the actors’ faces in order to eliminated the distraction and focus on the voiceover and thoughts. (It was initially Robin’s idea. 🙂 )I think this method worked well. The films ends as the man suggests leaving the city, and then the empty screen is shown with the man’s voice: “what do you think?” This leaves the film with an open ending, giving audiences the space to imagine and think over the matter. I like this part, too. To illustrate the dynamics of the relationship between the young woman and man, I employed similar actions, thoughts and different opinions on the same matter to the characters. As one look closely at the film, one will find out. All the effort made was to ensure that their encounter at the beach wasn’t quite a coincidence—both lost, questioning the same thing. Working together with the soundtrack, the voiceovers and the close-ups are there to form the style of this film, communicating the central idea.
✒︎The experience in one line: Just do your part.
