Over the last few weeks, we’ve been looking more into the intricate processes of creating film, and it’s been making me realise how little I really know about film production. For this assignment, I’ve put film making into four main categories.

1. Pre-filming setup 
2. Shooting the Scene 
3. Post-filming checklist
4. Post-production 

There’s been a few small things that have really stuck on board specifically to me that I find I’m now just implementing into my casual film making.

I now:

• make sure to white balance and configure manual focus before filming, rather than auto focus and post production colour correction
• relay “camera rolling? sound rolling? slate in, mark it, slate out, frame, aaaaand action” 
• shoot the same scenes in different positions, to create more options
• make sure to wait a few seconds before calling “CUT” to make sure that I don’t cut off an actor and kill the emotion conveyed through silence.
• organise my folders by sound and footage, and I create a sequence with my desired video settings, rather than using the settings that apply to the clip. (I actually accidentally did a video essay last year all accidentally in 4:3 resolution, because I didn’t bother to create a sequence)
• colour grade my video, adjusting my darks often to blue and whites often to a pale yellow, (depending on the video) and I’m more careful to adjust contrast and saturation, as shown in this video:

These are just little things that I’ve picked up specifically since doing this class, and they’re definitely having a positive influence on my work and even in my amateur videos. I’ve also decided to do some research on colour grading, and have been practicing implementing it into my films as well, with varying success. Obviously we’ve discussed a lot more than just these little bullet points in class, but those are the key things that have stuck with me so far.

Go Fish – Edit 1

Pre-filming setup 

For this edit, we were really quite diligent with the pre-production set up. The scenes with the close up of the eyes were my idea, and despite it being a little difficult to film, I’m glad that we got that footage.

Shooting the Scene 

Almost all of the scenes had reasonably good sound and a clear clapper. We ended up filming a variety of different shots, and different angles with the same dialogue. It really helped that the actors were pretty on to it, and really willing to listen to the direction coming from the group.

Post-filming checklist

Because time was tight, we didn’t check the films as often as we could have after we shot them. Luckily the shots were pretty well lit, but some of the scenes were a little bit out of focus. I had only really realised this when I started getting into post production, but it would have been nice to realise that earlier.

Post-production 

I made a stupid mistake in the post production of this edit. I accidentally left on an application called Flux, which is basically a blue light filter that makes the entire computer display in a more orange, amber like light to make you feel sleepy and go to bed earlier. This had a bad effect on my video as you can see, because I’ve made it so blue! I remember thinking I had managed to make it look pretty perfectly white, and wondering how it got so blue the next day.

Go Fish – Edit 2 

As you can see, this edit isn’t quite as blue, but I’m actually not sure whether or not I prefer it, the lack of the extreme colour grading makes it almost seem a little dreary, and a little less dramatic. In the future I’ll try to get some more feedback on my colour grading, and I’ll make a few different kinds of edits like this so that the person I’m making the film for can choose which they prefer.

Another thing to add about this edit, is that often the video was just a lucky lip sync, you can sort of tell with the way that Tristan is heard taking a deep breath, but isn’t actually seen taking the breath. Often the sound and voices that were heard were not actually recorded in the same footage, though it still seems to work pretty well, I’m not sure what to make of that observation.

Go Fish Part 2 – Edit 1 

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really think I’d be picking this film to critique my abilities as a filmmaker, but there’s so many mistakes that I decided I couldn’t leave it out.

Pre-filming setup 

We were a little less organised with the setup of this scene, we knew we wanted to play with levels and camera angles, but we weren’t exactly sure how. I was the only one behind the camera for this one, and in the first scene of this edit, I was sure that the frame was symmetrical, but upon looking at it in post-production, it wasn’t the case. Notice how the painting is somewhat in the middle of our two actors in the middle scene. We actually moved the entire table and chairs for this to be the case, it’s not quite perfect, but it does seem to compliment with the rule of thirds at least a little bit.

Shooting the Scene  

The lighting was poor in the high angle shot, and you can partially see the jeans of the person holding the boom mic in the top left corner. In the under the table scene, the boom mic is clearly in focus on the left. We actually tried to make a bit of an effort to get the boom mic out of focus in the under the table scene, but I guess it wasn’t enough.

Post-filming checklist

We didn’t look at the scenes on the camera after filming them, and we weren’t entirely happy with what we’d filmed anyway. Unfortunately, we were running very low on time, and so there really wasn’t much of a post filming checklist. Although we did check the white balance at the start, we didn’t check it afterwards, we didn’t make sure that the shots were in focus, we didn’t check that the boom mic was clearly in shot, we didn’t check if the lighting worked well and barely checked the scenes symmetry and use of rule of thirds.

I know it sounds like I’m really bashing this film, but there’s definitely a lot we could do better in the future.

Post-production 

Post-production was really what pulled this train wreck of a film somewhat together. Notice how I said previously that the lighting in the high angle shot was rubbish,  I really played with the settings in post-production and it actually came out reasonably well. I didn’t really like how this edit panned out, because I used the dialouge from the edit that was filmed above the table, so it sounds quite serious as opposed the dialogue heard while we filmed under the table. The seedy underlying acts of this innocent script are not conveyed through the dialogue. I’ve once again used footage that doesn’t correlate with the sound files that it is merged with, but it seems tos sync reasonably well.

Notice how Edit 2 works differently through the use of a different sound file.

Go Fish Part 2 – Edit 2

I like the timing of this one a lot better. I think it’s just funnier and it flows better. I still obviously have a lot of problems with the lighting, contrast and colour grading, but hopefully I’ll improve that in future films.

Piano Lessons – Edit 1

This film was really difficult. because we didn’t have a plan, or a script or much of a story to work with, all we were trying to do is figure out some kind of way to have one scene depict two different kinds of shots, which I don’t think we did very successfully.

Pre-filming setup 

As you can see, I’m not in charge of the camera for this scene, there was actually a reasonable amount of pre-film setup that went into the creation of this scene. We tried multiple angles but none of them really seemed to give us much leverage when it came to turning it into another kind of shot.

Shooting the Scene 

I felt that the original shot construction at the beginning of the scene was actually quite nice, but we couldn’t figure out where to go from there. As Tierra goes to sit down beside me, we’re trying to create an over the shoulder shot, but it didn’t work, so I quickly cut to the close up of the piano because it looked nice aesthetically.

Post-filming checklist

We did look over the films after we shot them, and we were satisfied with how we had set them up, and the focus and white balance were pretty good, although we didn’t think the camera movement worked very well, and once again, we were very short on time.

Post-production 

I played around with the colour and contrast in this edit, and I quickly cut away from the first shot to the close up of the piano, but notice how edit 2 looks and plays differently.

Piano Lessons – Edit 2

This edit has a warmer, more home video kind of colour to it, it looks less professional in my opinion, but I find that the timing seems to work better in this edit, because Tierra actually gets to sit down for a moment to show the other shot before I change the scene. I’ve also kind of made it look as if she slapped me onto the piano, which I think works rather well.

Scene Deconstruction 

There Will be Blood, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

There Will be Blood is a film that really effectively conveys emotion while using limited dialogue. There is a great deal of confrontation between both Paul and Daniel in this scene that often communicated through the silences inbetween their conversation. The two characters are so vastly different in nature, Paul being timid and passive, and Daniel being assertive, often coming across a little too forward. I don’t want to delve too deeply into their great acting performance, so instead let’s look at the film techniques and cinematography.

Shot Construction

One thing I really admire about this scene is the way the camera movement creates entirely new shots, like we’ve discussed recently. Take for example the scene at 1:00, where Paul is silhouetted in the right half of the shot. This shot only shows him and Daniel, but when Paul sits down, Fletcher is revealed to have been present in the conversation the entire time.

Slowly the camera closes in on the scene without us even really noticing, before long the characters have consumed the entire shot, and it communicates to the audience the tension rising between them, as there is little empty space to breathe. Eventually the camera is consumed by Pauls face only at 2:45, and only then are we presented with a cut, after the line of dialogue “600 dollars”. This shows the shift in power, Paul is now seen as an equal, and the shots turn into equal over the shoulder shots.

I found it interesting the way that characters didn’t really exist in the world of this scene until they appeared on camera. At 3:03, H.W (the child) appears at the right of the scene, next to Paul. I can imagine the precise planning that would have taken place for him to be visible in such a small space of the camera. Once we are able to see H.W, Paul is also able to see him, and turns around to look at him. He is out of focus, but once Daniel introduces him as his son, we return to see him fully in focus.

I admire the way that each character is introduced to Paul with the use of close ups and focus, rather than simple dialogue.

Lighting / Colour 

The room is really dimly lit with warm halogen lighting, so it’s interesting how we can see the detailed facial expressions of the three characters in a white light so clearly, obviously lighting rigs have been used, yet we ignore it. The overall colour of the scene is grey and dull, but the scene remains defined and complex. I find it interesting that the director has chosen to have this room to be coloured with a more hostile white light, when the room would naturally have had a warmer more inviting light.

In future films, I’d like to replicate Paul Andersons ability to display several different types of shots within one camera roll, and I will take into account the way in which lighting can be used rather blatantly and still not take away from the scene and its enviornment.

For my script, I’d like to create something that’s thought provoking, that plays with some interesting film techniques. I don’t want the script to be too ridiculous and out of this world, but rather, it be a normal interaction that people might see differently. I want to take inspiration from a movie called “Waking Life” which is basically a filmed movie with art drawn over it. Mostly, I just like the way that the lines are delivered, and I like the interactions between the characters, because it seems so fresh and natural, although very deep and thought provoking.

In this scene from Waking Life, the two characters are just discussing a trip to Vegas and an encounter with a murderer, the moral of the story being to always carry a gun. The scene ends with one man testing his gun on the bartender, and ends up shooting and killing him.

Despite the fact that the film is technically animation, the shot construction is that of a real life film, and has been an inspiration to my filmmaking for years.

Location 

I would like my script to be set somewhere unorthodox, like in the middle of a quiet road, or on a roof, or on the branches of a tree,  or in a lit alleyway.

Sounds 

Occasional passing car

Crickets chirping (if dusk) or

Birds Chirping (if morning).

I don’t want to film in the middle of the day

Actions

Pacing uncomfortably contrasted to very relaxed and laid back

Climbing up something in an attempt to leave

A premise of what I’d like to write.

“Two chracters are seen in an alleyway, an occasional police car is heard driving by. One of the characters looks very panicked, pacing up and down the alley nervously, the other is sitting down against the ground, as if prepared for the consequences that are about to come.”

Lenny video with sound effects

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I found the Lenny sound effect exercise to be challenging, because even though we would literally create the same sound effect as the one in the video, it wouldn’t match with the actions. Often, it was the sound effect that was really quite unrelated to the action that would fit the best.

When we first set out to film the script, we hadn’t considered choosing a part of the script that involved actions with any kind of dialogue or sound effects, which made it really quite difficult to not only choose which actions to add sound effects to, but also to match the sound effects to the actions that were taking place.

For example:

1. The sound effect of Helena tapping on the metal railings  adjacent the stairs (at 0:04) were unplanned and sporadic, which meant that matching a sound effect to it was nearly impossible, because we couldn’t sync up the tapping of each individual finger.
2. The footsteps leading up to Lenny’s arrival (0:14) and wave don’t properly sync up either, they carry on too long. I also really didn’t want to add the dialogue but we had to add it somewhere and it seemed like the only place that was appropriate. The one thing that I do feel that worked in this segment was the sound effect of the jacket crinkling during the wave, HOWEVER vv
3. We used the same sound effect for both jackets, despite the different fabrics, not only is it not well synced at all, the sound of the second fabric should be a lot softer, and much faster and louder to accommodate the more enthusiastic wave.

Little other things stuck out to me as well, like the background noise not including the footsteps of passing students, and containing things like knocking and voices that just don’t really make sense in the atmosphere, but I’m not sure if I notice that because I put the film together, or if it’s actually noticeable.

“Sunday Evening” Short

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I felt like ‘Sunday Evening’ was a good representation of the editing techniques I’ve learnt so far throughout the course, and although I’m not exactly satisfied with how far away it drifted from the original script. I think we did a good job playing around with different shots, and cutting on action to create a degree of continuity.

The parts I did like about ‘Sunday Evening’ was how I exercised the technique of “cutting on action”. I felt that despite the fact that shots were completely different cuts, they flowed together quite nicely. With my script, I tried to practice cutting on emotion as well, which meant I involved a lot of silence in the film, to experiment when was a good time to cut. I think the actors did a brilliant job with silence, staying deadpan and conveying emotion.

I also played around with the colours, mostly in three-way colour corrector and RGB curves, like I’ve mentioned in previous posts. I think this worked out reasonably well, although I may have taken it too far.

There are editing mistakes in the film that stuck out to me, such as:

1. The direction the boom mic was facing gave us some pretty average audio quality at times, not sure if it’s the quality of the boom mic or the direction that it was facing.
2. Secondly cutting shots too early was a real problem, I’ve told myself this many times, and it ruined a perfectly good shot that would’ve finished the film a lot better, (not having the actor jab himself in the eye with sunglasses). Too soon after the actors stopped talking, my shadow was seen moving, ruining the otherwise perfect shot.
3. Due to the time frame we had to shoot I can’t really kick my self too much for this, but the film location was a real let down for this film. It really kinda took away from the scene and made the wall climbing scene look a little bit pointless. A good film location can really change the quality of the film.

I’d like to work on these mistakes in future films, and I think that if I reflect on the mistakes I’ve made with previous films, I might be able to make something that’s half decent. In the future I should reflect more on the mistakes and successes of previous films before embarking on an entirely new project.

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I’ve never really taken the time to properly deconstruct many films, and a film that I’ve always admired, and regarded as my favorite due to its creative and original style was Hunt for the Wilder people (2016) directed by Taika Waititi. I chose the scene where Ricky is running from Paula and Andy.

Video

The first thing that stuck out to me was that there were 8 cuts in the first 21 seconds. I wondered at first whether or not this was intentional, or if it had just proven to be a difficult scene to film. I looked at other scenes from the movie and found that it was predominantly the contrary, scenes would often drag on just a little bit longer than you’d expect them to, and this particular scene has been edited to convey how sporadic the situation was

I also noticed that they are mostly low angle shots, looking up at Ricky. This may be considered a point of view shot from the dog, but it also suggests that Ricky needs to be in charge of the situation.

Lastly, I found that the scene doesn’t focus on his face at all, and the majority of emotion is conveyed through his body language, and other film features

Music

There’s a light orchestral non-diegetic sound track in the background that conveys a kind of “last hope” emotion, The music changes and increases intensity after the 20 seconds, as if to suggest that there’s still hope yet.

Sound

I noticed that obviously the dog isn’t making those whining noises on que, and they’ve been added in post production. The dog doesn’t even move its mouth to make the noises, and honestly, it looks more excited rather than distressed anyway.

We can also hear the gentle crinkling of metal from either the bag or the dogs collar, and occasionally footsteps, whether they have been added in post production or not is up for debate.

Continue reading

<iframe src=”https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WbfvRCZBypgCVVQ82zKj180fXlqQJpuR/preview” width=”480″ height=”360″></iframe>

(well that didn’t work)

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(Okay I think that kinda did, nasty resolution though)

(Oh I see that’s why you wanted to the change the resolution numbers)

http://

(Ahhh there we go…)

Practicing creating and implementing sound effects in film.

Joshua Houston

Assignment 1

Small Things

What are my goals in this studio?

From what I understand so far, Small Things is a Studio that’s devoted to fine tweaking our knowledge about editing, cinematography and technical understanding, and so my goals are in this studio are to do just that. Specifically, I would like to further my understanding regarding the actual use of camera technology, and editing techniques with cinematography as I feel comfortable with my ability to figure out video editing programs, though I’m not very experienced in the actual structuring of a film.

I am surprised so far about the things that I didn’t actually consider, like the structuring of folders within Premiere, and the complex camera settings (outside of a basic white balance and making sure the exposure isn’t ridiculous). I would like to further tweak my knowledge on the basics before trying to create advanced film while missing the basic foundation. I’ve had issues in the past where I try to ‘run before I can crawl’, where I’ll try to create do or create something fantastic without actually knowing how to go about doing that. Often, I’ll end up unsatisfied with the end result, because of simple little things that I missed throughout the creation.

In other projects I’ve also often struggled with team work, because often one person in the team will choose to take charge, and the rest of the team will blindly follow that one person. I would like to learn to be more assertive within a team, but also become better at co-operating with others in a positive manner. I’m looking forward to group projects that involve filming, but I’m also interested in the group projects that heavily involve editing, so that I can see the techniques that my peers use in premiere and other editing programs.

Reflection

Choosing when to cut was a more difficult process that I thought, not so much in regards to a film about making a bed, but more just thinking about future films, conveying the right amount of emotion and understanding before going to another shot. I watched a video from Every Frame a Painting called “How does an Editor think and Feel:

I found it interesting the way that editors would sometimes hang on a shot for just a little bit too long to make the audience uncomfortable. It’s like even to somebody who is completely untrained in video editing can feel when a shot should come to an end.

The first video that we chose to edit was difficult because there wasn’t a message or some kind of underlying theme that we were trying to communicate within the film, and the scenes didn’t seem to show any more or less information if we extended them or if we chopped them. There wasn’t really a beginning, middle or end, which made things difficult.

I found the “Making the Bed” exercise a little easier and a little more interesting because it did indeed have a beginning middle and end, and I had to be aware of that in the shots, so coudn’t have the next shot being inconsistent, regarding how made the bed was, and the surrounding scenery. Looking back, I wish I had positioned the camera differently for the last shot, because the entire left part of the screen was completely wasted space, and I should’ve utilized the light more efficiently throughout the shots. The exercise did make me consider what shots I should use to “set the scene”. I should’ve finished the film by showing what had been done, and though I’m very fond of the cheesy thumbs up, I don’t think it communicates the point of the video very well.

Discussing Born into brothels (2004) Directed by Zana Briski, Amy (2015) Directed by Asif Kapadia, and Searching for Sugarman (2012) Directed by Malik Bendjelloul.

Information References

1. Swami, P 2005: ‘A missionary enterprise’, ‘Frontline Magazine, 12 – 25 March, viewed 26th of May 2018, (http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2208/stories/20050422000408100.htm )
2. The guardian, 2015, Amy Winehouse documentary is ‘misleading’, says family – viewed 26th May 2018, (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/apr/27/amy-winehouse-documentary-family-cannes-film-festival)
3. Watt, A 2013, ‘International man of mystery’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 1^st March , viewed 30th May 2018,(https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/international-man-of-mystery-20130228-2f6vm.html).
4. Bradshaw, P 2012, ‘Searching for Sugar Man – review, A new documentary about lost Detroit musician Sixto Rodriguez – once touted as the new Dylan – opens an unexpected window on the secret history of white South Africa, The Guardian, 26^th July , viewed 30th May 2018, (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jul/26/searching-for-sugar-man-review).
5. Sikand, N 2015, ‘Filmed Ethnography or Ethnographic Film? Voice and Positionality in Ethnographic, Documentary, and Feminist Film’, Journal of Film and Video; Englewood 67, Iss. 3/4, pp. 48
6. Schenkel, H. 2014, ‘A LIE THAT TELLS THE TRUTH: How Fictional Techniques Enhance Documentary Storytelling”, Screen Education; Melbourne Iss. 74, pp. 70-77

Video Interview References

1. “Amy” Director Asif Kapadia wants Winehouse doc to make you think 2015, streaming video, YouTube, viewed 30 May 2018, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0rJ4JxHlNA).
2. ‘Born into Brothels’ 2005, streaming video, Charlie Rose, viewed 30 May 2018, (https://charlierose.com/videos/10714).
3. Mitch Winehouse – No Regrets As A Father To Amy | Loose Women 2015, streaming video, YouTube, viewed 30 May 2018, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JDapMUNmc4).
4. Oscar Winner Malik Bendjelloul and Sixto Rodriguez Exclusive Interview 2014, streaming video, YouTube, viewed 30 May 2018, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZcXrnezHuE).
5. ‘Sugar Man’ Director’s Journey from Swedish TV to Oscars 2013, streaming video, YouTube, viewed 30 May 2018, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbx5LeH4g70).
6. ‘Sugar Man’ Director’s Journey from Swedish TV to Oscars 2013, streaming video, YouTube, viewed 30 May 2018, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-Z_lPe1Qg4).
7. Doc Studio: Allan King on Ethics in Filmmaking 2015, streaming video, YouTube, viewed 30 May 2018, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM8DOum-gso).


How do we make documentary that is both political and poetic?

To make a political documentary effective, it needs to have poetic conventions. Terry Eagleton, a critic and Professor of English Literature at Lancaster University, argues that poetry is “emotive, original, and sensuously particular, with the texture of personal experience, whereas politics is a question of abstract notions, impersonal institutions, and collective entities.” ⁽¹⁾ Politics are rules and regulations for the people, involving well defined determinant ideas, whereas poetry thrives on ambiguity and ambivalence. Inherently, Documentaries are non-fiction, in the fact that it’s informative and factual, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the material being communicated is “true”, and despite documentaries being needing to be factual by nature, good documentaries have a strong focus on narrative, and storytelling. Our Documentary ‘Do you see it?’ focuses on the various different kinds of prejudice that infiltrate society. It displays this theme in a poetic, and indirect way.

                   “We were all humans until race disconnected us, religion separated us, politics divided us and wealth classified us.”

                                                                                                                                    –Pravinee Hurbungs

We decided that it was important that we avoid cliches of other films that were attempting to communicate similar topics. The film contains no interviews, although I kept a snippet of an interview with Donald Trump, when he announces that he’s the “least racist person”. I justified keeping this in the film because I had isolated only one sentence, rendering it not a voice over in context. I also chose to make the film non photo-realistic, although I justified removing the faces of models, to both avoid defaming and generalizing particular people, and to symbolise a wider context of wealth and fame instead of individuals. We also decided not to feature narration in our short documentary, as would be typical in the generic documentary format, which forces the audience to gather the meaning themselves.

Similarly to the previous short film produced in class, featuring the effects of Nuclear War and ongoing battle between countries, ‘Do you see it?’ attempts to let the audience make up their own mind, without cliche mood swaying techniques such as sad sombre piano accompanied with slow speeches. Our film on war delivered the message of what would happen if humans continued to destroy the world with warfare and nuclear weapons. Most people are already that war is bad, to the point where it’s ignorable, so we wanted to create a film that would emphasise what will happen if we continue to ignore it. As a filmmaker, I think its important to let the audience be able to argue and debate the meaning of a film or message behind a documentary, rather than have the message spelt out clearly, like Alfred Hitchcock would suggest “do it with nothing”, suggesting that the audience will come to conclusions themselves. I’d like to think we’ve achieved both ambiguity as well as a firm message with our film ‘Do you see it?’, rather than featuring messages from us specifically, it references the words of various people affected by different kinds of prejudice.

‘Do you see it?’ functions as a Documentary because it seeks to communicate real life issues, featuring documents from people in completely different situations, facing similar discrimination. It predominantly features Poetic Documentary conventions, with an emphasis on visuals, music, rhythm, mood but also contains a small portion of Reflexive Documentary conventions, with reenactments, though the reenactments are symbolic of a wider picture. (2)

Political Documentary becomes poetic when there is self interest, and real human emotion that goes into the creation, the filming, and the editing of the film. Topics that are political in the sense that they affect a large group of people will always ensue an emotional reaction that can either subconsciously or obviously inspire poetic conventions in a film that would be otherwise monotonous and plain.

On an unrelated note, this project did help me learn about green screen and advance my knowledge on Premiere.

(1) Battersby Eileen, Aug 1996, The politics of poetry, Irish Times; Dublin

(2) Nichols, N 2010, ‘Introduction to Documentary; Grouping the many voices of Documentary’, Indiana University Press, pp. 99-139.