Monthly Archives: May 2014

film/tv analysis reflection 6, question 8

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Most applications reserve keyboard shortcuts for the functions that use most often. It is really good to learn all of these as it will speed up your editing and additionally alert you to functions that the software developers and other users find important. (You can learn much about the software by looking at keyboard shortcuts).

Find the keyboard shortcuts for Adobe Premiere and note two or more functions that you’ve never used before that may be invaluable to editing.

as i have never used premier before, all the shortcuts are new to me so it took some experimenting to find them

some really useful ones i have found are:

command k: this cuts thetimeline at the playhead through all the tracks so i don’t have to go use the razor tool and try to get it exactly at the play head which can often not end up in extacly the right frame.

i and o: in and out. these are used when viewing the clip in the priview window so as to select when the clip will start and end that is put into the timeline. this makes it so easy to select a time to start and end a clip when watching because you don’t need to try and hit pause and then select an in or out point, you ca press i or o while you’re watching and also change it as you are watching if you find a better out or in point.

,: comma will insert the clip from the privew window into your timeline according to your designated out and in points and is a really quick and easy way to move selected parts of clips into the timeline.

enter (in the gape between clips on the timeline): i only found this one halfway through the editing process and it has saved me so much time. by selecting the blank space between two clips on the timeline and hitting enter, all clips after the blank space will move left to join up to the previous clip. this has saved so much time from having to zoom out, select all the clips to be moved, then zoom back in and move them, every time i make a tiny edit

film/tv analysis reflection 6, question 7

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In this clip screened in the lecture from the Coen brothers’ ‘Blood Simple‘ describe what is happening in terms of the edits specifically in terms of the audio and video. Also name the different kinds of audio you can hear.

there is quite a lot of editing done in this scene. there a re very few wide shots with both characters but rather consistent cutting between the two characters from different angles and distances throughout the scene which would have required a lot of editing. there is also a large number of cutaways throughout the scene which would also require tedious editing as well as carefully editing cuts between character doing a single action between shots which would have to be done very finely to ensure the movement looks smooth.

the audio would also have taken a lot of time to edit as there is not just dialogue but a distinct background sound created through atmos or other effects, such as the crickets or the hum of what is assumed to be the fan, and also the inclusion of a large number of folly sounds including opening the envelope, turning on the tap in the next room and footsteps walking across the floor. each of these sounds would have required a great deal of effort to create in time with what was occurring in the shot and then edited in to match the scene as it unfolds. the scenes utilises a lot of juts and l-cuts which are useful for showing one characters reactions to another characters dialogue or actions. it also keeps the action of the scene flowing so the audience don’t get too bored by going back and forth. by editing the audio in such a way it keeps things interesting and constantly changing.

the different kinds of audio heard in this clip are dialogue, sound effects, foley sounds, background sounds and music right at the end

all the different sounds from the clip:

dialogue

envelope rustling

breathing

footsteps

tap running

tap turning

fly buzzing

opening safe and putting stuff in

chair squeaking

sliding money across desk

gunshot and echo

crickets

fan(atmos)

foot hitting ground

kicking gun

putting money in pocket

door closing

music accent at end

 

film/tv analysis reflection 6 – question 6

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Consider Sandra’s lecture “Directing Actors” and describe at least a couple of points that you took away from it (even if you’re not the director).

as director of our film, i took a lot of really great points away from this lecture that i thought would really assist me when directing on set.

i felt one of the most important  points Sandra made was to always keep the script on me and keep  notes about the the emotions of each scene or shot written in the script. this is imperative for shooting to edit as the scenes and shots are filmed out of order and it is highly important to ensure that the correct flow is felt between shots and scenes when editing by keeping continuity running in regards to the emotion of whats going on in each shot. if these do not match up then the film will not come together well and will not tell the desired story. as the director the most important job is directing the actors to get the right emotion to tell the story properly and emotion is how to get the story across

another really useful point was when sandra discussed the standard way of shooting vs the not so standard way. she brought up some really great points that i would not have considered when shooting the film. first off… how to make it interesting. i had created a shot list for the film but Sandra’s point was to go beyond just the general shots that you can do to show the scene but to also take different kinds of shots that would tell the scene. make the audience see it in a different way and create a real emotion or feel to the scene. to do this, Sandra suggested to simply experiment. put the camera at odd angles or weird nights and interesting locations. create different blocking or framing or set ups. don’t just make it normal. also to think about cutaways. this is something that i think is really important that again i would never have considered. of course, cutaways require time which can often be a stretch on shoots, but they are still important and can add an extra layer to the film that just your basic wide shots can’t do.

lastly, a really grew point was about directing the actors. as this is my first time directing, this is a really important part for me as i have never directed actors before. a really good point was to rehearse with them before hand with a  camera, especially to cover non-dialgoue sections of the scenes. this is because o the day a lot of time will be taken up with working with the DOP so it is important to get a good relationship with the actors and let them know what i want before the shoot. another really great point was about how to talk to the actors on the shoot. these guys are volunteer and it may be there first jobs. i want them to be feeling as comfortable and happy as possible as they re doing this for us. Sandra said it is really important to be honest with the actors. however, she also mentioned we need to be delicate. if something looks wrong or isn’t working, don’t just tell them that, rather give a way to change it r a different outlook approach to it so that everyone can be working on the same page and can all try to get as much out of the scene as possible. i big issue for me will be correcting them as i am not one to tell people what to do or what not to do so the idea of telling them instead what can be changed rather than just saying they’re wrong was really helpful so that i can maintain a good communication with the actors on set.

final participation contract – week 12

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what did you do well?

i surprised myself by actually sticking to my participation contract and doing all 5 criteria every week throughout the term. in this sense i did well by keeping organised and on top of my work. i didn’t have to go back and add stuff or change anything. and doing the blog posts for my contract every week really added to how much i got out of the subject each week. it made sure i paid attention in the lectures and that i did the readings. i also attended all but one of the classes and lectures throughout the semester (and i only missed one because i was interstate)

what have you learnt to do better?

i learnt how to better articulate my thoughts about the content through the blog posts (even if that sentence wasn’t great) and to use my blog posts to consolidate the knowledge and content delivered through the readings and lectures. this process has really helped me learn how to take in info from the course and to discuss the relations between the different things we were doing and learning which overall helped complete the work this semester. i tried wherever i could to not just summarise the readings or lectures but actually discuss the ideas that were presented. i’ve learnt how to organise my blog through categories and tags. this was one of my criteria and was really useful to learn over the semester.

what could you have learnt to do better?

perhaps further consolidating what i was taking in from the course with material from outside of the course would have increased my learning and over all experience of the course. i did fulfil my contract but i did not expand on it so i could do better in going outside of the provided course material to expand my understanding. and done some more experimenting with korsakow outside of class to understand it better

the problem with no conclusion – week 11

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been jumping around a number of people’s blogs this week and a post bec made really caught my eye. she had some really good things to say about this whole non-linear, no-conclusion thing we’ve been dealing with all semester. because yes, we do need to start embracing the new types of online and social media dominating our world today. but, like bec says, that doesn’t mean that we have to completely disregard everything we’ve had up until now. they’ve been trying to get rid of print and books for years. but they’re still here. people have been telling linear, narrative stories since the beginning of time. obviously they’re doing something right if they’re still around today, and are the most popular form of entertainment out there. so why should we completely disregard this all because of some little non-linear stuff that is really big for a very small number of people? es, maybe that’s where main stream society is heading. but narratives and conclusions will still always stay with us, so it’s important not to completely write them off.

like bec said, we use narratives to escape our lives. they provide answers and conclusions where sometimes our lives don’t. Adrian does always say that korsakow and non-linear mirrors the way we think and how we experience the world, by association. but isn’t that why we have stories, to escape the real world and experience something different? bec has raised some good questions. she’s not saying to completely disregard what we’ve been learning, but just suggesting that we also don’t completely disregard everything we all ready know and have in society as well.

stormless skies – week 11

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hello. week 11 here. i’m here to make you freak out and have a melt down.

yes! the dreaded week 11 is here. the week where we all realise how much stuff we have to do and how little we’ve done to prepare ourselves for it. the major k-film is almost due and we need to start filming. i’ve done a couple for it already. and they were actually really fun. it’s like being a child again, getting to dress up in costumes and pretend to be a super hero. or be thinking up different types of superpowers that i can film. or trying to force my dog into a superman cape and make him run around the back yard (he wasn’t very happy with me for that). and the other members in my group got some good videos too. my only issue with our videos is that they’re not all cohesive. you can tell they were made by different people. they don’t all flow great. especially compared to some of the other groups videos that we saw.

i mean, our clips are good, and i think they really suit our film. they just don’t seem very…… professional. i’m not sure. the others are really fancy. but in a way, our slightly more disjointed kind of film style works. because our idea with the clips was to film them with iPhones. they weren’t meant to all be perfect but rather be kind of “on the spot” kind of footage, as if you were seeing a superhero saving someone or doing something incredible out on the street and you quickly pulled out your phone to film it. so in that sense, that is the kind of film we have. and that style does work. its just whether or not our films will look cohesive enough once we put them all together. but that’s what trial and error is for. this week we’ll each be taking more videos and start putting them together into the proper korsakow file. maybe if we work on them together rather than individually then it could work even better than what we have already. let’s hope so!

narratives and conclusions, part 2 – week 11

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the lecture this week again was consisting of discussions regarding conclusions, narrative and nonlinear in regards to korsakow. it seems people are pretty hung up on the fact that korsakow is different to what we’re used to. different doesn’t mean worse (it certainly doesn’t mean better), it just means different, it’s not what we’re used to. and this is still getting to some people. maybe they’re just xenophobic (although i never thought xena was that scary. sorry, that was a terrible joke).

people’s main issue appears to be that of a lack of conclusion with the k-film. that you can’t determine how or in what order someone will view it and so you can’t provide the conclusions that you want. this brought up the question, “should you have an end SNU?”. this was a yes and no kinda answer. obviously it depends on the kind of film you’re trying to make and the kind of experience you want your viewers to get. end SNU’s can be problematic because if they come up to early in the viewing of the film then the film will end prematurely without al the right stuff getting out. but an end SNU can also give clarity or information that might be needed ago end the film or deliver the final message of the theme. an end SNU is useful for a film with a strong temporal link or a literary timeline. again, the use for an end arises when we think mostly in linear narrative form. if we want our film to be a traditional narrative then we will want it to have a traditional conclusion and in that situation then yes, have an end SNU. but that’s not what korsakow is supposed to be a bout. it is decidedly different and allows you to be different. so why revert to the traditional when this is the way to do something new, non-linear is the way of the future (according to adrian). my favourite point from the lecture was again about conclusions. we are all hung up on them, on linear storytellings with narrative endings. but not every story has an ending, even ones told in linear fashion. and the example adrian gave was soap operas. soap operas are a story. they tell a narrative in linear fashion for half an hour five days a week. but they have no conclusion. ever. they just keep going. people can stop watching them if they want. and form their own conclusions about what that means or what might have happened. but in reality, thy have no conclusion. and that doesn’t seem to phase anyone. narratives and conclusions relate but they are no code pendant. you can have one without the other and we need to grasp that and understand it because by the look of things, that’s where we’re all headed in the future.

the finale hurdle – week 11

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this is it!!! we’re almost there. 11 weeks down and just a k-film to go. or so i thought. then this reading got thrown at us. it’s our last one. we were all hoping it would be a nice simple one. something enjoyable, easy to read. but of course it couldn’t be like that. oh no. it had to be evil. and by evil, i mean pure evil. devil worthy. mark pellegrino singing stairway to heaven 50 times over kinda evil.

let me begin by telling you that this reading is “concerned with the social praxis of documentary  in the sea of ubiquitous data that is both consequence ad driver of online social mediation”. let me then continue by saying that i have no idea whatsoever what that means. the article discusses the benefits of web 2.0, HTML5, regular documentaries, i-docs (remember i-docs? like back from week 1!), popcorn maker, and pretty much anything else, online, nonlinear or korsakow-y. so, in a sense, yes it is kind of like a conclusion to the theory from the semester. it’s just a very long, very painful one to get through.

we hear about the “industrial revolution of data” that is coming our way. everything we know about online information is changing and we can only imagine what it will look like in a number of years from now because you can guarantee that it won’t be the same. a big part of this article was the difference between “on the web” and “of the web”, the latter being the direction this revolution is taking us and our data. Dovey and Rose discuss the new ways that video can be seen and uploaded online, integrated within the page and consisting of links inwards and outwards rather than being situated separately within their own player. everything is joining together and becoming one with each other, forming an all mighty ‘online’ that pretty much has everything. the program called popcorn maker is mentioned which, like our lovely korsakow, allows users and creators to view and make interactive documentaries where films link into and out of each other or even to anywhere else on the web that may be relevant. as i’m sure we are supposed to be believing, this is the future the internet but also just of media and communication itself. korsakow again here. everything is connected by associations. link make the world go round. linear narrative doesn’t.

what happens on vine – week 10

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been checking out some other people’s blog this week and came across Kevins very funny vine post called “what happens to an asian on vine”. not the most academic video but it is very enjoyable. however, the video does have some kind of relevance to the course, specifically the kuleshov effect that was discussed in last weeks reading and the lecture earlier in the week. the kuleshov effect describes the theory that individual clips have no meaning by themselves, but rather that meaning is drawn from the connections between clips. kevins vine is comprised of 4 separate clips that, if you were to only watch one by itself, would be confusing and mean nothing, but when placed together in this certain order, have a meaning. the video shows kuleshov in its basic format. putting clips that alone mean nothing but together create an experience that could not be had if the clips were separate. good stuff kev.

database narrative – week 10

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a different kind of reading this week. this one didn’t go on for ever and make no sense. although, i can’t really say i understood this one much, it kinda seemed to ramble and be a little incoherent at times. but at least they were kind enough to break it up into 8 relatively short pages with pretty pictures on the side.

so, what did i learn from this reading. to be brutally honest, not much. but i’m still here so i shall soldier on! it was about databases…. i think. i never really got what it was actually about. but the heading of the thing said databases so i kinda assumed that that is what every point was talking about. below are some of the interesting points and quotes that i took from the reading

“While plot provides important tags (hero, villain), schemas (goals, obstacles) and navigation instructions (genre), it is ultimately the cognitive and emotional investment of the receiver of plot – the subjective associations, desires, visualizations, decodings and fast searches – that transforms a mere series of selected details into a story network that is always more than the sum of its parts.

 

“Paradigm, the multiple relational aspects of story elements, becomes visible in a database; and syntagm, narrative sequence, is suppressed.

 

“Interface design, like production design in movies, is an art to primarily guide attention as it flows through and around multiple elements on a screen.

 

“graphic devices are integral to reading and understanding all narrative texts. One begins a book by looking over the table of contents, assessing the length and count of chapters and sub-chapters

 

“Before social media, friends shared photo prints and videos, but they often did so as ritualistic forms of linear storytelling: narrators addressing an attentive audience. Now, online friends post tagged sets of travel photos to social networks, often as events happen, and hope for conversations to start. While both methods speak of the desire to shape and communicate experience, the former uses media as illustration (and mnemonic device) for linear storytelling and the latter presents media as an interface to the unfolding “story” of experience itself.