1. If you are cover, for instance, a dialogue scene between two people, using a shot/reverse shot strategy on each actor, how is it best to ‘cover’ the scene when shooting?

Answer: Cover the entire scene from both camera Angles

2. What does the term matching eyelines mean?

Answer: Creating the illusion across an edit two characters are looking at one another

3. When you are recording several shots of two or more people talking to each other the convention is not to cross the line (the ‘axis of action’). The line is:

Answer: The line through the people talking

4. If you are shooting a mid shot (MS) where should the bottom of the frame be?

Answer: The waist

5. When talking about shot construction “crossing the line” means?

Answer: The producer is directing the actors

6. The scenario: You have two scenes to shoot in one day. One indoors, and the other outdoors. The Question: When you’re scheduling your shots when is it best to schedule the outdoor scene. And why?

Answer: Shoot if first as it could rain later in the day.

7. Please outline some points that you took away from the lighting lecture. Points that excite you, something that was completely new to you, perplexes you or even one you take issues with.

Answer:

The primary reason why lighting is needed in a film is because of the technical requirement for proper exposure of every shot in the film. Just like with photography, shooting a scene without enough light makes the shot underexposed. In such case, the shot looks too dark, and there are only a few details that can appear on screen. In worst cases, what you see is almost a black screen that even the actor’s faces and the props and sets around are not recognizable anymore. On the other hand, shooting with too much light makes the shot overexposed. In such case, the shot looks too bright and the entire scene looks annoyingly washed out, even to the point of looking blindingly white with almost no details to make the scene recognizable.

For a film to be properly exposed, the cinematographer and the lighting team must utilize a wide array of production equipment, according to specifications required by each scene. Every shot must not be too dark nor too bright so that the elements it contains register properly on screen.

8. List the things you learnt from Lenny – this could be things that went well or not so well.

During the Lenny exercise, we had to get it done under bad weather conditions. Finding a suitable location was tough, so we decided to film outdoors anyway. There was raindrops on the camera lens and sound boom was always affected from the wind. The gloomy weather seemed to fit the theme for the Lenny script so it was great but because of the bad weather and short of manpower we had a hard time. I was recording the shots and papers were flying everywhere so at a point we were all chasing for it. Also, we were new as a group and had to adjust to each other as a group. So this proved to be quite a challenge for us. However, despite the fact that we didn’t get external actors for Lenny ( 2 of our group members acted) and the fact that the remaining 4 of us were struggling to get the shots filmed with that weather condition and short amount of time, we were the first group to return back to class and complete our scene. Feeling rather accomplished only to find out that our SD card was lost (we checked with the techs) and we were  unable to show it to the class or even edit it.  I think we worked really well as a team and did a good job. We had a good location at the back of rmit and managed to avoid the raindrops on the camera with one of us holding an umbrella over it (it was funny but it did the job). Though we lost the SD card, we owe the success of our small Lenny project to each other!

Lecture 7 Lighting: What was covered? Do you think the content is relevant to your project? And why?

Yes definitely I think lighting is very important to not just my project but in any sort of Film . Without lighting the film will look distorted, discoloured, too dark and just make the whole idea of the film very different. The primary reason why lighting is needed in a film is because of the technical requirement for proper exposure of every shot in the film.

Just like with photography, shooting a scene without enough light makes the shot underexposed. In such case, the shot looks too dark, and there are only a few details that can appear on screen. In worst cases, what you see is almost a black screen that even the actor’s faces and the props and sets around are not recognizable anymore. On the other hand, shooting with too much light makes the shot overexposed.

In such case, the shot looks too bright and the entire scene looks annoyingly washed out, even to the point of looking blindingly white with almost no details to make the scene recognizable.

From personal experience, even on very cheap, very slap dash films, we gave a lot of consideration to the light. It was both our best friend and worst enemy. In some shots we had no make do with insufficient lighting, or lighting that did not accomplish exactly what we wanted.

This was because we could not afford more lights and nicer equipment. But in other scenes we were able to use simple lighting effects to highlight the tension and mystery and create an atmosphere that many Hollywood directors turn to special effects to achieve.

While shooting errors might seem fine on the set, they set themselves up for hours of frustration in editing. Shooting for the edit will save you time and money on your project.There are several reasons as to why people tend to shoot to edit. The first would be a safety net and a backup in case prior shootings turn out wrong and not the way we want it to be or something goes wrong during editing. Another reason would be because we tend to shoot to edit so we have a rough idea of the scenes and we are able to point out scenes to be re-shot and changed. Most importantly it helps raise the standards of the film and make work more efficient for those filming it. Shooting to edit is a crucial part of filming and saves a lot of time and work in case something goes wrong at some point of the film.

To be honest, I did not see the title of the film that was shown and there were 2 films being shown. I’m going to assume that the first one that I was shown is the one that is titled “Rolling”. So, I think that the casting for the film was good, the actor had very good expressions and knew when to smile, pause and even jump in at certain scenes. He portrayed his character well and did it very naturally. I felt that the sound quality of the clip was really bad, from what I could recall it had very echos and it is not done properly I could hear buzzing in the background. Maybe doing a voice over might have been a better option. The choice of location was good, it fits in with the story line and also the setting. I felt that the production setting of the toilet rolls and placing of the scene was great! The toilet rolls placed at the start gives audiences an idea no clue about how he ended up with so many toilet rolls and the production team did a great job leading up the story to the scene and it made sense in the end. Aside from the sound, there were a few scenes where the white balance is not balanced out properly. There was a little bit of discolouration is certain scenes however, aside from that all is good. I think the team did well for a short school production with limited budget.

The two points that I’ve picked out from the reading is  both from the chapter Safety on the sets – I would like to cover on “Accidents” and Creating a Hazard. Why i chose these two topic is because I feel that safety on sets are often not priority when It should be of utmost priority. Especially when not in a professional set like student productions we need to be educated to take precautions when filming.

In the reading, it wrote that: “Most accidents happen from Slack Concentration. Where most accidents happen because we tend to leave our personnel safety awareness on auto pilot allowing our sense and past painful experiences to remind us but this is usually at the last moment too late. ”

That, I find so true. Anything can happen while filming, even if it’s a cut from a knife while cutting an apple in a scene or slipping on a slippery fall. Precations MUST be taken to prevent these from happening. We need to learn to trust our judgments and  use all our senses.

Another point is creating a hazard.  Small things like even production cables and gear placements can cause the entire scene to be a hazard. We also have to keep in mind those who are building the sets for the film and ensure that work safety is being taught to them and that they are being supervised at all times to ensure utmost precaution and safety. We need to remember that prevention is always definitely better than cure.

In the film Clown train, sound played a very important part in it. Without the sound, the film would be awkward and borring. It add’s to the mood of the scenario and brings the entire film together. Choosing the right piece of sound is equally important and the sound for Clown train was very carefully chosen and chosen well.  I feel that the movie titled ” The Shining” acted out by Jack Nicholson had terrific sound effects to complement the entire film and the actors. It brings about suspense, fear and the right feelings from the audience at the right time. It created a lot of tension and the produces knew when to take sound out at the right parts. Sometimes the scene is best played out without sound as well to make the scene more natural.

Central conflict theory is a manual for an alternative cinema. It is (among other things) about how we see the world, narrate our own lives, histories and cultures and how limited (and destructive) we can be when we resort to Hollywood’s way of seeing. Much film theory covers the same territiory, but these are the words of an artist and should resonate with some vloggers. Central Conflict Theory refers to a type of dramatic construction, first developed by naturalist playwrights such as Ibsen, and later imposed as the model for Hollywood and international cinema. The crucial claim of this theory is, as Ruiz puts it, that “someone wants something and someone else doesn’t want them to have it. From this point on all the elements of the story are arranged around this central conflict”. I feel that when you draw ideas form only a certain culture you limit yourself and you start writing stories around stereotypes and also misunderstandings. Scripts or stories should not be limited, we should be able to keep an open mind and write about anything and everything.

In Jasmine’s lecture on scriptwriting, she wrote that scripts are not spose to be borring, they are meant to excite and convey a tonnes of emotions. She also wrote that, because of that it meant that there should be “No wallflowers, No introverts or No nice guys.” I understand that maybe a typical plot is to have an issue or a problem and maybe some exciting line up in trying to get the issue sorted. But personally, aside from all these mainstream action packed movies filled with suspense I actually do like the wallflowers, I like the introverts, I understand that these characters tend to keep emotions and feelings inside of them but I feel that, its because they are so vulnerable and so closed up and many can actually relate to that sort of silence. Sometimes, silence is gold or maybe it conveys this certain understanding to the audience and we as the audience are able to relate to the character deeper and in a more emotional way. Like I mentioned, this is just an opinion. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and also experiences, but for me I would fall in love with a character that’s a wallflower more than I can with any superhero movie or someone that saves the world.

I suppose like most, I want to learn  a lot more about the technical aspect of the filming industry. Since I’m the last person on earth you’d want to run to in a technical emergency. I have absolutely no interests in handling technology and also find it quite a lot of hassle. So hopefully, learning the importance and roles of the different equipment can help me to achieve understanding and make me learn to love handling the technical aspect of filming. I also hope to be a better scriptwriter and editor, since I’ve done broadcast media before and editing media text, I’ve done a bit of editing on final pro x and learnt that it takes a lot of patience and time to beautify the film. Each aspect of filming plays a huge an important roles individually and one can’t do without the other. I would hope that in time through this course, I aquire the skills, patience and knowledge one takes to make a film.

Blogging is not something that is new to me, I’ve been blogging since the age of 14 and have been using it as an online journal. I basically saw my blog as my diary, except that I’m typing my thoughts out rather than writing it down on paper. I stopped because I found myself slowly being unattached to the computer. I realized that there is so much that life could offer than to have my head stuck in front of my computer screen refreshing my facebook page or blog.

Starting networked media opened my perspective to blogging. I used to only blogging as a journal, or see blogging as a platform for me to earn money to advertisements and endorsements – but I never saw it as an opportunity to use my blog as a “portfolio” for my career in the coming future.

I guess I never took my blog seriously enough to have thought of that, but knowing that the use of my blog could help me in my career prospects was rather enlightening. It is now week 6, and I’ve been blogging quite a bit on different topics that I hope could inspire people who read my blog – in terms of critical thinking, thinking from a different perspective, or rather my perspective and basically keeping an open mind to the ideas and opinions that I blog about.

Personally, I do not like anything theoretical and technical. Give me technical terms and my brain shuts off. Theories like design fiction would never have made any sense to me. I went through my readings, I roughly got the hang of what it talks about, but It took blogging about it to make me really understand it better.

My blog post on design fiction and the symposium which I took part in, has no jargons in it. None whatsoever. Instead, I took my own personal understanding of what I processed through the readings and through the discussion in class and simplified it. And it was during a class discussion and conversation with my classmate Tim that I was told to have helped him understood the concept of design fiction better after he read my post on it.

That encouraged me to want to put up more quality and honest blog posts up for those reading my blog. I also posted up a couple of Search engine optimization because I see it as an opportunity for young people to start thinking about their futures and realize that it isn’t that hard to start a business. If a simple blog can help you earn a five figure salary a month, why not? I am blogging not just for myself but also the people who reads them. Just as how I am inspired when I read the blogs of others, I would like to inspire those to read mine.

I just hope that just because I am such an advocate on certain topics and have such strong beliefs on them, that my posts would not seem too biased. What I put out there are just mere information and something for those reading my blog to think about. Be it windows of opportunites that we can take our chance on or things going on around the world that maybe we could make a difference in.

Also, despite loving the blogging aspect of networked media, some days I find myself struggling to keep up with the blogs. Especially since the entire course is rushed and compacted into just a mere six weeks, I had to worry about my filming and radio interviews for broadcast media, tie it up with bloggings and the NIKI and not forgetting the chores that is yet to be done at home. I am exhausted and when I am burnt out it gets hard sometimes to think of inspiration to blog about. It became more of a want to “get over and done with it.” And head to bed straight because there is a 9am class the next day.

I do not like the fact that, whilst on one hand the course is encouraging us to blog creative yet good honest reflective work, we are burnt out and trying to juggle ten other things at one go on the other. Blogging should be something that is free-flowing and enjoyable. It is when we find something enjoyable that we do not see it as a chore sometimes and get our thoughts flowing better.

Nevertheless, I understand that it is still part of the course requirements but I feel that if it was not for the rush, I would have had time to put up better quality reflections and posts. The posts I’ve written up are there for a reason, I want it to be engaging, informative yet encourage my readers to reflect. I hope that my post provides insight to the people reading on my thoughts and also the person that I am. Especially since I am planning to use the blog in future interviews.

This blog is something that I plan to take away with me for the long run, I hope that in soon to come it will inspire many around the world reading it and that it will add value in the lives of others.