In last semester, we mainly learned the mythologies of drama, and in this semester we put more attention on documentary. In other word, this semester provide us a chance to learn how to apply the methodologies of drama production to documentary making. So when I planning my final project, I decided to do not limited with the types of film, instead, creating my own film which both have the features of documentary and drama. I am an overseas student who came alone to Melbourne to achieve dream. Melbourne has different meaning for me, it bring lots of things to me, such as the beauty, challenge, lonely and so on. So I want to show this city and show the relationship between the strangers with this city in a personal perspective to viewers. Also, because I want to illuminate the impression about this city, so I will film varies of scenery in this city. Generally, the scenery of Melbourne must had been filmed numbers of times by other people, so I have chosen a special visual way to present it in my own film, this special way is the design of split screen. I really interested in split screen when I watching some films. So I investigated some usages of split screen, and tried to suitably and reasonably apply them in my project.
In order to make this film more clear and logic, I divided it to three different parts. First one is the basic impression of Melbourne, second one is the normal daily life of people in this city, and the last one is the experiences in this city. Actually, the fist part is close to the genre of documentary. From this part I deeply realized the importance of “ time” and the necessary of proficient skills in documentary filming. Having an ability to capture the luck is same important with having a good luck in filming process. Also, the split screen design in this part is mainly focus on visual effects of scenery, so I mostly use a special way that divided one shot to few parts, adding color effect for each part. The second part, I used the comparison usage of split screen to show the life routine of different people. It comprehensively and interestingly shows varies life styles of people who live in this city. Comparing with the first one, it is unnecessary to add any color effect of it. And the third part is close to drama, so the split screen design in this part has to be logical and clear to understand. Using one screen to show different perspectives shots is a suitable style for this part. So that viewers are able to know the situation in a comprehensive way.
To sum up, the split screen have different usages, when we using it, we should depending on content of our project. In this producing process, I deeply felt the difficulties of split screen film in filming and in editing area. The consistency of lighting, frame, subject size, level both are so important. Also, the complicated audio design makes me feel struggle. Obviously, I gave my self an interesting challenge in this semester. But I am so happy that finally I tried my best to complete it. Expecting next semester studio.