I took three clips from the documentary I am currently working on and colour graded them in a few different ways each. Firstly I have this sign in which was torn up and thrown in the bin at the UPF protest.

This is the original image.

 

 

For this colour grade I made the shadows a blue hue while changing the midtowns and highlights to a warm yellow/orange colour tone. I changed the input levels of black and white to create a greater contrast. I changed the tonal range to make the reduce the highlights purely to the white paint on the cardboard and feathered the midtowns and shadows together to reduce a sharp line on shadow. In addition I saturated the warm mid-tones and the blue shadows to create this nice cool cinematic grading.

 

 

 

This image is pretty similar to the original. Once again I gave the shadows a blue tone as well as the midtowns this time and dragged the highlights towards to pink. I changed the tonal levels to create a greater contrast. The tonal range was changed as to isolate the writing as the only highlights. The highlight saturation was then boosted to 200% saturation and the shadow at 50% as an attempt to make the painted words stand out.

 

 

I isolated the highlights to the paint with the tonal range and then saturated the highlights fully with the colour pink and lowered the master saturation down to 80%. Once again I made the black blacker and the white whiter with the input controls to create a greater contrast. And issue with this colour grade is that not all the paint is turned pink, due to it being in a shadow. If I wished to make it pink it would cause the brightest parts of the bin to be changed to that colour also.

This is the original image of a UPF leader speaking at the Bendigo rally.

For this colour grade I made the shadows blue while making the midtowns and highlights an orange hue. I feathered the shadows and midtowns together using the tonal range slider. Once again I created a contrast with the black and white inputs and desaturated the image to 80%.

 

 

 

This is similar to the image above except I added more black and less white with the input slider. Also I created a wider range of highlights when feathering the highlights and mid-tones with the tonal slider. Furthermore the image is desaturated to 50%.

 

 

 

For this image I simply desaturated it completely to make it black and white.

 

 

 

 

This is screenshot from the original video of anti-islamic supporters bearing Australian flags at the UPF rally.

 

 

 

 

Once again I made the shadows blue and the midtowns and highlights a warm yellow-orange tone. I saturated the highlights to create that warm yellow glow in the sky. I created a significant contrast with the black and white input levels. I made it so the highlights were mostly the sky as well as some reflections off peoples skin, and limited the shadow. I then raised the master saturation levels to 120%. 

 

 

This colour grade was mostly obtained by greatly desaturating the mid-tones and shadows while doubling the saturation of the highlights.

I ended up being able to grab some equipment from the tech desk in building 8 as some people didn’t come to pick up their bookings. I obtained a 6D with a 20 – 70mm f2.8 lens, a Rode shotgun mic and used my tripod. In hindsight I would of gotten a lens with a higher focal length as it was hard to get close to the speakers at this event. It was very different to the last protest in Bendigo, where a wider lens was ideal as I was in among the action. This reassured to me the idea that every situation has different ideal equipment in terms of filming it.

The day didn’t start too well as I missed the bus into town and worried I’d be late. Luckily my brother came around and drove me into town where the protest was held. To my worry I got to the place where it was supposed to be held and there was no one there. Well, except one UPF bogan who told me that everyone had already marched onto Rosiland Park. The UPF had leaders speaking on a stage with their supporters surrounding them, with a barrier of police then surrounding them. The anti-racism groups the Socialist Alliance and No Room For Racism where counter protesting on the other side of the creek, with the police blocking the bridge so there wasn’t any real clashes. I didn’t get much footage of the counter protestors as they were gone within less than an hour of the UPF Rally beginning. For that first hour I didn’t want to go around to the other side of the creek as I didn’t want to miss the start of the UPF rally. Turns out the counter protestors had started early.

Standing in the intense sunny heat and filming extreme right winged racist wasn’t incredibly enjoyable but I got some good footage. Unfortunately I didn’t capture any good interviews in which I planned too. I somewhat regret this now but at the time I felt intimidated by members of the UPF. They knew I wasn’t ‘one of them’ and was swore at  and given the finger a couple of times. In hindsight I should have worn a racist Australian singlet to blend into the crowd. I almost interviewed Radio & TV personality John Saffron at one point but someone stole him from me.

After the protest the UPF dispersed and I hung around for a bit. I captured these three peaceful christian counter protestors holding up signs about love and acceptance be abuse by UPF supporters. Not only did they yell terrible things at these poor people, they grabbed their signed and ripped them to pieces aggressively. It disgusted me to watch and was tempted to do something about it but there really wasn’t anything I could do. Except film.

The shoot was semi successful although I won’t really know the quality of the footage and whether I have enough until I run through it all in the edit suites. I’m booked in today so hopefully I make a good start on the editing stage.

Over and out,

Luke

Last week Robin talked about depth of field, focal length and sensor size. The three things that control depth of field are aperture, focal length and distance from the object you are filming. A shallow depth of field isn’t better than a deep depth of field it just depends on the filmmakers desired effect.

In class Robin set up three cameras a Canon 5D DSLR, Sony EX3 and a Sony 7Z all the same distance from a particular object. All three cameras were framed for a MCU on the same subject yet they were all at different focal lengths. Why? This is due to the different sizes of the sensors in the cameras. The DSLR was at 80mm because it had a large sensor whereas the EX3 was at 20mm as it had a significantly smaller sensor. The Z7 was at an even lower focal length, due to its even smaller sensor. This is something to think about when choosing the right camera and lens for a situation.

 

 

The protest is this weekend where I plan on getting majority of my footage for my short documentary. Originally the protest wasn’t planned to be so late in the semester but then it was moved to a later date. I tried to book a 7D and a shotgun mic for this weekend two weeks in advance but they were already booked out. I would use the EX3 but it wouldn’t be practical for the situation I intend to film. This is in addition to the fact I’ve already filmed cutaways and the previous protest with a DSLR camera. I’ve been asking around so hopefully I am able to get my hands on a decent DSLR and a compatible shotgun mic.

Here is a small video of some of the cutaway shots I captured in Bendigo.

https://drive.google.com/a/rmit.edu.au/file/d/0B4xPXyVvunuSREFhOTVob0lJakU/view?usp=sharing

I got footage of the site where the mosque will be built, general shots of Bendigo and shots of different religious buildings such as the Catholic Cathedral and the Buddhist Joss House. The shots aren’t perfect and even if I don’t use them all it was good practice. I’ve learnt that I need to be careful with focus as sometimes it may look OK through the camera but then I see it on the big screen and its a bit soft. Furthermore I made the mistake of not using a tripod alot of these shots which was due to me stupidly leaving it in my dads car.

For this I used a Canon 7D. I decided to use a DSLR because for recording the protest I’m going to need something that is small in size and portable as I’m going to be moving around through large crowds. So I used it for the cutaway shots too for continuity purposes.

 

 

Lighting is both artificial and natural. Lighting is also about the absence of light. Even to dress a scene is an element of lighting.

So why do we light a scene in film?

First of all lighting is used for the obvious reason of making everything in the scene visible. Although it is used for much more than just that. Lighting is used to control a scene aesthetically. By controlling the quality, intensity, angle and more it becomes a creative expressive tool.

Furthermore lighting is used to maintain spatial continuity. For instance, you may have been shooting part of a scene outside and part of it in a studio. Particular lighting must be used to make footage captured in the studio to appear as if it is outside.

Lighting is also vital in temporal continuity. For instance it may take a whole day to shoot a 60 second scene outside. Throughout the day the sun will constantly be changing position, affecting the lighting of the scene significantly. To counter this lighting techniques such as using blackouts and reflectors must be used.

Light can be either hard or soft. Hard light often creates harsh, sharp edged shadows whereas with soft lighting, the light is more diffused and evenly spread. Hard lighting occurs when you have a concentrated light source. Soft lighting occurs when the illumination is more scattered. Each have their purpose in the world of film.

Hard lighting is generally more difficult to use successfully than soft lighting. Soft lighting is efficient, quick and more forgiving. It’s a lot more noticeable if you get hard lighting wrong, due to the hard-lined shadows.

In our class exercise yesterday to soften the light source we bounced the light off a white board. If we were to use a silver reflective surface the light would have been harder and more spotty. It’s interesting to note that you can use a black board to give negative light, as the light does not reflect off the surface.

Key lighting is the main light source in a scene. For instance in yesterdays exercise our key lighting was bounced off the wall and directed straight at the two characters. We also used fill lighting to soften the effect of shadows on our characters faces. It was interesting to note how the light lit up the two subjects faces different due to different skin tone and face shape.

When we talk about lighting we use terms such as key, fill, hard, soft, diffuse, direct, spread, contrast, quality, color. As well as descriptive terms such as naturalistic, theatrical, stylised, realistic & interpretative.

This talk of lighting has made me think that a reflector could be useful when I’m interviewing people at the anti-mosque protest so I can fill light the subjects faces.

EXERCISE 9A

https://drive.google.com/a/rmit.edu.au/file/d/0B4xPXyVvunuSc3RPU1VpVXU3eEU/view?usp=sharing

Fortunately for my project and unfortunately for Bendigo the United Patriots Front have confirmed their rally for the 10th of October at 2:30pm at the Corner of Forest St & Mackenzie St.

 

While looking at this I noticed that I have 10 Facebook friends that actually like the UPF Facebook page. Meaning there are people my age who support this group. If I see any of them at the protest I may interview them as I think it would be intriguing.

I intend on travelling to Bendigo this week to capture some cutaway shots of Bendigo including the site of Mosque, town hall and maybe some catholic churches to make a comparison. There actually a presbytarian church on the corner of Forest/Mackenzie St where the protestors are meeting. I could some shots of this location on and average day and edit it with a shot of it on the day of the protest to highlight the disruption.

 

 

 

I have been quite sick during the last week so I have not done any filming or editing. Instead I have been doing some background research on the Mosques opposition in Bendigo, some key individuals and the anti-islamic group the United Patriots Front. I read and compiled a number of articles and now I feel more educated and prepared to take on this task. I think its important when interviewing subjects to know background information so I can ask the right questions.

Relevant Articles:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/after-abbott-antiislam-rightwingers-confused-about-who-to-vote-for-20150915-gjnch1.html

The party followed with a political pitch to disenchanted Liberals: “If you are one of the many Liberal members and voters looking for a new political home, a party which stands firm on Australian values, find out more about Australian Liberty Alliance”.

The Facebook page Stop the Mosque in Bendigo, which is liked by 16,000 people, posted: “Make no mistake Abbott was thrown out because of his stand against Islam”.

Turnbull’s appointment by the Liberal Party meant that: “The Muslim invasion will now come to our shores”, the group said.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/bendigo-mosque-protest-antimosque-and-antiracism-protesters-clash-20150829-gjaml8.html

Hoskin accused the council and “complicit media” of trying to convince residents that most people in the city supported the mosque.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/bendigo-mosque-protester-claims-other-mosque-objectors-face-death-threats-intimidation/story-fni0fee2-1227143748069?nk=e9ea2fb5fc20c87b80fefc74fd94c91f-1442392919

“The Islamic Council exploits the fact that most democratic societies are foolishly ignorant concerning Islam and the various and oppressive facets of that system,” Ms Hoskin wrote.

Ms Hoskin claimed whenever local residents opposed an application for a mosque, the Islamic Council of Australia obtained their names and addresses for sinister means.

“These people are then paid a visit by a group of Muslim men and threatened with reprisals if they won’t withdraw their opposition to the mosque,” she wrote.

http://morningmail.org/bendigo-mosque-court/  (This is a right-winged online paper against the mosque)

Julie Hoskin is the person who led the group that first appealed against the building of a mosque.

https://www.facebook.com/unitedpatriotsfront?fref=ts

THE UFP are fighting against Bendigo to welcome their share of the 12,000 Syrian Refugees.

http://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/3328140/open-home-and-heart-to-refugees/

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/farright-group-upf-plans-to-run-for-senate-and-campaign-on-right-to-bare-arms-20150911-gjk73n.html

The UPF plans on running for Senate.

“Liberal and Labor have both betrayed us … United Patriots Front will be launching as a political party”.

Replying to supporters on the page, Mr Burgess said “Aussie’s (sic) will have the right to bare arms (sic) again if UPF gets into a position where we can make this law change.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-17/bendigo-mosque-protests-mayor-felt-numb-and-shocked/6782230

Recently a council meeting was abandoned and councillors left the Bendigo Town Hall under police escort.

“This group are choosing to come to Bendigo and try to whip up fury and frenzy when there should be none.” -Jacinta Allan, MP for Bendigo East

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-17/bendigo-muslim-community-undeterred-by-ongoing-protests-to-mosq/6784520

Currently the local Muslim community use a prayer room at La Trobe University’s campus which can only accommodate up to 50 worshippers. Mr Febriyanto said it was far short of what’s needed for the more than 300 Muslims in Bendigo, who hail from 25 different countries.

https://drive.google.com/a/rmit.edu.au/file/d/0B4xPXyVvunuSZmE0OGZMcUQwenM/view?usp=sharing

On the 29th of August I captured the events of the anti-mosque protest in Bendigo. The decision to do so was spontaneous and resultingly the quality of the video captured is not great. However I was able to practice documentary style and make an edit of a short video that displays the subject of my video. This is just something I put together with the small amount of footage I had. The final work will contain interviews and better quality video and audio.

The documentary attached is done in quite a normal clean cut style. I am yet to find a unique way of approaching this documentary. I don’t feel like this is a topic where recreations or drama would be appropriate. The same goes with the idea of just following one character throughout. I could make the documentary without a narration at all and just use interviews, footage and text but I feel like narration will be useful for this particular issue. I could narrate from a personal point of view, telling the story from my personal perspective. However although this is something I have an opinion on, I feel that my personal perspective may not be that notable especially seeing I am no longer a resident of Bendigo nor is the story overly personal to me. Furthermore my opinion is that of the majority so who would I be trying to persaude?

In saying this, the method of how I came to choose this idea was unique. I chose to film the protest on the 29th because I wanted to practice using my camera, experience what its like to shoot such an event and simply because it interested me. It was only after that I decided to create a documentary on the protests for my Film3 short film.