Category Archives: Lectorials

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Week 8 | Good Form Studio Weekly Update

  By Matthew Duong • September 16, 2016 , ,

This week in our studio, we were left to our own devices as most of us are either closing in on the pre-production or starting filming. My group, Shriekers, sat in a meeting with the updated scripts for a table read to gauge the length of the scripts were enough and the substance within the scripts.

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The table read was smooth as we each took roles in the script and got a good laugh at the comedy in the scripts. Overall we were happy with the scripts and we only needed a few tweaks here and there in each script to deal with making a connection with the audience and the continuity in the series. Later we talked about the content needed in each episode and what is expected of the writers in terms of content for the last remaining script still to be complete, which we weren’t happy with the content of with the first draft of it. Then we made casting decisions.

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We casted all our actors and drafted up an e-mail to each of them as well as a rejection letter for those who missed out. We had a dilemma casting one of our characters Callie which we had two really good auditions for the character however we went with one of them with the other as a backup as she didn’t fit into any of the other characters. Also, one of our characters casted for Brinton, after e-mailing him he was not comfortable with ‘kissing a guy’, it was unfortunate as we felt he was by far the best audition for Brinton but as he was uncomfortable with his role we wouldn’t want an actor that wouldn’t feel that way towards the character they are playing so we decided with the 2nd best audition.

On Wednesday, we went off to our own groups for meetings again where we had another table read of the yet again updated scripts. Overall we were happy with them and would be ready to shoot these episodes as they are. With regards to the yet incomplete script written by one of the writers we briefed him on what we wanted in this script and had a base outline script ready for him for reference. In this meeting we also came up with a plan for the next two weeks. We got our costume and ‘look book’ ready as well as planning for a cast & crew meet day for the 23rd. On this day we would introduce the cast to each other with the crew and play get to know each other games so we can build chemistry within the team. We also plan on shooting our character profiles similar to Scream Queens on that day where we’d have the photo shoot and organised our crew to book the rooms, have equipment ready etc. Personally I am going to record some sample music, as a past musician, it would be a refreshing experience dusting off my guitars again to record something new for this project.

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Ultimately, the week was productive in that we have a plan ready for the next couple weeks before we start shooting and finally editing. I am hoping the project goes smoothly despite the few hiccups we have had so far with the scripts. I am excited to put forward our marketing and production plans for Shriekers in the future.

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Assessment 2: Long Story Short – I had to Write an Essay | Reflection

  By Matthew Duong • August 11, 2016 , ,

Whilst analysing Long Story Short – I Had to Write an Essay I learned a few things about comedy web series relative to what we need to strive for as a studio. Each episode of Long Story Short has a similar tone or theme to its comedy that is short cuts with short sharp dialogue narration. As with Dan Williams reading the comedy has to be short and concise with a punch-line feel to it which Long Story Short did in many bursts. We also have to create our content for our audience in this way. In regards to Shriekers we have to make the humour in a similar vain. We can’t make long drawn out jokes because it wouldn’t fit with how web series convey their humour. Whilst analysing Long Story Short I found that web comedy series must have a general theme across its series no matter what it is, in this case it would be the narration and the narrator. So with each of our murders we have to have a similar punch-line humour attached to each one, however this doesn’t mean that every murder is more or less similar, just the humour would be similar.

Also we have to keep in mind the shots we are using and the speed of the cuts. Generally we will be shooting in low light with quick cuts for a horror mood, we just have to add humour to it. In retrospect to Long Story Short they generally used short or medium shots that were quickly cut with the rhythm of the narration and the background music. Also with regards to background music, it’ll play a huge part in my studio group’s web series. We also have to base characters and the premise in such a short space of time. Which Long Story Short has with the narrator and has its topics broad enough to relate to most people. Most web series that are parodies do generally base their humour off generalisations or stereotypes because it is something most people can relate to and I think it’ll be useful in Shriekers.

We also have to introduce a narrative such as in Long Story Short, though short in Long Story Short I believe in Shriekers we will have an overarching story because of our premise which we have to base from the pilot. But each episode has to have its own plot and storyline to make our audience feel invested in the story and then we would defuse the situation with humour. The describe and analyse exercise made me think of what really goes into a web series and the themes and style it generally goes with a web series. I have a better understanding of how to produce one after this exercise.

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A Really Amateur Production | Assessment 1 Reflection

  By Matthew Duong • July 27, 2016 ,

So today we started and finished (mostly) our assessment 1, we were given a script and we each got into groups to film these scenes however we liked and edit accordingly. I was really looking forward to this opportunity, this would be the first time since high school since I’ve worked with a script and producing a video of that script (even though it was Low-Fi). As for what worked, we had a blast of a time going through the script and filming the shots, we also improvised on pretty much all of the attempted humour of our video. Getting the scenes right as amateur actors just so we can work with something in editing.

I really liked our cuts to Ash (me) saying ‘whatever’, we wanted to do a disconnected not caring type of ‘whatever’ and with our random cuts of being outside of the room and comedic ‘asian squatting’ to make it seem what Chris (Oliver) was too uninteresting to listen to. We wanted to establish the comedic side of not caring about whatever Chris was saying. As for a scene that didn’t work, there was a whatever where the sound quality isn’t too good, the one where Ash is lying down, and generally the sound quality of the video is bad in terms of production value. However we did the shoot and edit in about 2 hours on my phone (Samsung Galaxy s7), while the picture quality is decent, the sound due to the microphone used and the ambience around us is that of a low quality. If I had a chance to do this again, I would have two things I would like, that is more time to rehearse, brainstorm, set up, edit the scene and to have higher quality equipment so the production value is at a decent standard. This would be ideal but we had to work what we were given, which is what we produced. With better equipment and more time we could get an idea on what our production quality would be like for our webisodes, however I’m not fussed about the product of this low-fi project.

Google Drive Link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B32yH54QH6CEYkF6VUJ3M2w4WE0

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New Semester, New Opportunities

  By Matthew Duong • July 20, 2016 , ,

So here I am, start of a new semester. The holidays… Let’s just say they were eventful and I’ll just leave it at that for you to speculate. But overall I really did enjoy the break. Anyway, during the holiday period, we decided on our studios that we would like to be a part of in this semester. I was pretty happy to get my 1st choice in Good Form. I thought it would be great to be producing a web comedy series. Then I got my results and was proud of what I got considering I did take a significant amount of time during being in Hawaii for holiday.

I was excited to be back at uni before class on Monday. In this class we had discussion on what we are actually making. That is Comedy Web Series. So expanding on each term as if they were their own was interesting, gave me new perspectives on how to approach this project, after all theoretically the possibilities are endless. We can make anything into a web series in essence. Then conversing to each other what actually makes a good web series or a controversial one that even though may be very controversial is still very well produced. Take Onision for example. If we get people to even watch these web series it is a success whether they love it or hate it, what we don’t want is for people to find this boring. Which for a comedy web series, we do not want to happen. Conversing with the collaborative creative writing students we discussed what they would like to write about in general. However we have to provide a pitch on what is available to us so they can write accordingly.

On Wednesday we wrote up our pitch on what we are able to produce in this stage of our early careers. We decided to go on a no budget production as having a budget would provide complications later on with expectations. With a budget comes the expectation that the end product would be of high quality. So having no budget suits as we have access to the equipment available. Eager to get into the swing of things, we established a starting point on what is achievable by us at a base level. Things like having one location per episode, certain roles and the rotation of those roles within the production crew, the number of actors per episode etc. All of those in mind to give a pitch to the creative writing students so they can start writing based on the resources available for them and what is realistic in their goals. Like having an airport runway scene with speeding cars is a big no no simply because it is not within our budget.

So here’s to the first week in 2nd semester, I’m excited to take this opportunity to finally produce something with so much freedom. Also getting into the nitty gritty of producing, like table reads, casting, editing etc. would be very immersive. See you next time.