Michael Firus | Picture = 1000 words ∴ 4 seconds of 25fps video = 100,000 words.

First thoughts on film lighting

My website: https://michaelfirus.com/ And thus our long holidays come to a close. As the last harsh rays of summer light morph into the gentle glow of autumn’s clouds and low sun, we begin our classes once again. In the studio this semester, our focus is on light. Often described as the brush and pigment by…

Sound design

Although editing usually is thought of as the manipulation of time and imagery, it is no less about the manipulation of sound. Throughout the filming of Lost, it became clear that much of the natural sound was unreliable. It was for this reason that wild lines and atmos-tracks were relied upon heavily. A notable instance…

Further thoughts on colour grading:

As I near the end of my main edit, the question of how I should colourise my footage comes to mind again. Throughout production, I had shot with a deliberately ‘flat’ desaturated and low contrast image for this purpose. Previously it had been a question of using this flat image to enable colour grades that…

Editing

After writing the story, planning the logistics and braving the elements in the Victorian alps, it then came time to edit the film together. This was another crucial time for the film as during shooting, many issues arose that I soon realised through consultation and reflection would depend on the edit for their solution. Notable…

Lighting

As is often the case in film-making, lighting was the most important part of the on-location filming process. For most of the shots, we only filmed at around 3:00 on overcast days. This meant we had diffused light and this, coupled with a flat recorded image, gave the greatest latitude to manipulate lighting in post-production….

Working with actors

Previously I discussed my collaborative efforts with those outside my team. Primarily though, my main form of collaboration was that between myself and the film’s actor: Ildiko Varga. The main contributing factor to her suitedness was the fact that she lived nearby where I wished to film. Over the course of the collaboration, I received…

Tentative attempts at primitive CGI

In order to create one of the shots I envisaged for the film, a number of tentative uses of computer manipulation had to be done. This was done mainly in two instances: the removal of the ball used to motivate the dog and the superimposition of an old hut in a valley at night. The…

Collaboration

Collaboration has been a big part of my work this semester. This took place within my own project and also, perhaps more so, between myself and other groups. My most significant collaboration came in the form of my helping out with the ”TMTBC” group. We spend a number of hours filming at the Thorburn Bowling…

Final Project Idea development: Second Shoot

For the purposes of furthing my idea and to have more footage to play with in the edit, I undertook a second shoot for the final project.

Final Project Idea development: Results of First Shoot

During the first shoot for my final project, a number of key logistical elements were learnt. Furthermore, a great number of beautiful images immerged from the day’s filming. Not only are these stills from video interesting in their own right, the making of them proved valuable for my exploration of posible camera angles, framing and…