This semester, there was manythings I wanted to learn and most of this I did. Some of the key things were learning how to analyze and reflect upon my own creative ideas and processes, and those of others. I gained many skills evolving around feedback and I belive now have a clear understanding of  the operation of professional production equipment including video cameras, sound recording mixers, lighting and editing equipment. Overall this semester was great and I really enjoyed it. I really liked being given the freedom to go out and soot/edit our own stuff without having a supervisior always telling me what to do, I think its really important to learn from our own mistakes rather than just to always be to how to do things. I was also suprised by how complex some of the software features were. In particular how many possible configuration settings there is on the course material. 

the teacher was very helpfull and he really made us feel like he was there for 24×7 support. I think we are all very lucky to have him as our teacher.

Great experience!

2. Select from one of the readings from week 5, 6 or 7 and describe two points that you have taken from it. Points that excite you, something that was completely new to you.

Week six readings, “Rabiger, M. Directing a Crew”.

This reading was about the process of putting together a cast and crew. It is very important to make sure the right people are selected to the right area of expertise and they should be cast for personal as well as technical capabilities to carry out their responsibilities in a professional manner all through the production.

As a Sound Recorder, I find the Sound Department part was extremely helpful.

Rabiger dicusses how the sound recorder listens not to words but to sound quality and be able to listen analytically. In our movie, i tried hard to keep the production dialogue clear of extraneous sounds and i did a number of room-tone (background ambience for locations) and wild-track recordings (door-slams, lines of dialogue that were missed, keys jangling . . .)

As Rabiger said exterior location shooting is often the most troublesome because the background sound levels are uncontrollable and any hope of getting the best quality is usually compromised by a tight schedule. After went through my first film shoot, this is my experience of getting a good sound and clear dialogue

-Controlling the environment is crucial ie turning off the AC (even though it’ll get hot with all the lights), turning off the fridge, putting sound blankets to stop reflections.

-Ask the actors to get levels before a take.

-Don’t forget to record ambience and wild lines or sound effects after takes. Having an actor go through a couple lines right after they take when they are in the moment can save having to do ADR later.

-Location scout areas for sound issues. Choose another location if it sounds horrible. If you can’t then knowing the sound issues will prepare you to try and fix them while on the shoot.

3. Blow Up is a 1966 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.

In this scene note the choreography of the actors, camera, frame and focus. As covered in the lecture describe the things Antonioni would have have to consider when directing the actors and the camera.

In this scene from blow up, Antonioni has made some very interesting choices as to how he has framed the shot. The camera’s he used in these scenes where a mix of still and panning shots always keeping at least one of the actors in the shot. A few of the things I found especially interesting was when the shot is taken from a position where you can’t see either of the actors heads and all that is happening is dialogue. Also when the female actor is clearly looking at something behind the camera but the camera didn’t directly show what it was.

I think this scene would of take a long time to finish as they would have had to rehurse it many times for the actors to know their position in relation to the camera.

As this scene is quite different and contains many artistic shots everything would have had to be organized a few weeks prior to shooting by the director and production team.

There are many reasons why you should shoot to edit, at the end it all comes to being a sort of safety net. Shooting as many scenes during one day, regardless of the correct order to be able to edit everything in postproduction. Giving the possibility to fix mistakes made during the shoot and to have plenty of backup footage to fill the gaps.

A second reason is that it lifts the pressure during the shoot. When you go out for the day to shoot all your footage you only need to have the main idea. It is in postproduction that you can then use all the footage to re arrange thing and really shape your project, what angle the shots are taken from and in what order everything will go. Ensuring that plenty of footage is taken it also gives you spare footage if there is anything extra you would like to add on the go, or as you are shooting if you suddenly come up with this great idea to add to your film.

Image and sound must not support each other, but must work each in turn through a sort of relay

If a sound is the obligatory complement of an image, give preponderance either to the sound, or the image. If equal, they damage or kill each other, as we say of colours.

I always thought the sound and image of a movie was equal, played together. Reading this surprised me as I started to watch films differently. I now realize that one cannot enjoy both at the same time, it would ruin it all together.

A beautiful picture must be supported by a more quiet background sound or we would be distracted from the scene. Same goes for the opposite, When watching a less intense scene, there must be a more distinct sound to keep the viewers focus. Take example of a horror movie with poor sound effects, the viewer will quickly get bored and disinterested, on the other hand when watching something beautiful and colourful such as a scene shot of a scenery the viewer will invest their concentration in what they can see, therefore must not be distracted by the sound.

Sight and hearing. In Bresson, R. Notes on the cinematographer, (p. 50-52). London: Quartet, 1986.

In the tute we screened a short film called Rolling – a film made in Film-TV1 a few years ago.

After I watched the short film, Rolling, it left me with a really good feeling, they had a good script and actors give a great first impression of this film.
However there are still a few things that they can improve. The lighting of the supermarket scene was really poor and it will be better if they could bring their own lighting in. In the beginning of scene, there are notes everywhere in his house to remind him to do things which confuse people about who is the one who wrote those note (his girlfriend or his mom???), so I think that is unnecessary scene to put in and in the end the girl just come to his house and walk in, I was worried that she will see all the toilet paper, and I was waiting for his reaction and explain about it, so the end scene is a bit disappointing. I think the script is good but if they can work on it a little bit more, it will be better. The final negative thing that I find is the sound of the supermarket scene, it was not very good as it did not blend between scenes.
Overall for first time film making students, this is still a successful product.

In the film Clown Train the sound contribute to the atmosphere of this film? Describe what you heard? Can you make reference to another genre film and how they utilise sound to create tension and a unique filmic space?

In the beginning of the short film the sound of the train brakes helps us put a location to the scenario. The background music combined with the clown talking creates an atmosphere of terror, guilt, and questionable sanity.

The speed of the clown’s speech varies from fast to slow and the music is played in rhythm driving the narrator to the brink of insanity.

Though we all might think of film as an essentially visual experience, we really don’t pay enough attention to the importance of film sound.

• the human voice
• sound effects
• music

To create the desired effects, we must mix and balance These three tracks so as to produce the necessary emphases

In this movie case the background music is really important which is used to add emotion and rhythm to a film. In addition, background music often foreshadows a change in mood. In this case the backgrounds helps enhance the fear an terror towards the talking clown.

Sound plays a really important role in all genres of movies regardless if its horror, action or comedy. For example in the case of fast and furious, the constant sound of engine rev, music and effects based on the major motion picture creates a nitro-burning joyride that makes outstanding use of sound effects, and innovative camera work.

As Jasmine showed us how to start with a screenwriting, I applied it to myself and figured out the way that will work for me. Some people start with a character, but no particular story. For me, I start with a story, or the beginnings of it – or maybe even just a world first then work on finding characters who represent the key values of that world and try to put my character under stress and a journey for them that brings out their inner qualities in my scene.

However, once I start writing it, it’s all too easy to fall in love with it and I really find it hard to cut them, even when they have nothing do with the theme. Moreover, i seems always have trouble with an ending, maybe because i weren’t clear what the story was about at the outset, even I thought the ending will be obvious.

As this week lecture, Jasmine gave us an advice to do not write the inner thoughts or psychology of your characters (although you may have done this as part of your background research earlier). Do not interpret. Write only what they do, moment by moment. This ensures our story is driven by the actions, not the words of the characters, and thus is truly cinematic.

Question 1 In 200 words or less please outline your goals, desires – what you want to get out of this semester.

I believe that this course will help me to succeed and offer me opportunities to further my understanding of the way that language in this media text can influence and inspire people.

Moreover, from a very young age I have been interested in creating new worlds and characters for stories. In the end of this course I’m sure I will know all about script writing, from writing the idea to writing the synopsis Films are an insight into the human imagination, and offer the chance to inhabit worlds that would otherwise never exist. This course will help me enjoy and improve my writing, develops my imagination d gain knowledge about different genres of film and television writing.

Activities such as being part of a group work will help me to develop skills such as teamwork, people skills and the ability to work to a deadline. Improve my technological skills and to exercise my creativity.