To be able to critically analyse, through the making of film and reflection on that, traditional and industrial production methods.

I would like to discuss for my initiative post a few music videos I’ve seen lately. I’m trying to come into the practice of editing and shooting things in my own time to get in the habit of staying productive. Last week while I was hanging with some friends I thought it might be a good idea to bust out my camera and try to take some shots while we got a little winter sun and everyone was in good spirits. I shot a sort-of impromptu music video which I’ve embedded below:

a nice afternoon with my friends from rosie pavlovic on Vimeo.

This got me thinking of the production of creating a music video is based off the notion of creative prompts, which this studio uses. A song is another person’s artwork, and as a filmmaker you take lyrics, words, themes and ideas from this prompt to create something relevant, or totally irrelevant but still hopefully inspired. The video I made doesn’t relate to the lyrics my friend Shannon was singing, but rather the singing itself prompted me to go get my camera and shoot something beautiful.
Two weeks later and reflecting on this video after four BOX classes, I can already reflect on technical aspects. The export quality and encoding is not at the quality I can now create. After the first two weeks having a focus on post-production techniques I can now change the aspect ratio, correctly export and encode a video file.

I was really inspired by Julia Jacklin’s music video for her song ‘Eastwick’. It’s shot in a familiar setting to where I grew up, which is a theme I want to approach through filmmaking soon. When editing the film I shot at home, I realised I had a really jumpy hand on my zoom lens, and I couldnt keep a shot static for more than 3 seconds before changing angle or tightening the shot. This film clip mixes those quick shots I love but also balances with long shots of things I never shoot – landscapes, trees, scenery. I feel like in my photography I only focus on people and actions.
I rewatched the clip while writing this post and noticed it features an eyeline sequence including an establishing shot and two dirty over the shoulders.

Paul said not to shoot anything before the set is perfect. I haven’t shot anything constructed in a long time, but I am entertaining the thought that before I roll camera, everything would be lined up in my shot as if I were taking a photograph. That the shot construction would have rules (such as the rule of thirds), the colour would be correct and a single frame from one of these shots would be able to stand alone photographically, such as the first image above.

Also I hope this is relevant but growing up in a “go to the RSL on Wednesday night then put a $20 in the pokies” family, this whole music video is really inspiring in it’s composition.  I love this video so much I think I consciously positioned myself to mimic shot in this video for Louise’s class exercise where I tie my hair up.

I have trouble with giving direction. This occurred to me during the class activity where we were asked to create a three shot sequence of a person doing an action. My actions were to walk down a hallway, stop to tie a shoelace and keep walking. I shot each of these three shots once and we all moved on. My other classmates shot one image up to 12 times. I wasn’t satisfied with what I had, but I accepted that it would be easier to try to edit it than to ask the actor to do the take again. This is a problem! I’m struggling to apply the “camera on, world off” mentality because my mind keeps wandering to what the rest of my group think of the shot, or if I’m taking up too much time or being bossy. Beyonce said “I’m not bossy, I’m the boss” and I need to remind myself that when it’s my turn behind the camera I need to make the most of it.

I wrote my last post on my fear of approaching other for collaboration and how I wanted to absolve that in this studio, but in retrospect, I think that there is something really exciting about designing, shooting and editing a sequence all on your own. I love the ‘collaborative nature of filmmaking’ (a sentence I stole from a media and comms alumni that I dropped during my interview to get into this course), but part of me thinks I need to make something I can be proud of on my own.
The last realisation I’ve had is that I have no idea what is good and what is bad in this class. The cat video felt sloppy to me; there was incontinuity because of the shadows, the rendering was low and after secretly watching other class submissions I felt uncreative in my approach. However it was met with praise and I was a bit stunned.
In the ‘making the bed’ assignment, I tried not to think about what I did or didn’t do in the cat video. There’s less structure to the action so it was harder to storyboard for me. After I had exported the final cut, I rewatched and found unconscious similarities between the video (aside from my outfit) which I found interesting.

Make the Bed

Feed The Cat

I chose Box this semester after seeing the clip that accompanied the presentation. An entire film inspired by a piece of junk found in the middle of the street. I love to pick up things i find on the ground but I’d never think to make a movie about it. The whole course screamed ‘creativity’ – Something drilled into me that you ‘need in this industry’ and by looking at my folio of work, I was beginning to think it was a trait I didn’t have.  It’s not that I don’t have good ideas, it’s just that I struggle to bring an idea to fruition. Obstacles for me vary from a lack of technical knowledge, to an inability to approach others to collaborate, or the fear of ‘inconveniencing’ people (which i’ve found next to journalism or law, filmmaking is the next most inconveniencing profession).

When we started our first week, Paul told us; “Creativity is a bit of a hoax; people who think they’re not creative generally make exceptional content”.  Being told this was liberating. I’ve been stuck in a two year creative crisis and filming these simple, mundane tasks puts me in a weird mindset where because they’re boring, I can shoot them and they don’t have to be wonderful, or exciting. Feeding the cat and making the bed is boring, yet it’s rewarding making content regardless.

I suppose what I want out of this studio is a bit of faith in myself that I can make a basic sequence, address a prompt, and be competent at post production. When I eventually approach the ideas I’m excited about, they’ll be done right, through pre-production planning, efficient shooting and concise post-production.  And if I find myself in another creative crisis, I’ll be able to be prompted by what I once considered boring.