I found this course to be really fun, engaging, and helpful in building my web of knowledge in the feild of Film. This is the industry I would really love to work in, and I’m really happy that this course gave me the opportunity to work in a film crew and experience the environment and atmosphere of this type of work. The whoe idea of creating a short film from scratch was the most exciting part for me! I was slightly dissapoitned in the begining that we couldn’t chose our own crew to work with, however looking back now, I’m really glad we were put into groups. I got to work with a bunch of people who I had never worked with before, they were all really great and we worked super well as a team. To answer what I would have done better, I’d probably have to say that I should have placed a bit more focus on my role as Camera Operator, by studying a little harder when it came to knowing how to use the camera properly. I would have benifited from this a lot more, however, I feel as though this course was my favourite of the entire semester, and I did learn a lot!
Archives
Final Analysis and Reflection – Q1
I could not attend the screening of student films this semseter as I was interstate at the time, however I can say that the rough copy of ‘Granny Theft Auto’ had me laughing when I viewed it. The film had really great actors, which was definitely necessary to pull off the humour and tell the story in the way that the filmmakers wanted. The rough cut still had a lot to fix and work on, as there was no sound or colour grading, it was just basically the film put in order. In saying this however, the rough cut looked really promising and I’m sure the final version when screened would have looks and sounded really good.
Analysis & Reflection #6 – Q8
When editing in Adobe Premiere there is seriosuly an incredible amount of keyboard shortcuts that can be useful and help save time. One keyboard shortcut that I have never used before, and just found out about is Cmd+G, which is a shortcut for grouping. Grouping shots and audio together in a timeline is something done a lot in the editing process when moving sections of a film, especially when said section is already edited in the way that you want. This shortcut would be really useful in saving time and just in the general editing process. Another shortcut that I had no idea about is the one that enables you to import into the project file – Cmd+I. I’m truthfully not hugely skilled when it comes to using adobe premiere, and this shortcut is probably known by most people, however it is new to me and I think it would help the nest time I need to import files to work on.
Analysis & Reflection #6 – Q7
The clip, ‘Blood Simple,’ by the Coen Brothers makes use of audio visual editing really well. The background atmos sounds of crickets in the night, contrast and work well with the inside scene. It helps explain that the action is taking place at night time, and that the characters seem to be alone and isolated. This is especially evident after one character is shot by the other, where the frame changes to a long/wide shot of the two characters sitting at the table, with the atmos sounds of the night the only thing we as an audience can hear. This makes the scene quite suspensful and eery.
Week 8 Analysis & Reflection Q3:
Blow Up is a 1966 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.In this scene we can see the choreography of the actors, camera, frame and focus. As covered in the lecture describe what Antonioni would have considered when directing the actors and the camera.
When filming this scene, Michelangelo Antonioni would have had to have considered the camera movement, angels, focus, and direction of the actors. He would have figured out the blocking of the scene, and gone through this with the camera operator to decide on when to do pans or tilts, when to follow the movement and when to stay static. He would have also had to let the camera operator know what kind of depth of field he was looking for in particular sections, allowing the camera operator to decide on when to change the focus either during shooting via a focus pull or in between shots. He would have considered the actors movement greatly in this scene, as their movement heavily enforces the camera movement.
Week 8 Analysis & Reflection Q2:
Out of the readings from week 5-7 I enjoyed most reading about film crews and ways of developing a film crew in the most effective way (week 6 reading). This reading stated that in a low budget film, the crew needs to be committed to the project, stating ‘a low-budget enterprise needs optimal unity because much will be done by few. Belief and morale really matter.’ (P.386) This really made me think to my own groups project and how we have all been working together, believing in ourselves and our film, in order to get things done the best we can. Another section of this reading I found to be interesting was the part on the Camera Department of a film crew, and especially the Camera Operator, as this is my role in my groups project. I have never really done any professional camera work before, so going into this short film project has been a little daunting to me, however I do really love learning and working with the camera. In this explanation of a good camera operator, the reading talks of how they are fairly quick to learn the signs for an actors movement, to be able to follow that movement smoothly. It discusses how a director views the scenes action in front of, or sometimes behind the camera, whereas the camera operator views it through the cameras lens, seeing it in its framed cinematic form. So this made it really clear to me that the director and camera operator have to trust each other and work as a team to capture the shots in a particular way. ‘The director must be able to rely on the camera operators discrimination,’ as the reading states. (p.396)
Week 8 Analysis & Refection Q1:
In this weeks Film TV-1 lecture the content covered was somewhat useful and relevant to our group projects. Being shown how to block out a scene and use a dolly was helpful as on the day of our shoots we will need to know this kind of information and skill. The dolly was really interesting as I have never really seen one be used first hand, and it was surprising to me to see how long it actually takes to set up and conduct, and how many people it actually requires to get the shot. The blocking out of a scene, going through the steps and making sure the camera movement, focus and frame are all appropriate, is definitely something that is very relevant to our film shoots and just good to add to our knowledge base of filmmaking. The main thing I took from this weeks lecture was the explanation about the focus and focus pulling during a shot. Before this, I had no idea there was such thing as a focus puller, and I feel like after being taught this, our project will benefit as we now know how to accomplish a focus pull.
Analysis & Reflection #2: Question 4 – Rolling.
To be honest I don’t recall much detail from my tute’s screening of ‘Rolling’ in week 1, however I do remember the basic plot idea. I enjoyed the simple stoyline, as I feel it was easy to follow and I’m sure quite easy to relate to for most people. The classic rom-com story idea where an individual, in this case a man, tries to talk to, and win over the girl he likes, leading him into an awkward and slightly embarrasing situation. I thought the plot worked well, with he man having to buy 50 rolls of toilet paper after a failed attempt at casually talking to the woman he is crushing on. In saying this however, I do feel like the attempts at creating a comedy were only half hearted, and this genre could have been made more bold or prominant throughout the course of the short film. The story worked well in the space of time it was told, and I believe the use of the two locations helped set the scene of the film quite well. This being said, I do think that the location of the small supermarket could have been something else all together, like a chocolote shop, or a florist, just to embrace the romantic aspect of the story the creators were trying to get accross.
These thoughts are from my very first opinion of viewing the film a few weeks ago, so they may be a little rusty, but all in all i think Rolling was a good short film, that told a laughable and relatable story.
Analysis and Reflection2: Question 2
‘A sound must never come to the rescue of an image, nor an image to the rescue of a sound.’ I found this statement form week 3’s reading Sight and Hearing to be really interesting and helpful in my ability to further conprehend sounds role in a film. I agree with the statement, in that sound and image on screen need to fullfil their own seperate duties before working together to create something great. By this I mean that visually the footage/images on screen have to inevitably have their own role and be fitting for the film, they should be able to stand on their own two feet and tell the story, or portray a message, same for sound. In saying this however, the two play hugely important roles in each others level of success. Sound can help set a scenes emotion, feeling and atmosphere, and when put together with footage, the two can create magic on the screen.
Another point form this reading that really intrigued me was when it stated, ‘If the eye is entirely won, give nothing or almost nothing to the ear. One cannot be at the same time all eye and all ear.’ I guess I’ve never really thought about film in this way before, but it is true. This statement helped me understand the role of sound in film on another level, whereby I agree that if what is happening on the screen doesn’t require much sound or edited sound, it is better to just leave it and allow the audience to be won over by the footage, and not bombarded by both.
Clown Train: Analysis & Reflection Q1.
In the film Clown Train, sound plays a huge role in creating an eery atmosphere for which the story is to be told. The constant sound of electrical wires flickering/faultering, the squeeky train tracks, industrial sounds and static room noise all work together to provide a dangerous feel to the location and setting of the story. These sounds, along with the vibrant talking voices of the two characters, enable Clown Train to be dramatically suspenseful, literally giving me goosebumps whilst watching and waiting to see what was going to happen next. I think that the begining of the film is hugely effective in creating such a creepy atmosphere, witht he first 26 seconds being engulfed by a black screen and loud, eerily squeeky train noises.
Another genre film that makes use of sound in the same manner as Clown Train is Batman: The Dark Night. As this film is one of my favourite films, this question instantly made me think of it. The eery industrial sounds present in Clown Train remind me greatly of similar soundscapes used in The Dark Night in instances where The Joker is near.