One of last week’s exercise required us to shoot abstract footages that does not necessarily be representational and it could be completely 100% “out-of-this-world” abstract.

The exercise sheet encouraged us to experiment with various tools that goes behind composing a shot. Focal length, depth of field, image size, exposure, and so on, are all used to compose that “perfect” shot to represent your subject matter, and more often than not, when one aspect fails, the entire shot could possibly be ruined.

I decided to go about going through this exercise by doing something mundane, such as preparing dinner. I did not have any ideas in mind on how am I going to shoot the whole process as I do not have as much experience I would like to have being behind the camera. Therefore the shots turned out to be mostly point-of-view shots. However, there was one shot in particular I was pretty pleased with, and that was the shot of me slicing up the lettuce for the salad. For some reason that made me feel like I was right there with the lettuce, but being a safe distance away from the knife. If anyone has been watching the YouTube channel, “Annoying Orange”, we all know there’s no happy ending to that. However, for some reason, having the camera position at the same level as the lettuce gives a different perspective, something we don’t usually see while we’re the ones chopping up vegetables or fruits. I guess camera angles do affect storytelling and the angle of where the character is coming from (pun not intended).

What I thought I could have done better would be having the auto focus turned on instead of living it on manual. It is quite a challenge to do wrecking shots, especially if you have to watch not to burn your food. Also during the “salad dressing” scene, the auto focus would have help grab focus of the ingredients while I was showing what goes into the salad. Other things I thought worth exploring or maybe employing in my next exercise would be the use of lighting. Throughout this whole video, the lighting were just my house lights, which are not the best lights  for filming, also, maybe trying to get a proper white balance, as everything appeared too yellow when I have transferred the raw footage to my computer. I’ve did a little colour correcting on Premiere, but didn’t want to go overboard with it.

Overall, I thought this “Abstract” exercise turned out to be an instructional video on how to make yourself a quick meal from frozen food. As the exercise sheet states,  “As you work, think about the editing process.” And that was definitely what I had in mind majority of the time, coming from an editing background, I tend to worry if I have enough shots, or if I have recorded the right amount of duration, or if I might have missed a step, and matters along those lines. During the course of my internship as an assistant editor, I have witnessed cases where directors realised they might have missed out a shot or realised the whole scene needed some extra footage to elevate it and reveal more of the story it’s trying to tell, hence having to go back out to shoot some more.

For the second class of this week, we got down to business by shooting footages that we could apply the sounds we recorded earlier the week.

We were assigned into groups and wasted no time heading down to the edit suites where it became our “base” for the rest of the class time. We assume various roles such as, Camera Operator/Director, First AD, Sound man, Grip, and of course, Talent. I volunteered to have a go as the camera operator/director having just completed a semester on something similar that requires a fair bit of shooting.

Being a camera operator/director seemed pretty daunting at first. The whole group’s footages and ideas would revolve around the shots I have taken, not forgetting they should be in the right exposure, as well as properly framed. A balance of technicality as well as creativity has to be struck in order to assume such a role. And quite honestly, throughout the time when I was playing such a role, I had nervy moments, and thoughts of the shot turning out to be over/under exposed, or not properly framed, or worst, I didn’t hit the record button were all running through my head while we were carrying out this exercise. Though it may seem like a simple task where we have to shoot just 3 shots of someone doing something, there are still quite a fair bit that goes into such an activity.

The group and I recorded some footage of our talent walking down a carpeted corridor. The idea was to juxtapose the visuals of barefoot walking on the carpet with the sound of shoes walking on hard floor. We also shot another scene where our talent is walking barefoot on some metal stairs, and likewise, exploring the effect when we layer the sound of rubber soled sneakers instead of the actual sound of human feet on metal steps.

Another challenge I realised while being the camera operator was the camera movement and tracking of subject. It was not easy adjusting and moving with the talent, while maintaining focus and the right framing, especially without the aid of a dolly. Not to mention, to control the amount of light entering the camera while the talent is moving from a brightly lit place to a slightly darker environment, such as from outdoors to indoors. I would assume that would be the role of a camera assistant to ensure such things, however having such a small crew, or if we were on a tight budget, the camera operator would have to be able to control the various parameters on his or her own while maintaining the shot.

Once we were happy with the walking sequence, we decided to rotate roles and moved to a different location to see what else we could shoot. We made our way to a basketball court on campus, just right next to the Alumni Courtyard, and this time I assumed the role of a first AD. A fellow group mate was already taking notes of the previous takes and shots, and it was an easy transition to just recording the takes and shots accordingly. This log sheet would come in handy during post for the editor to refer to in order to tell which are the takes that could be used or totally discard away with. Also, it would be easier when it came to syncing sound since we did not have a slate, or clap, at the beginning of each take. I know, Paul has mentioned Premiere Pro has a very neat function, that could sync the waveforms according to the sound recorded on the onboard microphone from the camera, however, I believe it is still good to practice such “old school” practice, just in case technology fails us or Premiere’s syncing sound feature spoofs up.

Overall, I was contended with the footages we managed to shoot. Looking forward to editing and putting everything together to see one final sequence.

In my last two blog posts, I mentioned about how I worked with a post-production company over the summer break for a good two and half months. I also mentioned that I aim to learn how to construct the right shot while employing proper filmmaking techniques in order to achieve something that is easy to work with in post. Something that requires no, if not, very little clean up.

What I’ve learned over the span of my internship, I realised editing helped masked many mistakes that were done during the shoot. The director and crew may or may not be aware of the mistake, however, once it reaches the editing stage, these mistakes become really obvious. It could be something like a conti issue with the shots, jump cuts, or maybe even a director not liking the face of a cameo and have to choose a different take, shot, or different parts to cut. I never really understood the role of an editor and the challenges that comes along with the role, until I started my internship. One thing I did know was that an editor is holds on of the key roles in the filmmaking process as his or her name appears as part of the opening titles before the movie starts, that has to say something about an editor right?

So in this semester, I aim to learn the skills required to construct the right shot for post. Understand why there’s a need for the saying “fixing it in post” and also pick up what goes behind building a set from scratch whether it’s a low budget student project or a highly funded Hollywood blockbuster. My focus would be mainly editing, as I have mentioned in my earlier posts that I have found a deep liking for offline editing and workflow management. However, over the course of my internship, I have grew a bit of an interest in some graphic effects like texts tracking, compositing and more which can be done on After Effects, (something which I have yet to explore or to even open up from the adobe creative cloud).

I hope I am not getting ahead of myself, being too ambitious with what I would like to achieve by the end of the semester when this studio approaches the business end of things. I guess it’s better to have abundant of ideas and then slowly starting narrowing down and chiseling off the excess and start focusing on something more. But as I said before, I am really keen on the realm of editing and what revolves around, however, I don’t think I can get much editing done without having any footage, hence the need for going out to shoot, and shoot, and shoot some more till I have a decent bank of footage that I can play around with in editing. As in one of the exercise, this footage need not be representational, and it could be purely abstract, and hopefully make some sense out of it when it comes to editing the footages together into one sequence. There’s nothing more satisfying than putting something together that doesn’t make sense at the beginning but as it starts to unfold and tell a narrative, and then becomes a story at the end.

Well, this semester took on a different swing. Unlike the last two semesters, that were more theory heavy, with lots of readings and handling more academic materials. Our very first class activity required us to head out of the classroom to shoot our very first shot of our lifetime. And I believe, that might just set the tone for the rest of this studio for this semester.

Just side tracking away from the intended topics. I went back home to Singapore over the summer holidays, and decided to cover the 80 hours work attachment, (not like I have anything better to do anyway). So I landed an internship in a post-production company working as an offline assistant, basically prepping files, workflow management, and tidying up the offline guides once the picture has been locked off, and ready for visual effects and grading. The experience was eye opening, and I really got a good insight on how the entertainment industry tick, especially for the post side. The company I worked with is not a very huge established company, however they do get projects that would make it to the big screen. To say the least, we worked on 3 feature films over the duration while I was there, and that’s on top of TV commercials, and other miscellaneous jobs. Quite frankly, what I’ve learned over the duration of slightly under 3 months, will never amount to what I can gather from being in the confinements of the classroom. Which leads me to my next point.

I guess Paul made it clear that we have to actually do stuff, and do it with confidence in order to “earn” yourself the title of whatever job you aspire to be. He used the example of being a camera operator, and setting up a tripod, we have to look cool while setting up the tripod, and it actually made sense. Going out to the streets, you never know what kind of condition you will be shooting in and what kind of terrain you will be mounting your camera on. But alas, you still have to keep your cool and set up the tripod and prepare the camera before anything gets recorded. Who would hire someone who looks like a clown when setting up a tripod. As simple as it sounds, there are still things that could go wrong.

My intentions for taking up this studio would be learning things with a more hands on approach, since the last studio I was enrolled was more of a 40% hands on and 60% theory. I am a strong believer of theory, but without any practice or exercise, these theories would just sit in the storeroom at the back of my mind collecting dusts, and eventually disappearing into thin air (quite literally). Therefore, I am really putting in my chips on this to have sessions that are a bit more technical, hands on, and practical. Like how I would be able to pick up skills I will be able to use when I do go out into the dog-eat-dog world, like how I’ve acquired the skills during my internship.

Having said that, we are still in uni, and I guess there are just formalities we have to follow when it comes to academic and classroom set ups. Personally, I think this is the best time for people like me, to try out different things to see what best fits us. But so far, I’m pretty fixed up on the realm of editing.

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It’s the last week of teaching which means we are approaching the final stretch of the semester. There were no screenings this week and lessons were more like sombre farewells and final scrambling for consultations with lecturers and fellow peers for advice.

Exploding Genre studio has been a tough ride, with a little more research and writing than what I had in mind. In the first week of the semester, I recall Dr Daniel Binns, the lecturer delivering this course, mentioned that this studio would be very much more intense than all of the other studios he has conducted in the past. Laying out all the ground rules and preempting us the assignments and project briefs that we have to produce by the end of the semester was really daunting. Not forgetting something that he said stuck with me throughout the semester, “this studio mainly consist of 40% hands on and 60% theory.”. I was never a big fan of theoretical stuff when it comes to readings, research, academic materials, and would swing more towards the hands on, nitty gritty, full on tech mode on. However, as the weeks go by, I realise a balance between both where research does complement technical competence.  In simple terms, you can’t drive a car without having to know how to use the steering wheel, throttle and breaks…

With very little academic knowledge prior to this studio, Exploding Genre not only aims to deconstruct the theory and industrial practice of genre, but also exploring terms that might not be developed or practiced as much, scholarly and industrially. All these seemed so hard to grasp at the beginning, but as the weeks went by, my understanding and impression of genre or just feature films in general has taken a new shape. Conventions, tropes, ideology, and more, play intricate roles in defining what makes a genre. However, we also have genre hybridity which borrows various concepts and applying it into a different context.

Genre functions in so many levels, from marketing strategies, to conceptualising storylines and narratives. It is an ever evolving landscape that changes with the times, like fashion and music. Exploding Genre does not define genre as whole, but takes us from how it began, how it transforms, how it branches out, and how it is presented now. Genre can be really subjective, but I strongly believe that genre is always improving, objectively.