Assignment #2 Hyperlinks

• Refection
• Deconstruction
• Colour Grade

CLIP 1

Before colour grade

Horror-like colour grade:

I aimed to present this clip as if is were from a horror scene. By dropping the temperature, increasing the contrast, adding shadow, dropping the whites and increasing the blacks, it gave a sense that this was shot later in the day. I also added a faded film effect to add grittiness.

Dream-like colour grade:

I increased the vibrancy by adding more saturation, boosting the whites and adding more temperature. With those colour grading choices and by adding a harsh vignette, this creates a dream like or flash back effect.

Summer/ Hot weather colour grade:

By increasing the temperature, adding a reddish tint, increasing the highlights and by bringing up the red RGB curves, I was able to make this clip warmer and hopefully present it as if it depicted a hot day

CLIP 2:

Before colour grade

Vintage colour grade:

As an attempted to try and recreate a vintage film effect with this clip, I slightly increased the temperature and red RGB curves, added a pinkish tint, increased the whites, decreased the blacks and added a faded film effect. I also decreased the vibrancy and increased the saturation and finally sharpened the image slightly to accentuate any naturally occurring grain.

Noir colour grade:

A very questionable attempt to create a noir style colour grade by fully decreasing the saturation to remove all colours, decreasing the whites, slighting increasing the blacks and contrast to make the darker parts richer, increasing the vibrancy to bring more light into the overall picture and finally adding a vignette to add a classic noir like feel.

Cinematic colour grade:

Lowered temperature, slight green tint (matrix inspired), boosting of whites and the decreasing of highlights to create an epic/action-like aesthetic.

CLIP 3:

Before colour grade

Warm colour grade:

In colour wheels and match tab, I added more orange to the highlights to increase temperature in the clip.

Cool colour grade:

In colour wheels and match tab, I added blues to the highlights and shadows to create a cool and gloomy grade.

Green dull grade:

I was able to create a gritty dull feel, by decreasing the vibrancy and increasing green in the mid-tones In colour wheels and match tab.

Napoleon Dynamite (2004) – Rex Kwon Do Scene

This film may not be a cinematic masterpiece. However, it is on my list of all time favourite films due to its quirkiness, acting, comedic timing, costume and style. I first saw ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ when I was about 10 or 11. Still to this day, this film never fails to make me laugh. The very amusing ‘Rex Kwon Do’ scene from this film is one of my favourites, because in two and a half minutes, it displays the type of quirkiness and awkward comedy that makes this film what it is. From the very beginning of this scene, the intricate comedy is shown by shot construction, sound and editing. It begins by Napoleon walking into frame holding a casserole dish. Where we hear the calming sound of birds in the background and the random grunt of a llama, followed by the introduction of Kip, who is putting on a pair of black and pink inline skates. For me the randomness of this beginning is very entertaining, because the possibilities it sets up. It doesn’t tell much, but it keeps the audience scratching their heads in bewilderment. 

Kip looks up and says to Napoleon “it’d be nice if you could pull me into town”. The shot stays on Kip for a moment, there’s a moment of silence and we expect to hear a response from Napoleon. Instead the scene then cuts straight to Kip holding a rope tied to a bike ridden by Napoleon, which is pulling Kip along. The imagery of this scene is remarkable, coupled with the elevator style music that plays, as the two are shown to be very casual, while riding through a quiet neighbourhood and looking quite odd. For me, this very simple transition of a hard cut to the following image was hilariously remarkable. Everything about it was spot on, and I’m sure it did what it was meant to and received many laughs from audiences. 

Following this image, there is another hard cut and the music stops abruptly. The next image appears. We are introduced to martial arts guru, Rex, who is leading a class to advertise his “eight week program”. This scene’s brilliant display of costume and aesthetic, highlights the 3 main bodies in the scene with the use of costume and colour. Seen is Kip and Napoleon in sky blue, Rex in his famous all american attire and the rest of the class in dull grey colours which accentuates the 3 main roles.

This section is the bulk of the scene. I have seen this part more times that I can count. However, with further analysis I was able to pinpoint what makes this scene hilarious. The simplicity of this scene sees minimal camera movement. With a few tracking shots and mainly stationary mid and close ups, the awkwardness of the scene is increased because of the simplicity. The main element which carries the comedic essence, is the use of minimal sound, and extended silence. With the only sounds being those that come out of action, room tone and other diegetic sounds.

#8 FIRST FILM EDITS (The Book)

Surprisingly, this was the first time that I have shot, acted and edited something to this level. Though a basic exercise, each role took a level of proficiency and were more complex when done in conjunction with each other. Overall this was a rather simple exercise that allowed me to gain more experience in shot construction and edit of my own shot decisions. Compared to the Lenny exercise, this felt like I had more control over my editing decisions as I knew the psychology behind each shot. The editing process was very considered when designing my shot list and ideas. However, this exercise did contain an element of collaboration. As this was a group exercise, planning was needed before commencement of the project. As my group and I had previously completed the same exercise in project  #7, we were provided with feedback on the particular edit we produced. It was in our interest to improve on the previous product. In the next incarnation of our edit, we were advised to reshoot and focus on improving the establishment of location. This exercise was based on a script that was based in a singular location. It was our mission to be able to convey the shots constructed by a fellow group member and myself as clear representations of the same locations, even if that wasn’t the case. This took a great level of planning as we were not in the same location. We had to be able to communicate the layouts of our individuale abodes via Zoom. This was by no means easy. It was important that we understood each other’s house layout so our edit makes sense. We were able to produce a product that made visible sense. With the use of an establishing shot at the beginning coupled with a ‘J-cut’, I think we were able to quickly convey the environment. Though I have some previous knowledge of the importance of establishing location, I was pleasantly surprised how much of a difference it makes in the conveyance of a story.

#9 ANIMATICS (Yaw – Animatic V1)

At first I struggled to see the importance and need for this exercise. However, this lack of understanding was because I viewed this exercise through the lens of the previous edit that I had completed. I originally thought the simplicity of the #8 edits didn’t require such planning, as it was not a big production with much complexity. Though, when I began this exercise I quickly realised the importance of such task. I understood that realistically, the animatic process would not be extremely crucial in the pre-production of something as basic as the #8 edits. However, I realised that the purpose of this exercise was to give us an introduction to such processes. I enjoyed this exercise when I saw how this animatic process relates to the production of edits. It allowed me to really put thought into shot construction. As a personal evaluation, It’d be honest to say that I am in need of some improvement when it comes to shot construction. Looking back I could have executed this exercise a little better, if I allowed more thought behind each shot.  

Another element to this process I enjoyed, was the collation of sound to accompany the stills. It was an enjoyable experience to be able to build an organic sound collection that I can now add to my own personal foley library. Through this I found out that I really enjoy recreating sounds for film. 

In conclusion, the animatic process is something that I will use in the future when creating bigger projects that require very considered approaches to shot allocation. This also allows for less time used on set to decide on particular shots, which ultimately helps the efficiency of productions. I’ve learnt over the first half of this studio that efficiency is a very important element to production. These skills, processes and learnt knowledge are very useful tools to apply to further developments.

1. What I want from this studio, What I think this studio is and My goals and desires
2. Reflection (Lenny Edit – Scene 1 V3 and Rough-cut V3)
3. Initiative Post 
4. My way of working

I declare that in submitting all work for this assessment I have read, understood and agree to the content and expectations of the assessment declaration.

Yaw

I found myself being someone who’s learning style is quite adaptable to particular situations and tasks. I could even go as far as saying, my learning style changes with my mood and is very connected to my emotion, Though a majority of my learning is best suitable when physical and visual aspects are involved. As someone who works with pace, to avoid being overloaded, I tend to do a lot of things on the fly. Planning isn’t my strong suit. However, this isn’t always a negative thing. I feel this allows me to experiment and not overthink execution. Though, I do realise that filmmaking entails a lot of pre-planning as part of development. Due to this, I am looking to become a better pre-planner. I have found, especially when it comes to editing, I rush through footage and make quick cuts without considering many variations and possibilities. For me, this was very evident in the 1st Lenny exercise. However, as the weeks have progressed, I have approached the activities with more and more consideration for the process.

So far, I have found this studio very suitable for my learning style, as it is very visual and hands on. I look to get as much as possible out of this studio as the weeks progress. I anticipate that my knowledge will increase as we navigate through the course content. I look forward to becoming a more competent filmmaker, with lots of consideration for the practise within different elements of the field. While being online we are definitely tested by the constraints of online learning, however, this allows new ways of working to be experimented with. As future practitioners, we must remember that adaptability is one of the most important qualities in the field today, and what better way than to learn about adaptability in the midst of a pandemic

I’ve always found the concept of eye-lines and the 180 degree rule an interesting point of discussion when dissecting film edits. As film is considered an art form, I guess there are technically minimal rules you must follow as a filmmaker. However, with that being said, many of the decisions made by a filmmaker will ultimately play a very big role in how work is understood or perceived. So when bringing forth the idea of audience and perception, there are many rules to be considered and followed if making a piece of work designed for audience understanding or the portrayal of stories and images. From a personal perspective, eye-lines are an element of filmmaking that I find an integral part of shot execution and even assembly. Though, going back to the earlier point I made about filmmaking’s ability to be a very much subjective art form, where rules do not necessarily need to be followed, I would strongly argue that something as important as eye-lines are something that can lower the quality of work, if incorrectly executed. Unless a clear creative decision is made eye-line matching, for me, is a very important aspect of making quality work. 

In this link above, it is explained why eye-line matching is important and how its relation to concepts such as ‘the line of action’ and ‘the 180 degree rule’. It also explained how the establishment of character eye-lines can allow the line of action to be broken. It also explains that matching eye-lines can be important when actors are in the same scene but are not on set at the same time. While it works best to have actors in a scene with heavy dialogue on location together, in a lot of cases it isn’t the end of the world if that isn’t the case. As long as a matching of actor eye lines are considered, the scene can still work. This is also an important aspect of creating work via online formats. For example, for a class exercise we recreated the 3rd scene from the Lenny script on Zoom. My group and I made an attempt to match eye lines as best as possible, while being in completely different locations. Unfortunately due to a perspective issue, footage was flipped which made the eye line completely off, however I was able to edit it together by flipping one of the takes. This helped a lot and allowed a closer match. Below is the finished product attached.

I was watching this video about the 180  degree rule and examples of it being broken in some well known films. I really enjoy seeing this rule broken if it’s done with intent, it can really bring an audience closer into the world which is displayed on screen. At times this can be very disorientating, however that can be great when a point of a film needs to be emphasised and like I said before, elements of stories are often aided if this rule breakage is performed with strong intention.

1. As expected, the Deliberate Film studio has already provided me with some very valuable set of skills and knowledge. As I stated in my initial post, I have the goal of becoming a more efficient filmmaker. Simple class and homework tasks have allowed me to brush up on previously learnt skills and also learn some new ones. Many of these activities have shown me ways to work in Premiere with more control over footage. The Lenny exercise was a great way to engage and play around with footage that was of a theatrical nature. This was my first time being able to work with fictional dialogue, with multiple takes. When I assembled all of scene 1 footage together, I was really happy with my work and thought that I couldn’t have done a better job. However, come the next class, we had a chance to analyse and view the work of other students. It was only then that I realised there were many more ways I could have approached my edit. This experience allowed critical thinking to assist my evaluation of my work. A scene as simple as Scene 1, saw me approach the footage with the goal of doing “smart edits”, however, after seeing the work of others, I realised that a simpler approach would have looked more slick. Embedded in this post is my 3 edited version of Scene 1 in the Lenny story where I did 3 cuts, which I later realised would have looked better in just 2. Following my cut from a wide-shot to mid-shot, I shouldn’t have made any unnecessary cuts back. It would have looked much better if i had let Lenny walk out of frame following the first cut to the mid-shot

2. Efficiency is something that I’m slowly gaining. With the music and edit exercise, I learnt that I could duplicate sequences and edit the same bits of footage differently WITHOUT HAVING TO DUPLICATE THE WHOLE PROJECT! I was extremely happy. From now on I will be utalising bins and sequences when compiling edits. Though this is only basic knowledge I should have had long ago, I am grateful that I now know. Embedded is my rough-cut version 3. Reflecting on this, I realise that I made a few strange decisions in this rough cut which I’ll be sure to avoid next time.

As someone with a strong interest in filmmaking and surrounding topics, the Deliberate Film studio seems a very suitable fit myself. As I have progressed, since starting this degree, I have seen an increase in my knowledge and critical thinking qualities in various areas of this degree. My desire to learn and to build my technical competencies, has seen me move towards the creation of content and visual work. Gravitating towards more hands on learning and visual creation, I have really enjoyed previous studio’s and classes that placed heavy emphasis on the art of filmmaking. Starting in Making Media, then making my way to Reel to Reel, I have managed to develop many of the basic editing skills required to navigate programs such as premiere pro. Following the completion of these classes, I have been reassured that filmmaking is something I have a strong interest in. As someone who is not the most tech-savvy, I find myself being an inefficient worker when creating with editing software. Though many of my previously completed works have been at an adequate level, the ways in which I navigated these projects were inefficient and could have been executed with much wiser approaches. So with this in mind, I chose to be a part of Deliberate Film to gain more knowledge and experience, by learning from class curriculum and fellow students. Surrounding myself with relevant sources allows me to absorb the creative tools and knowledge to become a better filmmaker and visual creator. This studio will assist me in being a better critique of my own work and the work of others. It will also teach me how to assess film through specific lenses, that allow me to unpack and dissect minor details. With basic and more advanced activities, I’ll find that my increased editing efficiency will reflect in later works and assignments. This studio provides motive which in turn provides an opportunity for filmmaking and it’s basic techniques to become second nature.