On the Sunday of week 7, we decided to meet outside class and scout for locations in the CBD area. I mainly walked around the Southern Cross, Southbank and Docklands area where there were a lot of skyscrapers and modern architecture.
The video contains two parts, with each of them representing a type of look that I want to explore more later. The first part is quite unsteady, handheld, but a sense of liveliness subtly lies within the movements. The colors are mainly warm toned, and even the sound is soft and tender (like the bird singing in the first shot). In the second shot, we asked Maddy to pose. I had no idea what I was filming at the time, I just thought it was a beautiful shot to capture. But now to me it looks like a moment of the A.I. girl having a moment by herself, simply living and being, not thinking that there are people who are against her existence, and do not support her having the same rights as humans do. It would be a beautiful shot to have in our film.
The second part is very steady (still handheld but I did a better job at stabilizing the camera and used the stabilizer effect in Premiere Pro) and mainly cold-toned with architecture looking modern, all straight lines and graphic patterns. Through these shots, a sense of cold-bloodedness, indifference is conveyed (at least that’s what I thought). Without any color-grading, the second part already has an atmosphere of the futuristic world where civilization is more developed but people are more emotionless, that’s what I thought our character, the A.I. girl would feel.
Maybe the difference between the two parts is not too obvious now, but with color-grading, sound, proper editing, they will definitely be more like what they are. I thought using the two styles, we could portray the mood of the protagonist better without her saying anything. Because we do not want the film to be all voice over and texts embedded to explain what’s going on. Too much talking and information would somehow downgrade the quality of the story, because it leaves no space for imagination or silent moments for people to feel with their heart.